July

In Summary, July was one big chaotic vacation. Uni ended and my mum arrived. I spent most of July taking her around and doing the goodbye thing as all my international friends (Dan, Colin, Laura) left. Every morning I went around with mum, every evening was a goodbye dinner for one of them which involved lots of alcohol. Consequently, I got sick and spent a week being taken care of by my mother (yay!) in Epping and being fed loads of filipino food. I got my grades and ended up failing a subject - the first time ever in my life - after dealing with the disappointment, embarrassment and the depression and talking to my professor I have moved on, am repeating it (I missed by 5 points and almost everyone in class didnt get anything resembling a 60, all of them were in the 50s, it was a hard class and there are various reasons why I didnt pass all relating to personal adjustments so I have chalked it up to settling and moved on) and have not told my parents - and no one better! - as I have to take extra courses anyway.

I am a lot more hopeful this semester. Part of this is because I feel more organized and that things are more put together now. I am trying to be a calmer and more organized person.

I have done a few one off jobs, one where I helped out at the academic dress shop putting people in togas and just last week I was distributing flyers for 8 hours at uni, something I'll be doing again next week. Uni has started again and I am better organized and hopeful. I have more excellent teachers this time around and it looks like Ive chosen good subjects. I have ten thousand things that I have to do, not least of which is clean the kitchen today, which is proving to be difficult as one of the dogs is still sunning itself in it, which defeats the purpose because they shed so much hair and i dont want to have to keep repeat cleaning.

I will have to look for a new house soon. My housemate Handle is moving out in October with his girlfriend Rebekah. My other housemates (the couple) have decided that we probably wont get anyone to take over his room for 2 months until December to give away the lease so they are moving in October. This I found out last week, so I have to move. Either I am going to find another place or I'm going to move in with my Auntie from Dee Why who is looking to buy a place closer to the city. We will see. All I know is I dont want to be moving until after my midterms because last time it was such a disaster doing both of that at the same time. I dont want anymore extra anxiety.

My friend Ivy is coming to visit August 20 and I am excited. I am going to have to come up with an itinerary of things for her to do while I am at uni, etc. She will be staying with me. I have two job interviews next week, one for a temp agency and the other for a uni contractual job. I am very interested in the uni job but it is only for three months and i need something that is more long term. They said they were very impressed by my application and that they had only shortlisted 3-4 candidates and I was one of them. I am very flattered and excited, I really like the job.

I also finished a group interview for a call center called SalesForce for their Ticketek Program (www.ticketek.com.au). They emailed D.E.B. at home to check my references already and I am also excited for this job. It pays well, you can do casual, and shifts are all in the day (calls are 9am-9pm) and they book you for 4-5 hour shifts mostly. What does the job involve? People call to buy tickets for concerts, theatre and sporting events. You say okay, take their money and place the order. Sometimes theres a bit of selling involved, and it looks like a fun company to work for (voted no.1 employer in Australia for 2004). Their promotions and intro and stuff sound just like eTel!!!

I am also going on a diet. I am about 5 kilos (12ish pounds) over the required weight for my height (too many chips and choccies and lovely ice cream with no dairy, etc. etc.) and my mother spent the whole time here telling me I had a beer belly when I dont even drink beer. (Tell that to the former anorexic, why dont you? I am so glad I no longer feel that insecure and as such feel the need to starve myself everytime someone says I have gained weight!) I think the problem is that although I walk a lot more I eat a lot more (mostly of wrong thigns) and thus need to exercise more and the gym is so expensive. Im going back to kickboxing, which starts again in two weeks. May also take salsa and try out a uni gym. I also promised my mother when she left this morning that I would be thinner the next time she saw me, which I should be if I want to have some semblance of a body when I put on a bikini in 4 months, damn it!

So South Beach Diet, here we come...

I have been loaded up with pinoy food, most of which I cant eat during the diet so right now I am cooking longaniza. Had no idea it took forever to cook and that, well, it cooked in its own fat. Also I didnt know how to tell when it was done, so I let all the water evaporate and then tasted it. It's pretty good, if I may say so. So I'm going to go eat it now and then finish cleaning the kitchen and then organise my study materials (if there is time, or I'll do that tonight) and then go to church.

And then it will be August...