Thoughts

Work wasn't that bad in the end. I only have 2 shifts for the week coming so that will be good in terms of homework but not as good in terms of money. I'll be okay. There will be a lot of homework to catch up with as I have barely made a dent in the first 2 weeks of readings. I'll just have to do what I can and keep going even when it's overdue

My sister Sarah is doing a graphic design course and one of the projects involves making a magazine cover. She mentioned taking some photos of a person in a bath with flower petals around and I volunteered to be her model. Next weekend we're going to get dressed up, curl our hair, have dark eyes, and wear pretty things. We'll both be in the photos, separately, and I think it'll be really fun. We're also going to take some photos of us [or just me] in Snug Falls, which will be chilly but fun. We'll take towels and changes of clothes. Something exciting for me to look forward to.

I am sick of having bad skin. It looks horrible and has been like that for months now. I hate it! I just want my prettier skin back. No fair.

I've been thinking for a while about getting a tattoo. I am inspired by Katie from Skunkboy Creatures and her beautiful heart tattoo's near her elbows. Sometimes I want the same but it'd be copying and I'm not 100% sure that's what I want. It's such an original area and a really pretty design but I have to be sure first. I would like to do something different but similar, at least I think so, but I'll keep mulling it over.

I like the idea of the heart but I'm not sure on the stitching around the edge. That's perfect for her but for me I'd just have a solid heart, if I was going to do something similar. I feel dodgy about it though. Copying is bad. I will use it as inspiration and that's all. I still haven't decided about it yet. It can't hurt to look.

Not much else is news. I'm heading back to Launceston tomorrow for school and to visit Sophie so I'll be preparing for that tonight and tomorrow afternoon. It'll be nice and I do quite enjoy going up there and taking the classes. I just feel bad that I don't have enough time for homework!

No work please

I wish I didn't have to work. All I want to do, funnily enough, is stay home and do my homework and watch the occasional episode of One Tree Hill. Sometimes work can be fun but it's very taxing working in a restaurant. As one of the other waitresses there said, I'll have some great skills from it like being able to juggle so many things at once when others may not be able to. That's a good thing. I would just rather not go today, or tomorrow, or for a while. If only. It's not a very nice day today so that's making me a little happy. We won't have millions of people outside for lunch today but then maybe they'll all be inside. If I didn't need the money then maybe I would quit and focus solely on my studies but I am not getting government benefits as of yet so I have to keep my job. One of the girls from work said to apply for benefits you have to do it all on-line but it's so confusing! Too much information on the smallest of decisions that makes it too hard to get anywhere. Gosh. I think I'll sit in bed and do some homework and watch a little OTH.

Better

I'm feeling much better now. Yorick and I went on a date [I love calling it a date] tonight for our 4 year anniversary! We had dinner at Fish Frenzy on the wharf and afterwards I got some lemon sorbet from Sticky Fingers. It was delicious, all of it actually. I got out of my flute lesson earlier as I have barely enough money to get my by till next Wednesday so that made me feel better and I did do a bit of homework before dinner. Now I'm going to do some more. I might get up early tomorrow morning and fit some in before work at 12. I also have Sunday evening to do more and get prepared for the next round of classes. It'll be okay.

Very very sad

I am completely sad right now.

I have no money. I will barely have enough to last me till next pay-day.

I don't have enough time to do all my homework and there is a tonne to do.

Crying makes my head hurt...

I don't know how to make this okay.

I was meant to be heading to my flute lesson but I don't have enough money for that.

I need to spend this time doing homework.

I hope I don't crack my being in two.

Once I start having less expenses, I'm going to save so hard.

I will NEVER be left with nothing again.

Images from weheartit

Celebrate!

I just found out that I have now completed my Bachelor of Arts at the University of Tasmania! The results were a little late getting to all who did the summer school class I was in but they're here now. It was the last unit for my degree and I felt good about it so I wasn't stressed about the result and I'm so happy now it has arrived. I felt good about the essay and the exam, not like I did when I failed what I thought was going to be my last course last year. I'm so glad it's done. I don't feel super excited because I've already started my second degree but it's a great accomplishment and my mum just replied to my message with the news saying "fizz tonight". Celebrate!

Liam Finn

I love this video. I love this song. I love how it's so vignetted just like Holga and Diana photographs. Dreamy, square images that make my heart sing. When my sister Sarah and I went to visit my brother James and his wife George in Perth in December 2007, we saw Liam Finn playing a gig in this small place. It was great! James and I even got a photo with him!

I was listening through the New Moon CD, picking out the songs I liked, and got the albums and/or EP's of the artists I liked. I have also been putting notes into my phone of songs I like and want to download and Liam Finn's Second Chance was one of them. I have to listen to all these songs/albums! It will take me a while to get through them all but it will be nice. I'll definitely need music for my drive to and from Launceston every week so it's a good thing I have lots of new music to entertain me. It's hard to hear music in the car unless I know it well...I'll get around that.

Update

I have started a blog specifically for my Social Work course [Becoming a Social Worker]. It was suggested that we have a journal for part of the course to help us think through things more so than being assessed so that is what I'm doing. I thought I would start it earlier to document the whole journey instead of later when I'm 1/4 of the way through. It makes more sense to me anyway.

I have always loved writing journals. I'm glad I'm getting back into it again. I have been at Live Journal for ages, 6 years I think, and have always had little breaks when I got slack regarding writing every day. I've really liked blogging here on Blogspot. The layouts are nice and I like the following system too. It's nice having a few blogs here without having to have different accounts.

I think I might talk about sky diving now. It was great! I was scared but not as much as I was when bungy jumping in New Zealand. I think that was scarier because I had to jump by myself and it was a very solo experience where sky diving wasn't solo at all. Yorick and I went up in the plane, a tiny plane, where we squished into the back with our two instructors/jump-partners. We got to around 10,000 feet and they strapped us to their backs then prepared for the dive. Yorick and instructor Heath went first, then I followed with instructor Lex. I found Lex hard to understand some of the time because of his accent. Before diving the took us through the procedure again as we had in the big group of 13 of us on the ground, but to be sure we knew it Lex told me exactly how it would happen and exactly what I had to do. Once it was our turn, 10 seconds after Yorick and Heath went, Lex and I went. I put my 2 feat onto the tiny platform thing, crossed my arms like a mummy, put my head back onto his shoulder, then Lex propelled us out of the plane and we were a tumbling. After we stopped tumbling I was allowed to put my hands out and then the parachute went up and we were gliding at a slower pace. It was great seeing all of Hobart and its surroundings from such a high position. I could see so far. It felt a little weird in the harness, like being in one of those baby jumpers, but I got used to it. The landing was a bit strange and Lex and I ended up on our right sides and once we hit the ground we were dragged back a little due to the open parachute and the wind. No one else got to go because of the wind, then there being too many clouds. Hopefully they will get to go next Friday depending on the weather again! Yorick and I are going to get the t-shirts. Ooh I loved the pants they put us in. I super want some. Walking to the plane in them and the harness made me feel like one of those guys walking to a plane or helicopter on the tarmac ready to go off and fight something! Empowering. It was very fun and we both want to go again. It will be cheaper for the next month because we've joined the club so we will probably go again. I think I'll enjoy it more the second time too. I looked shocked the whole time I believe. I felt shocked anyway. Once the plane door opened and we were getting ready to exit the plane I looked at how far away from the ground we were and got a bit scared. I was fine though and there wasn't much to be scared about. Bring on round two!

I'm very over work at the moment. All except today [Thursday, Friday and Saturday] I have been happy and not getting angry at the customers [not to their face but on the inside and sometimes not having a happy face on to see them] but today I was getting a bit annoyed, especially at Alison, the owner, who keeps telling me to do what I've already done. Grr. I won't have to go back until Thursday next week, then again on Saturday and Sunday. From the week after onwards I'm getting rid of my Sunday shift to make sure I'm prepared for Uni. Next week I'm not doing my usual Friday shift because of sky diving take two. Hopefully we get to do it!

I don't like this heat. I'm no good in heat. I over-heat. I don't like that. That's why I'm stressing [not a heap] over what to wear for Uni. I don't like to wear skirts without my stockings and I don't get a hot in those as some might think. It's more the fact that I forget to wear shoes other than my uggs which is what contributes to my overheating. They're just so comfy and my regular shoes that I forget about what the weather might do. I bought a new top this afternoon at Big W that I want to wear. It's a tan coloured vest. I love vests. I will wear it over a black t-shirt and maybe I'll wear a skirt and my stockings with my cons or volleys. I'll figure something out. For now, however, I might go watch some One Tree Hill before doing some homework.

A new Anna

I'm feeling happier with myself these days. I have noticed a change in myself recently concerning my lack of anger either on the roads or at work and I feel good. Usually I feel like a fraud because no one knows how angry I can get. All they see is a sweet and innocent person but that's not all there is to me, thus feeling like a fraud. In Tasmania we have a 50 kilometres per hour (km/h) speed limit on streets and in some places it's at least 60 km/h, which is much better, and I used to hate going 50. Driving up to my place I have to go 50 and in the last month I have actually been following that rule as I have had two $80 fines for going over the 50 km/h speed limit and I'm not going to let it happen again. Since I have slowed down on the roads I get less angry at other drivers, even though I know they're stupid, and from this change I have started to eliminate my angriness! My friend Jessi has eliminated all the anger out of her life and I didn't think it could be done, not that I tried, but since slowing down on the roads I have been less angry. At work [I'm at waitress at "thebeach" Restaurant in Blackman's Bay] we can get adorably lovely customers that are a pleasure to serve and other times we get the worst customers. Since I've slowed down on the roads I have also noticed a change in my anger levels at work. Tonight I only got angry at my boss, not that she noticed, because of what she was telling me to do. This didn't affect the customers as I was super nice all night, but it just made me feel angry in myself at her. It passed. My better-ness at work has been happening in the last 3 weeks and I'm so proud of myself. I used to get horrible customers but now I'm just nice all the time. I think it's my anger levels that has changed my view of the customers. I know that some of them are really horrible and don't deserve to be there but most are nice and do feed of our service. Anyway, I won't be there for too much longer depending on if my sister-in-law's half-sister Jess gets me a job in the Social Work industry so I can swap that for my waitressing. I'm not going to be able to do a whole heap anymore due to more work for school. There's going to be a huge amount to do and I do love not working there heaps. It makes me happy having several days off.

An eventful week

I have had two very eventful days that I am still recovering from so I won't write a huge entry now but the main highlights include my orientation day for the BSW (Bachelor of Social Work) yesterday and skydiving today! What I really need to do now is hop into bed and watch a bit of One Tree Hill then get to sleep. Tomorrow my friend Andi and I are going to Office Works to shop for my school supplies and go to K-Mart to get some cheap essential t-shirts so I'm really looking forward to that. Hopefully I get to see her beautiful daughter Ivy while I'm there. I don't want her to forget who I am. That would make me sad. Anyway, I shall be getting to bed. I need a lot of sleep!

Orientation Day

I got a bit of a shock this afternoon when I was looking at my Uni email. I intended to find out when my Summer School essay was due back from marking when I found several emails to do with the Social Work bachelor I'm about to start. Tomorrow, now today, there is an orientation day happening in Launceston, which is 2.5 hours away from where I live, that I shall be attending. It's all meant to be and it will all work out. It's just very last minute, that's all. It's on the perfect day too as I had nothing planned and I just got paid from working at the Hobart Cup on Monday the 8th so I will be able to buy petrol and some snacks. I'm looking forward to it actually. When I first read about it I was a bit stunned at the quickness of it all so I got mum to call me and she gave me the push I needed to confirm that I was going to go. I was in a bit of shock I guess and just needed a bit of reinforcement. I love sharing this stuff with my mum. She said she would have come with me but she works on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays and it was all very very short notice. I think I'll be all right though. If I get lost, there will be people on campus to give me directions as I reckon I'll need them. I'm going to have to get up at 6am to shower and eat some breakfast then get on the road by or a little before 7am. I need to stop at Woolworths to get some food supplies and breakfast but I might do that once I'm out of the city as I don't want to get stuck in slow traffic. I think it'll be a very informative day and I'll get to meet the teachers. Jess, my sister-in-law's half sister, who has done this course said that Sonya, one of the teachers, is great and very inspirational so I'm looking forward to meeting her. Jess also said she will look out for a job for me in the industry as I'm only doing waitressing now and it would be better to be in the field and put to practice what I'm learning. With the course there is a whole section dedicated to work experience but getting started earlier won't hurt. For now though I should get to bed and get as much sleep as I can. Hopefully I'll get a decent amount despite my tendency to get to sleep not quickly when it counts.

Sewing machine please

This year I want to get a sewing machine and make wonderful things. I was thinking in the car on the way home about me as a person and what I don't like about myself. I find it hard letting my guard down for one, and I get angry too much. I get angry the most at work and also driving, but not so much driving any more as I've stopped speeding. I didn't really speed but just drove hard/fast and I've quit that. I got a few speeding tickets and $80 is not worth it. I like being less car angry. I feel better. Work is different. Sometimes I hate the customers and other times I love them. Yesterday I had a great shift. Everyone was lovely and I felt so happy there. Even today was good. It's nice not being angry. Anyway, what I was thinking in the car was about making an anti-anger package. I want to sew a lovely big envelope, twice to three times the size of a normal one, in lovely fabrics like Freckled Nest's pin cussion, and have pictures of Yorick and I, my friends, and pretty things, maybe even some bubbles as my friend Amy says she brings them out when she's feeling a little down. That's why I want to get a sewing machine. I'd also like to make some skirts and get patterns for those. I want to be more creative.

On an exercise note, I have really enjoyed going back to the gym this week. Tuesday night, Wednesday night and Thursday morning have gotten me back in the mood for a regular gym routine. I'm still recovering a little with soreness as my body isn't as used to it as it was in before Christmas but I'm so proud I went back and I love how I'm loving being back there. I'm going on Sunday morning for a class because today I'm missing it! I never thought I would have. After this month is up they're putting out a new timetable. I'm excited to see it.

Sometimes I think about how abruptly I finish my blog posts. I don't really finish them, I just stop writing...

Manga-Anime Love

Yesterday when Jessi came over we watched this anime called Mushishi and I really enjoyed it. We are both anime and manga fans but have been interested in other things in the last few months so we haven't been active fans. Watching Mushishi with her made me realise how much I still love it. I checked it out on here on Just Manga but they aren't selling all 10 mangas yet. Hopefully they will get them and I'll buy them! That's partly how I spent my savings. Oops. I love finding new manga to read. There are so many cute ones I love.

Speaking of manga and anime, the AI Con is coming up on the weekend of the 6th of March here in Tasmania. At my Uni, the University of Tasmania, they are holding an anime convention that I missed out on last year due to being in Vanuatu. This year I'll be there. I'm excited about that.

Back to the Gym

Yesterday I went to the gym for the first time in a long time and it felt really good. I started off at 6pm with a 25 minute treadmill session. I did a fast walk on an incline and got so sweaty but I knew that was a good thing. Luckily no one else was in the gym as it's rather small so that made me feel better. I didn't have any earphones though but that didn't matter too much as there was music playing in the background. At 635 my Les Mills Body Pump class started and even after the warm up I was puffed. Half way through I realise how I had lost all that effort I had put into getting fitter before when I was going a lot more but that might also because I wore myself out on the treadmill. I loved the Body Pump class and at 530 tonight I'm going to a Body Step class then to Margate for dinner. Tomorrow morning at 930 I have another Body Step class I'm looking forward to and I want to make this a permanent change, getting back into a gym routine that is. No more slacking!

Money money money

For the last few weeks I have been really broke. It scares me. I hate feeling like I have nothing to fall back on money wise because I actually have nothing to fall back on. Since before Christmas, I was buying presents for family and things for myself, like TV Series Box Sets, several Manga series, and other things I wanted, and all this time my savings were getting lower and lower as I wasn't topping it up. I finished the Lifeline counselling course I did but had to pay money for not getting on the phones and using the skills they taught us so that has been a big dent in my money, or lack of it. I'm fine with paying rent but since I've been buying myself things I haven't been saving any and now I'm down to nothing. For Yorick's birthday we are going skydiving with a group of his friends. It's $350 all up and after that I'll be back down to nothing. Yorick and I also have a power bill to pay, which is about $170 or something, and once again after that I will still be broke. I'll be lucky to pay that bill. I am promising myself I will never leave myself with nothing again. I like being able to buy things I like, but I'll have to make sure that's not every week. I hope I can start to save again and the next time we go on a holiday I hope that there will be money for when we get back too. I hate that. I can still buy pretty things but not so much that I spend all my weeks money and don't put any away. I have to be more disciplined with money. I know I can do it as I know how it feels having none. Golly gosh.

Bachelor of Social Work

I'm getting excited about starting my Bachelor of Social Work on Monday the 22nd. I have just figured out my timetable, which took a while as it was very confusing, but I have 4 hours on Mondays in Hobart [not in the first week though, it's just 2 hours to decide Monday's tutorials for the rest of the semester, being weeks 2 to 13] and a full day on Tuesdays in Launceston. I'll be staying over night at my friend Sophie's house in Launceston while she's there so we'll get to hang out! I'm glad she'll be there because I was going to do it anyway and possibly stay in a back packer's but this is much better. There is a bus that takes the students up there but the bus made me sick the one time I went up to visit my sister so I want to be fresh and ready for learning in the morning. I always love getting books for writing in from Office Works so in a few weeks I reckon I'll do that and get prepared. I have to check out the book list too and see how much I'll need to spend. I just had a look at the books for my 4 units and there are quite a few listed there. They're all around the $60 mark so I'll wait until the first week of classes to see what they suggest getting. Hopefully by then I'll have some more money saved up as I don't have a whole lot at the moment. I don't like being poor!

The Mt Nelson Crew

Yorick, me, George, Megan, Joe, James

The Mt Nelson Crew

I miss this.

By Ruben

Yorick and I watching the sunrise at Ranelagh

I adore Yorick and this picture of us

By Sarah

This is how the photo came out whilst at Mobius

I love my little sister

My wonderful family

My brother and his wife George

Twilight

New Moon

My Louis Vuitton handbag from Vanuatu

Look Book

Cute outfits

Katie from Skunkboy Creatures' heart tattoo's

we heart it

VersaEmerge

I am really loving VersaEmerge now. Thank goodness for the blog I found them in and the caption that they are similar to Paramore, which they are.

They make this song sound awesome and I kinda like it, without liking Brittany Spears. I love how in their song Clocks, Sierra Kusterbeck sounds a bit like Gwen Stefani. She has a great voice.