Academy Awards 2009

At the moment I'm sitting on the couch, still in my jammies, watching the red carpet part of the 2009 Academy Awards. I'm not even really interested in the awards themselves, but I do very much enjoy seeing all the gowns and jewels. So far I like Sarah Jessica Parker's dress the best, I guess I will post more later...and pictures if I can figure out how!

this week.

Well another week has gone by, and I have posted nothing again. It was a very quiet week.

I'm starting to get very nervous about uni, starting all over again (...again), and I have a feeling this new course is going to be a lot harder than the one I did last year. I'm going to have to put in a lot of work. I'm willing to do it though, it's not like I really have a social life to sacrifice anyway. 

I've had a good time with the boy this week. We went into the city together on Tuesday (I hardly ever go into the city, it's far away and I'm very lazy) to go shopping and have a nice lunch, then when we got home we went for a walk because the weather was so great. Then on Thursday after dinner I went to his house for a sleep over and we ended up taking his cousin from Tasmania out for a cocktail (passionfruit vodka martinis, my favourite) at Cookie. It was nice to lie in bed together with nothing to do this morning, before I had to make a mad dash to my orthodontist because the wire behind my teeth broke last night while I was eating a taco.

Been working a bit more this week, I've never been so grateful to work at Coles after last week. On Sunday I worked at the Good Vibrations festival at the bar, and it was one of the worst days of my entire life. I accepted the shift thinking it might be fun, the atmosphere would be good and I might get to see Fatboy Slim, right? WRONG. It was AWFUL! I didn't get to see any of the artists I wanted to see, my bar was situated next to some stage that had just clubbing-type music, and the thud of the repetitive base line all day really caused significant headaches all around. In the 10 hours that the festival went for, there were probably 8-10 DJ sets there and they all pretty much mixed exactly the same songs. Boring. Also I did an 11 hour shift and I was only given one half hour break! They are SLAVE DRIVERS, I tell you. The senior staff there are also quite racist, I might add, I really felt like I was treated a lot better than the rest of the staff by them, and I'm fairly sure it's because I was the only white person working at the bar. Most people that work for the company in question are international students from India and that general area. Anyway the way the supervisors treated everyone made me very uncomfortable and I will not be working there again.

this week

I haven't posted much later, which probably doesn't matter because I don't think anyone reads this, but anyway...

It has been a sad week for Victoria. Even though I have not been directly affected by the recent bush fires, I have found that the tragedy has really gotten to me. Every night since last Sunday I have had nightmares about fire, mainly ones where I have to flee my home. I've been paranoid about knowing exactly where all my most important possessions are just in case something happens. In reality, the affected areas are nowhere near where I live, but I've found myself worrying that the Dandenongs might go up, and although even in that case there would still be little threat to me, I think I would want to feel prepared and ready to go. On Friday morning and last night there were fires up there but they were put out quickly, it did force a lot of smoke into our area though. I don't know, I just can't stop thinking about it all.

On the upside, on Friday all the Coles stores in Australia pledged to donate all of their profits to the Bush Fire Appeal, and our sales for the day were about $326,000 (to give some perspective, on a normal Friday we would usually do around $150,000). I don't know what percentage of that is profit (my dad thinks approximately 5%), but even so it was really good thing of them to do. It was good, as a staff member, to see the public make the effort to change their plans to ensure their money went to a good cause. Even though it was insanely busy, I didn't feel bitter towards all the customers like I often do on days like that (i.e. Christmas Eve). For the record, I usually feel bitter because mainly when that happens it's right before a significant day or, God forbid, a day we are closed, and I feel like people could just be better organised and less annoying in general.

I don't really feel like writing today.

what a weekend.

As I said in my last post, Saturday was Victoria's hottest day on record, and there were massive bush fires all over the state. It is now confirmed that over 100 people have died as a result, and that figure is expected to at least double as more burnt out houses are inspected over the next few days and weeks. I am absolutely shocked and horrified at what has happened. Everyone is saying that is just happened so quickly, and you can see amazing footage of it on the news. So much damage and destruction in such a short time, it's devastating. I can't imagine what it must be like for the 700+ families that have lost their homes, to have everything you've worked so hard for just literally go up in smoke like that must be the worst feeling in the world. And the killer thing is, they are the lucky ones because unlike some, they are alive. 

Bush fires in Victoria are not uncommon but this is just incredible, I don't really know what to say, I am so shocked and amazed and the sheer devastation of it all. I am also very surprised that the Dandenong Ranges didn't have a major fire, as it has at least two or three times in my living memory. Lucky for us, because at the rate these fires were burning who knows what could have happened in our community. 

My sympathies to out to those affected. I feel like I want to help in some way but I don't really know what I can do so I will just donate money. I just really hope that the firefighters manage to control the remaining fires soon and no more destruction takes place.

What a weekend.

p.s.

Oh and I forgot to add, it was totally uncool that none of the customers laughed at my hilarious nuclear holocaust jokes today. I had three trolleys completely full of gourmet cheese and they were all "what's going on?" and I was sick of explaining that the fridges were off so I said "I'm just preparing for a nuclear holocaust, I really like cheese" (in an entirely joking tone) and they didn't really seem to find it funny at all. Losers, I am hilarious.

Saturday, the hottest day in Melbourne's history.

It was the hottest day ever recorded in Melbourne today, it got to above 46 degrees Celsius at one point (that's 114 degrees Fahrenheit in case you'd like to know), but I was inside at work the whole time. It was insanely busy in the morning as to be expected, from 8:30 it was pretty flat out. I did expect it to thin out in the afternoon though and it did, although not significantly. It was still really hot inside the store, especially out the back because we kept having to open the big roller doors to take loads. It was also about 28 degrees in the service area, hotter on the registers behind those fridges. So everyone was pretty cranky and not in the mood for the insane amounts of customers that we weren't really prepared for. I know they're only trying to make conversation and be nice, but it gets old pretty quickly when every single customer tells you that you're better off at work in the 'cool'. I know it was cooler than it was outside, but they don't realise how hot it is as we were all working pretty hard, it does tire you out and the heat was making it worse. Anyway the shit really hit the fan at around 3pm, when every single fridge in the store (except for the ones in front of the registers, go figure) stopped working. So I had to help get all of the cheese and yoghurt out of the fridges and into tubs to be taken to the other Coles that had functioning fridges. It was pretty hilarious actually, everyone was soo fed up that it was a bit of a joke.

I was planning on going out tonight but I'm tired and hot. I watched some episodes of season 3 of Entourage, ate some of my favourite biscuits that I had to go all the way to Safeway for (don't sell them at Coles), drank a big bottle of San Pellegrino and that is pretty much it. 

Oh and we have booked our flights and accommodation for Hong Kong! We leave late on Wednesday the 23rd of September, I am so excited! 

Thoughts.

Lately I've been thinking about how lucky I am, and how much I take everything I have for granted. Sure, some crappy things have happened to me over the years, but nothing really compared to some people. I'm going to try to be more appreciative these things in the future.

I have two parents who love me and each other and would do just about anything for me.

I have an amazing boyfriend whom I love and who loves me most of the time.

I have a big extended family that is very close, and who always have been and always will be there for me if I ever need anything.

I have a job, and an income that allows me to be comfortable.

I've had, and will continue to have so many opportunities, especially where my education is involved. I was very lucky to get into a good school which allowed me to thrive and have a real interest in learning, and this has made me the person I am today. I have been allowed to start one university course, decide that perhaps it wasn't for me, and start a new one. I will have the opportunity to go back to the old one if the new one doesn't work out.

I live in a country where I have easy access to food, water, shelter, electricity and medical care should I require it.

I don't have many friends, but the ones I do have are pretty cool.

I hate work.

Oh and p.s. I only got ELEVEN hours TOTAL at work next week. I've been doing 30-35 a week and now ELEVEN? I knew it would die down in February but this is just ridiculous.

So it looks like I will get the government 'economic stimulus' handout, hopefully. If I do, I will give it it my parents and halve my remaining Europe/laptop debt, yay!

Work last night was so shitty, I was in a bad mood because it was hot and I had a headache and I got really into 'The Sims' in the afternoon and didn't want to stop playing it to go to work. It was one of those nights when I was actually getting mad at customers who don't use correct grammar, and really mad at the ones who don't say 'please' and 'thank you'. How hard is it really? One man came in and was all like "Give me two five dollar notes" (from his ten). How rude! If he had have asked nicely and said please I would have done it for him, but because he was so rude I said we weren't allowed to do that (which technically is true). Note to everyone: being nice really does get you better service, especially at my register. 

Apparently it was a dramatic afternoon in the store though. Lately the store has been losing heaps of money through people giving the wrong change etc, and yesterday someone was watching all the check-out chicks (and chaps) via the cameras over our registers and they were watching one girl like a hawk apparently, I don't know why. Anyway they saw her accidentally (I'm sure it was an accident) give someone $100 too much in their change. She got sent home and all her shifts for he rest of the week cancelled. What annoys me though is that apparently the way the grocery man (I don't think he's actually the grocery manager, but he acts like he is the king of the place and orders us all around, I can't stand him) spoke to her was absolutely appalling and she was really upset. I'm not surprised at all, this guy is the most arrogant, condescending fuckwit I have ever met. I mean I actually find it hard to tolerate him and act nicely towards him, and that is very unlike me. I just can't stand him! I hope the girl or our manager files a complaint against him. I know that other people have in the past so maybe it will convince someone that he is better suited to another store, or better, to a different job with a different company.

Sorry, I needed a bit of a rant. Today I am going to Casey's and we are going to cook something delicious again, so I'm not going to eat breakfast to save room. Yeah!

So today the federal government unveiled a massive economic stimulus package, which involves billions of dollars to be given out to just about everyone, to schools, into infrastructure etc. You get a $950 pay-out if you payed any income tax in the 07-08 financial year or qualify for youth allowance. I did pay tax but I think I may have gotten it all back, and I do qualify for youth allowance but I only just handed in all the supporting documents and stuff last week, so I don't think I qualify? I'm so disappointed, I was going to put that money towards paying my parents back for the cash they leant my while I was in Europe. I know that isn't how the government wants us to spend it but in a round-about way the money would eventually go back into the economy. I'm eager to go and find my tax return to see if I paid any tax now, but it is 1:27am and my tax return is in the filing cabinet which is in the garage. Tomorrow morning, then, I will either be very happy or really annoyed.

Lately I have just been working a lot, I haven't really minded it all holidays, but I'm getting really sick of it now. Only four or so weeks until uni goes back, I start my new course and can stop working so much. Also, I will be getting youth allowance so I will have to work even less! Finally! It was insanely hot last week, around 42-44 degrees every day for three or four days in a row. We were all a bit paranoid that the power failures were going to affect us but thank goodness they didn't, and we had air conditioning the whole time. The pool also got a decent work-out, but in the process I have discovered that I may be allergic to chlorine. Nothing much happening this week, just the usual. 

Today, though, I spent the day at Casey's house. We spent most of the morning trying to decide what to do (made more difficult by the fact that both of us are broke), and in the afternoon we made ourselves Chili Con Carne (cooking was what we decided to do). First of all, let me just say that Ivanhoe Coles is the best supermaket ever. Way way better than my own Coles were I slave away most days. Anyway the chili was amazing! We will definitely be making it again soon.  Coincidentally, while we were eating it we found an article about chili in todays Age (Epicure), and I never knew that they were so interesting! It was full of stories about people that eat so much chili that they temporarily loose their hearing/go into a trance etc. Crazy! I was going to stay at Casey's house but I came home, and now I can't remember why. 

Oh and another thing that happened today, my Marc by Marc Jacobs flats that I ordered from net-a-porter last week finally arrived! I was so excited! I opened them up and saw that they are indeed just as pretty in real life as they were online, but when I tried them on, oh no! They're too small. Which is so so so disappointing! Really, I am shattered. Also confused, because my other M by MJ flats are only half a size bigger and they are slightly too big for me. These babies are a 37.5 and they are even too small for my mum, who is a 37 usually. What's going on Mr Jacobs? That is a picture of them above (I can't figure out how to move the picture down here? oh well), but this makes them look more orange-red, when in real life they are bright fire-engine style red. Damn damn damn. I really like these shoes.

blogging

So, the blogging thing hasn't really been successful for me. But lately I've been reading Matt Logelin's blog and it is so well written and interesting that I have decided to give it another go. I may not have a very interesting story to tell, but I guess, in time, interesting things my happen in my life and make this a better read.