January 14

Woke up, made a late breakfast, then decided to paint my room! Lina and Jillian had painted the living room and dining room, and their rooms over the break, so Lina suggested that if I didn't have anything better to do, I could paint mine! So, at about 1pm, I taped off my room and painted! Whew! What a workout. It took all afternoon and I finished just as the sun was going down. I'll have to do some touch-ups tomorrow, so I still have my bed in the middle of the room, tarped off. But I was too tired and my back hurt too much to continue today. Made some dinner and am currently relaxing before bed (which I think I'll have to sleep on the couch!).

I can't believe we leave for Cambodia in two days. I'm not really ready for it. I'm so sick of traveling and I'm very nervous that we don't have any places booked or even a plan. I hate being the one to coordinate everything and so I'm trying to be better about going with the flow, but doing so in a 3rd world country makes me worry. Usually, I like to plan things to make sure I get to see everything I want to see, but I guess I'll just have to suck it up and say OK, I'll see what I see and the rest is just going to be experienced... Hopefully it will be a good trip and not too hard on me (in terms of my picky eating, crappy accommodations, etc).

January 13

On Wednesday, we woke up and Hilary went for a hike... Downloaded Thailand photos from the other girls. Did some laundry and because the flood levels reached very close to the 1974 record, Michael decided to have a party ('74 themed), so we got ready for that, helped him bring the Barbecue upstairs and drank with some of his friends. We bonded with his girlfriend and had a little jacuzzi action, went to bed around midnight. Not too shabby.

January 12

After many moons in Thailand and the US, I returned to Oz. Great memories in Thailand with my roomies and then home to visit loved ones, in which I gained a boyfriend. Long distance will be hard, so we'll see if we can weather it. I arrived at 8am, with my friend Hilary. She will be coming with us to Cambodia and Vietnam, and thus staying with us for the next 4 days in Brisbane. My call phone was out of batteries and it took about an hour to get our luggage, the whole time I was worried about charging my phone so that I could call Lina and see if she would be able to pick us up or not. Hilary got caught up by the drug dog, so I exited customs and tried to charge my phone. I ran into Lina who had been waiting for a while. So, we loaded the car with my bags and I waited a long time for Hilary. She told me she had brought food, because she has a pretty special diet, but you're not supposed to bring food into foreign countries! Apparently, she lied on the customs form and said she wasn't bringing in food, so hey made her pay a fine of $220!! Oh well!

Lina and Matt picked us up and we went straight to the grocery store because of the flooding in Brisbane, we needed to stock up on food supplies in case we couldn't get back out to a store in the next few days and in case we ran out of power. Got back, and then I pretty much set into veg mode..  I felt a little bad for Hilary, because there was nothing to do or see since Brisbane was so flooded. We watched the news which was non-stop flood coverage. Hilary walked into town with Jillian to pick up some more food. They walked around by Rosalie which was completely flooded and Lina also walked with her boyfriend to the river and reported how high the waters were. In the afternoon, Michael offered to walk with us and the dogs around the neighborhood and check out the floods. So, Jillian, Hilary, Michael's girlfriend Bronwyn and I all took off. We walked through some pretty deep, muddy ponds:

We walked to Michael's friend's house (Matt) and dropped the dogs off so we could get closer to the river. Matt dropped us off in his rape (bicycle) van, which was nice. The river was so high it was over the bike and walking path along Coronation Drive.

We walked back on the freeway, which was dead with no cars and over to Suncorp Stadium.

 

 

It was pretty bad to see all of the flooding. So we walked back to Paddington, got a drink at a wine bar, then took a cab home. Made some dinner, and then bed!

October 30

A little hung over, we went to breakfast at Pando's. Then went to run a couple errands (bug spray for our trip and hardware store). We bought a mailbox for Michael as his Christmas present, because the one outside is a piece of crap, and some paint to try out on the walls! =) In the afternoon, I used some of the paint to paint the mailbox roof red and I put the numbers and Michael's name on the box. It looks pretty good. We are PRETTY sure that Michael's nickname is Box, so we also put that on the mailbox. It's now called the "BonnerBox"!! haha Hopefully he will like it. Then Lina and I went out to a fancy dinner on Park Road, and Jillian went off to Joe's house. Lina and I made some cards to go with our gift and then Lina passed out. I went to pack for Thailand and USA!!! Ahhh..

Here's a photo of the BonnerBox and cards that we made.

While I was in my room, a gecko crawled on my window and it had a double tail!! Eww.. Photo:

October 29

I had to go turn in my papers today, so I went to campus, printed out a bunch of stuff, turned them in, stopped by my professor's office to see if she was there to chat about her recent trip to LA, but she wasn't. Then I went to Oktoberfest and ate an expensive burrito. I didn't know anyone there, so I left and went home to rest before going out. I met Jane and Andy and Hans, etc downtown and we had a Korean BBQ at Andy's house. I poured strong drinks and got Jane and Hans pretty smashed. Whoops. We played some fun drinking games like 3,6,9 and Baskin Robbins and another one with numbers. Then headed downtown to the Victory. Around 1:30, I cabbed home.

Here's a bunch of the people from my program that we went out with:

October 28

Thursday, I had class, so I went to campus and not that many people showed up. Noel, the professor is quite funny and his lecture today was pretty interesting. So we all just kind of joked around a bunch. One of my classmates said they are looking for a secretary to be involved in the TSA (Tourism Student Association). I was a little interested, so I talked to the guy after class about it. It seems like only about 1-2 hours per week, and it will look decent on my resume, so I'm thinking about doing it. Secretary role is pretty minor, too, so shouldn't be too much out of my league. Then I bussed home and finished up my papers! DONE WITH MY PROJECTS!! Yesss...

October 27

Wednesday, stayed in all day writing papers, and editing our group project. Since it was the last time we would see Michael for a long time, we had dinner upstairs with him. Pepe's Mexican food (surprisingly good!!) and beer. Good to have some "family time".  Then we continued working on papers until late. I finished mine and just left conclusions and editing for the day before they were due. Whoo!

October 26

On Tuesday, even though we didn't have class, our regular group met for our project on the MS Walk to compare notes and finalize stuff. Because I stayed up late the night before, writing my paper, I was soo tired. Got home at 3pm and made some breakfast, then finished up my part for the group project, made dinner at 11pm, wrote 1,000 words for another paper and did the dishes at 4am and went to sleep.

At 4am, I was the first in the house to get to bed. Jillian and Lina continued studying at home and at the library, respectively, finishing projects that were due the next day. Grad School sucks!

October 25

Didn't leave the house, studied all day!

One interesting thing is that I got a text from Pancakes, randomly. Last I talked to him was our 2nd date and I was kind-of over it, so I never really texted him after that. And he didn't text me, so I assumed the feeling was mutual. So, out of the blue, months later, I get a text. He wants to see me. I told him I'm leaving on Sunday and have no time. He doesn't really take no for an answer, but he has pretty much zero chance, so I tell him that it's weird that I don't talk to him for months and now suddenly he's desperate to see me. He tells me I'm one of the top 3 coolest people he's met in Brisbane and since he's leaving in Jan, he just wants to say goodbye. I don't believe any of that for a second. So I didn't respond. Oh well. At least after January, I'll be able to go back to the TinBilly bar again! Good luck to him and his future playing Hockey for a Euro team...

October 24

On Sunday, I slept til noon (Don't know why I've been staying up til 3-4am and then sleeping til noon lately). Worked on my paper for the afternoon. Flea bombed the house because of Jasper, and washed my sheets, cleaned my room. Then, Gabrielle came over, drank some wine and we discussed Thailand and booked some hotels!

October 23

Saturday, ummm woke up late, studied all day. That is all. Jillian went out and Lina was studying late at the library. I stayed home.

October 22

Friday, woke up and spent the morning organizing my itineraries for upcoming trips! Thailand, USA, Cambodia, Vietnam! Ahh

I realized that I will be on 15 flights in the next four months! What a jetsetter!! I'm beginning to think this is an addiction. Can someone be addicted to travel? Oh well. Then, I didn't really do much until I had to go to the MS Moonlight Walk. It was for a group assignment on Sponsorship at events. So, I went to scope out the sponsors at the event and take pictures, etc. Came home, watched a movie with Jillian and now it's already bedtime!

Photo of the walk, playing around with a slow shutter speed:

October 21

In the states, today is October 20th and GLAAD created a "Spirit Day", asking people to wear purple in support of anti-bullying for Gay/Lesbian people. Even though it is already the 21st in Australia, I wore purple to show my support. I went to campus, picked up some prescriptions at the Pharmacy and then took them to the nurse at the health center so she could inject me with multiple viruses. She said she could only do 4 at a time, so she gave me Tetanus/Diphtheria and FluVax in one arm, Hep A and Typhoid in the other. ugh. I didn't get Polio, so I'll have to go back for that one. Then I went to eat and searched for flights to Cambodia on the computer. Class was pretty boring, but glad I went. Jane was sick so she sat really far away from everyone - good thing, because I don't need her flu with all the other things my immune system is trying to handle right now. Jillian called in class, having a little freak out moment, so I met up with her after class ended and had some coffee. She's been working so hard, holed up in a room for days and days, working on her papers, that she was missing some human interaction. Lina met us, too and we all kinda just stared at each other, blankly, all so tired and stressed and not really talking about much. Finally, Lina and I went home, my arm was hurting like a BITCH from the typhoid, but I stretched it a little which seemed to make it feel a bit better after a while. Lina and I went to the store and got ingredients for salsa and guacamole, then came home and she made those while I searched for cheap flights to Cambodia and Vietnam. We found some, so as soon as Jillian got home from class, we booked them! YAY! We're officially going. Lina says I don't need to get a Polio booster since I've had it as a kid. I looked it up on the internet, and confirmed that it is unnecessary to get it twice in your life! So, I'm not going back for that. Done with shots!!  After dinner, we drove up to the top of Mt. Coot-tha to see the beautiful view of the city at night, under a full moon! Nice to have a little distraction for all of us!

October 20

Well, Because I didn't sleep until 3am, I couldn't wake up for class. Surprise, Surprise! Luckily it was bullshit, so I don't care. I had to go to campus anyway, though because I had a doctor appointment to get medicines for my trip to South East Asia! I arrived almost an hour early, but luckily was seen right away! Unfortunately, I didn't bring any money with me, so I couldn't get the medicines. I'll have to go back tomorrow after I pick up the prescriptions from the pharmacy to get the actual injections! OUCH. She scared me quite a bit with all of the things I can contract in Cambodia, etc!! Mosquitoes that carry fatal diseases, etc!! WTF. Also, I'm getting tons of vaccines! Malaria pills, flu shot, MMR shot for measles and mumps, Japanese encephalitis, Hep A and Hep B, rabies, mengecoccus or something, and typhoid. Lina said typhoid is the WORST because it makes you sore all over your muscles! So I'm pretty nervous about that. I just boosted up on some vitamins so I can hopefully fight off the fluvax! ugh. ANNDD it's expensive!! $110 for all of that shit. We better be going to Cambodia (still need to plan that trip) because I'm not getting all this shit for nothing!

Also, today was the 19th anniversary of the fire that destroyed my home. I can't believe it's been so long. It feels like such a big part of my life and it doesn't seem possible that it was 20 years ago. It still feels like 10 years ago. What a difference 19 years makes, I guess! hah  (Family joke)

October 19

I couldn't go to sleep until late, so I slept in and then went to my weekly group meeting to discuss our topic - the Moonlight Walk for MS. Fun stuff. Boring class with freezing cold A/C as always. Then picked up my assignment on MLB, which I did pretty well on, but there were no comments to say what I could have done better! UGH. Oh well. Not gonna complain. I needed that because the other assignment in that class is the group video which I don't think I did so hot on. Came home and worked on my sponsorship proposal (for the MS group project) and didn't go to sleep until very late again.

October 18

Monday, NO CLASS! Whoooo... But I had to go to campus anyway to attend a meeting about a field study course that I might take during my break in July 2011. It goes to Italy! Whooo. What a great excuse to go back to Italy... And get rid of some credits before my final semester in which I will be dying with my thesis! It seemed like there were a lot of undergrads in the room (it's an undergrad and post-grad course), so who knows if I will go. It is also expensive, and I'm not sure I want to go back and see all of the same sights again. It also takes up a good chunk of my break, which means less time (and $$) to go back home or travel elsewhere! We'll see, though. I put my name on the list, so at least I have a spot and can decline later. The girls and I borrowed Michael's car and did a big grocery store run, then came home to find the entire street blocked off because they are doing construction. It continued into the night, until about 4am. UGHHH

October 17

More study all day. Took a break to take the dogs to the park and throw the Frisbee around for a bit. That's it. No more fun life stories in Australia!

October 16

Saturday,
Oh remember the days when we used to go out and do things!? Nope, not anymore. We were studying all day. Lina decided to take the stitches out of Jasper, because no one was taking him to the vet. So, she got some tweezers and scissors and I held Jasper down. In the process of this, I saw that he had fleas all over. Like ALLL OVER.. Very disgusting. Anyway, we pulled the stitches out and then I immediately stripped and showered. Halfway through the day, we walked to Rosalie with the dogs and got a snack and a couple grocery store things. Lina went to a BBQ at a friend's house and Jillian and I ordered pizza and stayed in studying for the rest of the night, until about 2am.

October 15

studied all day. jasper ran away, had an interesting conversation with Joe about feminism where I took a surprising stance. That's it.

October 14

Thursday I slept in and then went to class, where there was a guest lecturer. He immediately saw that I was the only white person in class and asked if I was Australian. I said NO! I'm from the US!  He told me he lived in San Jose and Oregon for a while. And then during the entire class, kept referring to me and "American culture". UGH! At one point he asked if anyone liked shopping. Most girls raised their hands and he made some sexist comment. Then he asked if we liked shopping for food! Jane and I thought about it and raised our hands. He saw us and told us if we liked shopping for food, we must have no life and must really need a boyfriend!! The entire class laughed at us! GREAT... He was pretty lively, which kept people engaged, but the material he went over was soo basic and boring. Then I walked with some of my classmates over to the Business School building so he could upload a photo from my camera. Then I walked to find Lina studying in the Law library and bought her a Monster drink and headed back home. Made some dinner and then worked on my paper.