Once more...with feelings

As a follow up to my list of things that are always good, I was going to write a list of things that are always sexy. However, I'm holding it off because after running some of the items by some others, I'm finding the topic somewhat controversial. I'm sure it'll be up here at some point.

But back to proper life, today I worked at the florist and I entertained some nice young men at the local hardware store by demonstrating my complete ignorance of metalwork and different types of surfaces that you can paint on.

Missy Higgins' *The Special Two*

Hmm, I'm finding this a surprisingly difficult review to write considering how much I love this song. And for all its depressing ability, I do love this song. For those who haven't heard it, the song pretty much tells the story of a girl post dumping. She did some kind of wrong that resulted in her getting dumped and she's been wallowing for a few days, and has now made a vow to make it up to her ex until they become *the special two* again.

I'll break this up into the three components of why I like this song.

Firstly, the lyrics - http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/missyhiggins/thespecialtwo.html
I think they're simply brilliant in the way they capture the desperation of her attitude at the realisation of what she's lost, but also the joy at what they were when they were together as well as including the reminder that by reliving a relationship over and over in your mind, it prolongs the pain and prevents one from moving on. The lines are particularly intense in the chorus, about *these hands/arms will not be taught to hold/need another*.

Secondly, the manner in which it is sung. I personally am not a big fan of Missy Higgins and in her other songs, find her broad accent distracting. But in this instance, I find it quite effective. For instance, the broadness at the beginning when she's singing about not having seen the sun and with a whiskey hangover, in comparison to the sweetness of how she *will fight for you*, and then the passion of the chorus. Many times while she's singing, the moments when she inhales a breath are clearly audible. To me, these add to the desperation of her situation, it is so important to her that she must confess all this that she's breathless.

The music/instrumentation. It comes in a series of waves. It starts off with just her and a piano and slowly a string section and backing singers come in with a crescendo over the chorus, which disappear again at the beginning of the second verse. In the third verse, the song narrative moves from interior to exterior view and is accompanied by a key change with quick short notes before returning to the original. Its as if the external world has kept on moving whereas she's stuck in her break-up/irrational state of mind, out of rhythm with everyone else.

The intensity of the lyrics, the feeling underlying her singing, the emotional rollercoaster of the music...these three components in conjunction, result in a song so depressing, so disturbing, so brilliant...it leaves me drained. Or as Su-ling says, "It gives me goosebumps." 'Nuff said.

Things that are always good

The feeling of different materials (silk, cotton, cashmere, velvet etc)
Running your palm over a freshly shaved hair
Waking with the warmth of sunbeams on your legs
Biting into a hard apple and having the juice burst into your mouth
Hearing a song that you'd forgotten how much you used to like
A newly sparkling clean shower
Freshly tumble-dried clothes
Having the nape of your neck rubbed
The smell of baked goods
Wearing hot rollers
Dancing
Any book that has sparkling conversation between the main characters
Laughing babies that smell like baby powder
Gelati on a hot day
Wearing really high, kick ass, f*ck you shoes
Being able to take those shoes off after wearing them for more than 6 hours
Rose petals
When expected packages arrive and you get to rip them open

I'll continue this another day!

laundry

Doing my laundry is probably the only chore i really enjoy doing while I do it. There's something therapeutic about carefully sorting them into black or colour wash (I dont wash in hot water so I dont worry too much about colour running, and wash bright colours like red by themselves for the first few washes). And then carefully examining them for stains that need special attention. And the way they smell after washing and drying. I love the smell and feel of fresh, clean laundry. I wear a lot of cotton.

The happiness I get from doing laundry isnt the same as when you clean the bathroom. I mean, there's a lot of satisfaction in seeing a shower cubicle shining...but the actual cleaning of it, unless you get off on the fumes of the cleaner (I use domestos)...its not the same

Progress report

I feel like I'm not progressing in my honours experiments. I know thats partly because my knock-out mice still arent ready, but also partly cos when I see the other students all gowned and gloved up, I cant help but think that in comparison I'm very rarely wearing gown and gloves.

There's something about...

hitmen. Or at least, ppl who can regularly kill other people without compunction yet not become psychopaths. In *Hunter's Moon*, the "hero" is a hitman and it doesnt shy away from what he does for a living. It has several scenes of him killing people or planning to kill people without him batting an eyelid about morals. Or as he says, if he didnt do the job, there are others out there who would, and at least he sees it as business and not fun.

At the risk of sounding like a psychopath myself, thats intriguing. But I dont think I could ever become a hitwoman. I'd probably end up talking about it here :-P

stupid things i do

On Thursday, I was taking the bus home from uni/city. I was reading a book (Hunter's Moon by CT Adams & C Clamp) and was so engrossed that I missed my stop. I actually missed quite a few stops. After crossing the road, I considered calling someone to see if they could take me home...but then the bus going in the opposite direction (ie, back to my place) came trundling along and it took me home.

Tonight, I decided to party and to wear my Paris shoes. They're great shoes and I'm regularly asked where I got them from. However, I cant seem to wear them for more than 6 hours without loads of pain. No matter, I wore them anyway! And now my feet hurt.

Just stupid things I do

wednesday

Today I had a very lazy day at uni.

10:30- Came in
10:45- started reading newspaper
11:00- looked at slides
12:00- went to lunch
1:30- returned to dept, conversed with others in tea room
2:00- returned to looking at slides, with many happy disruptions
3:00- listened to andrea's presentation
3:30- confessed to marg that I cracked a slide
3:40- went home

I think that's less than 2 hours work done today

Categorising people based on their degrees

Today I had an argument with someone on the subject of pornography, my attitude being that to have sex for the delictation/entertainment of others was degrading to the *performers*, the opposition being that since people chose to do porn theyre not being degraded. He then went on to express surprise at my stance because as an *Arts Student* he would have thought I'd have a more liberal view since *Arts students have open views on nudity, sex, etc*.

Gee, why not say I also have dreadlocks and dress in cheesecloth? Arts covers a wide range of disciplines from History and Philosophy of Science to Catalan, from Business Law to Theology. I can take a great deal of teasing on how my arts studies are completely useless (and as an Art History major, I agree to an extent), but to say what my attitudes SHOULD be based on what I studied is not only insulting to me as a student and an individual, but also to the thousands of other arts students out there. To infer that people choose to enrol in an arts degree on the basis that we get to converse about sex on a regular basis is indicates lack of comprehension of what it entails.

To say that I should agree with him based on my area of study, an open variable, is incorrect. Of course, I could turn the same argument that his acceptance of porn is related to his own degree...but that'd be sinking to the same level.

Future life plan

Ordinarily, I would not consider myself ambitious. Despite my parents' most ardent wishes, I did not shoot for the sky and do medicine but chose instead nice and sedate arts/science. Instead of seeking to be a prize-winning student, I decided to work at a comfortable pace and achieve respectable grades. Now after 7 (yes, shocking isnt it?) years as an undergraduate, I have to make some big choices about my future.

Option 1 is that I follow my scientific bent and continue my studies into a Phd.
Option 2 is that I follow my scientific bent but instead work.
Option 3 is that I follow my arts bent and do...god knows what
Option 4 is that I dont work in any of my studied fields....and do god knows what.

So far I'm leaning towards options 1 and 2. possibly more 2 cos I want to get out and work. But if i do 1, I have the potential not only to earn more but to be able to move out of my field into something else. But I only want to do 1 if i can do it overseas, preferably in Cambridge, UK or Columbia in NY. And then somewhere I need to fit in marriage, kids (3), and pets.

I hear this makes me ambitious indeed :-P

U2 - All I want is you

Everytime I listen to this song (last night walking home from the bus stop), I'm struck by how great it is. The guitar intro, the string section, Bono screaming the *you...all i want is you* bit that begins 3minute 27 seconds into the song, its like his guts are being slowly pulled out by the girl (I assume its a girl) he's singing to. Then followed by the guitar crescendo and then the slow comedown with the strings again.

When I was walking home as the song was going, the wind started up and started blowing my hair around just as the screaming and the guitars were going and then went away around the comedown.

And I just had to say *Wow*

Sleep

What can I say? It's a wonderful thing. Today (Friday) I was supposed to have a meeting with my supervisor about my weekly progress and plan for the next week at 9:30am. Unfortunately, on Thursday I borrowed Mary Balogh's *Slightly Dangerous* and started reading it on the bus home.

(Now, people may scoff at romance books, and I must admit a lot of the criticism is sometimes justified, but one thing I dont agree with the *Women's Porn* tag. If you're looking for porn, there are far "better" things you could be reading.)

Anyway, I was rivetted by the author's prose and the development of the relationship between the hero and the heroine to the point that when I started reading it after finishing the day's work on my thesis....I ended up sleeping at 3:30am. Needless to say, when I arrived at uni at 9am, I was not in a great condition. When I went to ask her to start the meeting early so I could crawl into the library to sleep, she said she had to cancel.

After that, I crawled into my Beloved Rowdy and slept among others for over 3 hours. It was wonderful. I hope everyone else's day was just as good!

Mental film clips

I dont know about anyone else, but when I'm listening to a song I dont know the film clip to, sometimes I make up my own to go with the song.

For example, Shoulda Woulda Coulda by Beverley Knight tells the story of a girl whose dreams got in the way of her relationship to the point that he ended up breaking it off with her (or so I think). Now she's singing that she wishes she did more to keep it going.

In my version of the clip she's singing, standing close to the screen on a background of a field of some sort and pretty much stands in the same point for the whole song. It starts off with her costumed in Roman era, and the guy rides in on a chariot into the background dressed up as Caesar goes up and offers her wine and gold and elaborate stuff which she rejects and he walks back where he came from. She then changes into mediaeval gear and the same guy rides in on a horse in armour and offers her the same kinda stuff which she rejects again.

This keeps going on through the ages featuring Renaissance, pre-French revolution (powdered wigs etc), Victorian (big corsets) costumes, and each time he keeps offering her elaborate stuff that she keeps rejecting, but each time the presents get less elaborate. Eventually we end up in modern time with him on foot wearing jeans and a white shirt holding a bunch of flowers, keeping in with the decreasng ostentation. He hangs around in the background and she finally moves away from the spot and offers him a bunch of flowers too, kinda like an *I'm sorry for rejecting you so much* gesture. They walk off happily into the sunset and the song ends.

:-)

It's 1am....

and I'm still working on the literature review on my thesis. I'm sure everyone has worked on something long enough that they can't see the flaws in their grammar anymore. I'm at that point. Except that I'm trying to correct points in my argument, and when I refer back to the papers I've cited, I can't see where I got the cited statement from. Added to this, I'm trying to find suitable diagrams and formulate tables to show information related to something. How tiresome.

headachey

Today is a crappy day for a headache. I was gonna section a lot of blocks today for slides, but only managed 3 blocks before headache was too much and my block started shredding. And later tonight I have to attend a seminar on MS. It'll be bad form if I fall asleep during it.

just thinking

Before I get to my deep thoughts, on Friday I went to Max Brenner's @ QV with Cathy, Nicky, Mariel, Belinda, Suze, and Carmen. And I fell off my stool.

Anyway, when I was walking home today and listening to my music device, I was suddenly struck by the realisation that as a subject, songs about NOT having sex don't pop up a lot. Well, not in pop/rnb and whatever i listen to. Of the recent songs I can think of, there's only

Oh oh - Guy Sebastian (but as the country's most famous virgin, what do you expect?)
Don't say you love me - M2M
First night - Monica
Don't tell me - Avril Lavigne
Let's wait a while - Janet Jackson

Four songs in six years? Five songs spannning almost 20 years?
Well, I didnt think too hard about this. My machine changed songs and I ended up listening to You Make Me Wanna by Usher

Movie review "Windstruck"

Ok, I watched this Korean movie today http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409072

Its by the same guy who did My Sassy Girl. The lead girl is again sassy, she's a police officer, the guy is a teacher. They met when she was chasing a bagsnatcher, he was a brave citizen who was also pursuing the snatcher. But she pulled him down cos she thought he was the snatcher's accomplice. They spend more time together, he does nice things for her, she does some crazy and downright mean things to him (hey, she's sassy!). I cant say much more without giving away the story.

This is quite a difficult movie to review due to the major plot development. The structure of the film is similar to that in MSG, in that the first half is quite humourous while the second is more dramatic. some criticisms I have are that it requires suspension of belief a great deal. For example, at one point of the movie, he tries to kiss her and closes his eyes at which point she presses a burning stick against his mouth. I know she's supposed to be sassy and it was followed by a funny scene where she refused to apologise, but at the same time, she injured him and then refused to apologise! The movie is also quite long. At some points, you think its about to end when it suddenly keeps going. The direction is not as good as that in MSG. The drama is also a bit heavy handed, although i cant complain cos it made me cry. *blush*

In all, quite enjoyable but not without its flaws
Enjoy-o-meter =3.5/5
Tearjerker = 2 times

why?!

Why do only bugs find me attractive?!?!? Why do pesky yucky things find me delicious?!?!?!?!
I killed a mosquito and blood came out, then i discovered it had bitten me twice on the face!!!

Ok, I was going to write this blog about dumb movies that I enjoy watching. In no particular order....

Zoolander (although my brother insists this is a smart movie)
The Hot Chick
Not Another Teen Movie
White Chicks (not always funny though)
Most Farrelly Brothers movies, but not Dumb and Dumber
Dude, Where's my car?
American Pie 1 & 3

I cant think of anymore downright dumb movies that I enjoy. But feel free to criticise any choices and offer your own!

yeah!

You know what? The EHS auditor was sick yesterday so its been rescheduled for the 22nd.

I don't know what to write about, and this is really distressing for someone was garrulous as myself. I mean, I could itemise what I've done in the past 24 hours, but thats not interesting.

probably write something when i can think of it

Whoops!

I just realised my time and date setting were wrong.

Today the dept is undergoing an Environmental Health and Safety audit. So i'm hiding at home this morning while they go through the place. I've been told they pick on students and the ppl in the histopath lab have told me stay away. I have a feeling theyre gonna do some damage to my lab. I was storing food in my lab next to blocks of mouse brains, and a table is being supported by styrofoam.
*sheepish*

Whats going on with today's weather? I thought it was supposed to be hot. I'm going out after work and therefore need to wear some slut-esque clothes. Can't do that if its cold.

Andrea's tale of woe

I've known Andrea for about 2 months now, we're both doing honours at uni. Thing is, she moved to Melbourne from Sydney to do it, 90% for the project, 10% because of a boy. Except now this boy, or as Su-ling prefers to call him - Sh*thead, has now turned toxic.

The latest in a long list of crappy behaviour since they became exes (including late night phone calls to tell her that he hoped she dies alone), Sh*thead told their mutual friends not to speak to her anymore. They naturally went along the *whatever* route and continued to talk to her. Unfortunately, he took that as a personal affront and has changed his nickname to

Sh*thead : to certain friends. cos of ur secrecy and subversion, i don't need u. fuck u all. hate me, whatever, well done andrea. (the blue text is mine)

And he wonders why she doesnt want to talk to him anymore.

So, an offer to other girls - If you have a tale of woe of toxic boys that you want publicised online, send me a message (i trust your innate senses of censorship), and they will be posted for Toxic boys to live in shame.

bye for now!

issues

It's 1am and I have to wake up in 6 hours. Does anyone have hints how to get oneself to sleep? Other than log off the net.

I was going to give this blog more of a point by analysing some things or making lists like *Favourite fictional hero* or *Best desserts eaten*, but I think that would take up a lot of time and thought. Not that I dont want to put a bit of thought into this, its just that I dont really have much time to think that hard about why I like them. I was thinking I could use this to chronicle my year doing honours, but tomorrow I'm going to be scoring histological slides of my knock-out mouse. i figure unless you're a hardcore scientist, that would probably be boring to read about. Not to mention unintelligible.

I'm listening to an old-ish song, Disco 2000 by Pulp. I forgot how much I used to love it. Happy and hopeful, yet wistful. *What are you doing Sunday, baby? Would you like to come and meet me, maybe...You can even bring your baby..Oooh ooh ooh ooh ooooh!*

Sooooo mah fan

I've been in the histopathology lab again today, practising cutting sections and lifting them onto slides. It was generally uneventful until i started packing up and I broke a mercury thermometer. Then I became the title of this blog. I'm still at uni now...and eating a toblerone. I got here at 8:30, i think its justified.

hi hi

Today I had lunch with Nicky followed by gelati for which Tak joined us - double shout-out! Towards the end, we discussed ways to make my blog more interesting.

Tak suggested that I write about my sex life. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH yeah, whatever. Can't write about what doesn't exist.

Nicky said I should profile and rank my male friends in order of attractiveness. Apparently, some of the guys did this last year regarding female friends. I dont know about anyone else, but something my male friends have in common is that I dont find them attractive. Once ppl become attractive, they become potentials and its damn hard to move from one to the other.

Back to boringness, I spent the day at uni with my supervisors discussing my project and looking at slides. Afterwards I went to the gym and un-did it all by eating krispy kreme donuts.

Otherwise, I'll just mention I had a dream whereby after drinking lemon-lime bitters, I was pulled over by cops who breath-tested me. I blew 0.065 and they impounded my sister's car which i was driving. I think the news about that Richmond player who lost the team the TAC sponsorship must have been playing cos that's what he blew.

first real blog!!!

Whew! Ok, i'm gonna try and make my blogs shorter than those emails. I want to put in my photo of my beloved polar bear, but i cant figure it out. I hate being inept at computering.

Nothing particularly interesting happened today. I went to uni and it was Jiang-li's bday (one of the PhD students), so I ate banana cake with lemon frosting. I also brought 4 krispy kreme donuts to uni but forgot to eat them...I hope no one discovers them in the fridge.

Lunch with mandina, fresh back from HK and bearing gifts of a fashion mag and coin purse.

The other honours students were stuck in technique seminars that I didnt have to attend cos i did them last year muhahahahaha. But it was boring without you guys there!!!!

last back blog!

Melbourne 12/1

Well, its 12:44am, and I arrived back in Melbourne a few hours ago, so here are the last few memorable moments of my trip.

If there are two churches you should visit in Rome, the first would be St. Peter's of the Vatican, for sheer *wow* factor. I'm not a Catholic and never will be (unless I truly decide to move to Rome in which case I'd have to become a nun to avoid the male harrassment), but it has *wow* factor by the barrel, especially if you are a big fan of Bernini's work, like myself. Actually, all of the Vatican is pretty spectacular. I'd like to give a shout out to the Sistine Chapel which is not quite like it looks in books. For one, books tend to only look at Michelangelo and ignore the Botticelli, Perugino and others on the walls. Its wall to wall frescoes, but I was especially impressed with the painted curtains - looks so real! Also, it is chockers full of tourists and the occasional guard who yells out *No Photos!* to said tourists.

That said, for people who might visit the Vatican/Uffizi Museums (in Florence) one day, I recommend you get there very early, say at least 30 minutes before it opens. The Uffizi opens at 8:15am, I got there at 7:45, and didnt get in until 9am. The Vatican Museums opens at 8:45, I got there at 8:30 where I saw the queue stretched outside the City wall for at least 200 metres. It didnt take me as long to get in, but thats mainly because the guards at the Vatican arent as tight as they are at the Uffizi. Also, in the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel is one way direction, so plan your visit carefully!

The second church is St. Ignazio, which has a ceiling painting to knock socks off. There's a little yellow disk on the floor which tells you where the view the painting, and from this spot, it looks like the architecture continues up up up, into the sky/heavens, whereupon you see some Jesuit propaganda. But thats not the point! It looks really real! And the church was also supposed to have a dome but they ran out of money, so they got the same artist to paint the underside of a dome onto the ceiling! And its only when you get closer does the illusion stop working. I spent about 20 minutes looking like I was doing the limbo just staring at the ceiling. It is that good.

I obviously did not meet a guy in europe worth making me stay there with him. However, if people want to know about the hottest guy I saw in Europe, that will require specific emails because I told someone on msn and she was a bit shocked.

I began my trip back to Melb by catching a taxi from the nuns' place at 9am. The nuns are so sweet, one even came up at 8:30 to make sure I was awake and then they did the Italian double kiss when the taxi arrived. Anyway, there are 2 airports in Rome, Ciampino and the main one, Leonardo Da Vinci, where I caught my flight. Problem is L.D.V is known to locals as Fiumicino for the town thats close to it, so there was a bit of a scary moment when I thought the driver was taking me to the wrong place. But we got there within time and I navigated the whole check in, duty-free thingy, train to the terminal ok.

But the flight!!! OMG!!!! I had myself steeled for the 10 hours it takes to get from Rome to KL, but I did not expect all the turbulence!! When I got on the place, it was half empty (I'm guessing after the tsunami ppl dont want to go to SE asia), and I thought *great, I can stretch out and sleep*, but no! For pretty much the whole ride, the seatbelt light was on and my head was banging on the arm rest *sigh*. I ended up dragging myself off the plane at KL and sleeping like a vagrant outside of the transit lounge for my connecting flight.

After being in transit for 3 hours, I thought *ok, I can sleep on this plane*, but no! A couple had brought along their babies for the ride. 2 of them! one was about 3 years, the other about 18 months. Who brings 2 babies onto a 7 1/2 hour flight?! They didnt stop crying for the whole flight! I did manage to catch a few zzzs before doing the painful countdown to when I'd land. I was unbelievably glad to hit solid ground, only to be hit with some more bad news. While the suitcase with my shoes, and burberry and LV bags made it off the plane quick-snap, somehow my backpack with ALL MY CLOTHES didnt make it onto the plane, so they're somewhere in KL. I am most displeased. The woman at Melb airport assured me it should arrive tomorrow and they will deliver it to me, but the time at which it arrives may vary. Most displeased.

nearly there

Rome 6/1

hey everyone, just some quick points this time as I'm very far from my accommodation right now

1. on arrival in rome, i checked myself into a, comparatively, luxurious hotel. Got myself a double room with ensuite and absolutely fantastic hairdryer(yay!!!!), and satellite tv (YAYAYAY!!!!!) for 1 night.

2. New accommodation for the rest of my rome stay...turns out I'm living with NUNS. Thats right, NUNS. Somewhat suitable, eh? They even wear habits!

3. Rome is big and lovely, with ruins in the weirdest places, but crossing the road is scary.

4. Sexual harrassment is alive and well. I know some of you guys said that I had to have a certain number of proposals by the time I left, does harrassment count? I've been in Rome for 1 full day and been accosted 3 times. 1. In a gallery by a guard who told me i should hang around for a few hours and go with him to his next gallery *work place*. 2. By a guy on the street who saw i was looking at my map and said that if I was willing to wait until 1pm when he got off work (worked in a shop I walked past) we could go to the mansion i wanted to visit together - this conversation was in french, i may have got it wrong though. 3. In a CHURCH. I was about to leave when a guy told me i had to bow and do the sign of the cross before leaving. Being in the heart of catholic country, I thought I'd better obey, after which he grabbed my hand and started talking to me. After i said I was a student, he patted my hip. After I said I thought rome was nice, he tried to kiss me. After that, I told him the nuns were waiting for me. He let me go.

5. I dont know if nuns have internet...I'm about halfway across the city from my nuns.

on the home stretch...

venice 1/1

As you can see, I'm in Venice. I know I say this all the time, but its a lovely city, but the loveliness is in a run'down kinda way. And I wont lie, it does smell and the water in some places is a kinda putrid green colour. I'm cutting down on shopping, but this place is so expensive that I calculated that on my first full day here, I accumulated 100 euro in incidental expenses - transport, food, water, etc. WHAT A RIP-OFF!!!

This city is tiny, but the vaporettos - water buses, although unneccessary, are fun to use because their platforms float on the lagoon so you bob all the time...and they make weird grinding noises when the boat gets to the platform - not reassuring.

Anyway, net is a rip-off here as well, hence the short msg. I'll see you soon. I'm returning on the 10th of January. Catch you then!

venice/florence 3/1

Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. I spent NYE/D in Venice. There were supposed to be fireworks on the Grand Canal, but they got cancelled because of the Tsunami tragedy, and fair enough I say. However, I think we all know that if people really want to party, cancelling fireworks isnt going to stop them and fireworks are freely availably in Italy. Sure enough, I went to St Marco/ St Mark's Square around 11pm and there was an....impromptu...fireworks show. Basically it consisted of people standing in a crowd with a little clearing in the centre while others other ppl, madmen if you like, piffing fireworks into the empty space. And this space was not very large and there were some pretty impressive fireworks, one that flew into the sky and everything. Watching this was absolutely hilarious. We were only a few metres away from them and because the shapes were irregular, you werent aware of some of them until they exploded behind you. The pigeons of St Marks went absolutely nuts. Me and Sophie stayed in the St Marks until midnight and sang along with some drunk Italians (very funny and highly recommended), until a firework flew into the crowd and we decided to run for our lives.

After that, we kinda wandered around Venice for a few hours before we ended up on the other side of the lagoon and decided to take the vaporetto back to the Rialto where I was going to walk home and Sophie was going to take another one to her place. About an hour after I went home, Sophie called to say she was in St Marco because the while an attendant told her the vaporetto she caught went to St Elena (where she was staying), it actually didnt which meant she sat on the boat for 45 minutes only to end up again in Rialto....where she was then told there was no night vaporetto to St. Elena. The next morning, there was a news segment about the celebrations, and it looked like a bomb went off in the square - lots of pics of burnt areas and broken glass everywhere, but by the time i crawled out of my room, it had been cleared up.

Anyway, I'm now in Florence after the train ride from HELL. I had to change at Bologna which is 2 hours away from Venice, and 1 hour away from Florence. Except, the train was mega late (20 minutes), and it seems the people at the train station kept selling tickets for it...so much so that by the time the train arrived it was standing room only. They also had signs up saying the train was supposed to go to Naples, meaning that by the time I managed to figure out that yes, it was supposed to go to Florence, I was stuck in that little alcove you get when you enter a train. The train was also delayed on the track, so the ride actually took 1.5 hours. Thats not so bad in itself, but being crammed up against lots of other people wearing my huge 10kg backpack because there's no way i can take it off was a huge problem. And because the train was late and delayed, I was 1 hour late and unable to check into my hotel. When I called the manager, she said she couldnt have anyone stay there until i arrived because today (2/1) is a *half holiday*, but that someone will be there at 11pm. To give you guys some time perspective, it is now 4:20 pm.

Well, thats enough venting for now. I did find another hotel across the street, but i'm still going to see if i can change into my proper one at 11pm. Or at least try to weasel my way out of the cancellation fee.

another one

London 27/12

First of all, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who writes back to these emails. I know I'm lazy and I should write back individually to you all, but....yeah...thanks and big hugs. Or if you're not touchy-feely, big smiles all round. And I hope Christmas was good for you all and if I dont get to a net cafe in Italy, happy new year as well.

My Christmas here went pretty well. We spent it with my cousins, but we had to walk for 1.3 hours from our place in Bloomsbury to her place near Notting Hill. It wasnt a particularly cold day, but we were unbelievably thankful that it wasnt the White Christmas some ppl were betting on. Our cheeks were pretty much frozen by the time we got there. But thats not the most important thing. For a city as large and busy as London, its unbelievable that everything shuts down completely for one day. Seriously, NO shops were open. On the walk to my cousins', we had to go down Oxford St. which is one of the busiest shopping streets here. It was really eerie, like that scene out of 28 days later, where that guy walks around Westminster and there's nothing. There were other tourists walking around just looking kinda dazed cos they couldnt do anything, although there were some standing in the middle of these massive roads taking photos with no traffic around.

Everything was half-closed on Boxing Day. It appears that shops can only open for 6 hours, so they choose to remain closed until midday then open. Except for Selfridges, which allowed ppl to come in at 11:30, but you couldnt BUY anything until midday. I went to Selfridges....its a department store thats got all the big brand names, but there were queues to get into certain sections. the Gucci queue went straight out the door and at least 100metres down Oxford St. The Dior queue snaked around the floor, and the LV queue...well, lets not go there.

Anyway, I need to get going and do my last laundry run before i leave London *sniff*.

This city will see me back with a vengeance!!!

damn i wrote a lot of emails...

London 23/12

I dunno why I'm so slack at sending out emails. ppl who are online around 10am Melbourne time will realise now that I'm a regular at the Korean gangster net cafe :-P its mostly got to do with uploading photos, burning etc. Its not that I've taken that many photos - absolutely nowhere near to the amount I took in Paris, but it seems lots of net cafes here don't run winxp, but the Koreans do, hence, its my late night hangout...well, for 30 mins anyway.

And I think the reason why i've taken less photos here is due to the free entry to galleries and museums. I've been to about 6 now, but cos its free here, they're really reliant on what you buy in the gift shop for money and the donations where they suggest that you pay £1. So, they have guards in the rooms to stop you from taking pictures so you're forced to buy books as a reminder of the work. On the other hand, in Paris, you've (well, not me) normally got to pay to enter, hence they have a *stuff all* attitude to ppl taking pictures, so long as its no flash. Or it could just be the French being *stuff all* in general, I dunno.

Apart from being really geeking and feeding my excitement at seeing well-known items, I've been to 3 stage shows in as many days. I've seen Romeo and Juliet by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Mary Poppins (she can really fly!), and Phantom of the Opera. I think they used microphones in the last one...or voiceovers. Either way, I feel slightly ripped off. I really wanted to see Chicago and the Producers, but both seem to be sold out until January. Unless I want a seat that's obstructed by a pole for Chicago :-(. But seriously, the ticket guy was going to sell me a pole seat. But then I wont be able to see all that dancing!

But out of all the touristy things I've done so far, I think the best was the Tower of London - they had an exhibition on torture and weapons, while the biggest waste of money was the London Eye. It cost £9 and its just a glorified ferris wheel. Maybe it would have looked nicer at night, but in the daytime, all i could see were Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, industrial stuff to the east and lots of grey. Ok, thats a bit of an exaggeration, if i zoomed in, I could see Buck Palace, but I seriously dont think it was worth it. Even my friends were over it halfway through the *ride* And so did the vocal little girl who kept yelling out *I'm bored!* It goes really slowly and for about 30-45 mins.

The street markets here are worth it though, and the best one i've been to so far is the Camden Town one. My joy at it may have been due to smelling all the pot that the stallkeepers were smoking, but seriously, it was a lot of fun. It was huge and sold a wide variety of things, from goth clothing (it looked really good! Corsetry and wide skirts) to furniture to MAGIC MUSHROOMS. Some stalls openly sold the whole thing while others sold kits to help you grow them. And i wanted to buy a shirt that said *Do not start with me. YOU WILL LOSE*. my kinda shirt.

Have krispy kreme donuts made it to Melbourne yet? Because I've discovered that the Tescos near my place sells them, by the box and singularly. Its another reason why I should stay here. To everyone that I told I will come back nice and skinny from eating only bread and water...well, i'm a bit more roly-poly than normal. I'm taking afternoon tea as my main meal of the day, so i'm eating heavily sugared tea and cakes everyday (yum!), not to mention bug english breakfasts that have 3 courses - cereal, hot foods, and bread/croissants and tea. I havent had steak and kidney/ale pie yet, but I did go to a pub and I did eat bangers and mash. I was going to eat jellied eels after being told its the grossest thing england has to offer by way of food, but i havent seen them yet.

Anyway, for people who remember me complaining about maids when I was in Paris, the maids in the hotel didnt fold up my pjs and do up all the buttons, but in our room we've got a little sink that we put our toiletries around and its not unusual to come home and see the maid has re-arranged the stuff in order of size. And everyday they re-screw on the little caps to my friend's contact lens case. Now that's dedication!

London 19/12

London has been prett good lately, but I think I need to speed up the rate at which I see things because in 4/5(?) days I've only been to the British Museum, National Gallery and Tate gallery, you know, nerdy stuff that I enjoy. But having taken my time at them, I've realised that I'm probably going to have to not see other geeky things that I'd like to do like visit Shakespeare's home village cos apparently that requires a day trip. *crap*

Out of the time I've been here, its only rained twice - once in the morning and once in the afternoon, otherwise the legendarily crappy English weather hasnt shown itself to me yet. Having said that, it'll probably snow tomorrow, to which i say yippee! I've walked around the city a few times and while I have seen lots of limos, I havent seen any famous ppl in the flesh - though someone today said she'd seen Sean Connery and that apparently he's a lot shorter than she expected.

I met up with my cousins and they took me on an impromtu tour of the seedy streets of SoHo and had all the strip bars and gay streets in search of a dessert place. The funny thing about this city is that even though its meant to have a huge nightlife, a lot of the pubs stop serving alcohol around 11pm, so when you walk around late at night, you meet a lot of drunken lads. Not very nice. With the exception of one guy I saw in Leicester Sq on the first night, none of them seem to piss in the streets (unlike Paris).

I think I'd like to live here. Its not as pretty as Paris and the Tube is A LOT smaller and less efficient (that I've seen) than the Metro, but you dont have to put up with the dog poo - you can freely walk around looking at the buildings here. Also, ppl other than drunk ones are generally helpful when you ask for directions. On the other hand, sometimes ppl are more randomly nasty. In Paris, you expect ppl to be mean. When I was in the National Gallery, some guy asked us how to get to some station and we pulled out a map to check it out and he just snaps *well thats no use to me cos I dont have a map*. And it wasnt like he was a tourist or anything, his accent was definitely english. And he also said it was no use telling us the names of places cos he didnt know them, we should just say stuff like *at the third street, turn left*. And then he says *and this route you've told me will get me there in 15 minutes?*...i nearly yelled at him, how on earth would I know? I'm a bloody tourist. So rude.

The funny thing about here is that a lot of ppl who work in the shops/restaurants etc including my hotel are obviously not locals. Seems that everyone who works here is an overseas person who's come to london found a job and never left. Sounds like a plan! We met a security guard in the Gallery who oddly enough was from Sydney, and another guard at the Museum who said he'd just returned, and a taxi drivier who said that while he liked Melbourne, there was nothing to do there. Actually, people in general in London don;'t seem to be from London. I hear French and Italian on the street a lot and a lot of other languages i dont recognise. Not as many beggars though. Nowhere near as much as Paris. Unless London is simply better at hiding them than Paris is :-P

And there are lots of funny announcements around. Especially in the tube where you can hear message *The service on the Northern Line is now Good.* There is also a sign at my local tube station:

THIS STAIRCASE HAS 136 STEPS

PLEASE USE ONLY IN EMERGENCIES

But the funniest thing so far was:

ADVICE FOR MOSQUITO BITES -

IF YOU HAVE A MOSQUITO BITE, DAB ON SOME VINEGAR TO RELIEVE ITCHING

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE VINEGAR, USE TOOTHPASTE

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE TOOTHPASTE, WHAT KIND OF STATE ARE YOUR TEETH IN?

still back-blogging

London 15/12

I've hit london now, I was going to write a goodbye email from Paris, but for those who were online that morning, in celebration of the end of my studies of Paris in the 19th century, I went out and drank absinthe. For ppl who dont know, its that green liqueur that sent them crazy in Moulin Rouge (the movie). And lets just say....its been almost 24hours later and my tongue kinda hurts. Its something like 70 or 80% alcohol. It was fun, but pretty scary at the same time. We also went on one of those night bus cruises on the Seine, but it was soooooo cold that most of the Eiffel Tower wasnt visible cos it was so foggy. We had scarves over our faces like highwaymen or ninjas. But it was so pretty *sigh* but impossible to photograph.

London, we took the tunnel...it wasnt bad but the toilets are worse than ones on aeroplanes. And we had a lovely taxidriver who gave me and Ruilin advice about where to go etc. I'm staying in Bloomsbury, right near the British Museum and University. The hotel is called Arran Hotel and its sooooooo cute...it used to be 2 Georgian Terraces, classic little London houses you see in period series, but its a maze inside. We've gotten lost so many times already. There's an internet cafe not to far away where I am now, which is 1 pound for half an hour!!!! But its run by Koreans and we can buy Shin Cup and Bowl noodles and onion rings here, Yay! Turns out the where we're staying is a really safe area and walking distance to Soho and plenty of pubs.

Its actually not that cold here, its 10pm and I'm only out wearing a coat. But it is quite grey and so are the buildings - seems they were all cleaned pretty recently. But this place (bloomsbury) is definitely not as dirty as Paris, but there is a phone booth near the Sainsbury supermarket that smelt like pee.

And its sooo good to be communicating in english again, although i did say bonjour to the information desk when i arrived at Waterloo Station. Oops ;-)

Paris 9/12

I don't know how many of you are receiving all my emails, I think I press different names each time i send one out *sheepish*. I hope everyone is doing well. Paris is still good although its getting quite cold here now - everyday I've got to take my big coat, scarf, gloves and beret. And I've been here long enough to have seen/heard/smelt some pretty bad things about this city now. I personally have not stepped in dog poo but other members of my group have. It seems that the richer the area, the more likely you're going to be dancing in the streets not only due to the sheer opulence of the houses and how much you want to live in them *cough*, but because richer ppl can afford to have kawaii little dogs and thus let them poo everywhere when they take them for walks.

Secondly, for all those ppl like myself who loved the movie Amelie, I'm not sure if I said this in the last email, but the place where they set/filmed the movie (Montmartre), is really quite dangerous. At that big white church (Sacré Coeur) on top of the hill, we got hassled by people who'd swarm up to you, tie a piece of ribbon around your wrist and then yell out really loudly that you'd robbed them if you refused to pay you for that ribbon. I managed to get away by yelling out *non! non!* and barging through them, but others weren't so lucky. Montmartre IS really cute with lots of funny small alleys and buildings and is one of the few places in Paris where you can get a garden, but it also kinda smells like rotten roses/plant life because there's lots of cobblestones that catch the water which then sits there and becomes stagnant.

I've waxed lyrical about the joys of Paris Metro system before, and I still love the short waiting time, but it can be quite crowded and there is a tendency for ppl to use the stations as a public urinal. Also, on the way back from a night lecture at the Louvre, me and 2 other girls got separated from the main group and a busker helpfully warned us that there were pick-pockets around us and 2 ppl tried to pick-pocket one of the mature-aged students. They didn't get anything, but broke his watch. Stations can also be the hangout of pretty seedy characters. Lots of drunks, homeless ppl and beggars that come onto the train and start yelling about how they have x number of children and they need money.

And getting a taxi on a Saturday night/sunday morning while wearing 10cm heels is hell on earth. We walked around for 30 mins on cobblestones in breath-visible weather before we got a taxi. A car backed into me, but luckily it was only my right arm and I'd had enough to drink to wave it off and they werent going too fast because there was a major traffic jam around Place de La Bastille. We've nearly been hit by cars so many times because they tend not to stop at pedestrian crossings even when the green man is on unless a huge group of ppl cross. Traffic in the centre of the city has gotten worse since we've been here because its getting close to Christmas - the other day I saw police doing that guiding thing on a street at the main entrance to the Galeries Lafayette carpark.

That said, I still love this city and I've still been having a good time. With the exception of the guide at the Musee d'Orsay (Impressionism), our lecturers have been really good. The person who gave the night lecture at the Louvre was your typical artist guy - he swept in, declared he was tired and then proceded to march around the Louvre for nearly 2 hours pointing out what was good and what was *crap*. We've also had this lovely old professor from the Sorbonne who gave a walking tour of historical architecture who was 2 metres tall and surely enough was named "Georges Grand". Actually our tours are pretty funny because we pick up all these other ppl on the way, we probably look pretty funny - the group is comprised of 19 girls, a pregnant woman, and a fat man. We get a lot of old ppl following us around.

For everyone who's asking why The Plan isnt going well, there is little opportunity between classes to meet ppl, its pretty much limited to when we're on the metro or walking between places. And even then its hard to tell who's straight and who's gay. Everyone here is dressed and groomed really well. The other day I was at the bus stop and saw 2 hot guys talking to each other. The bus pulled up and they stopped their conversation and kissed each other on the cheek. You know, c'est ça la france. Then they kissed on the mouth... I'll leave it at that.

backblog

Paris 3/Dec

Well, I've reached the end of my first week in Paris, and in the last 4 (or so) days, there's been adventure everywhere, mostly on Ruilin's part (for those who dont know, Ruilin is the girl I'm going to London and Italy with - perhaps a scary view of things to come).

We've been to the Louvre and there are lots of photos of me looking ecstatically happy in front of various works of art....I've tried to attach the one of me in front of Antonio Canova's *Cupid and Psyche*. Anyway, Ruilin got lost there...and if anyone knows how big the building is, its not a very good place to get lost in. But luckily, she was only lost for about 1.5 hours on one flor of one wing (out of the possible 3 of 3). The day after that, we went to Galeries Lafayette and Printemps (2 huge department stores) to do research on the development of department stores in the 19th century, and this chinese guy comes up to Ruilin and told her that he would give her money for her to buy him a LV bag. We had however been warned beforehand that if ppl did this to us, we were to refuse because more often than not, the money is counterfeit. And then yesterday, me, ruilin, and 3 other ppl got stuck in a lift where the max number of ppl allowed in the lift was 5, so the ppl who got us out weren't very happy.

We haven't spent that many nights on the town, mostly because we have to get up for breakfast at 7:30 and almost immediately afterwards have a lecture or a walking lecture for 3 hours...it gets pretty tiring. On one of the rare nights out, me, ruilin, akina and daniele did find a bar where the waiters were hot (all young men), but the clientele were dirty old men in hats. The waiters asked us to come back again, but we probably wont because the dirty old men did as well.

For people who have been keeping up with my shopping tales, I bought that cute pair of stilettos and I'm going to wear them to the Opera tonight and the ballet next week! However, it means that I'm averaging about 70-80 euros a day in expenses....at this rate, I will be starving in Italy. I am also the proud owner of a beret - the concierge said *ooh la la! tres mignonne!* He hasnt seen my shoes yet, but I reckon he'd like them too. But its gotten to the point where our teacher specifically tells me and Ruilin that we are not to go shopping anymore because everyday, one of us comes back with new clothing. She kept a close eye on us in Printemps.

Speaking of close eye, 2 ppl tried to rob one of the mature age students by prending to force their way past him out of the metro...very scary according to the others who saw it. I didnt because I went out to get a cheese and ham crepe, but i am now going to keep everything under my coat.

And there is still no progress on the Plan or the Photo Plan. I think I'm going to give up on them.

hi everyone

After procrastinating for half a year now, I've finally decided to set up a blog. And I fully promise that these blogs will fulfil the title of being no point stories, or may my beloved polar bear crumble to the ground. *I don't want him to crumble :-( *

First i'll backtrack to the emails i sent out from Europe and links to my photos

(Paris 27/Nov)

First things first - I ate snails today as a challenge. They were actually pretty good, no doubt due to the fact that I love both abalone and garlic, and that pretty much describes the texture and flavour. I haven't come across frogs' legs yet, nor have I tried roadside crepes - but they smell awesome!

I have yet to meet a nasty french person, although an old man came up to me and said I was a *jou-jou* (toy/doll) when I was wearing my new coat (Vaughn, you'll be pleased to learn it was not the 125 euro one, only 85 euros - approx $160AUD), which was kinda creepy cos I had no idea what he meant and did all these strange gestures. In general, ppl have been pretty forgiving of my crappy french. A person I was talking to on the train said I was pretty good for someone who had only been learning for 4 months, then I went and ruined it by telling them I'd learnt for 2 years, but hadnt spoken in 4 months. In reply they said *oh, well you speak clearly and conjugate verbs well. keep trying!* And the policeman at the arc de triomphe had no idea what I was talking about.

Speaking of the arc, there are no lines indicating lanes on the roundabout around it. It was damn scary watching the traffic go around.

The shopping here is fantastic. I cannot recommend it enough. I am in the process of committing financial suicide. In the four days I've been here, other than the coat, I bought a boucle skirt and seriously considered shelling out for a shift dress, some really cute 10cm stilletto heels, a suede bag, and a silk scarf. And I'm going to try and go to this department store completely devoted to beauty products called *Sephora* where they make personalised perfumes. What I've bought is nothing compared to Ruilin (for ppl who know Ruilin)...she's told me 2 days in a row *even if i hate you, stop me from buying things*. It didnt work and I think she's spent at least 300 euros already

Other than the shopping, everything here is like 10 times more than at home. The public system is more crowded and quicker, I have yet to wait more than 2 minutes for a train, or 5 minutes for a bus. The buskers are weirder - saw a guy with a full glockenspiel today and two 10yo boys came on the train yesterday, performed a rap, complete with speakers, and then asked for money for their performance. Hell, even the homeless ppl/beggars are more disgusting than they are at home. And the beggars are EVERYWHERE. And its not just dirty people either. We discovered at Notre Dame that lots of ppl feel really guilty when they buy something at the tourist trap stall and then see this little old nun standing nearby with a little basket.

Its been 4 days and I already dont want to come home. But for those who know about "The Plan", its not going very successfully.