a day or 2

hello all!

its been a while hasnt it.

I seem to be constantly seeing things that make me think… “hey! i should blog that” but then when it comes time to do so, whilst i’m sitting on the computer avoiding all forms of work, i think about the things and decide that they are not blog-worthy after all… In fact, most things i have forgotten about due to their not-so-exciting nature.

well, today i just thought that maybe its time to say hello to all of you again because quite frankly, i’m feeling a little lonely. Travelling to and from the city each day is very tiring and its preventing me from having any contact with people outside of college or my family.  If anyone else is feeling lonely please feel free to ring/msg/email/talk to me and we can be lonely together… or go out for coffee and cake… either way i’m happy.

My other purpose in writing is to avoid sorting out my accounts and invoices for my students for this term. its so boring and i hate maths (adding, multiplying and typing numbers to work out how much i am to be paid) although i do like recieving the money. People should be hired to do this kind of work… how can they expect uni kids who vowed never to do maths again to use a calculator and send emails with numbers all over them to be able to do it? IF i happen to overcharge don’t blame me is all i’m saying…

Wow, this is turning out to be really pointless and i need sleep… actually that reminds me of my eye twitch today. I think it was due to a lack of sleep. It just kind of appeared in my right eye. One minute i’m there happily playing my Ferling/Mule etudes and the next, my eye begins to develop turrets which eventually turns into an epileptic fit. 5 hours later and 2 cups of tea (i dont drink coffee), one ice-cream and a whole heap of lollies later, the twitch disappears, just in time for big band.  It was having a fit in my lesson with mick and if he’d made me sight read some music i’m pretty sure my eye would have fallen out. I blame the rain for the tiredness however as there was an air of lethargy looming around the buldings and a few people were having naps in various locations around the place.

 so enough. I’m off to bed and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop me!

first impressions

Well i don’t really know where to start or what i should talk about so i guess i will give an overview of my first few weeks of “College” life.

Uni is definately a change of scene to highschool. I mean there is still a small part of it that is school-like with the marking of rolls and expected attendance but the way in which everything functions messes with my head a bit. Firstly the timetable we are required to get our lessons off is just purely confusing… there’s so many different versions of classes and so many different things to know about each of them that it took me a little over 3 days to sort myself out. I was cheering when i discovered that i didnt have to come in for classes on fridays because that left an opening for my teaching career in “W” but have since been brutally informed that i have to attend improv classes for an hour on fridays between 12:00 and 1:00… way to be inconvenient!

At uni everyone just comes and goes as they please… no bells; no designated lunch times or periods or start and ends of days. Everyone just does what they have to do, going about their business and running into people randomly over the course of the day. there is also a great enviroment for practise… i’ve never practised so much in my life as i have these past weeks and my lip can vouch for that. ulcers arent the most fun to play with but what can u do?

 Money is also an essential part of uni life i have decided. Even when i pack my lunch i still manage to spend money… on what? who knows. Today it was a box of reeds for my students, tomorrow it could be anything at all!  Commuting also means that train fares cost money but with the new price decreases my wallet is crying a little less.

 Things i’m enjoying include the cd and dvd walls in the library, the melbourne uni music library specifically the sheet music, playing, aural class (i’m sure that’ll change), big band coz its no stress and my individual practise. I can actually see myself improving which hasnt happened for a while.  CFI is living up to its reputation… lots of reading with not much relevance but who knows what’ll come of it.. i’m really just deciding t otake things as they come.

As for the rest of my life, not a whole lot is happening. We had to rate where music fit in our priorities in SRS the other day on a scale of 1 to 10. fitting around an 8 1/2 or 9 not a lot else can happen. Supaband was fun on monday night coz i caught up with people again and this weekend may bring more fun but i guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

To sum it up as i said in an email to a friend who is GAPping in England…  

Uni is incredible, Teaching is incredible, Life is inredible

flute-boxing

Just wanted to put this up coz its really cool… i’m sure u’ve seen it before.

I am business

73 014 378 743

 Yes, i am now officially a business…. And i do correctly mean that I am a business, not that i am IN a business.

This story begins with employment at a primary school in a neighbouring town, which, for legal reasons can only be named as “W”. It was a beautiful, sunny morning when I entered this school in “W”. Greeted by friendly(and senior in more respects than one) staff members i felt an instant sense of belonging and acceptance into this “community” which was to become a third home.

After having gone through procedure regarding student attendance, syllabi and instrumental hire i was pointed in the general direction of the nice lady that deals with the employees of the school and their contracts. Being a (i reluctantly use the word) girl of merely 18 years i was inundated and overwhelmed by the stacks of papers and forms which flowed from the envelope i had been handed. These papers dealt with formalitites such as superannuation, car registration, employment status and wages but above all, i was handed a form which required me to fill in my Australian Business Number(ABN).

Confused, i asked the nice lady what this all meant, to which she responded with some stuff about needing an ABN in order to get paid for my work. Alarmed with the prospect of not recieving money for my hard work and hours spent not watching TV or playing on the computer my face must’ve relayed a somewhat frazzled look because i was suddenly recieveing this information about how to get an ABN and why i needed one.

So i headed home with this wad of paper to look over and discuss with the family and awoke the next day to a realisation that i had to venture into the Australian Taxation Office (insert evil, menacing, terrifying and suspenseful music and you’ll understand my feeling of trepidation). I was not old enough to be dealing with these tax people and dressed in a mini, singlet and thongs i walked through the self-rotating doors unaware of what i might face.

I approached an older woman (perhaps 51 or 52 with greyish hair) who was sitting behind a large desk with glass barrier and stated “I need to apply for an ABN”. Again my look of fear must have been apparent for she instantly called for an assitant to “assist” me in my endevours. She then proceeded to ask if i was any good with computers, to which i mumbled “urm, i can use them” and she pointed me to sit at the computer next to the door on the opposite side of the room to her.

A man then appeared through the second set of glass sliding doors next to which i was located and he asked if i was wanting an ABN. I was able to say “YES” quite clearly now and he sat beside me asking m all these questions which i could not answer such as…”Do you know what a TFN is for?” and “Do you know what an ABN is?” Just because we need something doesn’t mean we actually know what it is… for those of you who are wondering, they are essentially a way of indentifying you… a TFN for individuals and an ABN for businesses.

So we sat down and he typed in all the answers to the online form (which i could have done at home, alone as opposed to being in the ATO next to a creepy old guy with a woman friend behind glass on the other side of the room) and he provided me with an ABN.

This officially stated me as a business and, perhaps more importantly, I can be paid.  If you don’t believe me, look me up on the Australian Business Registry… www.abr.business.gov.au 

Finally, i have no exciting pictures to help describe my adventure, but i hope you can use your imaginations to create a world of magical beings and evil taxation men and women…

 The End

Learn Body-speak

I think we should replace maths with “life-skills” lessons such as these:

Hear Ye Hear Ye

Tori has earned herself a middle name… from now on, she is to be known as Tori-Bernadette and the only exceptions to this are Victoria-Bernadette, Tori Bernadette Krumholtz or Victoria-Bernadette Krumholtz.

Any alteration to this is punishable by death…..  The reason for all this is so she may successfully marry her long-time sweetheart David Krumholtz. Ever since laying her eyes on this “elven” beauty in the classic film THE SANTA CLAUS, she knew it was a match made in heaven with a love  only to be rivaled by Princess Mary and Prince Frederick’s.

 

Stay tuned for more details on the up-coming wedding….  ……lovers

Nadal?

It’s happened….

times have changed…. the world is a different place…. life as we know it will never be the same…. 

You cannot begin to fathom my disappointment in informing (or re-informing) you of an event which shocked and dismayed my young life. Rafal Nadal…. the 20 year old tennis star with the ability to knock #1 in the world Roger Federer off of his podium, has been removed from the Australian Open draw after a straight sets loss to #10 Fernando Gonzalez of CHI (a place which i believe to be similar if not identical to Chile). This Gonzalez character has been in 6 Australian opens and over his career has earned over $4,743,990 USD. Yes, he is more experienced than young Raffa who has only made 2 appearances at the open, but if we base all expectations of succes purely on earnings, Nadal should have almost doubled Gonzalez’s score with his total coming to $8,366,464  USD. 

The young left-hander just couldn’t manage to pull himself together nor seem to overcome the power of Gonzalez’s winners or serves, the fastest reaching a flying 211km/hr.  The match came to a close after 2hr and 5 mins with a forehand unforced error by Nadal… a disappointing end to his illustrious open tournament for 2007.

But the spaniard was not to remain quiet on the subject of his defeat. Whilst he recieved assistance at the end of the second set for leg pain, he later announced that he has in fact had troubles for a while and that he was not in his best form.

“I have problems in my leg, so I cannot run. I can’t run a lot. Was difficult play one match like this, quarterfinals of one Grand Slam, with pain, without the best conditions, no?”

I guess with this, and focus on the latest accusations that he does infact wear a g-string under his 3/4 cargo pants, on his mind Nadal would feel some sort of emotional pain, but in continuing to name other ailments he does himself no favours.

Furthermore, in reading his statements i have come to notice a commonality in the way he ends his sentences.  As if uncomfortable in his language skills, he questions the questions given to him after he answers (this make sense in my mind) with the word “no?” 

Personally, i’m feeling a little let down by the #2 whom i had once thought to be a player of determination and strength, not to mention eloquence…. call me fickle and a poor fan, but in terms of favourite male singles player, the honour has been passed from Nadal to another young man, this time of 19, whom i watched play whilst sitting in the comfort of my seat in Vodafone arena… Novak Djokovic. He too has been knocked out of the draw, but in a way which allowed him to maintain his dignity…. by Roger Federer…. this new kid has a long career ahead of him and after hearing him speak about his victory over Udomchoke and the looming match up with Federer, i was converted.

I guess there was no real point to this entry but to tell you to watch out for Novak in the future and to inform you of my personal disapointment in my once hero of the men’s tennis arena…

       

Nadal         and        Djokovic                        ….  2 young stars of the tennis world, fighting for my approval!!!

update

yes, i know Jon, poor effort on behalf of resoulution #1. But here i am, returned from my holiday in Port Macquarie and ready to hit the world of blogging once again.

As much as i Love my Port Macquarie, i dont think i could live there again. Geelong has opened me up to city life and Port is just too small. With Melbourne only an hour away from home, everything’s just so much more accessible and fun… It takes 4 hrs to get to Sydney from there so its not even worth travelling for a day most of the time.

So the weather was beautiful, the beaches were sandy and the only problem was the small appearance of red weed. Not that it was too much of a problem coz the water was still soo warm and nice to swim in!I got to see all my friends again and we even hit the local nightspots – something which is indeed an experience in Port.

So back in Geelong and the fun has already started again. I recieved my music which i had to order from the USA for this year which makes me oober happy coz now i have something to do. As far as they go i’m not having too much trouble with them but that probably means that i’ll be focussing on something other than the pieces this year!! eeep!!! no doubt i’ll be up to my neck in technical work etc.. so maybe the relative ease of music will keep me happy?  I’ve also managed to create a massive ulcer on my bottom lip where my teeth have lodged their way into the flesh from over practising… a sign that i’ve slacked off a bit too much of late! damn this karma business i just wanted a holiday!

Onto happier things, today I went to melbourne to do some shopping with my aunty, cousin, mother and sister for my aunty’s wedding dress. we had success with her finding a beautiful beautiful gown that makes everyone go “oooooohhh” when they see it! but i can’t say more on the subject incase someone reads this who isnt meant to.

We’re also off to the Tennis tomorrow with more family members and i’m looking forward to that greatly.

More news as it happens for now i must be off to bed.

hope this counts in blog maintenance!

 jess

Resolutions

ok,

so i’ve come to a conclusion: 2007 is gunna be a great year. Yes, i know, broad and maybe even naive, but maybe it’s like one of those “change how you view yourself” things where if you tell yourself you’re beautiful enough, you’re meant to actually believe it. I’ve never tried it before but if anyone has and its worked, a success story would be nice to put up here.  So, the point of that was to say that i want 2007 to be great and i will do anything in my power to make it so.

The first few days of 2007 were promising. I had “Years new at the Mew” with everyone where we watched the fireworks all around the bay from a hill in clifton springs/drysdale. The sad thing is that for most of us, the first message on our phones came from doting parents or siblings which is probably a sign of a lonely year to come… hopefully not.

Following this i ventured to Lorne for the first time – i know… i’m so lame. We stayed at Tori’s house and it was so beautiful. Went to the beach and now i have a sun tan line in the shape of my new swimmers – they’re a bikini type thing but are connected down the centre, so i have a white line where the connection is. its quite funny and i hope to improve on it over the next week or so. Which brings me almost to my next point. After Lorne I went to Kate’s farewell – she’s having a GAP year in England (lucky thing).

My next point i guess now is my upcoming family holiday to Port Macquarie!!! I’m so excited and i don’t think this year will get much better than the point i’m at now – with friends all over the place and having prospects of catching up with the ones i’ve missed for at least 18 months.

Anyway, the main point of this is to put down some resolutions.

1. Maintain this Blog

2. Pass subjects at Uni

3. Teach someone how to play flute successfully (including myself)

4. stay in touch with the many people who have ventured overseas

ok, thats all i can think of for now, but i’ll try to updateas i go… i tend to do that a lot.

ttfn (ta ta for now)

p.s. i havnt washed my hair yet this year – thats tomorrow’s job

You had to be there

ok, today has been a complete waste of a day.

First of all, i woke up at 9:00 and decided that it was too early to wake up and so subsequently went back into sleep-land for another 30 mins. When i awoke at 9:30 my perspective had changed and i had wished that i’d gotten up at 9:00 when my body clock told me it was time to be awake.

Today is new years eve which means that it is the 31st December 2006 and the last day i can consider myself a “high school” student – not that i havnt been claiming my ex-student status already, its just that in 2007 i will not have anything to do with my personal education at a high school. So in light of this, i have decided to dedicate this blog to all the memories of high school and i may even try to write some down… only they wont be nearly as funny or exciting to you as they are to me because u really had to be there.

Year 7: I started my high schooling experience at St Joseph’s Regional High School, Port Macquarie (yes St Joseph’s to all you Geelong folk. It is a co-ed catholic school in Port Macquarie – NOT a boys school)

I was going to insert a picture here of me in yr 7, but be satisfied with a pic of the school…. thats all i could find!

 I met many wonderful people here and i remember Kim and I contributing to the Gauntlet outside the Library, where some unlucky soul would be pushed through and they would have to survive the kicking and tripping that took place… good times my friend… good times.

Year 8: The table… who could forget the table? Many people came to join us at our table and some were also removed from this “elite” group by members of the party. I played no role in this and take this opportunity to clear my name!!! We had our stars day where charlie and i became “scraggy” cinderellas and also twins day where i beacame kim from kath and kim along with leah and lucy… haha i still cant believe i wore what i did – it was fowl!!! We aso had Marshy for English and “If i had a hammer” became the theme song. A story about Mrs Strain appeared too and if i remember correctly, she couldn’t tell us what dogma meant.(A generally held set of formulated beliefs). i managed to get both kims removed from near me after we played sock wars which involved pulling each others long socks down for the entireity of the day (which became very annoying, but was also very fun). This too was the year “slow pitch” became a dangerous sport – i hit myself in the eye with the ball while i was batting (go figure?).

 Year 9: This year began with Bulmer falling onto a newly planted tree in the year 9 area whilst carrying her birthday balloons – they all popped too and it was the funniest thing i’ve ever seen (its yet to be topped). It was also the year of elective music and Mrs Johnson’s decline in power as she had the “smart” yr 10’s and then us annoying yr 9’s with nothing better to do than prove her wrong! we had hippy circles and kris kringles and life was good.

Year 10: The final year in Port Macquarie. I found 3 beautiful best friends and we had many memories this year. The favourite would be the Formal where everyone was so beautiful and we all just had a great time. There was also the farewells of Buket and I – but i cant forget the fun times with Cate and Miss Parer!!! haha what a loser! “I HATE it!!”

Year 11 – Matty Fleas – Sweethearts – International Studies – Rutherglen – Party 05 – Juvenile detention gig – Mr Robbins’ maturity parabola – Melbourne Cup Picnic – Cordial day – Dodgeball – DVD. This was the year I moved to Geelong!

 - “Smarties” party! ( i was yellow and am on the right)

Year 12 – Christian College. This has been one of the most fun years of my life and i thank all of you who’ve been a part of it! Some memories include: Brissy tour – Methods – Music – Bonfires – “Bandcest” – Stage band – Wind Symph – Geelong Eisteddfod – South Street – Muck up day – Graduation – Formal – 18th bdays – Schoolies x 2 – supaband.

Well, i guess its time to go coz i’ve probably bored you enough,

Muckup – Me, Bree, Steff  Kel and I – Pigtails day