A Quandary

Mondays aren't so bad when you are unemployed! Although I did already mess up the one thing I had on my agenda to do today. I was supposed to go in and get my blood test after fasting. Too bad I just breakfasted! I spent half an hour after I woke up farting about throwing things to take to Sydney on my bed and feeling Oh So Organised, got distracted by a phone call afterwhich I headed straight for the kitchen and a bowl of Weetbix (is that like "sheep" where the plural is the same form as the singular? Should it be bowl of Weetbi?). I then came back into my bedroom thought "So what's on the agenda for this morning, why am I up so early??" Oh yeah. I guess that will just have to wait until I get back in 2 weeks time.

Some of you may recall that I spent a bit of time in Japan complaining about being bored at work. Well now I am about to complain about being bored at home! Looking back over events in my life, it is clear that I am simply a much happier, more content person when I am flat chat with things to do and places to be coming out of my ears. So I am trying to get back to that place as soon as possible. If you can believe it I am actually a tad impatient at having 2 weeks out of here in Sydney because it is throwing a spanner in my Find Job and Place To Live plans. Then there is also the slight disruption to progression caused by my indecision over what to do next. I could look for full time work, and just yesterday I found a job that I would actually really love to get which is adding extra stress to the composition of resumes and cover letters. Or I could go back to uni in second semester and do a Graduate Diploma in Applied Linguistics which would expand my job horizons since it would qualify me to teach English at tertiary level, and perhaps Japanese too. But that would mean returning to my previous miserly student lifestyle where it would be impossible to save any more money for travel after I finish next year. Actually that is the one thing I can say I definitely want to do; travel. I've been looking up places and ways to do volunteer work overseas. It's hardly a display of altruism though; it's all part of a grand plan to learn Spanish and that kind of stuff never looks bad on your resume.

So plenty of options but as yet no "sign". I'm not waiting for the clothes line to be hit by lightning (that's the traditional sign isn't it?), just for the vibe to be right again. I never make big decisions against my gut feeling, but at the moment I don't have a gut feeling. There's no vibe.

Last night I had a very enlightening conversation with someone I haven't spoken to in a very long time. She said a few things that were pertinent to my life both in the way she intended and also in other ways. I took a few things away from it; Don't be bottling things up, better to just share because the response you get can surprise and teach you - plus it saves you worrying about something that doesn't need worrying about anyway! Don't be ashamed of your actions if they are right for you, if others don't understand perhaps they are not people you want in your life. I reckon it's much easier to conceal your feelings than to share them, but the most good comes of sharing them. I'm going to try and be more brave in that respect.

Some shots

Some yesterday and some today.

Flinders Street Station

That's not Melbourne, that's me enroute to Melbourne

Some of the 12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Rd, the water was so beautiful and down on the sand there was a penguin footprint highway leading up to the rocks. Very cute.

Blue blue is the colour I see...

Melbourne; quite a tops place

Just returned from my trip to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Rd. Weather was wonderful the whole time and the drive was more than pleasant. Stopped at the usual places along the way and took a few snaps. 12 Apostles was really gorgeous but I can't help but notice that there aren't really 12 of them. I counted about 6. I know one of them fell down, but where are the rest? My only complaint would be that they have just turned the viewing area into a bit of an over-developed nice clean walkway. I guess it impresses the internationals, but it was all a bit clinical I thought. I'd much rather just wander down a narrow gravel track like you do at some of the less popular spots. I'll upload some photos when I can find an internet connection up to the task. When I was in Japan I heard some news about Australia's broadband internet being sub-par and you know I am inclined to believe it because everytime I use a computer here it has massive issues doing things like uploading photos and opening blogger that I never had trouble with in Japan. I am used to clicking on a page and being there before I have time to wait, here it is a bit of a patience tester just getting into my hotmail account.

Well, back to Melbourne. Didn't spend too much time there, but did have one whole day. Spent much of it in Brunswick Street actually. Kinda dirty looking street but with heaps of little boutique type shops that you don't see very often in Adelaide with great vintage clothing. Heaps of cosy looking cafes and restaurants. I am a little bit of a fan of a place where you can go in and hide in the corner and people walking past can't just see what you are all up to. The trend these days for cafes seems to be for fishbowl type arrangements where there is no privacy at all. But there seemed to be more of an abundance of cosy little places over there. Had a meal at a fabulous vegetarian place there with a very friendly waitress and some lovely wine (although it was SA wine!). Actually I found the people in Melbourne to be very friendly on the whole. I think I'd like to go back with some more time perhaps and see some of the other streets!

More travelling

Tomorrow I am off to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Rd and very excited about it. Mum told me yesterday that I have been to Melbourne when I was very little. But I have no clear memories of it, only of eating an icecream in the front garden of an elderly relative. I hope to add a few more lasting memories this trip. When i get back I am going to be jumping on a plane to Sydney and spending a couple of weeks hanging out with some old school mates over there. Looking forward to that heaps. But it's not all fun and games, I have been looking in the Careers section and applied for a job at Centrelink! How hilarious would it be if, after all those uni student years of living off of them, I ended up working for them and still getting my income from them. I imagine it's a pretty shitty job, but they pay's not bad, certainly enough for me to save up enough biccies for my European adventure next year. Last week of August, La Tomatina in Spain - if I'm not there I will not be happy.

Korea shots

A policeman adjusts himself. Or maybe he's doing a Michael Jackson impersonation?

My tour group and the spazzo friend who I stayed with. The tour guide NEVER shut up the whole time. Probably it was very interesting except that it was all in Korean and my friend would only translate about 10 seconds worth of talk for every 10 minutes - she said she was cutting out the boring bits...

The cherry blossoms were out already in Korea too, and plenty of other flowers too. I was told the name of the yellow flowers on the left but now I can't remember it, except that if you pronounce it wrong it is a fairly rude insult!