Elsja Down Under

Could it be ANY Louder? January 28, 2008

I’m sitting here in my apartment trying to work and I am about to go insane! Our apartment is exceptionally loud. We face a smallish street, but little did we know-it is like a main highway. In addition to the 5 billion cars that drive up and down all day, we also get trucks, busses and loud motorcycles.

Today this place seems exceptionally loud. LOUD ASS trucks are driving by every 1-2 minutes. Cars NEVER END. There were some gardeners across the street using their leaf blowers and lawn mowers, 2 ambulances have gone past…. oh… in fact I hear a distant 3rd. The baby downstairs has been crying, earlier some random child was screaming its head off. I can hear hammering and banging every now and then from the construction site down the street and now there are some freaking annoying cicada bugs buzzing non stop. Oh, lets not forget the 18 species of birds that hang out in the trees out front.

Oh here goes another truck… oh and to top it off, there is now some “beep beep beep beep” from another truck that is obviously backing up.

I swear, our window is like a sound vortex. It sucks in ALL possible noise from the street and surrounding areas and it just amplifies a million times. The shitty thing is… we don’t have air conditioning- so unless I want to melt in here, I have to leave the patio door open. Oddly enough- even though the patio lets in all possible noise, it hardly lets in air.

Oh here’s another leaf blower… and a bus.

This is MISERABLE.

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A Little Story January 26, 2008

There were 4 boys (who shall remain nameless) going away for a bachelor party weekend (aka “buck’s weekend). These 4 boys are part of a larger group of boys but these 4 boys are flying together seperately from the rest.

The 4 boys (again, FOUR boys…including the groom, who booked the airline tickets) get to the airport and go to the desk to check in.

They get their boarding passes, 4 tickets to Cairns.

They walk to the gate and sit around and wait to board the plane to Cairns.

They get on the plane and the captain surely says “we hope you enjoy your flight to Cairns.”

The boys land in Cairns and surely the captain says “welcome to Cairns, the weather is blah blah degrees.”

They exit the plane in the Cairns airport.

One boy says “wow it seems quite humid here.”

They get in a taxi all ready to get to the accomodations and start their weekend of fun. They ask the taxi driver to take them to a particular set of apartments on a particular street.

Hmmm… that’s weird- the driver has never heard of that particulr location- I wonder why!!

The taxi driver finally says… “you do realize you are in Cairns right?”

OOOOPS… Silly boys… you were supposed to go to BRISBANE!

How????… How after months of planning… months of emails back and forth… months of discussions of the crazy weekend of fun in Brisbane did 4, yes FOUR boys ALL manage to just “overlook” the fact that they booked the wrong tickets, got on the wrong plane and even got in a taxi to go to a non-existent hotel in the WRONG CITY??

***This is a completely, 100% true story that occured today. This story does not involve my boyfriend. He was one of the more “observant” boys who actually booked the correct flight, went to the correct gate, got on the correct plane and landed in the correct airport in the correct city. There is a happy ending to the story, all 4 boys did manage to make it back to Brisbane – luckily since the the groom was part of the group! But who knows how much it must have cost them??***

I hope you enjoyed that tale. I know I did.

SOUP! (and love) January 24, 2008

What did I do today? I ATE! I actually ate real food for the first time in almost 11 days. My cleanse ended last night and technically I was only really supposed to have orange juice today, but I had OJ and soup. I couldn’t resist. I made the biggest tastiest pot of wonderful soup and I had some for dinner. It’s probably bland and tasteless, but to me (the person who hasnt eaten ANY food in 10 days) it tastes like Heaven. Tomorrow I will have some for lunch and then I may just have some tomato/cucumber/avocado salad for dinner. It is the most wonderful feeling to eat again.

You know what else is wonderful? Jen and James got engaged!! My best friend is getting married… ooo heheh… it’ll be like “My Best Friend’s Wedding”… except my best friend isn’t a guy I want to date. Jen is so happy and I am so happy for her and James! Since miss speedy Garcia has to have her wedding in 2 months I’ll be home again in CA in March. My family is excited, you should be too!

As I said, I am so happy for Jen and James… but (and I feel guilty for saying this) I think I am more happy to finally eat. I’m sure in a few days, once I’ve gotten back to regular eating habits, then my excitement will shift back to Jen and James.

96 Hours January 17, 2008

Do you know what hasn’t happened in 96 hours? Food has not passed my lips in 96 hours. Yes that’s right, I haven’t eaten in 96 hours! I’m on day 4 of the Master Cleanse. While it’s not easy at all, it’s also not AS hard as I thought it would be. I’m never hungry physically- although I definitely WISH I could eat! I am looking forward to Saturday night because it will be the end of day 6 and I will officially be halfway through. OMG 6 days to go.

I am REALLY looking forward to next Friday because that will be the day I can officially “eat” even though I just get soup broth. I’m looking forward to making my own veggie soup for the first time ever. It will be soooo delish! And I’m REALLY REALLY REALLY looking forward to net Sunday because then I can actually eat REAL FOOD.

I have a list of things I am craving immensly…

pasta

pizza

chips and salsa

Thai food

I really could care less about sugary food like candy and cookies. I just want salt, garlic, and some spice! I really plan on eating pretty healthy the first few days to get my body back in tune with actually eating solid foods… but I think in a couple weeks I’ll scarf down an entire pizza. I can’t wait. I can’t wait.

This better be worth it! I better feel a whole heck of a lot healthier at the end. I guess the worst case scenario is that I feel the same, but mentally I’ll be VERY proud that I stuck it out. It will be a big sense of accomplishment to know that I CAN do it- even when I used to think there was no way in HELL!

Master Cleanse January 13, 2008

So for some weird reason, I decided to do this cleanse. New year… clean out my body… blah blah. I’ve known people who have done it and they feel GREAT after. I am looking forward to that great feeling because I’m sure the process itself will be miserable. But seriously, it’s 10 days of my life,  I can do it, right?  I always thought “I could NEVER do that… how do these people have the willpower??” I am here to prove myself wrong.

Here is what I will be consuming for the next 10 days:

Mornings:

Roughly 1 liter of salt water… blugh- actually I already did this- it wasn’t so bad tasting, but it was SO much water that I felt full for SO long. Thats a good thing I guess.

Rest of the day:

A mixture of water, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and maple syrup. It’s really not as gross as it sounds. I think I put too much pepper so it tastes a bit weird. Its 1:15 and I’m only having my first glass.

10 days seems VERY daunting at this point, but so far day 1 is not bad at all. I hear days 2-4 are the worst! Then people say they feel great, aren’t hungry and have total energy.

I haven’t been hungry yet- it’s more of a mental desire to eat- and even that is not too strong at the moment. Wish me luck!!

I’m Back January 9, 2008

I’m too lazy to blog right now, but I wanted to let everyone know that I made it back safely to Sydney. So, instead of re-writing everything, here’s an edited letter I sent out to my friends and family earlier today…

I just wanted to let you all know that I am back in Sydney. After a grueling 19 hour trip with a layover in Auckland, I’ve arrived. Surprisingly- the long flights were the easiest part of my journey going through customs twice in Auckland and Sydney with about 130 lbs of luggage and carry-ons (no exaggeration here) was horrible. Not because of th long waits and lines, but moreso because I had to lug around all that weight. Standby flights are pretty stressful, but nevertheless, I got back!  

The staff at LAX were the BIGGEST bitches. I got to the desk at 7:10 and the guy told me I had to wait for a ticketing agent to help me for some reason. She gets there around 7:35 (I had just stood there waiting the whole time) and tells me “oh you’re not getting on this flight, the flight is closed. It closes an hour before departure” (departure was at 8:30). I said “Um… I’ve been waiting here for 25 minutes for someone to help me, I got here in time!” She said “Well you had to wait for someone to help you and the only person that can do that is me and I wasn’t here at that time and now the flight is closed!” 

UH… HOW IS THAT MY PROBLEM? she was SUCH a bitch. Luckily the first guy who helped me was much nicer and told her to let me on the flight!! That was just ONE of the bitchy ladies I had to deal with. My dad witnessed these wenches first hand and he can attest to how horrendous they were! 

It was great seeing Andrew, he was able to pick me up from the airport afterall so that was a wonderful surprise. I spent most of the day yesterday feeling hungover. Basically it was just exhaustion I think but it felt more like hungover than tired! Today I was able to unpack everything and straighten up all my mess that I left all over the apartment when I got in.

It is about 8 billion degrees here. Ok, maybe more like 80- but very humid. I don’t mind the humidity, although- I don’t really like humidity IN my apartment. Feels much more tropical here now than it did before I left.  I’d say if it is about 80 degrees outside then it must be 85 in our bedroom since the sun beats down in there directly and there is no air! Maybe about 75 in the living room since there is a tiny breeze in here with the balcony door open. Andrew said he literally has not closed the balcony door once since I left. He leaves it open day and night. I didn’t think it seemed too safe- but in all reality, I’m more afraid of creepy animals or bugs coming in more than robbers and rapists. 

The whole daylight savings time is really throwing me off. Yesterday it was about 730 and I thought it felt more like 4pm. Last night Andrew and I were both SO tired. We wanted to go to bed at 8 but unfortunately had to wait until about 8:45 because it wasn’t dark enough before that!

I thought it would be easier leaving this time- and I think it partially was, but now that I’m back here- I think it’s almost harder. I keep thinking of all these things I should’ve bought or done while I was in the US- and realizing that I won’t get another chance for months is a little scary. I really wasn’t ready to give up my pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks and of course, I miss everyone already! Especially my little Preston and Emma.  

 

 

Don’t Bother with Resolutions! January 5, 2008

Especially when it’s the same old “I’m going to work out more, get healthier…blah blah blah”

The gym was super crowded today. I couldnt find one open machine. No treadmills, no elipticals of any sort. All because a bunch of lazy slackers decided that this year was going to be the year that they FINALLY lose those extra 10-20 pounds.

NewsFlash!!! All you people who didnt work out pre-2008 will probably be giving up your gym routine in 2 weeks anyways. So my request to you all… just give up on your resolutions a bit earlier than you typically would and leave the gyms to the people who are actually devoted to going so we don’t have to deal with unnecessary crowds.

I guess I shouldn’t complain since I’ll be leaving the country shortly anyways (I hope). Once I’m in Sydney, I won’t even be going to the overpriced gym- I’ll just have to work out in my stellar home gym. But let’s just hope and pray that I get on a flight ASAP (as in tomorrow or Monday) because if I don’t- I may be stuck here for a LONG time.

Here’s why:

A STRIKE of more than 1500 Qantas engineers will remain in the wings until the new year, with the airline yesterday offering an olive branch to their union.

More than 1700 aircraft engineers will walk off the job on January 9 in protest against growing casualisation of the workforce and erosion of working conditions.

Almost 90 per cent of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association members voted for the action following the breakdown of enterprise negotiations with Qantas.

It would be the largest disruption to the nation’s air travel since the 1989 pilots’ strike.

Tensions mounted between the two sides yesterday, with informal talk of bringing the action closer to Christmas — traditionally the busiest time for Australia’s airlines.

ALAEA federal secretary Steve Purvinas said the engineers were loath to disrupt Christmas and new year travel but strike action could go ahead if Qantas took hostile action.

“ALAEA won’t be acting before January 9,” Mr Purvinas said. “The only possibility (of that) would be if Qantas decides to start locking out employees.

“We don’t want to disrupt the holiday or Christmas and new year, and hopefully we can have meaningful discussions with the airline.”

A lockout — where the airline sends employees home without pay until further notice and replaces them with casual or other workers — was not in Qantas’s interests, Mr Purvinas said.

Qantas executive general manager engineering David Cox dismissed the suggestion.

“We are not going to do that,” he said.

Kevin Brown, a Qantas executive general manager, said that the airline was committed to finding a solution.

“We will resume negotiations with the union on January 4,” he said.

A Good Start to the New Year! January 2, 2008

So far, 2008 has been a good year! Other than being a little sick all year… well, hungover… it’s been a great one (yes isn’t that funny that I can say “all year” because so far the year has only been one day).

The year started off great at Mosun in Laguna beach. I’ll post some more pictures eventually. A night of sake bombs, champagne, lots of dancing and lots of blisters on my feet to prove it! It was pretty eventful and ended up a little crazy and full of drama at the end. It wouldn’t be a good night out without a little drama. Luckily none of it involved me.

My sister Jan flew out from Texas with her boys so I’ve been able to catch up with them while I’m here in California

And the highlight of my year so far was purchasing my ticket back to Sydney. Well, buying the ticket wasn’t the actual highlight- it was actually the cost of the ticket that was rather exciting.

Flying back to Sydney is cost me….

…drumroll…

$167.00!!

No, I didn’t forget a zero. It’s not $1670. It’s ONE HUNDRED & SIXTY SEVEN bucks!

Just thought I would share.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope that 2008 is as good for you as it has been for me so far!