I'm listening to "Beautiful Day" by U2 right now and I'll re-state for all of you who don't know - I think Bono is so damn sexy...I'm suddenly all nostalgic about 1998 @ the Football Stadium in Sydney where I saw U2 play for the first time. During "With or Without You" Bono brought a girl out of the crowd up on stage and of course I start whinging about why it couldn't have been me. And then it started to rain and Bono took off his jacket and put it around the girl and proceeded to sit down and lay down, with his head in her lap, singing "With or Without You" too her! To say, "I had Bono's head in my lap!" Friggin' lucky chick. Okay, I am NOT a groupie chick, but hot damn if I wasn't jealous right then...anyway, "Beautiful Day" sounds like a U2 song--it's just purty...

Hallelujah! I can pee and do my business once again. The toilet has been fixed and now I can stop boring and grossing out everyone by talking about it. I went to a dentist this morning for a good ol' cleaning and a filling replacement and ya know, he was a pretty cute guy. We chatted for a good 45 minutes about all sorts of things after I paid for my treatment. The receptionist went out to grab something after I paid and was like, "see ya!" so she was quite surprised to come back a half hour later to see me and the Dr. chatting it up. It's really hard to maintain my usual flirty status when you have absolutely no feeling in your tongue, bottom lip, or entire right side of the face. I'm sure it was charming!

Okay, the countdown is on...less than three weeks until my working visa expires! Not cool! I still have no idea if I'll get to stay in Oz. It's kind of bizarre. I feel things are really going well here and all I wanna do is stay. I like my job, I love my co-workers and I'm just damn excited to HAVE co-workers again, I like the atmosphere here, I like Sydney (excuse me, I love Sydney), I love living alone, I love the fact that summer is coming, I love my friends here, I love being independent. I may be broke, but I'm independent and broke.

It's really bizarre to think about whether or not I should be meeting up with all my friends and seeing people I've lost touch with over the next couple weeks, in case I have to leave the country.

Another real cool thing about my job is that I can use the toilet whenever I like! Unlike my apartment, for which I spend a considerable amount of money every month only to not be able to use the toilet at all. I'll be calling my lovely real estate agent again tomorrow as I might have friends crashing at my place this weekend, and it would be nice to not have to make them run to the Broadway Mall every time nature calls! ;)

I haven't finished anything in the way of songs lately. As usual, I have about 5 billion idea floating around in my head. I've been brainstorming a lot recently. I haven't gotten a lot out yet, but I've been doing a lot of mental planning, so I think it'll all come out soon. The mental dam is going to burst because I've been feeling very inspired lately. Can't wait to see what comes out of it all.

I just got the Australian "Sky Diver" Magazine in the mail yesterday. Woo-hoo! Of course it's all about people who go sky-diving on their own and I'm still just a two-time tandem girl. Oh well, tandem is about having all the fun with none of the responsibility. How can you top that? Perhaps one day I'll go it alone, but right now tandem suits me just fine. Of course a sky-diving instructor who doesn't blatantly hit on you while you're falling at 200 m.p.h., that would be nice. When your only option to escape a guy's advances is death (If I just cut myself loose, I can get away from him!), well, that's just not cool. I also dislike guys who hit on women in elevators. Don't ask people out in areas/situations where they can't get away from you! :)

Seriously, though, I'm having fun and I'm in a good mood. I'm thinking I really need to carry around a hidden camera with me though. Today I was only outside for about 4 minutes. I went to grab lunch around 3pm and I snuck out the back way to get to our favourite little Thai place. I was waiting to cross the street and these three high-school (they had to be in high-school) walk by me, obviously look me up and down, and say, "Hey, how're ya goin?" (Imagine an Aussie Joey Tribbiani). They told me that I was looking great and that I was invited to hang out with them for the rest of the day (and I imagine the night as well!) Thanks, but no thanks, boys! Apparently, I "still got it" with the teen crowd. I'm sure they thought I was 18. Anyway, I laughed and scampered away...

Okay, off to work on a screenplay....
*flutter, flutter*

I forgot to mention that I "fell off the wagon" last month. Yup, it's true, I'm back on coffee. I had a cinnimaccino near Sydney Uni and it was divine. Heavenly. Yum. I'm being good though--I've only had 3 coffees in a month's time. The second one occurred at the brand new first Starbucks in Sydney (yes, the evil empire has finally spread here, Austin Powers). I had a cafe mocha and I nearly orgasmed. in Hyde Park. It was that good. Frankly, I don't know why Starbucks excites me. Sydney has thousands of great coffee places. I think it was pure nostalgia. The last time I was in a Starbucks was over a year ago @ Boston University at the GSU (student union). That was one of my guilty pleasures--cafe mochas at Starbucks and delicious bagels @ Aesops. Grrr, baby, grrr!

Anyway, my third coffee did not go over well with my poor little body. I had one yesterday and my tummy has been rebelling ever since. No more coffee for a while. Back on tea I go!

Work is good. Life is good--poor but good. I'm currently broke because of the amazingly steep price of visas these days ($1600) and if my visa doesn't go through, I don't get my money back. Ouch! So this month is all about 2 minute noodles aka "Ramen" to you Yanks out there.

Over the weekend I read through my three "offline" journals. One I kept when I was here in 1998. The other two I began last year and this year. It was funny to read the entries I wrote in August/Sept./Oct. last year. It was cool to read what was going through my brain as I was packing up and planning my move to Sydney. It's incredible how much can happen in a year.

In case anyone is wondering, the butterfly obsession has not gone down. It's still there, strong as ever. Fortunately I've been good about not buying too much butterfly crap. I realise I pretty much never take off my rings at all. So I always have at least 3 butterflies on me at all times. I simply feel naked if I don't have some sort of butterfly symbol on me at all times. A couple of people have recently asked me to explain the story behind the butterfly fetish. Ummmm, I really don't think any of you have that much free time on your hands. The story is too long, too complicated, too personal to put up or write up at the moment. Someday it'll come out. And it'll be a more than sedating experience, for sure.

I just want to say congratulations to Rachel and Anthony on their engagement and "wow it's coming up fast" wedding. I vow not to bug you about releasing butterflies at your wedding. I vow not to "accidentally" order butterfly-pattern bridesmaids dresses. And I promise not to try to sneak a karaoke song or two at your reception. (Though we still haven't done "Bring Me Some Water"!!!) Okay, Rach, I got you your cute Aussie man -- don't you think it's only fair for you to return the favour someday? :) Seriously, I send all my love to you guys. I SO hope we'll all be celebrating over New Year's, but if not, then definitely in France. Rach, you're such a grown up now! I love how I am slowly becoming the spinster of my group of friends at the ripe old age of 23. ;)

p.s. The plumbers are backed up, pun fully intended. No one can come fix my toilet till Friday. Which means I'll have avoided using my toilet for 4 days. Peeing is one thing, but I can't flush my toilet at all and it's interesting to try to plan my bowel movements to occur while I'm at work. Makes me realise how under-appreciated the toilet is. You all go home and give thanks to the porcelin god...it's a beautiful thing, at least when it's working ;)

p.s. Congratulations to Shay for winning my secret "contest." I was going to tell what he's done, but that would ruin the contest for everyone else and I want to see if there are any other winners. I officially owe Shay a beer and I promise not to go back and edit this later on :)

For the first time in my life, I really want to read a home "fix-it" manual. I just had my first toilet crisis in Sydney. I got home from grocery shopping around 10pm and still hadn't eaten dinner yet. I was starving. As soon as I got in, I was like, "Um, why does it sound like someone is taking a shower when I live alone?" I had this bad feeling that water was running, but from the one place you'd hope it wouldn't run from-- the toilet. Sure enough, some pipe or valve had burst and water was freely flowing from the toilet area. I immediately thought how much more convenient it would be if emergencies, particularly toilet emergencies, happened between the hours of 9-5, but that would be too easy.

So of course, girly girl I am, I am torn between wanting to stop the water and the mess without having to actually touch anything. ;) Thankfully there's a drain in my bathrooom floor. Thank goodness. Otherwise I would have had major flooding. I started searching through all my damn papers for my apartment lease. I remembered there were emergency #s in there. I found the emergency plumber but he wouldn't come because my real estate agent hasn't used them in ages and he didn't know if they'd pay for the visit. He tried to do technical support over the phone. IT for the toilets. However, leading someone through their PC is slightly different to trying to tell someone how to locate the switch for turning off the water supply when that person has no idea where I live or what the lay out of my apartment is. I searched the laundry area, spent some time underneath my kitchen sink, and practically crawled inside the cabinet in my bathroom. Nada!

The guy kept trying to get me to find something to turn off ALL the water in my apartment. Ummm, that's really not what I'm going for, buddy! I got off the phone with him and hunted for valves. I turned them all. So when I'm not able to do laundry or dishes ever again, it was all for the pursuit of a non-bursting toilet. I left messages for my real estate agent and then finally called Jorge for moral support while I searched my apartment for valves. I got off the phone with him and realised I was gonna have to get down and dirty to solve this problem.

I got down on all fours and grabbed that damn valve with both hands and finally got it to turn right. Thankfully, I got it to turn the water off. I lost some skin, but it was worth it! Woo-hoo. The drama subsides... :)

Okay, it's going on 3am and all I can think about is how badly I want to go back to Byron Bay and go sky-diving again. I think I'm officially addicted. Dammit!

Look, Ma! It's me and Leslie Nielson, shooting Naked Gun 88 1/2.

Actually, nevermind...I'm a dork. Blogger, being the incredibly sophisticated tool that is, of course has every possible timezone capability. I'm now on Eastern Oz time. Which means that all of you living in the U.S. can read about the future. :)

The only thing that's a bummer about blogger is that it publishes in U.S. EST time and not in Aussie time so I'm typing all this ahead of when it says it's published by. But, anyway, blogger is very cool and very free, so I can' really complain. Just add about 15 hours into the future to get the proper time! ;)

It's going on midnight, Sunday evening and I just finished watching Contact on TV. I've seen it plenty of times, but it seemed better than the other Sunday night movies. I have a soft spot for that movie. Gotta love the whole science versus God debate. It reminds me of how petrified people are to question things and are only too quick to go with the flow. It's easier that way.

Contact also reminds me of what a little nerd I was as a child. (Not that much has changed.) I was obsessed with astronomy and I went through my astronaut phase too. I used to spend hours drawing picture after picture of the solar system. I had all the planets memorised, in order from the closest to the furthest away from the sun. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto. It's a good example of truth versus perception. People used to believe the the Earth was the centre of the solar system and that all the planets revolved around it. Imagine how ridiculed the person was who finally discovered, "Um, noo....actually, the planets all revolve around the sun, not the Earth." Science is never "the" unquestionable truth. It's simply the best answers we have at the time.

I'd like to meet an astronaut. I'm not sure when I discarded my dream of becoming one. Somewhere after wanting to be a ballerina and before wanting to become a marine biologist, I suppose. And, of course, everything came after wanting to be a rock star. But yeah, I'd love to sit down and have a nice long chat with some astronauts. I find it very interesting that we spend so much money and so much time and effort on travelling farther and further away - desperately seeking the answers to the world, our existence, our universe, to life itself. We keep seeking answers from way outside, from other beings which may or may not exist. We yearn to travel lightyears and solar systems away to find what can probably only be found within ourselves. It seems silly, and yet I understand.

I did travel 11,000 miles to get here. And I'm more than enjoying the view and perspective. It makes me think about the first song I wrote for the guitar, which is inspired by Moby Dick and even more so by Claude Monet. Life is like an impressionistic painting. When you're up close to it, living it, swimming in it, you can't see what's going on. It's all a mess, sometimes ugly, sometimes beautiful. But it's often confusing and scary and difficult to figure out. Only when you get some distance and look at it from a different perspective does it all start to become clear. It makes sense. You can see the big picture. Those splotches of paint on the crowded wall suddenly turn into a lilypad or a family or a dream.

So, yeah, I guess, I'm not that different from an astronaut. But it's okay, because at least I know, as far as I travel, I'm not going to get anywhere until I take a journey that no car, bus, train, plane, or spaceship can take me on.

Yes, I'm a freak, and yes, I know I think too much :)
Good night & Sweet dreams...

It's overcast and hazy in Sydney, and it kind of fits my mood. I'm in full-blown Gemini mode today, unable to decide what project to do first. I really don't want to be the person who spends all their time debating what to do and ends up doing nothing at all.

I had plenty of weird dreams last night. I love waking up feeling stressed out about jobs you don't have. :)

Okay, so "Project Rockstar" is taking a while...I've got the perfect band name. Now all I need is to actually get my ass in gear, work on some new songs, and oh, find a band to record with! Do you want to be in my band? E-mail me. :)

I was checking out the stats and, not surprisingly, the Love&Sex section of Yap is getting heaps of hits. Gee, I wonder if the SexFiles might have something to do with this. I've gotten so many volunteers for Sex Detectives, I just can't keep up. Life sure is tough as the Sex Files Chief. Stay tuned for the "Masturbation Files." It's time to start a revolution!

And I'm spent!