The End.

Will be home Friday night, being a massive weirdo about it and not sure i want to come home. Hopefully that will sort itself out asap. All my things don't fit in my suitcase which is a bit of a stress. I wish mum was packing for me, she is an excellent suitcase packer. See you all very very soon!

free as a bird

so it is all over, i'm no longer an intern for the devil thank god. (what a lot of religious reference in one sentence) anyway since i finished on friday i've been out, drank too much, come home slept all saturday, saturday night and sunday morning. then i watched hot rod a movie that was entertaining enough ran/walked on the treadmill nearly had a heart attack had a super long shower went to the yacht club for a swim and to meet dad even though there is a pool here... there were children wreaking havoc everywhere and i couldn't face going in. had an argument with dad, came home, ate cheese and pate and now msning with jeremy my best online friend. 

so thursday yasmine finished at the magazine and then i did on friday. friday was so strange. my boss went bananas. he didnt know what day it was or even that it was production week. he was talking jibberish and asking random questions. and as soon as i asked him anything he would be like ahhh my brain isnt working yet... and then i asked him if any of the graphics had been done so i could check my pages after a ridiculous sulk from him the issue before and he was like my brain is frazzled . and i was like i just want to know if it has been started or not... and he says Just give me ten minutes to sort my brain out im not really functioning coherently at this point in time. Then I will answer your question. i was like... right... then he talks to a friend on the phone and cant answer anything the friend is asking and then he walks out, an hour later we get a call saying he is in hospital for the next few days... so we finished the magazine with out him. it was quite nice actually, not having him looming over. 

after i left work at 9 (record early) i met yasmine in central to have a look in the shops, found a grey leotard at h&m which is part of an aids campaign and was going to buy it to tease al with but decided to wait and see if i have any money left (im living purely off allowance from dad) at the end of the week. 

then we went back to mine so we could shower and get ready and weren't ready until 12.30 but oh well.. we were going to a house party and thought it would still be going. but they had gone out already to some african bar and we were on our way to meet them. yasmine whipped out her camera and made me pose with lkf in the background... and then out of no where these hooligans jumped into teh frame and they were arustralian so we befriended them. and one of them was a member of one of the big clusb that you either have to be a member of, be with a member of, or pay $60 aus to get into. i stupidly forgot my id cause i havent had to use it when ive gone places on the list for work so they haven't asked. it was very embarrassing, had to spend $20 going home and back to get it. but it was a fun night. we danced a lot, had lots of free drinks. yasmine the trashbag spewed everywhere and took photos of randoms who told her to go away. 

yasmine leaves tuesday night and kony is going to taiwan for 5 days next week so i will have nothing to do but write my stories in cafes... 

36 office hrs approx until it's over

three days left in the office. couldn't come soon enough. i'm really so so over it. wing finishes tomorrow and yasmine does on thursday. then lucky last, i finish on friday. finally made something of that bloodybeetroots interview, it was challenging but i've sent it off to the editor, done and done. the food feature this issue is on (molecular) mixologists very similar to molecular gastronomists but dealing with cocktails.


last night i wined and dined with yasmine and kony, it was great to have kony back! we immitated the train man, who was some old guy who was grinding and licking the poles on the mtr, i wanted to link you to the youtube video but i cant find it.. oh well,

went to lantau on the weekend to chillax, it was nice. very bizarre combination of people but was lots of fun. hottest day of the year looks cold in the photo..

the end. x

T minus Twentythree

Counting down the days until I finish my internship. It is taking freaking forever. Today there are 8, well 7 and 4ish hours left (not including the weekend). All the interns are about to go to the printers to see how magazines are made.
We have a new intern, Irma (pronounced Erma) the boss is out of the office so we went for a staff thai lunch.
Yasmine is finally about to finish her tiisis, thank god, im over it so I cant imagine how she feels. I’m working on my last articles, happy to see the end of them, especially the neverending food reviews. Poor waistline!
Mum has gone back to Melbourne but managed in her 10 day stay to get me going for early morning walks. It’s the walk of death. Down to psychoport (Cyberport, weird place, massive empty mall – always deserted) and then back up to the apartment. It is pretty much 30 minutes of steady uphill with a steep down hill at the start and at the end. My ghetto thighs are not happy.
I’m so sick of the clothes that I brought with me! I think im going to have to burn them when I come home and have options!
Mum took all my cooler weather clothes home with her when she left cause otherwise my luggage will never make it home, it is certainly over the 20kg limit!
I’ve decided to spend the week that I have after yasmine leaves and before I leave writing my collection of stories, sitting in cafes and finally seeing all the movies I have free passes to! That’s all for now, to the printery!
Peace out brussel sprouts x

bum of the joke

just quickly

eugh im so frustrated that i can't keep up with who i've told what. all this technology! phone, sms, skype, email, facebook and this blog have me completely confused as to what i've said here and what i've said to someone in particular some other way. it's very stressful as im sure you can image... maybe no? 

anyway when i was saying to nicole yesterday 'ah he is really sick, you know how he was having an obnoxious conversation on the phone in the office (in the middle of all the other female staff) and asking his friend what flavour lip gloss the girls had on their nipples the other night... to which she replied WHAT? and i realised the trouble i was having sharing my stories properly. 

ah just you wait when i get home im going to drop so many inappropriate/bizarre work stories without even realising you don't know what i'm on about...i imagine. 

ok so here is a quick and snappy list of things happening in my life at the moment 

- our office phone has been cut off since my boss wont pay his bill, he is complaining and 'sticking it to the man' unsuccessfully - we just look stupidly unproffesional and i dont think the phone company minds too much. oh he has also been threatening to sue them. makes for entertaining listening when im trying to work, my boss describing all the lawsuits coming their way to someone who clearly has no idea who he is or why he is yelling.

- for the upcoming issue we're writing a food feature on food at touristy venues so tomorrow and monday we're off to the themeparks to try everything and then spew it back up on the rides. woo hoo! 

- mum is coming to visit on friday morning, yasmine is sleeping over thursday night and i expect we will be in no state to greet her let alone go to work.

- i threw a tanty at work today cause sneaky yasmine wouldnt come with me to an indian restuarant for the restaurant reviews section of the magazine. we have to do 12 an issue so time is a stretch but schemer over there somehow always manages to convince me to come with her but then is always to busy to come on mine. oh well, i have revenge planned, on friday when we're feeling terrible she has an appointment at a thai restuarant with a very very enthusastic pr girl. she thinks i will come but i will leave her high and dry. well that is the plan, chances are i will be dying to get out of the office and jump at the chance to devour pad thai. mmmmmm

- two down. im not actually sure if this was on here or not already but my boss has a nasty streak (hadn't noticed?) anyway he is a massive bully and always finds out what to use to hurt you... naturally i'm five steps ahead when it comes to psycho babble and ive taken to arguing with him. he actually doesn't seem to mind. i think he quite enjoys it actually. anyway yasmine is onto it now but a few weeks ago he caught her unawares early on a monday morning sitting her down to an hour chat about all her personal flaws. aside from informing her that she will never get a job in belgium due to the recession and helping her by telling her that while she is working at 60% if she wants any chance at success in her chosen field she will have to work $200 he also said that had he hired her she would be fired by now. thanks. anyway that's sorted now, she is fully on top of everything so that he cant fault her again... 

it was kony's turn today. not sure exactly what he said but it was something about her being in the wrong major and how she doesn't have the capacity... something like that. the poor girl has only done one year at uni and yet he's using her to create ads for company's paying him to make and then display their ads... well mr boss isn't very articulate and tells kony bizarre and vague ideas he has for the add. she works like a crazy person (well at least more than me) and then surprise surprise she has missed the point and it doesn't match the idea in his head.  

unlike yasmine she isnt being assessed and doesnt have to be here. like me? oh well, i see the light at the end of the tunnel, 17 more work days. woo. but i hope she doesn't leave, she is really fun. 

-oh i got to drive dads car the other night, only like 10ks but still it was stressful as. the trafic here is hard to predict. people dont indicate and just nose-in infront of you... really ahve to pay attention. ah well. done and done. it was pretty fun. 

oh whoops, this was meant to be a list. 

anyway, i've gotten back into tv in a pretty big way (for me anyway) saw gossip girl finale tonight - teary eyes at the end. tragic i know. cant wait for australias next top model tomorrow night oh and spooks. that vampire show -true blood is terrible but such an easy one to watch. oh and the kids movies haha. wow i should stop before you all realise how uncool i am. 

i think its time for my detective novel now. night x

lots of racing ahead and dragging along

although right now the thought of writing another one of these things makes me feel unbelievably tired i figure i may as well do it now while i watch urban legends, giving me an excuse to look away in the scary bits. whoops couldn't look away and now i have tingly skin.. and dads asleep. scary, huh? 

it's all really confusing at the moment, i cant wait to come home but i dont want to wish away the time i have left here, i have really enjoyed it and the longer im here the more i really feel at home in this city. i wouldnt mind coming back to work here. it really is great. 

But im also really looking forward to feeling clean back in melbourne, even if i dont shower there for a couple of days it isnt like this. here my skin always feels slimy or super dry from the aircon. not fun. another thing i miss is nailpolish. i havent been wearing it here which does make me feel a bit naked. actually, after this (and urban legends) i will go and put some on.  

so this issue of the magazine is frustrating because instead of production taking two weeks it is taking three this time around just to balance total magazine out put for the year. massive pain because it confuses everything for us and all the people that regularly deal with the magazine.im relieved that i only have another 24 restaurants + food feature places to go to before i finish. my poor poor waistline. 

last night we went to an ice cream launch party which sadly did not provide alcohol but never mind, there was ice cream and some really fun people. there was harry from london and coco pop the number one dragqueen in hong kong. all in all two of the more enlightening people i've met here so far. afterwards we guiltily lit up disapointed to not be drunk already. then we bumped into this guy rayphil we met, totally nuts guy who started talking to us outside the supermarket. he told yasmine she should be a model and then shared his own modeling history, enjoyable for both i imagine... haha.  

 

then we popped into the shops, deciding not to go out and i bought some zip earring. fun for the whole family! 

and then we saw some brilliant advertising/marketing/whatever it falls under - brilliant!! 

finally a fun night out of dancing. a-trak is here on thursday so we got four free tickets to dance the night away. im so excited. there are lots of fun events coming up, the week after there is also the DJ Magazine China launch party and cocopops drag queen show which i think were going to. lots of seedy days ahead at the office. cant wait. thaithai hangover cures will have to be reinviented cause i dont have anyone as comfortable as caroline to lie on and there arent any of those soft water bottles here. also the juices arent quite the same. but i have found some good fresh juices around the corner from the office. 

last week yasmine made me venture into these bird parks on the hottest day of the year so far. it took freaking hours and at the first one, after we visited the aviary she insisted that there was another one there where you can walk in amongst the birds, it sounded like torture to me but we walked for ages sweating a lot trying to find it until some helpful guy told us we were at the wrong park. eugh. horrible day, especially when you take into account my dislike of birds. 

another thing to get me through the days ahead is the latest frankie which mum sent up with dad today. it really has made me happy. ahh this movie really is horrible. so many gruesome scenes. its the one at the moment where she is on that ride where you go through the tunnel and there are all the dead bodies and shit... you know... 

any way 4 more weeks at the magazine and then another two of freedom. maybe dad will come to beijing with me for a week? i'll ask him in the morning when he isnt as angry at me for my hour long phone call to rosie (he doesn't know about the second yet) and then a 30 minute one with stobes, silly girls who cant use skype getting me in trouble!   

mum is coming next week i think, i got tickets to hofesh shechter so im going to make her come with me to that. Also im desperate to do some winter shopping at lane crawford's last season outlet. you know how it is here... if it is not brand new its impossible to sell. winter shopping galore for me!

my hairdresser is going to kill me. my hair is so long and ratty they will want to chop it all off in punishment. so i'm thinking of hacking my hair short for winter. 

dad is back so now the house isn't as lonesome but he is very grumpy so that is a bit of a downer. plus there is nothing on tv. urban legends is over so now i'm channel surfing again. ok relocated to my room, thank goodness we now have wireless internet, it was torture without it! i think i will rock it old school in a sec and write about my feelings and shit in my journal. haha journal i cant believe how much ive actually written in it. 

but you know, i really love this city. it feels so safe and open to new things. and people work really hard but they really have fun too. i think the best thing about this internship is that it really forces you to meet different people doing different things. and wow, there are so many people doing such cool things. and that was a really wanky sentence, i should probably delete it cause i can imagine teasing emails and if not you all rolling your eyes at the computer screen. 

i know there is something i wanted to say but im forgetting what it was. ah annoying. im glad i get back once uni assignments and exams are over though, that means no one has any excuse not to be fun, even you no money/no time caroline. 

im actually getting a bit loopy listening to too much tegan and sara, not good for my health im sure. 

oh well miss you all, will see you all too soon (and then probably want to escape you all!!) 

love kisses etcetera...

simple arithmetic

so this is how i am seeing the time until i come home, friday is a deadline for this issue. then there is 3 weeks until the next issue (balancing total magazine output for the year) then there is two more then yasmine and wingwing are off and a final two for good luck. then i'm done. to reiterate 3days+3weeks+2weeks+2weeks and i will probably be home... if not i will at least be freeeee! 

ok, drama from last weekend is sorted. thank goodness - i really wasnt looking forward to begging dad to let me stay when i would really love to see you all... but it is fine. some boat bonding saved the day as usual. dad is away this week and next so i have the house to myself. think of the space!

oh yasmine thinks our boss had a hooker in the office last week. pretty much made my life worth living when she told me that.. there was a secret handshake involved in the office exchange, oh and the lady in question brought medicine? she was dressed in something leaving little to the imagination and i could be getting carried away but maybe even shiny... very strange all round but we're in that sort of an area so it really is what you should expect.

more work news... keeping on top of work this issue which is a major development... i think i am surprising everyone! even my self when my article this week came back from the editor in nz with hardly any corrections, it made me very happy as normally it is very fixed. 

all the food here is literally killing me. i've never eaten so much in my whole life, even at tok camp! since there is neither time nor dedication for the gym i have been devising my own exercise regime involving 60 agonising situps, an eclectic mix of yoga moves and old skool ballet stretches and when i can muster the energy 40 minutes at the absolute most on the treadmill. ahh torture! 

blast from the past -  jake laderman just tagged me in that freaking photo of me macking a small child at julius'... at least i wasn't 18 yet.. i suppose it will console you all to know that i have horribly hairy legs. it is very difficult in this hot weather but im still managing to shave them as least often as possible. 

Nose Piercing Saga

well i took it out the other night cause i had a cold and i wont go into icky details as much as i would love to i doubt if i need to give you any further reasons to stop being my friends... 

so after minutes and minutes of struggle to get it out (should have been a sing) it came out and i betadined the shit out of it... 

next morning waste 30 mins and am outrageously later than usual to work... 

then i googled what to do in such a situation and the internet suggested repiercing with an earring since they are straighter than nose rings.. 

so i did that and after some blood and tears it was done. 

but the nose one still wont go in... 

so now im sleeping with the ladybug in my nose everynight, genius - i know. 

i keep trying to get it back in and i was trying again on the boat over the weekend... anyway i gave up and went to bed and left it in the bathroom.. turns out it fell down the sink. and this is where you should all be very impressed.. it wouldn't come out with tweezers or these boatmapdistancemeasuring devices or anything. lucky i have such ingenuity.. 

i used my materials (toilet paper and toothpaste) to solve the problem. cause the nose ring is so skinny it kept falling out of my grip so i stuck toothpastey toilet paper to it and then i had something to grab hold of and maneuver.. brilliant- i know! 

today was an epic fail, we are writing a food feature on this particular type of food that is only really eaten at a festival. so we went on the buss to where the festival is held and lo and behold no one even makes it there but they were helpful enough to suggest where we can find it - in the suburb our office is in!!! so instead we sat on a bench drank/ate a coconut and enjoyed the lovely whether. 

i foresee a lot of stress in the next three days but thank goodness the weekend isnt too far around the corner!! 

love yas miss yas (yasmine's brother thinks all australians are called bruce and live in the sticks so i am embracing my inner bogan (but)! ) xx

thursday night drama

looks like i'll be home by next weekend. 

last night we went out for dinner with jeff stuart and everything was fine, i was being a bit dull cause i'd spent the whole day walking up and down soho looking for restaurants we haven't noticed yet to review and being screwed around by pr people. so i was sitting there feeling sorry for my sore legs but other than that it was fine. 

everyone had a couple of drinks and then all of a sudden dad was going on about good parenting and bringing up things that i had told him about people he doesn't even know and talking about it with jeff who does. so i was really angry that he thinks he has the right to talk about things that i tell him in confidence. so i was being rude and telling him he has no idea. then he said something about people more interested in money than their children and i said that that isn't exactly fair considering he lives in Hong Kong. not saying that he cares more about money but that you can't make that judgement from the outside. eugh, so the dinner ended abruptly and we didnt speak the whole way home in the taxi. 

at home in the lift he says i have no respect for him and if i hold him in such contempt then what am i doing living here with him. it was so ridiculous. so apparently i have to be gone by next weekend. hello melbourne? eugh. so childish. not that coming home wouldn't be nice but this is so stupid.  

so now he has gone away for the long weekend without me on the boat. left me $500 and i have no idea when he'll come back. 

if i don't get a letter of recommendation cause i have to bail so early i'll be so angry. and to be honest as much as i want to come home i also want to see this through. drinks are in order tonight, lots of them. yasmine you'd better not being locking yourself up with your tiisis all night!

monday excitement

well i don't have too much to say, just that the goal of my life has been achieved: if you type my name into google it now comes up with things i've written. i've done what i set out to do so now i'm actually feeling a bit lost. 

i'm finishing my internship at the end of june and dad wants me to come home then and settle back in before second semester. which is tragically lame... i'll have to think about what i want to do. i suppose with yasmine gone i wont have friends really so it might make sense unless someone wants to come to beijing with me (rosie? flick?) but even then he keeps going on about saving my money for something better ie exchange next year. actually i would be happy to go to beijing on my own. i really want to go. 

for the last issue we did a feature on cakes for mother's day. i think im now having withdrawal symptoms from a lack of cakeygoodness. this issue we are doing breakfast and the next one is going to be food at theme parks (disney land here i come!)

sorry to all who had to read my psycho ranting email, there is more to add after today but i'll give you all a breather. long weekend this weekend so guess what - i'm going sailing with dad. when did i get so cool? 

just to throw it in there i would like to quote yasmine from last week. wing and i were innocently standing next to her at the lights when we hear mutter in delight 'mm asian men in uniform' as we crossed the street and a police man in tight pants (they all have tight pants here) crossed paths with us. you should all feel very sorry for her, all my usual teasing that normally gets spread quite nicely between cazz, micha, stobey and kate is all being directed at one person who wasnt even given the change to build stamina. she should be commended, almost no outbursts of rage or frustration except perhaps when i mimmic her accent especially when she talks about her 'tisis' 

anyway, x

all sorts of delicacies

i feel grounded after watching Anastasia on tellie and getting back to my russki roots. 

After a week i am convienced that the new intern - Wing - is not a spy sent my 'management' to trick yasmine and i into telling deepest and darkest secrets. no, actually she is great so all is good on that front. we are a strong and united team - no im serious, its (passive aggressive) war building within the four walls of this particular publication. 

Tomorrow night im going to see Equus with Yasmine which will be good, you all know how i cant resist a bit of thee ay ter. and also next saturday we're going to see cosi which is even more exciting - LOVE IT! 

i also forgot to say anything about craig david. biggest dissapointmetn ever. yasmine and i only went to see whats your flava and we missed it casue we were late. eugh - so dissapointed. then we had to stay to take photos for the section where there are all the photos of events. 

but honestly, i havent even been here half the time im going to be and yet you can already see the different - im steadily gaining my 'winter' layers although were going into summer here. im talking cakes. this issue the food feature is cakes for mothers day. and we cant stop eating. to be honest i have a perfectly good excuse - journalist extraordinaire leaves no rock unturned or cake uneaten - it is all in the name of good honest research but i don't think anyone will be dying to seduce me at the rate i am going.  

nixy i have continued my overseas culinary experimentations  - this time eating fish stomach spring rolls and cow liver. wing is a vegatarian so limited in how many food reviews she can write and yasmine seems quite impressed with my ability to eat anything. she did then try the fish stomach... clearly not the machine i am... spycam in action captures the moment. 

as you can probably tell, wing doesn't look too impressed either. Fish stomach really isn't her thing. 

that was on friday at a chinese restaurant that started off as a bakery that sells chinese wedding cakes. we were there for our cake feature but they surprised us with some local dim sum as a special treat. just a bit of excitement for my friday night. to be honest that's as exciting as it gets. but along with our plans to stick it to the man we have been deciding to be far trashier and to get the job that we should be doing done and that is being the seedy dutch, belgian, australian trashbags that we should be, no more of this work nonsense.

anyway, this thursday we are going to the opening of the vodka festival that will be running for the next month.... so there is a start. all these events make it hard in a way cause it turns it all into work. oh well, i will have to embrace a proper 'clubscene' work ethic. 

oh tasman - an update on free shit. two passess to defiance and the baader meinhof comlex that can be used where ever whenever as shakira would say. as i've said yasmine and i have tickets to Equus and Cosi (looking forward to the afterparty) and im about to demand tickets to the macau fringe fest so i can see hofesh shechter (pretty much the new love of my life - google away its worth it) 

for all my bookish friends (most of you i'm guessing) there is the most fabulous second hand book shop under the escalator - when i have more time i am going back in with a list of my lit books from now until i finish uni (i'd say another five years assuming phd? - highly ineffective waste of time by any standards a phd in lit...)  

i've turned into a sick crime reader. i cant stop. i hope it doesn't turn me into a murderer because that would be inconvenient but the addiction is starting to get in my way of my social and work life. im always thinking about what will happen next. very distracting when im meant to be researching panda enclosures. 

yahanns and rosie i would like to hear more from you so im planning on writing you both an email this week. and i expect lovely replies from both of you within a week from when you recieve it. or i will cry. i really want photos of you all in my room. it hasn't happened - at the moment i only have that one of us aim in the back of tnels' childboozeproviding van. we don't have wireless, getting it tomorrow, so once that happens i will get my act together and look at your hideous faces everymorning and everynight.and i keep having the most bizarre dreams about all of you - probably best not to share them online but all very strange.  

yasmine is looking for romance (in case you didn't notice it used to say love but she made me change it), there is french jt on the cards who we met at the karen millen party but he has been away for the last few weeks so i cant wait to tease her about whatever happens next. but more excitingly at teh restaurant we went to tonight there was the most divine chef in the world yasmine couldnt stop this huge grin from taking over her whole face when he came over and i thought something exciting had happened but no - she was just overwhelmed by his absoloute babeness ( i really need an angus thongs quote here but cant think of one) anyway she is already planning when we will next be going back and since the food was great and he was beautiful i am happy to comply. oh, and her last night in hk is apparently being spent there too (i wonder what she has in mind... yasmine isn't really sneaky at all and im a bit envious of her uncalculating, upfront ways.)

the restuarant is on the 31st floor and has a rooftop lounge - tres tres chic. 

anyway, feast on all the details i've drowned you in. 

kisses and shit, xo

ps. ed i took your camera in today- im amazing i know

easter imprisonment

after a torturous week at work, trying to get things done before everyone we needed photos and info from went away for the long weekend, there was more fun to look forward to. 

the nine of us were going away on the yacht! normally 46ft is big enough for everyone to have some space and hide away when you're about to murder everyone else on board but now that it wasnt only mum, dad, bell and me - there would also be my untie my uncle and my three little cousins - a tense few days were to be expected. 

dad forgot to mention to us all that he had once again (repeat of last year) decided that we were going to sail through what is called 'the washing machine' at this tim

e of year. so naturally there were a few spewers. mum gracefully over the edge and into the sea. timmy, not so graceful. all over the floor (a nice chips and sprite concoction) and all over his dad! of course that had me gagging for a good few minutes. but luckily no munting from me. 

There are three cabins on the yacht - one for mum and dad, one for my auntie and uncle and one left over for the kids. There are also the couchyseats in the middle of the boat where we eat and stuff. the first night i slept in the third cabin with bell and georgina who is twelve. it was horrible, we topped and tailed. i went the opposite way to the others because they get up earlier than me and also the other two (henry and tim) would be up at the crack of dawn (every morning - seriously.) So i had their feet in my hair and it was discustingly hot. after hours of feeling sorry for myself i tried sleeping on the little couch (there is one big one that the other two were sleeping on and one small deformed one that has arm rests jutting out of it) needless to say wasnt any better than the cabin. so then i went upstairs and had a nice angry (loz style) cry. oh and i was really sick as well. just one of those horrible coughs. which made the whole thing more frustrating. 

at least with all the little cousins around there were lots of easter eggs, mmmmmmmm. anyway bell and and mum left on thursday and the cousins all left last night. dad and i (emie also who has been working like a mad thing while everyone took over the house) are in shock having such a quiet house now. i mean apartment. being the weekend we're off to the boat for the day (i will eagerly read my books for next semesters literature) so dad can nuture it back to life after last weekends adventures. this means lots of annoying jobs for me probably -luckily we have the walkie talkies for when he is up the mast!! 

 

a month, two weeks and two days

so i've been gone a while and it is distressing to see that the more time passes the more i forget to write. 

at the moments it looks like im going to finish my internship at the end of june after working on 8 issues of the magazine. after that im thinking about spending a month in beijing, spending almost no money, living off rice and beans, cycling around town and staying in a seedy backpackers. 

the third intern came today, she is really nice which is a relief as we had been worried that she might ruin our habits but she was happy to comply with both sushi and cream infested ice coffees today which is a good sign. 

i know im being really shit with emails and stuff, im just so tired at the end of the day and now my little cousins are sleeping in the study (they're here until the end of the week) so even when i have some energy theryre already asleep in here by the time i get home (they're at disneyland tonight but im quite drunk so going over every words' typos is going to tire me out very soon! 

im sure i will have to be rolled home im getting larger by the day, its all these food reviews and little to no exercise. im going to start running once my cousins leave. i promise. haha. 

the most exciting work news is that one of the articles that i wrote last issue is the cover image...which means that i unknowingly had the cover story! crazy stuff... 

also a good moment was when the new intern didnt realise that i was also an intern.... she assumed i was a staff writer (who knows why but a nice ego boost anyway) 

i've got some cool play tickets to some wacky thesbian things coming up. this issue im writing about Cosi, the Russian community in the area and the clubscene section. 

anyway, this was just a quick post to let you know that i have lots to write about that i have let slide since being inundated with guests over the last two weeks (torture, im sharing my room with bell!!) still missing everyone at home x

a bit of a backtrack: twentyfourth of march

im home alone tonight since dad is away on business (gambling?...) and emie has gone to visit her birthday celebrating boyfriend. So im watching 28days on tellie. I love viggo mortensen. Dad and I have been watching lord of the rings, I actually need to go out and buy the third one cause I love Aragorn. He is in this movie although not as attractive with his blonde hair. 

Today for the food review section i had to go to this american chain store salad bar. I had to interview an American psycho who was probably on speed talking a million miles an hour about how freaking fabulous his American salad company on its path to world domination was. I don’t think ive ever been called dude so many times in my life. Yasmine (the lovely intern from Belgium) was sick today so I was on my own in the office with my boss who winds me up a lot but he is giving me a lot of responsibility which will hopefully end up with me getting to write at least one feature or something else that deserves a by-line. If not at least a fabulous letter for my cv. for this issue of the magazine im in charge of one of the pages at the back.

 so im writing about 1000 words all together on some festivals and popstars that are coming in the next few weeks. i'm also doing a few short food reviews and the listings which are torture, they're all the performing arts and film events going on in the whole city! it takes almost two days and its the most tedious thing ever! thankgoodness for triple  j online streaming, its the only thing that gets me through those days. 

The same night as the salad guy i had to interview this actor/producer/director allroundthesbian for a feature in the next issue. he chose that we should meet up in mcCafe which is freaking hysterical if you ask me. he is putting on equus, you know the play with harrypotter nude with a horse. i had plenty of very immature questions to ask but struggled to think of much that i could actually put down in writing for the next issue. i was also a bit nervous because it was my first facetoface interview and apparently he is always frustrated that no one asks him good enough questions and its all 'surface level' but i think i passed the test as he offered me free tickets (something he doesn't usually do, apparently) and wanted to continue discussing literature. all in all, a success i think.   

Reviewing restaurants is probably my calling in life. Yasmine and I have been going to them all lately and sampling the best this big city has to offer. Tomorrow night we’re out for tapas and cocktails. including the tapas and the saladbar, this week were also going to thai, a winebar and a finnish restaurant. mmmmmmmmmmm. loz i can feel your envy! 

oh, this is from last friday night... gary is the one in the ears. 

This thursday karen millen (british designer, dont know her but i think she might have been at fashion week aim, loz) is throwing an instore cocktailparty and yasmine and i are going. mmm free alcohol, everyone says you get sick of all the events and the drinking but i think im a long way off! we're planning on staying out all night and stumbling into work on deadline day to wreak havoc... haha nah we'lll have to pull it together but im looking forward to it. 

i keep complaining about sailing with dad. well last weekend was torture! we had to sail all freaking weekend and when we finally got to the marina we were staying at for the night he wanted me to hoist him up to teh top of the mast on a series of complicated ropes and reel up buckets and stuff so he could clean the freaking mast!

i haven't met anyone too fabulous for any seedy romances. i have met three perfect weirdos, all off limits for different reasons. im not sure if there is anyone as retarded as i am when it comes to their gender of choice. trying not to play any mind games. still writing in my journal although less often. amanda you wouldnt be proud. actually i will have a bath and do that now. well soon. 

what's going on back home, no one seems to be seeing anyone. although i nkow im probbly just out of the loop it seems like youre all doing very different things. griff have you been wallowed up by rmit yet? has she bundle? bundle and rose i hope melbourne isnt being too irritating or having an even bigger pole up its arse. 

im going crazy with such a limited wardrobe, even with half of mums things it is very restrictive. h&m here i come i think. my toe is making quite a good recovery. i can walk without limping much at all now which saves me some dignity. 

i've been watching skins and gossip girl religiously, its very fabulous! 

mum and bell and my baby cousins are coming up for easter which will be really nice although stressful in our three room apartment. i cant believe how shit ive been with photos (and cameras, sorry ed!) 

well i really dont have anything interesting to say this time around, hopefully wasnt too boring a read. 

miss you all tremendously. stobes, need to freaking talk to you. lots and lots of love to all. langice im yet to recieve any rambling emails. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooo0ooooxxxxxxxoooxoxoxoxooxoxi

a bit of a backtrack: fourteenth of march

after a week of interning:ok so its friday night and i'm meant to be at two parties but instead im at home after spending the last few hours detained in the office having to make a police statement... incase you're wondering how i got so cool so suddenly or how im involved with the law, we'll go back to the start of the week. 

so tuesday, after an akward email conversation where my new boss asked me if i had any questions, i said whats the adress and anything in particular i need to bring, he said, surely you can find the address yourself, in journalism research is vital.... and bring common sense rarara i was like fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. i've ruined it all already and he's a difficult wanker! anyway with some help from cazz i confirmed the address. and she found the best route for me to take to get there... hardly slept the night before because i was convinced i'd already fucked it all up but tuesday morning i nervously set off and luckily there were no disasters.

the place is very chilled. outrageously messy, its like a minefield in there. full of cds and dvds from when they used to write reviews. i cant wait to get my hands on those! as soon as i got there i found out i was going to a press conference at 12 held by soccer 7s which is in the next few months. the press conference was intimidating but really cool and im getting a free soccer jersey with my name on the back. exciting, no? i was promptly told that interning is a waste of time if you don't work like you're actually working... so i was set to work straight away. this issue i'm not writing too much. couple of 100 word sections on random things. the clubs guide section which is a couple of sentences on different club events over the next fortnight (the magazine comes out every fortnight) and then fivehundred words on a singaporean band that sounds a little bit like sigur ros. ambient music they call it. i was quite daunted at the responsibility readily handed over to me straight away! 

that night i went for drinks with gary (who on second, slightly more sober thought isnt really that much like hunting) we went to soho and moved around from bar to bar. i came home so useless that i left one of mums nicest cardis in the taxi with no hope of ever tracing it! (im wearing all her clothes cause its surprisingly cold here and i really didnt pack accordingly) on tuesday i email interviewed the band i was writing about which was pretty cool. to get to work it takes me about 45 minutes on bus then tram which i quite enjoy, im also loving finding my way around this city! all the one way streets make it quite difficult to orientate myself, everyday is like a game of streethideandseek.  

thursday night i had to go to a thai restaurant opening which i was super nervous about cause i was going on my own. i had to take photos at the event so we were playing with my camera making sure the resolution was high enough and this photo was taken. perfect slave to the man photo i think! 

when i got there is was quite awkward cause everyone else was in groups. eventually i went to the back of the room and seeing some empty seats next to some people that looked like they might be less than 10 years older than me, asked if i could sit down. the boys were comically awkward but luckily the girl they were with came over and rescued me! all three of them were lovely. turns out philippa knows alex concannon which was a bizarre turn of events. 

i ended up spending most of the night with them and their friends which was fun. everyone was really lovely, a girl steph and her boyfriend, tim (from a small town near noosa) invited me to their house warming which was tonight and another boy (actually he's thirty so i suppose i should say man?) invited me to his pirate party on his boat (which is at aberdeen, where dad has his yacht). so everything was fabulous, i spent today trying to figure out how i would get out of going to an opening party for these comic inspired serviced apartments so i could go to the house warming instead...  

This morning was messy, all the free drinks from the night before had me up at 6am EVEN THOUGH WORK DOESNT START TILL 10!!!!!!!!!!! and i went into dads office to meet his boss and talk to lovely chris (who is freaking engaged!! how scarily grown up is that!!) and spent alot of the day proof reading and fact checking. im getting my business cards made up next week (they're not attractive whatevs, no one has had a business card since stobeys babysitting service ones!!) and there is anotehr intern coming from belgium on monday which is exciting! i really want to meet the other writers, there are a few of them that work from home and they seem funny so thats annoying. 

ok so the police. the guy that does all the graphics and the layouts for the magazine didn't come in today because he had a massive exam today for whatever he is studying. buuuut today is also the deadline for the magazine. so my boss said if he didnt come in then he neednt come back. so he didnt come in until 5.30 when he came bearing pastries which made me happy but apparently not my boss who told him to leave. they had an argument, the layouts guy demanding one months salary and my boss saying no. eventually he called the police cause the layouts guy wouldn't leave. anyway while we were waiting for the police my boss went for a walk to calm down while the layouts guy was collecting his stuff and waiting around. anyway once the police came and after a long argument he was escorted out. then as everyone is in the process of going back to work we find that all of the layouts for this coming issue have been deleted. it means like an hours work for each of 60 pages and its meant to be in tonight. so the police were called back and my boss wants him arrested for theft and sabotaging the magazine. so the police wouldnt let us leave and we were there for hours and hours waiting around, my doing innane boring work cause there was nothing else i could do... eventually i was allowed to go and get us thai takeaway which was great, i felt like i had forgotten what it was like to be outdoors! when i finally got home i cbf going to either party and now ive written this and its bed time. oh wait, ive got free movie preview tickets for this weekend as im writing a film review. on monday  the other intern and i are going to a cafe opening for lunch and a fligh assimulation thing in the afternoon HOW FREAKING MAD IS THAT!?

ah, quite content for the most part with progress made this week!! 

so jealous of those of you who went to kings of leon SO SO JEALOUS. 

miss you all tremendously 

venus, my love

looking at some pretty photos and thinking of a few pretty thoughts

do come and visit if you can 

a bit of a backtrack: ninth of march

[ok, so turns out i'm not as good at computers as i thought. i'm struggling to figure out an appropriate privacy setting because i want everyone (that might not want me to know they're following my every move?) to be able to read  what i write but i don't want anyone here to get upset at anything i say. so im just going to take out things that make it too obvious who/where/what etc.... i am.]

i finally got my act together and organised an internship. i'm going in tomorrow for my first day of work at a local magazine. hilariously enough, the magazine shares it's name with a certain joke (?) of Jeremy's and mine. as soon as tamsin suggested it i knew it would be the place for me. it's one of those magazines that writes about what's coming up in terms of performing arts, movies, festivals... and has a few random opinion sections. i think i will have fun there thanks to a bit of quirk! unlike the place i had an interview with last week (not too successful) the people are really down to earth thank goodness! the first place was a bit too pretentious for my liking and the way they write is ridiculously convoluted. enough ranting, i sound bitter. 

amanda and caroline, you will both be very happy with the progress of my journal! it is filling up quite quickly, i think it will be soon time for a new one. i'm watching nancy drew at the moment while i type away, i feel like caroline, not being able to come out because she is watching movies at home! i was reading/hearing somewhere, either on stuffwhitepeoplelike.com or on triple j about how what you write on your computer is important but what you write on paper is what you deem either enlightened thought or private... embarrassingly accurate.

i've been spending all my time with dad which is very funny. he's taken to racing really silly cars like porch's up the hill home. its very embarrassing but quite fun. and ive had to do many boating trips... up early to go on silly adventures. i got a bit seasick the other day. 

there is NO FREAKING COFFEE WORTH DRINKING. i've tried everywhere! everywhere! its worse than thailand but they think its better which is more annoying. rosie rosie i hope you are sympathetic.

im a bit nervous about tomorrow, what to wear, if i will be clever enough, who i will talk to. i wonder if there are cute boys or fun girls. i hope at least one of those...! i'm still limping which also makes me less cool in the work place. 

im going out for drinks tomorrow night with this boy gary who reminds me of hunting and who is very funny (don't get your hopes up, this is no romance) 

it's funny cause im always thinking of thinks i want to tell you all but i cant think of anything now! actually, i'm going crazy thanks to my bed. it is lovely aside from the slight issue of it being on wheels! everytime i roll over the whole bed moves, im going to hack those off any minute now. also you should see the way emie organises my underwear draw! its crazy. actually i'll go and take a photo now!

i've been sleeping in everyday til 12. its so good. i cant stop, well i guess i'll have to stop from tomorrow onwards! is there any exciting news back home? sorry i haven't replied to everyones emails.. i will.

well anyway miss you all a huge amount 

besos y mas besos x