The Rock

well I haven't written in quite some time now. i've been meaning to update this thing... since I'm sort of still traveling... but traveling stateside doesn't seem to have the same luster that traveling abroad does. at least, not enough to warrant someone actually wanting to read my daily activities. but seeing as how this blog serves not only as a way to update family and friends, but an outlet for me to express my thoughts and feelings, i will continue more diligently this new year. (resolution number one).

let me first start off with a small blurb about cleveland. i spent this past summer there, and i can't lie... i had a blast! i was so worried about moving, because everyone said it was such a crap city. one of my favorite dave matthews songs says, "turns out not where but who you're with that really matters." and that saying is so true! in a nutshell i:

• made some amazing friends (especially LA!)
• was able to reconnect with FOUR fantastic volunteers
  
• dated a hot guy
• took an immense trip to vegas
• turned 25!
• finally saw the bodies exhibit
• did a wine tasting
• went to a concert
• attended an indians game
• perused an art walk
  
• and generally made a name for myself around town :)

yes, it was a good summer.

and now here i am. in hawaii. i can't even describe how anxious and excited i was to come here. i hyped it up in my head so much. i mean, it's hawaii!! now that i'm here i would describe honolulu in one word..... eh.

it's whatever. yes, the smaller towns (north shore, kailua, for example) are much lovelier than honolulu, but seeing as how i make it to those places a mere two/three times per month, i'm basing my feelings of apathy solely on the city of honolulu. to be honest, if something were to come up, or a better opportunity presented itself, i would leave tomorrow. for some reason, i just haven't really "clicked" here. it wasn't like australia where everything just fell into place. and it's not like cleveland, where my job enabled me to meet so many people. overall it's quite cliquish, which is probably my least favorite attribute of any person/place. plus, i've been away from home for about three years now. i miss my family and friends.... particularly my mom and lindsey. i'm sure that has a lot to do with it as well.

so now the plan is to stay here until the summer. i can't decide if i want to spend my birthday here or not. it's six months away, so i suppose i can just play that one by ear. :) either way, i'm applying to schools in atlanta. the plan is to move back sometime in june/july and get a place with the one and only lindsey atha. i'm pretty stoked on that. i miss her and can't wait to be able to hang out on a regular basis!

but hawaii isn't all bad. i've met some really great people here too. of course i already knew brittany, my friend from australia. i have another super awesome friend.... but i don't know if i'm allowed to say his name, because he's a lawyer and is anonymous in his own blog. but he's unlike any other and i love him to pieces. i have wonderful roommates too. tatiana - the glamour girl from hawaii. vicki - the indie chick from cincinnati. and veronica - the laid back skater/surfer from miami. thank goodness i found a house with them, otherwise i would probably be blogging from monroe right now.

also, i have a really chill/cool job. i work at a scuba diving shop in waikiki (the main beach). i'm getting certified this month (wa*hoo!). i don't do anything extra special... just sell/rent out equipment, sign people up for diving trips, and do some office type work. but i like it. all the instructors who work for the company are awesome. mainly i think it just sounds cool to say i work there. i'm also working at outback (again). in this city, unless you have a salary, a tip oriented job is the way to go. fortunately for me, this is the most relaxed restaurant i have every worked at in my entire life. it's such a cake job, that i don't even mind being in hospitality.

even though i'm not that keen on hawaii, sometimes (i would even say oftentimes) i take a look at my life and realize, "wow. the living is easy!" i live on the beach, meet new people, work a flexible schedule, and every day is a saturday.

as always, it remains a charmed life.

xx

ps. pictures up soon now that i have my sweet new digital care of mom and dad this christmas! :)

australia, asia, and beyond

**Apparently i started writing this blog over the summer and never got around to finishing/posting it.... but it has some good pictures so i'm posting it now**

so i've been stateside for just over one month now. it's still a little weird not waking up on wallis parade... not walking down to the beach for my morning sunshine... not seeing my forever adored trainer, tom, for my mid-afternoon gym session... and most importantly not seeing some of the most amazing people i was lucky enough to call friends. australia was definitely one of the greatest years of my life. from my first townhouse in darling harbour to my, shall we say, interesting apartment in bondi... everyone and everything was truly one of a kind! i honestly cannot wait until i can visit again. who knows, maybe next time i'll even make it past byron beach. :)

as for asia. no words can describe. it was the vacation of a lifetime. every day was better than the previous. the beaches were the most beautiful places i'd ever seen. do you ever watch movies that are set in a tropical locale and wonder, "does it really look like that?" well, my friends, it DOES! unfortunately, i was unable to immortalize these precious moments. after buying a new camera because i forgot mine in sydney, i lost the memory card and killed the new camera whilst tubing, just one week before i left. tragic! however, i do have some pictures from my roommate/travel companion, sabrina. i must note, that she was an amazing person to travel with. we actually grew even closer during our six week escapades. saying goodbye to her was especially hard, and i still have a lingering sense of bitersweet nostalgia.

good times, great friends

well i actually remembered my camera, but of course.... it wasn't charged. *sigh* luckily, my friends had some cute photos, as witnessed below. don't i look happy?! i am.

and special ups to the girls on my left and right (allison and brittany, respectively) in the third picture. they rock.

ASIA

so i've been dying to write this blog for some time now. i am going to ASIA! i've been wanting to visit thailand for ages. in fact, when i applied to the peace corps, i told them that i didn't have a preference.... i just wanted to help wherever i was needed. but in reality, i was secretly hoping for southeast asia.

my australia chapter is quickly coming to a close (*alligator tear drops*). it's a bit embarrassing, because when people ask me what i did in australia... i have to be honest and reply, "chilled in sydney for nine months." did i make it to melbourne...? no. cairns? no. what about perth, darwin, adelaide, or canberra? no, no, no, and no. i've been in australia for nine months and the furthest point i've reached is byron bay. (which was freaking awesome). there are a million places i want to go in oz, but unfortunately i don't have the resources. i'm totally fine with this though, because i know i'll be back! (4 month tourist visa anyone?)

in the meantime... thailand.... laos... maybe even cambodia and vietnam? basically, the plan is to fly to bangkok on march 7, where i will meet up with my friend, jess and roommate, sabrina. i'm pretty much planning on staying in asia until i'm penniless (which includes a full moon party and thai new year -- what, what!), upon which i will return home to the states. i'll get into my stateside plans later....

i don't think i've ever been more excited for a trip in my whole life. i think i'm even more excited than when i was planning my london trip! (although that's a tough call considering 1. i adore/am slightly obsessed with all things british and 2. escape from bulgaria with an amazing friend was pretty much heaven on earth). the best part about asia though, is that nothing is planned. aside from the actual flight, i have no clue what's going to happen! i haven't even booked a hostel for the night that i arrive. i'm just going to show up and let the chips fall where they may. i've never been on trip where everything has been completely spontaeous, so i'm anxious to see how it goes. i'm not worried though. pretty much everyone i know has been to asia, traveled in the same manner, and they all LOVED it.

can. not. wait!

however, asia marks more goodbyes. i was just discussing today how the one kind of crappy thing about traveling is that you meet all these amazing people... only to say goodbye, never knowing if and when you'll see them again. *sigh,* the romantic side of me thinks maybe that's how it's supposed to be. all these people were put in my life for some purpose, and when it's fulfilled we move on. there is one person in particular who i am rather fond of though, and who i will be especially sad to leave. more on that later as well.

lastly, happy late valentine's day! i know everyone thinks it's just another commercialized holiday, spurred on by hallmark and the evil corporations. but i think all the cynics and pessimists should take a pill and smell the roses :) i watched "valentine's day" with my friend monica (btw, the movie was ok. wait till it's on dvd), went out for a drinks with the crew, and called it a night. nothing special happened... but i did get a little present from my roommate! haha. i really do have the cutest, sweetest friends.

love ya'll!

kissing frogs

so about two months ago, i was out at a bar and thought the bartender was really cute. after gazing at him all night, my friend jess was really pushing for me to go and talk to him. i thought it would be cheesy... i mean, he probably got hit on all the time. before we were about to leave, i saw jess attempting to write my number on a coaster and give it to him. um, no. how lame would that be? so as we were leaving something took over me, and i marched over to the bar with a swift storm of courage running through me. i just walked right up and asked if he had a girlfriend (and when he said no), if he wanted my number. he took it, and even called me that very night. however, after that initial contact, we always seemed to miss each other.

until last night that is. basically, dave (the bartender) texted me and ended up meeting up with my friends and i. talk about a date from hell. and it was practically a date because we were chatting with each other over drinks all night. let's recap some of the lovely things he said:

1."chug on"... he kept saying this phrase. he later declared it was his own personal catchphrase and he was going to try and start it/see if it would catch on. (um. "fetch" in mean girls anyone?!)
2. "i'm a north shore snob." the north shore is notoriously wealthy. he's basically a self-proclaimed vanderbilt.
3. after making a racial slur, announced that "everyone in australia is pretty racist."
um, cool?
4. telling me my drink choice was boring, and following that drink choices say a lot about a person...

gag. barf. dry heave.
it's official. australian boys are so lame.
guess you have to kiss a lot of frogs to get to prince charming.

i don't even know

this is seriously how i feel right now. thanks for the clip andrea. i don't care what anyone says. dane cook is awesome.



and by the way... why do we always want what we can't have?? when it's available i mock it, when it's gone i lust it. is that a sign of immaturity? if so, i really hope i grow up soon.

working hard for the money

so, tonight marks the first complete week at work. so far, i actually REALLY like it. it's SO different from the other restaurant i was working at (in the best possible way!!). first of all, it's a cafe. although there is a full dinner menu, in true cafe fashion, the majority of customers just get coffees and sit around chatting. in the states this would probably drive me crazy, since your wage is tip oriented and thus the mentality is "turn and burn." but since australia's wages are much, much higher.... i don't care if someone sips their latte for two hours. in fact, i love it! sometimes it gets quite busy, but during the downtime i just chat with the regulars. i talk about myself a lot, and who doesn't love that? actually, some people get annoyed with having the same conversation over and over. (you know, the whole "where are you from, what are you doing here, how long have you been here, what did you do back home..." etc, etc). i quite enjoy it though. you never know what kind of connections you are potentially making.

that being said, this next week should prove interesting. there is a day staff and a night staff, and i've been working nights. for whatever reason, the day staff is all girls and the night staff is all guys. admittedly, it's much easier to win over guys than girls. and i'm pretty sure the girls (who have all been working there for a while) are going to boss me around and frustrate me to no end. the few times that i've come in around 4 (which is the interim period between day and night shifts), and had to work with the girls for a couple hours.... well.... let's just say it's not the same. they always call me "darling," and whether they're doing it intentionally or not, it comes off as really condescending. it's almost like they think if they tack on "darling" at the beginning or end of the sentence, it excuses the fact that they are bossing me around as if they're my superior.

however, i love the general manager. he's really nice and very accommodating. so if this week sucks major big time, i'll simply tell him i don't want to work mornings unless they really need me. i think he's planning for me to be on nights anyhow.

christmas was nothing special. i worked christmas eve and christmas day, which was fine with me because the weather was crap this week and holiday wages are simply awesome. i did come home christmas eve to my roommate and her friends still partying the night away. we polished off wine till the sun came up, and even though it sounds lame it was actually really fun.
lastly, i have NYE off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm pretty excited about that. i still don't know what i'm doing, but the girls are apparently planning something. should be good. i have to work the next morning at 9 AM though. killer. bottom line: i will be very hungover and every one's going to have to deal. alrighty. gotta get my beauty sleep. early start tomorrow.

toodles!