I AM BORED!!!

OMG I am so bored and I am watching the Voice Australia and I dont think it can get much worse than this... overall.  Obvs I have chosen to drink wine to put myself out of my misery, but unfortunately it's 9pm and I am not even close to tired.  Damn you long weekend with nothing to do!  I got too much sleep!

So I have never seen The Voice in America, but I imagine it has to be better than the Aussie version.  This shit is bad!  (Side note -- commercials are on...does Subway in US have a Moroccan lamb sub now?  That shit looks fundamentally not right).  The judges are Seal, Joel Madden, Delta Goodrem, and Keith Urban.  Seal is the most ridiculous -- he changes his nail polish every week, currently gold sparkly.  He usually has his shirt unbuttoned to his belly button but this week has thrown a major curve ball and is wearing a turtleneck!  Who would have thought?! It makes it even weirder that I think Joel is def in love with Seal.  The chick on right now is singing Hallelujah and I am legit scared.  Anyway, enough about that.

So today was an action packed day, as uge.  (Omg Seal is now crying because of the Hallelujah performance.)  Woke up this morning, had some coffee then had to tend to my plants.  See, I might be the world's WORST gardener.  My mom says it's because I try too hard.  All the plants were unhappy.  First, I have 4 hanging baskets with pink impatiens.  I bought the baskets and planted the impatiens myself.  Easy enough to grow, right?  Well they were off to a good start and then 3 of the baskets started looking like shit.  One was taken over by ants, another just died, and another had something eating the leaves.  So I pulled apart all the baskets and planted some seeds in them.  Idk why I did that as I never successfully grow seeds, but we'll see.  Next I had to tackle my tomato issue.  I bought a cherry tomato plant in January, not realizing that they wont pollinate in the humidity of the wet season.  Without getting a single tomato, I ended up with an enormous leggy plant.  It's probably 10 feet long.  I FINALLY started getting tomatoes this week though!  I was going to get rid of the plant, but I felt like it was unfair to the plant to get rid of it when it was just starting to produce tomatoes.  So as I was replanting it in a new container, I broke the stem and now RIP cherry tomato.  I still planted it but have no idea if it will grow.  THEN some massive fucking bird has eaten all my peppers, the only thing that was actually growing so I had to protect the pepper plant from terrorist bird.  I also planted chives for the 3rd time which I hope will work.  How am I this bad at gardening?!  I have had a garden every year for the last 10 years and it is always bad!

After that was all sorted I went shopping and to the movie rental store (they know me there).  I discovered today that they dont have the Last Samurai so idk how I am going to complete my Tom Cruise collection!!  I got Valkyrie and I might have to stop there!  Yeah, major problems.  Came home and cleaned my house, had to make it look like Al's place again as boys disrupted my feng shui.

The best part of my day was my run!  I have started running outside again these past few days and I am so pleased with how much I am enjoying the dry season runs.  It's still too hot for daytime, but sunset is absolutely perfect.  I live on a marina, there is a cool breeze at night, and the sun sets over the water.  I just have to make sure I run fast enough to avoid the midgees (those mini mosquitoes I bitched about before).  Running is great though and I enjoy it even more knowing how much I hated the same run in the wet season.

Other than those exciting events, I am incredibly bored and lonely.  I STILL HAVE NO FRIENDS!  I am over friends, I am like the 40 year old virgin now with a million hobbies.

back in biz

I am back, I apologize for the 3 week hiatus.  Lots to discuss.

First off, thanks to all who showed their concern about my new hair cut.  I went to a place someone from my work recommended.  Haircuts, like everything else in Darwin, are super expensive.  I am talking upwards of 100$  --  and Darwin is not exactly LA.  You're not paying 100$ because you're getting a great trendy cut, you're paying 100$ because they can charge what they want.  This place said 75$ with blow dry or 50$ no blow dry. Considering I was going home to clean my house after, I went with the 50$ option.  The chick from work did not recommend a particular stylist, so I just got whoever they gave me.  I will admit, I almost left when I saw the girl!  She was wearing an absolutely ridiculous sequin outfit, tons of make up, and had bad hair!  I thought, I am so screwed right now.  Thankfully, I had taken a picture with me and she was very concerned about sticking exactly to the picture.  In the end, all was good and I left happy!  Since it is so hot here, hair grows so fast, I am almost ready for another cut.

Jason ended up being able to stay home for 2 whole weeks!  Little bit longer than we had thought, which was great.  But he is gone now and I am sad :-(  He is not coming back til the last week of JULY!  Anyway, we had a great time while he was here despite a few minor setbacks.  We had planned to go down to Katherine, about 220 miles south of Darwin, to go kayaking in one of the national parks there.  It is supposed to be really beautiful, but you can only go during dry season.  We both took last Friday and Monday off work and the plan was to head down early Friday.  Jason called ahead to book the kayaks and turns out the park is closed because of salt water crocs on the loose.  UGHH!!  Obvs we didnt anticipate this happening and didnt have a back up plan, so we decided to just stay in Darwin and head to the classic Darwin golf.  Turns out BOTH Darwin courses were closed!  Terrible luck.  We ended up going BOWLING at noon on a friday, LOL.  We were the only bowlers.  Then we went to the beach for a little bit to relax, but obvs no swimming as it's not safe to swim here.

Next plan was since we can't go to Katherine Gorge, let's go to Kakadu National Park. Kakadu is enormous, hundreds of miles.  However, most of it is only accessible by 4 wheel drive and some places only by air.  Obvs the fiesta is not 4 wheel drive.  Our plan was to rent a 4WD vehicle for the day, until we went to the rental place and they said a ONE DAY rental would be $400 PLUS GAS!!  I wont pay that based on principle!  hahaha.  So we ended up rolling to Kakadu in the Fiesta, which was still a great time.  We had wanted to go swimming, but the swimming holes are all off road, so we climbed rocks all day and hiked through the bush.  Lots of ancient Aboriginal art paintings on the rocks there, and the scenery is amazing.

Dry season weather is awesome.  Same same everyday.  80 during the day, 60 at night.  The most hilarious thing is, people are dressing for winter!  Especially in the morning.  Scarves, jackets, boots, etc.  Darwin will always be a very interesting place to me!

Mandarin is going well.  I study all the time.  Learning the words is not so bad, but learning the characters is a BITCH!  Shit is so hard.  I really want to stick with learning it though.  I am almost at the end of level one. There are 2 more levels after this and then I will have to find another place to learn.  One thing about my class is it is moving a little slow for me.  It is an adult learning class, so geared to people who are busy with work, kids, schedules, etc.  Not for people like me who are anything but busy and study everyday just to have something to do!

For any peeps that missed it, I FINALLY posted some pics on FB.  With the slow internet connection it took absolutely forever, which is why I dont post regularly.  But the pics are a smorgasbord of shit since my trip in Dec.  Enjoy, time for CSI Miami (it's Saturday night!).

new hair cut today!

Yesssah!  I am posting before I go...but I am nervous as hell.  My last Aussie hair cut made me cry when I caught my reflection in a mirror in Target...  literally tears.  This could be even worse as it's my first Darwin hair cut and I need them to fix the disaster that happened before.  I had (correction still HAVE) layers so short in the back it looks like my bangs go all around my head.  WTF?!  So I am cutting it short in an attempt to even out this mess!  I am hoping to say goodbye Mrs Brady and hello to a Nicole Richie style.  Nervous!

something good!

Brace yourself...   I am about to say something positive about Darwin.  The dry season is very nice!!  "Winter" here is like a southern California summer!  It is nice everyday.  Sky is blue, not raining, no humidity, slight breeze, still hot during the day, but not unbearable.  Best of all, I can take my lunch down to the harbor and eat outside now.  I bring my book (still 50 shades of grey barf...def not continuing this series and only still reading bc it was $19) or much better, my Mandarin, and chill out for an hour.  Loving it!

I made a new years resolution to myself today (pos we will call it almost half way through the year resolution).  I am going to stop being so ugly.  I took the first step today and scheduled a hair cut for Saturday.  After the hair cut, I am going to wake up 15 mins earlier each day to actually style my hair in the mornings.  Maaaaaybe I will start wearing make up to work, but probs not. Make up is so expensive here (talking $20+ for Maybelline), I dont want to waste it for work!  But just the hair will help -- not a total betty, but a vast improvement.  Maybe I can even get it colored some time soon!  Anyway, thats as far as the plan goes.  Beauty is costly and I am on a budget!  And I am hungry.

I dont like today

UGHH -- just the day I fork out the dough for that fucking electric bill, student loans get deducted from account...WHAMMY!  And I get paid on Thursdays, but not this Thursday.  BLAH.  Do not like.  I have been at this job for almost 2 months now -- appropriate time to ask for a raise?

You might be wondering how my mandarin lessons are going!  I know this is weighing on everyone's minds.  Well, so so, I would say.  For each word we learn, we learn the spelling with regular letters (pinyin) then we learn the character.  It's almost like each word is a picture.  You know the character, or you don't.  You can't sound it out.  It is mucho loco.  And when I study my flashcards, they have my handwriting of the character, which only kinda resembles what the character should look like, lol.  I am fucked.  But I am still enjoying it and I look forward to class every week.  My teacher is super cute.  She has been teaching a long time and I think she goes at a good pace.  We also get to sing in class, which is fun :)

But you know what I hate?  Haha, everything?  lol.  But really.  The point in the fitness routine where you know you need to up the intensity of your workout.  Chunkaaas fitness involves a one hour workout 5-6 days a week.  I don't do weights, it's all cardio because weights are hard and boring to me.  It is usually something like run 2 miles, bike 15 mins, cross trainer 15 mins, run another 2 miles.  Thing is, I am doing it, but I know I could be getting a lot more out of it if I really exerted myself.  I am not cheating, I am just not trying my best.  I run at a really comfortable pace and I am completely zoned out on the bike.  I am pretty zoned during the run too.  And not "in the zone," but completely out of it.  Sometimes I do intervals, but like the weights, I think the sprints are really hard so I dont like it :(  I am comfortable in my routine, I can cruise right through it -- and they say you are never supposed to be comfortable!  So this weekend will commence Chunkaaas Upgraded Fitness Plan, which will involve sprints and attempted push ups.  At my old job where I was the only one there, I was practicing my push ups all the time!  I was actually getting better.  But now that I work around other people, I obvs cant be doing that.  Ughh, i want pizza.  

tackos and lollies

I need a makeover.  Desperately.  Not going to lie, I dont think I have ever been this ugly before.  Maybe in 5th grade when I got both glasses and braces in the same year.  Also, maybe at my prom...  but this is the ugliest since then!  My hair is both not dyed nor styled -- I had my last cut in dec and that was Mrs brady style.  I am still struggling with the bc's, causing my face to look like I am 15.  I have bought minimal clothes the last 2 years.  I dont wear make up and I dont blow dry my hair.  It is so bad that yesterday someone said "you look nice today."  I replied, "I do???"  to which she said, "yeah, you are wearing a headband."  ouch.

The Australian accent is killing me.  1st of all, I hate when people ask where my accent is from.  uh hum, I dont have an accent, you do!  They always want to know where specifically I am from in America and I when I say Boston, I get one of 2 responses.  Either they know Boston Legal or they don't -- in which case I say near New York which clears things up in most cases.  Boston Legal must have been big here, because that is always the only reason people know Boston.  2nd, you never want to hear an Australian person order Mexican food!  It's all fagitas this, tackos that.  Pina is pinna.  Pinnata.  And they switch the names of things!  Cilantro is coriander, shrimp is prawns, scallions are shallots, shallots are eschalot, bell peppers are capsicum, granola is muesli, oatmeal is porridge!  MAKE IT STOP!  And the absolute worst, candy is lollies.  "Mum, can I please have a lolly?"  NO.  

Ok, I will give some credit to Aussies.  They know their Asian food (makes sense I guess since I do live so close to Asia).  As much as I laugh because they dont know the difference between salsa verde and pico de gallo - I know SHIT about Indonesian and Malaysian food and they laugh at me when I try to order things like rendang sapi or even laksa...please tell me I am not the only person in the world who never heard of laksa before because it is a staple here!  I had my first laksa the other day --- noodle soup in spicy coconut milk.  Incredibly filling def not on chunkaas diet.  Not really my thing as it counteracts my chunkaas fitness plan, but was good to try.  If I had to choose between a burrito and a laksa, burrito any damn day!  And curries!  OMG, I dont know my curries! I was eating my rendang sapi the other day at work and someone asked me if I thought it tasted like a penang curry -- "uhhhh, idk, yeah, tastes good, errrr uhh little spicy."  So I guess I cant laugh (too much) at tackos.  

new plant shelf

Even though I want to move soooo bad, I do like the actual apartment I live in.  The guys have been gone a while, and this has really become "Al's place."  It hasn't been easy to decorate because I have such a limited budget.  I was just saying to someone the other day, the problem with moving around so much is you never get the chance to accumulate stuff.  And not one of the three of us is from this area.  So it's been hard to have to buy EVERYTHING -- couches, beds, silverware, plates, BBQ, washing machine, refrigerator, shelves, desk, chairs, tables, pantry stuff like spices, oils, hangars, kitchen appliances AND ON AND ON - we literally had nothing except a couple tvs.  So I am often frustrated with my "savings" account (lol), but then I remember how much we have had to put into this place to make it feel like home.

Anyway, today as I was admiring my awesome new plant shelf I got yesterday, I remembered that technically I am not supposed to live here.  It is supposed to be for just people in defense, and it is hard to imagine that 2 army dudes would have a million plants and hanging flower baskets on their balcony.  So probs the guys will not be as happy about Al's place as I am.  We do have inspections a couple times a year to make sure the place is kept tidy and nothing is broken -- when these happen I have to hide all my stuff (ie put away the cupcake pot holders and hide my clothes).  I am guessing I will be hiding the plant shelf and baskets too :(

It's mothers day today and I obvs miss my mom.  The last month has been really hard.  I am proud of myself that I have been able to keep it together and stay busy.  But I am so lonely!!!  I just cant wait til we dont live in Darwin anymore.  Darwin is small, very very small.  It's far away from everything, you cant drive to a single other city and just get away for a weekend.  Probably the closest city is Brisbane, a 3 hour flight!  And all the flights are so expensive because they are limited in service.  I miss America, my friends, and my family. UGHH

In good news (more good news in addition to my plant shelf!), I got a message that Jason will be home for a week in 2 weeks!  YES!  It is funny and it totally figures he comes home the same weekend my work is having a huge (huge for Darwin) conference that runs Thursday-Sunday.  Obvs I am totes skipping out on the Sat and Sunday.  They really only need me on the Thurs anyway.  But yay!  I can survive 2 more weeks.  Then he will be gone another 6 weeks after that.  The thing I am most looking forward to is eating normal food!  I cant be bothered cooking for myself and food is so expensive here, I never eat anything good!  Eggs, toast, veggies.  Pretty much it.  BLAH.

I learned a new Aussie saying this week.  They had a meeting at work about people attending that conference and how if you "go long grass" half way through, you wont get paid.  I am loving this saying!  Go long grass means you take off and disappear, lol.  Classic.