I'm a bad blogger, bad, bad blogger. I have no excuses as to why I have not blogged for so long. I shall try and make up for it now. Rather than boring you by just how much I enjoyed travelling and living with Oz before he headed back home to Australia (it was wonderful), I'll give you some more recent news.
I have moved into my new place and after an initial concern about my new room mate I'm now feeling a lot happier, although she has some strange habits, ones that I had never come across before, but are apparently quite common in the US. She is apparently unable to go to sleep (at least when sober) without the TV on, although she now out of courtesy to me she watches something on her laptop as she nods off. As I write this she is gently snoring next to me, having fallen asleep whilst watching American Dad (can't say I blame her!). The TV in our room is constantly on, my room mate seems to spend her days either sleeping (which she is very adept at!) or watching TV, at night she is the typical IV party girl, regularly getting in at 5am!
I am however not in the mood for partying, lots of my friends were only here for a term and so have now left, and of course Oz has to, so I'm a little bit depressed. The first few days after Oz left I walked around in daze, but have been doing a lot better since, although I'm still not quite my usual self.
Yesterday I went on an excursion club hike up to the highest peak in the Santa Barbara mountains, something that Oz and I both wanted to, but were unable due to the lack of a car. I had a great time, the hike wasn't too long (10 miles max), but it was very steep in places and a lot of it was on rocks, which really hurts the feet. It was well worth it however, the view from the top was spectacular. In the one direction there was Santa Barbara and the Pacific, in the other there was the Santa Ynez mountains that were snow covered in the distance. Added to that there was a wonderful rainbow framing the mountains. Despite all this beauty and making new friends I just wanted to either have Oz with me or be alone.
Yesterday Oz cycled 130kms to a dinosaur dig with a big trailer on main roads and I haven't heard from since, I'm assuming he's alive, but I would really prefer to know for certain. This is just making me miss him more, I've spent the whole of the day unable to concentrate on things, why can't he damn well send me a text? But I'm not going to call him because I don't won't to get in the way of his fun and become a demanding girlfriend. Bloody difficult work being in a long distance relationship. Sorry, but needed to get that out, I'll try and avoid that in the future.
On a rather more British subject the weather has been appalling lately, its been raining for days, and not just showering either, its been full blown torrents. And Santa Barbara isn't exactly set up for rain, the drains are few and far between, resulting in floods or streams. At one point it was actually impossible to get into the library without walking through a flood. I must say it makes me feel more at home, I'm unused to the usual amount of sunlight IV receives. And I get to wear my really cool mac!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Round Robin
Yes! It is that time of the year again - it is Christmas and what does Christmas mean? Catching up with those friends and relatives that you have forgotten for the rest of the year - its the round robin. So for all of those I have forgotten here is my round robin.
It has been an extraordinary year for all concerned, I for one had no idea what living in America would bring! But it hasn't just been an exciting year for me, Oz finally completed his undergraduate degree and met with a potential graduate school supervisor! Aunt Marjorie finally completed her patchwork on the history of clocks throughout the centuries, although she jokes that it will never really be finished! But before we get carried away let us not forget to mention the passing of Percy our Parakeet, he had been Majorie's best friend for neigh on twenty years and following his untimely demise due to an unfortunately out-of-date date she could barely bring herself to finish the patchwork.
Cousin Dermot was ordained as a man of the cloth by ordinations4u.com, we are all very proud of him and have booked him for all our christenings, weddings and funerals for the foreseeable future. If you would his services (his speciality is funerals and bar mitzvahs!) email crazyrevderm@hotmail.com.
Oz continues to astound us all, he got straight As in his quarter at UCSB and has now finished his undergraduate, we are all very proud of him. He is currently finishing writing a ground breaking manuscript that is set to change the field of avian palaeontology forever! We all wait with baited breath. Just this week he visited LA and met with the one-and-only reknowned Dr. Luis M. Chiappe, Director of the Dinosaur institute at the LA county Natural History Museum, whom he hopes to continue Postgraduate studies with, they were locked in an office in heated debate for many hours! Oz is currently travelling around California with Martyni before returning to Australia for six months to rest on his laurels.
Martyni passed her first year of her degree with a grade good enough to continue her scholarship, however she has left her home university for a year to study abroad at UCSB. She has found the experience interesting to say the least, and has so far resisted the urge to strangle certain teachers, although how long she will be able to continue resisting is uncertain. She has bravely attempted to study Arabic and to our amazement passed this quarter with a flying pass! She found it surprisingly enjoyable, stretching her brain in previously under-utilised ways. Oz is encouraging her to stretch other parts of her anatomy. She has found the experience of having a room mate interesting to say the least, and is slightly unsettled at the prospect of not having her own room until next October. After completing her studies at UCSB she intends to spend the summer with Oz in her in Melbourne, working as an assistant teacher.
With the craziness of 2008 all but over, we eagerly anticipate what the new year shall bring!
With love,
Martyni and Oz xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Moving and LA (thankfully not to LA)
I'm writing this blog sitting next to Oz on a Greyhound bus that's going from LA to San Francisco. We're in the middle of fuck-knows-where-ville driving next to what looks to be thousands of cows, and trust me =, you can smell them! After a lapse of an hour or two, we made it back to civilisation—for a moment at least—before being plunged back into the dark highway. There is a strange cackling man sitting next to us. So instead of getting freaked out by the cackling man who occasionally decides to stare at us I'll recount what has been going on in the past week or so.
As soon as my exams finished I had the joy of moving and Oz had the joy of helping me. Having none of my friends with cars around at this point we had no choice but to carry all my stuff (and I have accumulated a lot of it over the past four months!) the five or so blocks to my new apartment. But alas, if only it had been that easy. We expected to move in straight away, but my new room mate was still in residence, so we were in limbo for three days not being entirely sure where our possessions were.
On the subject of room mates I appear to have moved from an anal one into the room of a stoned, permanently hungover one. Of the three days we moved my stuff she was hungover on each of them, the mornings were spent with her make-up smeared over her face, lying in bed, with the covers pulled over her head. Its going to be an interesting two quarters.
I have vowed to move as least often as possible following this experience. We were generally ill prepared in every possible way and it was a complete nightmare that led to us setting of for our travels three hours late,
Oz has written a guide to easy moving. Here it is:
Step one: Have a friend with easy access to a car on standby at all times.
Step two: Do not acquire any personal belongings, so they do not, as a result, need to be moved in the first place.
Step Three: If you ignore both of the first two steps, make sure you do not try and move two person's belongings from different houses at the same time, mixing the items up as much as possible.
Step Three and a half: If you are trying to live in two residences at once do not move many of these items back and forth several times before they find their final resting place.
Step Four: If at all possible, do not move house.
Anyway I am now 98% in my new apartment (a few last minute items were discovered and stowed away in a cupboard to be moved when we get back. We were so disorganised that we had to get a later bus and arrived in LA in the pitch black.
The next day was our first proper day in LA and what did we do? Spend the entire morning trying to get a bus to the Natural History Museum (don't go if you don't have a car - totally not worth it!) because Oz wants to do a PhD with one of the big shots there and went to butter him up. The result being that Oz had lots of Palaeontological conversations and spent hours looking at casts of bones (not even the actual fossils!) whilst I sat in the corner of an office knitting and bored out of my mind. I'll let Oz justify himself. As is widely known, palaeontologists are teh coolest people alive. I need just two words to justify this bombastic claim: T. rex. To my great delight, I discovered that there was a largely-complete skeleton of this iconic creature in the draws of the lab we were visiting. There is also considerable merit in long, convoluted and technical conversations on extinct creatures that no one cares about, besides the select few geeks who live and breath this stuff. What more reason does one need for such a laborious trek?
Anyway, after about five hours of being cooped up in this office (or "lab") we eventually escaped, only to spend the next hour or so on the buses in the pouring rain (oh yes, it does rain in LA!) so that we couldn't actually see where we were supposed to get off. I eventually forced Oz to come food shopping with me (Oz: I wasnt forced; she persuaded me with her silver tongue) and the actually began to become enjoyable. We got our hands on some hot chocolates and some beautiful French bread (that reminded me of Sunday breakfasts with my family) and we sat in a cafe dipping the bread into our hot chocolates. Beautiful. We also were able to get some red wine and the night began to look up.
Having vowed not to step foot in any more palaeontology based attractions on this trip it was with surprise and some annoyance that I found myself outside the La Brea tar pits, where a long time ago a lot of boring animals met their untimely end and now some geeks dig up their bones and make a big deal out of something that matters very little indeed. So I ended up trawling around a museum that Oz theoretically wasn't even interested in, he prefers the Mesozoic period, these animals weren't even dinosaurs! (See, I am learning things about dinosaurs slowly, I embarrassed Oz in front of some PhD students the day before by calling something a dinosaur when it wasn't. Served him right for boring me stupid!)
After getting high off the tar fumes we finally were released and we went shopping on Melrose Avenue, I don't even particularly enjoy shopping but it was my highlight of the day so far. I got a cool t-shirt with the picture from earth beamed out to aliens with Jesus in the background, sounds strange but I like it. I wanted to get a Mary is my Homegirl t-shirt but they didn't have the right size. I also got an amazing t-shirt fro a friend of mine, but its a secret so I shan't tell you just how amazing it was.
Once Oz got scared at how dark it was getting and how much our chances of mugging has increased we went back to our hostel and has a pitifully small dinner. After complaining of not having eaten enough we put ourselves at risk of mugging by venturing outside to get some more dinner. We also attempted to see the Hollywood sign, but no buses were going the right way and after waiting for half an hour we gave up waiting and strolled to Santa Monica Boulevard. Having decided against about half a dozen restaurants we eventually ended up in an Italian and had a beautiful Bruschetta and cheese free pizza. But even more excitingly than that I got served! I had two glasses of wine in a restaurant underage! I actually felt like an adult for the first time in four months. Was fantastic.
Today we had very little time, once we'd packed up and got to the Greyhound station our time in LA was over. We've done none of the usual LA things, although we did go along Hollywood Boulevard and saw the stars names on the pavement. But this was only because the Greyhound station was on a road off of it. I didn't leave LA with a particularly good picture of it, it seemed sprawling and full of palaeontology. I'll be very glad to get to San Francisco, which I can now actually see!
Greyhound weirdoes - 1, LA muggings - 0, LA sights seen - 0 (Although insists we've seen at least 1, I dispute this entirely!), Oz: disgustingly unhealthy fast food pitstops - 1
As soon as my exams finished I had the joy of moving and Oz had the joy of helping me. Having none of my friends with cars around at this point we had no choice but to carry all my stuff (and I have accumulated a lot of it over the past four months!) the five or so blocks to my new apartment. But alas, if only it had been that easy. We expected to move in straight away, but my new room mate was still in residence, so we were in limbo for three days not being entirely sure where our possessions were.
On the subject of room mates I appear to have moved from an anal one into the room of a stoned, permanently hungover one. Of the three days we moved my stuff she was hungover on each of them, the mornings were spent with her make-up smeared over her face, lying in bed, with the covers pulled over her head. Its going to be an interesting two quarters.
I have vowed to move as least often as possible following this experience. We were generally ill prepared in every possible way and it was a complete nightmare that led to us setting of for our travels three hours late,
Oz has written a guide to easy moving. Here it is:
Step one: Have a friend with easy access to a car on standby at all times.
Step two: Do not acquire any personal belongings, so they do not, as a result, need to be moved in the first place.
Step Three: If you ignore both of the first two steps, make sure you do not try and move two person's belongings from different houses at the same time, mixing the items up as much as possible.
Step Three and a half: If you are trying to live in two residences at once do not move many of these items back and forth several times before they find their final resting place.
Step Four: If at all possible, do not move house.
Anyway I am now 98% in my new apartment (a few last minute items were discovered and stowed away in a cupboard to be moved when we get back. We were so disorganised that we had to get a later bus and arrived in LA in the pitch black.
The next day was our first proper day in LA and what did we do? Spend the entire morning trying to get a bus to the Natural History Museum (don't go if you don't have a car - totally not worth it!) because Oz wants to do a PhD with one of the big shots there and went to butter him up. The result being that Oz had lots of Palaeontological conversations and spent hours looking at casts of bones (not even the actual fossils!) whilst I sat in the corner of an office knitting and bored out of my mind. I'll let Oz justify himself. As is widely known, palaeontologists are teh coolest people alive. I need just two words to justify this bombastic claim: T. rex. To my great delight, I discovered that there was a largely-complete skeleton of this iconic creature in the draws of the lab we were visiting. There is also considerable merit in long, convoluted and technical conversations on extinct creatures that no one cares about, besides the select few geeks who live and breath this stuff. What more reason does one need for such a laborious trek?
Anyway, after about five hours of being cooped up in this office (or "lab") we eventually escaped, only to spend the next hour or so on the buses in the pouring rain (oh yes, it does rain in LA!) so that we couldn't actually see where we were supposed to get off. I eventually forced Oz to come food shopping with me (Oz: I wasnt forced; she persuaded me with her silver tongue) and the actually began to become enjoyable. We got our hands on some hot chocolates and some beautiful French bread (that reminded me of Sunday breakfasts with my family) and we sat in a cafe dipping the bread into our hot chocolates. Beautiful. We also were able to get some red wine and the night began to look up.
Having vowed not to step foot in any more palaeontology based attractions on this trip it was with surprise and some annoyance that I found myself outside the La Brea tar pits, where a long time ago a lot of boring animals met their untimely end and now some geeks dig up their bones and make a big deal out of something that matters very little indeed. So I ended up trawling around a museum that Oz theoretically wasn't even interested in, he prefers the Mesozoic period, these animals weren't even dinosaurs! (See, I am learning things about dinosaurs slowly, I embarrassed Oz in front of some PhD students the day before by calling something a dinosaur when it wasn't. Served him right for boring me stupid!)
After getting high off the tar fumes we finally were released and we went shopping on Melrose Avenue, I don't even particularly enjoy shopping but it was my highlight of the day so far. I got a cool t-shirt with the picture from earth beamed out to aliens with Jesus in the background, sounds strange but I like it. I wanted to get a Mary is my Homegirl t-shirt but they didn't have the right size. I also got an amazing t-shirt fro a friend of mine, but its a secret so I shan't tell you just how amazing it was.
Once Oz got scared at how dark it was getting and how much our chances of mugging has increased we went back to our hostel and has a pitifully small dinner. After complaining of not having eaten enough we put ourselves at risk of mugging by venturing outside to get some more dinner. We also attempted to see the Hollywood sign, but no buses were going the right way and after waiting for half an hour we gave up waiting and strolled to Santa Monica Boulevard. Having decided against about half a dozen restaurants we eventually ended up in an Italian and had a beautiful Bruschetta and cheese free pizza. But even more excitingly than that I got served! I had two glasses of wine in a restaurant underage! I actually felt like an adult for the first time in four months. Was fantastic.
Today we had very little time, once we'd packed up and got to the Greyhound station our time in LA was over. We've done none of the usual LA things, although we did go along Hollywood Boulevard and saw the stars names on the pavement. But this was only because the Greyhound station was on a road off of it. I didn't leave LA with a particularly good picture of it, it seemed sprawling and full of palaeontology. I'll be very glad to get to San Francisco, which I can now actually see!
Greyhound weirdoes - 1, LA muggings - 0, LA sights seen - 0 (Although insists we've seen at least 1, I dispute this entirely!), Oz: disgustingly unhealthy fast food pitstops - 1
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Finals
Sorry I've been silent for ages, I have been very busy with studying, both catching up on what I missed whilst ill and revising for exams. This last week has been finals week in which each subject holds a final examination, in England I don't mind exams because we're given time off to study for them and have past questions to look at, but both have been deprived to me and I've been struggling to have the energy to study.
My exams were a really mixed bag, I seriously messed up Arabic but not because I didn't know the Arabic, but because I didn't know the language of learning languages, for example what is a conjunctive verb? There were two possibilities to decide from, so I just guessed. In the end I somehow passed the course, but I don't know what by due to being graded pass or no pass. I think I barely scraped by, but I did it, which I did not think I would at the start of the quarter. My religion in America exam went as well as could be expected, but anthropology was a nightmare, I realise halfway through the exam why I never do well in the exams, they want skills I don't possess - they want regurgitation. I can't do that, but I can make intelligent comments and good arguments, which is not what they are looking for at all. So I don't expect to to do to well.
But on the positive side I've now finished, but Oz hasn't. I'm writing this on Oz's kitchen table at three thirty in the morning helping him study by encouraging him to continue and looking interested whilst he explains his course to me. He has had other exams that have prevented him from studying for this one, so he's been reading over 190 detailed pages of lecture notes for almost the last twelve hours in a desperate attempt to pass. Coffee has been a very good friend to him over this time as he chatters away to himself. I've never pulled an all-nighter before because I reach a studying point of no return and have to go to sleep, but where my man (and no studying) is involved I can pull the cat out of the bag. I'm walking with him to the exam and waiting outside (or if a coffee shop nearby is open then in there) for him before we celebrate. With this exam he will have finished his whole degree, so a big celebration is in order.
Unfortunately we won't really have much time to celebrate because tomorrow I am moving apartment. I had one apartment lined up but unfortunately with less than two weeks before the end of term the person I was taking over from decided she wasn't moving after all, so I got quite stressed and desperately replied to lots of adverts. Unfortunately I was really tired as I was still recovering from being ill and was busy trying to catch up on work I'd missed out on, so I only got round to viewing one house, the one that I really wanted. Luckily I got the room and so am moving tomorrow into a room on DP, the main party street of IV that is adjacent to the ocean. I've still got a room mate, but the room is en suite, the living space is bigger and there is a balcony - outdoor space! I have no where to go in my current apartment and often look longingly out of the window at the good weather but am unable to enjoy it without a five - ten minute walk. So I'm really looking forward to moving in.
There are however a few moving related problems (does moving ever go smoothly?), I have no vehicle to move with, so its our arms and bikes to move me, will be interesting. It is also unfurnished and I have virtually no furniture at the moment, so have to buy a bed, desk and chair, as well as kitchen equipment that I don't have either. Today I tried unsuccessfully to buy furniture, the thrift (second hand) shop I went to had no beds and the desks were all heavy and expensive. I tried new desks, but for my budget (under $50) and requirements (BIG - I'm messy and like to spread out) I couldn't find anything. I've decided that the best thing to do would be to buy a table, but I'm yet to find a cheap, light table. But the desk isn't my main problem, that is a bed, when I actually move in (my rent in my current apartment runs out on the 31st, so I can continue living there for a while) depends entirely on when I can get a bed. I'm going to go to another thrift store tomorrow in the hope that I can buy one and get a taxi to get it home. On less than three hours sleep its going to be entertaining to say the least!
My exams were a really mixed bag, I seriously messed up Arabic but not because I didn't know the Arabic, but because I didn't know the language of learning languages, for example what is a conjunctive verb? There were two possibilities to decide from, so I just guessed. In the end I somehow passed the course, but I don't know what by due to being graded pass or no pass. I think I barely scraped by, but I did it, which I did not think I would at the start of the quarter. My religion in America exam went as well as could be expected, but anthropology was a nightmare, I realise halfway through the exam why I never do well in the exams, they want skills I don't possess - they want regurgitation. I can't do that, but I can make intelligent comments and good arguments, which is not what they are looking for at all. So I don't expect to to do to well.
But on the positive side I've now finished, but Oz hasn't. I'm writing this on Oz's kitchen table at three thirty in the morning helping him study by encouraging him to continue and looking interested whilst he explains his course to me. He has had other exams that have prevented him from studying for this one, so he's been reading over 190 detailed pages of lecture notes for almost the last twelve hours in a desperate attempt to pass. Coffee has been a very good friend to him over this time as he chatters away to himself. I've never pulled an all-nighter before because I reach a studying point of no return and have to go to sleep, but where my man (and no studying) is involved I can pull the cat out of the bag. I'm walking with him to the exam and waiting outside (or if a coffee shop nearby is open then in there) for him before we celebrate. With this exam he will have finished his whole degree, so a big celebration is in order.
Unfortunately we won't really have much time to celebrate because tomorrow I am moving apartment. I had one apartment lined up but unfortunately with less than two weeks before the end of term the person I was taking over from decided she wasn't moving after all, so I got quite stressed and desperately replied to lots of adverts. Unfortunately I was really tired as I was still recovering from being ill and was busy trying to catch up on work I'd missed out on, so I only got round to viewing one house, the one that I really wanted. Luckily I got the room and so am moving tomorrow into a room on DP, the main party street of IV that is adjacent to the ocean. I've still got a room mate, but the room is en suite, the living space is bigger and there is a balcony - outdoor space! I have no where to go in my current apartment and often look longingly out of the window at the good weather but am unable to enjoy it without a five - ten minute walk. So I'm really looking forward to moving in.
There are however a few moving related problems (does moving ever go smoothly?), I have no vehicle to move with, so its our arms and bikes to move me, will be interesting. It is also unfurnished and I have virtually no furniture at the moment, so have to buy a bed, desk and chair, as well as kitchen equipment that I don't have either. Today I tried unsuccessfully to buy furniture, the thrift (second hand) shop I went to had no beds and the desks were all heavy and expensive. I tried new desks, but for my budget (under $50) and requirements (BIG - I'm messy and like to spread out) I couldn't find anything. I've decided that the best thing to do would be to buy a table, but I'm yet to find a cheap, light table. But the desk isn't my main problem, that is a bed, when I actually move in (my rent in my current apartment runs out on the 31st, so I can continue living there for a while) depends entirely on when I can get a bed. I'm going to go to another thrift store tomorrow in the hope that I can buy one and get a taxi to get it home. On less than three hours sleep its going to be entertaining to say the least!
Friday, November 30, 2007
The joy of room mates
Normally I have no problem with having a room mate, we don't pay each other that much attention and she is usually out anyway. I do try and build up brownie points anyway, if I'm doing my washing up and there is some of her stuff to do as well I'll wash it up , but perhaps the biggest way I try to earn brownie points is by giving her and her boyfriend space when he comes round, if he is staying over I'll sleep on the sofa. My room mates doesn't see why I should sleep on the sofa, she sees absolutely no problem with me being in the same room as them, I don't particularly appreciate the idea of being woken up by them having sex but not being able to leave the room as that would involve me walking past her bed, so I willingly sleep on the sofa. However I once awoke to his snoring and was forced to sleep on the living room floor (she had friends sleeping on the sofas). I think its fair to say that I try my hardest to be a good room mate, I just wish she'd do the same.
I'm not going to kick her out onto the sofa any nights because Oz lives very close by and can easily go home to sleep (her boyfriend has graduated and lives near LA), also Oz agrees that it is wierd to have another girl sleeping in the same room as us, and so surely it is not beyond her to return home unexpectedly. So far she has walked in on us unexpectedly three times. The first was my birthday and she assured me that she wouldn't get off work until after midnight, instead she got home two hours early. We heard the front door lock go and dived behind a convnient kitchen worktop and yelled "don't come in! Give us 2 minutes!" she was so shocked that she left the door slightly ajar and returned over five minutes later by which time Oz and I were sitting on the sofa watching a movie pretending nothing had ever happened.
I can't rememeber the second time, but I know it happened. Oz can't remember it either - perhaps we had our memories wiped MIB style.
Last night it happened again. My room mate has just turned 21 and she and her boyfriend went nightclubbing, after having the room to themselves for hours they finally left and Oz and I quickly occupied it. Unfortunately ten minutes later I hear teh familiar sound of someone walking up the steps and Oz quickly jams a chair under the door handle to prevent anyone entering. I'm very thankful he did because one minute later Lisa tries to enter without even a knock. She only tries once so we hope she has given up on trying to get in, however a short while later we hear her yell "I forgot my ID!" seriously, who forgets their ID, it is vitally important for a night out on the town in the US, I know this is her first time going out, but who can be that stupid? Anyway Oz dives under the covers and I wrap my dressing gown around me and grudgingly open the door. Our embarrassment was quite public, there was not only my room mate and her boyfriend to witness this debaucle, but also our flat mate and two of her friends. I long for my own room, where you can have sex whenever you want and you can lock the door and not let anyone in...
Earlier that day I had walked in on my room mates boyfriend with only a towel covering him up, I had popped next door and left the door unlockes, but that pop turned into a cup of tea, so I decided to go and lock the door. When I got in not everything was as I'd left it, the light in my room was on, so I went to investigate, only to discover her boyfriend with just a towel covering his dignity. Another time I almost walked in on them, I had left to go to next door when a party was taking place here, so assumed that I would be able to get in and get my stuff later, but when I returned the place was all shut up, except for my room, which had been barracaded shut with a chair, did I insist on going in though? No, I just went without what I'd wanted to get, wish my room mate would do the same.
Well next September I will get my own room again, but with no Oz to enjoy the freedom with...
I'm not going to kick her out onto the sofa any nights because Oz lives very close by and can easily go home to sleep (her boyfriend has graduated and lives near LA), also Oz agrees that it is wierd to have another girl sleeping in the same room as us, and so surely it is not beyond her to return home unexpectedly. So far she has walked in on us unexpectedly three times. The first was my birthday and she assured me that she wouldn't get off work until after midnight, instead she got home two hours early. We heard the front door lock go and dived behind a convnient kitchen worktop and yelled "don't come in! Give us 2 minutes!" she was so shocked that she left the door slightly ajar and returned over five minutes later by which time Oz and I were sitting on the sofa watching a movie pretending nothing had ever happened.
I can't rememeber the second time, but I know it happened. Oz can't remember it either - perhaps we had our memories wiped MIB style.
Last night it happened again. My room mate has just turned 21 and she and her boyfriend went nightclubbing, after having the room to themselves for hours they finally left and Oz and I quickly occupied it. Unfortunately ten minutes later I hear teh familiar sound of someone walking up the steps and Oz quickly jams a chair under the door handle to prevent anyone entering. I'm very thankful he did because one minute later Lisa tries to enter without even a knock. She only tries once so we hope she has given up on trying to get in, however a short while later we hear her yell "I forgot my ID!" seriously, who forgets their ID, it is vitally important for a night out on the town in the US, I know this is her first time going out, but who can be that stupid? Anyway Oz dives under the covers and I wrap my dressing gown around me and grudgingly open the door. Our embarrassment was quite public, there was not only my room mate and her boyfriend to witness this debaucle, but also our flat mate and two of her friends. I long for my own room, where you can have sex whenever you want and you can lock the door and not let anyone in...
Earlier that day I had walked in on my room mates boyfriend with only a towel covering him up, I had popped next door and left the door unlockes, but that pop turned into a cup of tea, so I decided to go and lock the door. When I got in not everything was as I'd left it, the light in my room was on, so I went to investigate, only to discover her boyfriend with just a towel covering his dignity. Another time I almost walked in on them, I had left to go to next door when a party was taking place here, so assumed that I would be able to get in and get my stuff later, but when I returned the place was all shut up, except for my room, which had been barracaded shut with a chair, did I insist on going in though? No, I just went without what I'd wanted to get, wish my room mate would do the same.
Well next September I will get my own room again, but with no Oz to enjoy the freedom with...
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thanksgiving and sickness
Yesterday was Thanksgiving and Oz and I were all set to spend it with the American family I've been partnered with. However the day before Thanksgiving I started to feel really ill with a sore throat and later bad ear ache, I went to see a nurse and got tested for a variety of throat infections, one of which came back very quickly and proved to be negative, the other I'm yet to find out about, I did however leave with a few non-prescription drugs that have largely proved to be useless. Anyway Oz and I cancelled our planned trip to the Channel Islands and hoped I'd feel better soon.
I woke up at 3am on Thanksgiving morning when Oz a sleeping Oz decided to cuddle me closer, unfortunately due to the ibuprofen wearing off (and another batch not being allowed to be taken for another hour or two) it was too painful to go back to sleep as every time I swallowed the pain woke me up again. I ended up dozing on the sofa because at least then I could sleep sitting up which was less painful. When I finally gave up the hope of further sleep and got dressed in an impressive 5 layers of tops. Needless to say I was pretty useless, I was in lots of pain but could take no more ibuprofen (why can you only have 6 in 24 hours - why?) and only had 2 paracetamol tablets left that made absolutely no difference. So I sat on the sofa moaning until Oz got up 3 hours later and produced some Tylenol from his bag which helped enough to get me out of the house.
We went for a walk along the beach, and ended up buying some food, unfortunately by this point my Tylenol hit was wearing off and I was feeling crap again. Thankfully the only shop that was open in IV sold aspirin, so I got to add that to my painkiller collection, my liver is now working overtime with trying to get rid of them all. Walking around IV was very strange, instead of the bustling place I had come to know it was more like a ghost town, very, very few people around and only one shop open. I am very grateful, I could not cope with a loud IV when I have ear ache and am feeling well and truly crap. If my neighbours call me the "English bitch" already, I dread to think of what they'd call me after I tried to politely, yet extremely firmly get them to shut the hell up.
I had hoped that the walk would make me feel marvellous, they helped a lot when I had ME, however it just made me feel worse and so I had to phone up and cancel my Thanksgiving plans, which is a real shame, I would have loved to experience a real American tradition. But it couldn't be helped and I made the right decision to cancel.
When I eventually crawled back I sat in my bed and called by family, I succeeded in really worrying my mother, but I enjoyed the chat nonetheless. Oz brought me lunch in bed, which was very sweet of him and he met my parents and sister via the wonders of Skype. After that he sat down next to me and showed me his home town of Melbourne and we discovered that he lives only 8kms from Neighbours very own Ramsay street - which in my mind means I've pulled my very own Neighbours spunk! It also means that when I visit him I can go and see the Neighbours set! He promised to go with me, which is just about the most romantic thing that has ever happened to me seeing as he hates Neighbours. But our Neighbours time did not finish there - we watched the Fraser and Rosie wedding online and the inevitable wedding disaster. Oz hated it but I patiently explained to him that its brilliance lies in its down right awfulness, he still didn't seem to understand why this made it fantastic. I'll have to convert him another day.
After that I actually went to sleep and woke up to my surprise several hours later feeling awful as all my painkillers had worn off. After very slowly making a nutritious soup for dinner and eating it even slower I felt better and Oz and I curled up on the sofa and watched Pride and Prejudice (he suggested we watch it - I am a phenomenally lucky girl!). After Pride and Prejudice we made our way to bed and enjoyed another nights disjointed sleep.
I woke up agan very early and after proving how little brain function I had by running the cold tap for about five minutes in an attempt for it to run warm, once I had found the correct tap it quickly ran warm and I climbed into the shower. I eventually got dressed and this time wore only 3 layers, although one was thermal. Again Oz lay in and I made a pathetic attempt at washing up and ended up dozing on the sofa again. I felt even worse this morning because on top of my ear ache and my sore throat I had a blocked nose and have enjoyed sinus pressure all day long.
Oz has taken really good care of me today, making me dinner, cups of tea and fetching and carrying countless things as I sit around hoplessly. He's trying desperately to get me to eat lots of fresh fruit and veg as well as anything else that counts as healthy. Unfortunately I'm not hungry and am really tired so its very difficult to eat, but he tries anyway, the darling.
At the moment Oz is sat next to me on the sofa, both of us with our laptops, him doing his zoology memorisation (he has to learn ridiculous amounts of fishes which will inevitably never come in handy ever again), and me writing this blog very slowly. I have lots of work that I should be getting on with, but I can't bring myself to do it, I just feel too ill. I can't see myself getting better very quickly and may well have to skip some classes next week unfortunately, although this does lighten my work load temporarily.
Being ill has made me realise just how great the NHS is, if I was in England I would have gone to a walk-in centre today and hopefully gone home with some advice and prescription painkillers, as it is the place my medical insurance covers is closed until Monday and they won't pay for me to go anywhere else unless I am basically about to die or am greviously injured. Friends of mine have broken feet, had crippling earache and had their feet sliced open and the medical insurance has made them pay for it. I can afford the $500ish visit to the "Emergency Room" if necessary, but my travelling would be severally affected by the loss of money, so instead I'm intending to lie on my sofa moaning until the second they open, when I'll be in the Nurse's office as soon as my lathargic body will allow me.
I woke up at 3am on Thanksgiving morning when Oz a sleeping Oz decided to cuddle me closer, unfortunately due to the ibuprofen wearing off (and another batch not being allowed to be taken for another hour or two) it was too painful to go back to sleep as every time I swallowed the pain woke me up again. I ended up dozing on the sofa because at least then I could sleep sitting up which was less painful. When I finally gave up the hope of further sleep and got dressed in an impressive 5 layers of tops. Needless to say I was pretty useless, I was in lots of pain but could take no more ibuprofen (why can you only have 6 in 24 hours - why?) and only had 2 paracetamol tablets left that made absolutely no difference. So I sat on the sofa moaning until Oz got up 3 hours later and produced some Tylenol from his bag which helped enough to get me out of the house.
We went for a walk along the beach, and ended up buying some food, unfortunately by this point my Tylenol hit was wearing off and I was feeling crap again. Thankfully the only shop that was open in IV sold aspirin, so I got to add that to my painkiller collection, my liver is now working overtime with trying to get rid of them all. Walking around IV was very strange, instead of the bustling place I had come to know it was more like a ghost town, very, very few people around and only one shop open. I am very grateful, I could not cope with a loud IV when I have ear ache and am feeling well and truly crap. If my neighbours call me the "English bitch" already, I dread to think of what they'd call me after I tried to politely, yet extremely firmly get them to shut the hell up.
I had hoped that the walk would make me feel marvellous, they helped a lot when I had ME, however it just made me feel worse and so I had to phone up and cancel my Thanksgiving plans, which is a real shame, I would have loved to experience a real American tradition. But it couldn't be helped and I made the right decision to cancel.
When I eventually crawled back I sat in my bed and called by family, I succeeded in really worrying my mother, but I enjoyed the chat nonetheless. Oz brought me lunch in bed, which was very sweet of him and he met my parents and sister via the wonders of Skype. After that he sat down next to me and showed me his home town of Melbourne and we discovered that he lives only 8kms from Neighbours very own Ramsay street - which in my mind means I've pulled my very own Neighbours spunk! It also means that when I visit him I can go and see the Neighbours set! He promised to go with me, which is just about the most romantic thing that has ever happened to me seeing as he hates Neighbours. But our Neighbours time did not finish there - we watched the Fraser and Rosie wedding online and the inevitable wedding disaster. Oz hated it but I patiently explained to him that its brilliance lies in its down right awfulness, he still didn't seem to understand why this made it fantastic. I'll have to convert him another day.
After that I actually went to sleep and woke up to my surprise several hours later feeling awful as all my painkillers had worn off. After very slowly making a nutritious soup for dinner and eating it even slower I felt better and Oz and I curled up on the sofa and watched Pride and Prejudice (he suggested we watch it - I am a phenomenally lucky girl!). After Pride and Prejudice we made our way to bed and enjoyed another nights disjointed sleep.
I woke up agan very early and after proving how little brain function I had by running the cold tap for about five minutes in an attempt for it to run warm, once I had found the correct tap it quickly ran warm and I climbed into the shower. I eventually got dressed and this time wore only 3 layers, although one was thermal. Again Oz lay in and I made a pathetic attempt at washing up and ended up dozing on the sofa again. I felt even worse this morning because on top of my ear ache and my sore throat I had a blocked nose and have enjoyed sinus pressure all day long.
Oz has taken really good care of me today, making me dinner, cups of tea and fetching and carrying countless things as I sit around hoplessly. He's trying desperately to get me to eat lots of fresh fruit and veg as well as anything else that counts as healthy. Unfortunately I'm not hungry and am really tired so its very difficult to eat, but he tries anyway, the darling.
At the moment Oz is sat next to me on the sofa, both of us with our laptops, him doing his zoology memorisation (he has to learn ridiculous amounts of fishes which will inevitably never come in handy ever again), and me writing this blog very slowly. I have lots of work that I should be getting on with, but I can't bring myself to do it, I just feel too ill. I can't see myself getting better very quickly and may well have to skip some classes next week unfortunately, although this does lighten my work load temporarily.
Being ill has made me realise just how great the NHS is, if I was in England I would have gone to a walk-in centre today and hopefully gone home with some advice and prescription painkillers, as it is the place my medical insurance covers is closed until Monday and they won't pay for me to go anywhere else unless I am basically about to die or am greviously injured. Friends of mine have broken feet, had crippling earache and had their feet sliced open and the medical insurance has made them pay for it. I can afford the $500ish visit to the "Emergency Room" if necessary, but my travelling would be severally affected by the loss of money, so instead I'm intending to lie on my sofa moaning until the second they open, when I'll be in the Nurse's office as soon as my lathargic body will allow me.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Birthday time
A few days ago that annual event came round again for the twentieth time. Turning 20 seemed a dull affair, I am able to do no more things than I was able to previously, the only positive (besides having an excuse to party) was that I am no longer a teenager, I haven't felt like one for over four years, so its about time I turned 20. My birthday started well - at the stroke of midnight I was studying really hard on a subject that I don't like, and for a while the next morning it continued in the same vein.
Once I'd woken up my day started properly it got off to a bad start with a big dose of homesickness, opening presents from my family highlighted how far from home I am and how little we know about each other at the moment. I went to an exceptionally dull lecture quite emotional, barely not crying and whilst being unable to concentrate on the lecture I decided to renounce my birthday. Unfortunately thanks to facebook announcing my birthday to all my friends it was impossible to pretend it wasn't, in fact one of my friends told my Arabic teacher and she got everyone to sing me happy birthday in Arabic. So my birthday forced itself upon me.
I almost did not open the rest of my presents, I wasn't sure I could face it without breaking down again, but I braved it and was very glad to have done so. My best friends had sent me a wonderful package of lots of little presents, they were not at all expensive, but they were so well thought through, they had put so much effort into making it. It made me cry for all the right reasons, it really made my birthday.
After opening the presents I went shopping for drinks for my party, well I didn't actually buy them, being too young, but I went with my English friend from next door and she physically brought them. I spent almost $200 on alcohol, but I got probably 8 litres of high-quality spirits (no cheap crap for my guests!), 4 bottles of sparkling wine and a case of Newcastle Brown, alcohol is much cheaper in America. I know that it may sound like I've spent a lot of money on alcohol, but I'd easily spend that much on alcohol within a month in England and I've hardly spent any money on alcohol since being here. Anyway, it was my birthday!
It had been quite a tiring day what with loads of studying, shopping and being homesick and so when I eventually got to see Oz I basically collapsed on his sofa. He was very sweet with me though and gave me a cuddle. For my birthday he got me a head torch (a torch on a headband, a bit like a caving torch - to any American reading this I mean a flashlight, I'm not in the habit of holding flaming torches to my head), he was really excited about just how useful it would be for our camping trip next weekend and how I should wear it whilst walking around IV, which I point blank refused to do, I don't try to be cool, but that is taking my geeky side too far. I had my apartment to myself and so we decided to get a take-away and have a romantic meal by ourselves. I sent Oz off to go and buy the food and tidied up and set the table, although having said that I couldn't use the lighter and so had to get Oz to light the candle. We had a lovely Vietnamese meal with a bottle of sparkling wine.
After dinner we cuddled on the sofa and watched an Indiana Jones film (Oz loves those films and I've been promising to watch those with him for weeks). We also drank a fair few cocktails (we had to test them out for my party) and got quite squiffy. All in all my birthday was pretty good.
This Friday I had my party and held a cocktail one, I love cocktails but cannot go and have them in bars, so I decided to bring them to me. It was also a good excuse to wear one of my nice dresses that I haven't had the chance to yet.
Typically I wasn't ready for the party it started despite having spent the afternoon cleaning and getting ready, when my first guests arrived I was in the bathroom getting dressed. Thankfully Oz had helped me set up and played the role of host. Soon enough I had drinks in all my guests hands and was playing the role of good hostess. I quickly discovered a real advantage to having a bloke at a cocktail party - you can steal their drinks with no feelings of guilt, and so get to try far more. I did try a few of my female friends ones, but it was more fun to nick Oz's, I got to cuddle up to him in the process.
Despite inviting plenty of Americans very few turned up and I had loads of international students in my apartment. This meant that when I lit the candles on my birthday cake I had happy birthday sung in not just English but Japanese, French and Dutch. I was dunk enough to really appreciate the variety. My party quickly got very busy and popular, and just as quickly people got very drunk. I am forever indebted to my English next door neighbour for getting far more pissed than me, apparently she was falling over so her boyfriend took her home. The last few hours of the party seemed to disappear, and before I knew it there was only 6 of us left, but for some reason the bathroom door was locked and no one knew who was inside. Five minutes later a very drunk Dutch guy stumbled out leaving vomit in the sink, lovely.
The next morning I awoke late to a messy apartment and a slight hangover. I had to be in Santa Barbara a few hours later so quickly got dressed and tried to tidy up. I discovered that a had no vodka or Bacardi left and very, very little Bombay sapphire, which is the only alcohol I really cared for. Ahh well, I'll just have to get Oz to buy me some. It had been a great party.
Once I'd woken up my day started properly it got off to a bad start with a big dose of homesickness, opening presents from my family highlighted how far from home I am and how little we know about each other at the moment. I went to an exceptionally dull lecture quite emotional, barely not crying and whilst being unable to concentrate on the lecture I decided to renounce my birthday. Unfortunately thanks to facebook announcing my birthday to all my friends it was impossible to pretend it wasn't, in fact one of my friends told my Arabic teacher and she got everyone to sing me happy birthday in Arabic. So my birthday forced itself upon me.
I almost did not open the rest of my presents, I wasn't sure I could face it without breaking down again, but I braved it and was very glad to have done so. My best friends had sent me a wonderful package of lots of little presents, they were not at all expensive, but they were so well thought through, they had put so much effort into making it. It made me cry for all the right reasons, it really made my birthday.
After opening the presents I went shopping for drinks for my party, well I didn't actually buy them, being too young, but I went with my English friend from next door and she physically brought them. I spent almost $200 on alcohol, but I got probably 8 litres of high-quality spirits (no cheap crap for my guests!), 4 bottles of sparkling wine and a case of Newcastle Brown, alcohol is much cheaper in America. I know that it may sound like I've spent a lot of money on alcohol, but I'd easily spend that much on alcohol within a month in England and I've hardly spent any money on alcohol since being here. Anyway, it was my birthday!
It had been quite a tiring day what with loads of studying, shopping and being homesick and so when I eventually got to see Oz I basically collapsed on his sofa. He was very sweet with me though and gave me a cuddle. For my birthday he got me a head torch (a torch on a headband, a bit like a caving torch - to any American reading this I mean a flashlight, I'm not in the habit of holding flaming torches to my head), he was really excited about just how useful it would be for our camping trip next weekend and how I should wear it whilst walking around IV, which I point blank refused to do, I don't try to be cool, but that is taking my geeky side too far. I had my apartment to myself and so we decided to get a take-away and have a romantic meal by ourselves. I sent Oz off to go and buy the food and tidied up and set the table, although having said that I couldn't use the lighter and so had to get Oz to light the candle. We had a lovely Vietnamese meal with a bottle of sparkling wine.
After dinner we cuddled on the sofa and watched an Indiana Jones film (Oz loves those films and I've been promising to watch those with him for weeks). We also drank a fair few cocktails (we had to test them out for my party) and got quite squiffy. All in all my birthday was pretty good.
This Friday I had my party and held a cocktail one, I love cocktails but cannot go and have them in bars, so I decided to bring them to me. It was also a good excuse to wear one of my nice dresses that I haven't had the chance to yet.
Typically I wasn't ready for the party it started despite having spent the afternoon cleaning and getting ready, when my first guests arrived I was in the bathroom getting dressed. Thankfully Oz had helped me set up and played the role of host. Soon enough I had drinks in all my guests hands and was playing the role of good hostess. I quickly discovered a real advantage to having a bloke at a cocktail party - you can steal their drinks with no feelings of guilt, and so get to try far more. I did try a few of my female friends ones, but it was more fun to nick Oz's, I got to cuddle up to him in the process.
Despite inviting plenty of Americans very few turned up and I had loads of international students in my apartment. This meant that when I lit the candles on my birthday cake I had happy birthday sung in not just English but Japanese, French and Dutch. I was dunk enough to really appreciate the variety. My party quickly got very busy and popular, and just as quickly people got very drunk. I am forever indebted to my English next door neighbour for getting far more pissed than me, apparently she was falling over so her boyfriend took her home. The last few hours of the party seemed to disappear, and before I knew it there was only 6 of us left, but for some reason the bathroom door was locked and no one knew who was inside. Five minutes later a very drunk Dutch guy stumbled out leaving vomit in the sink, lovely.
The next morning I awoke late to a messy apartment and a slight hangover. I had to be in Santa Barbara a few hours later so quickly got dressed and tried to tidy up. I discovered that a had no vodka or Bacardi left and very, very little Bombay sapphire, which is the only alcohol I really cared for. Ahh well, I'll just have to get Oz to buy me some. It had been a great party.
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