Sniffles and second jobs

So I've realised, after numerous phone calls to my various debtors, that I'll definitely need a second job to be able to save money for my trip. There's just no getting around that reality now.
This unfortunately brings with it a number of issues:

• Time - I have none. Between working full time and studying 2 courses per semester, I fear anything more than 1 weekend shift at the moment (and potentially 1 weekday shift) would ruin me, rendering me unrecogniseable as a human being
• Who - who would want to hire me for 1 day a week? I know that beggers can't really be choosers, but I don't particularly want to return to my table waiting days. Having worked full time for a few years now, night shift (say, later than 9-10pm) really isn't what I'm looking for at the moment
• Location - it can't be too far out of the way. I'll be selling my car in October, so wherever I end up working needs to be somewhere I can get to easily.

Bah!

I is back.

So I've been uber busy lately ("lately" = the past 2 or so years), and haven't really been blogging because I haven't been travelling. Though, to be fair, it seems as though everyone is travelling but me at the moment.

Well, not for much longer! Mark and I have finally booked our trip away, ne'er to return. Well, for 2 years, anyway. We're headed to Vancouver, then taking a month to travel around and make our way down the west coast of the states: Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Vegas, LA. Then we fly to NYC, and have just under a month to do some travelling around there - going to Toronto, Montreal, DC, Boston, and back to New York, before flying to Reykjavik for 5 days, and then finally arriving in London about 2 months after we've left Australia. We'll be roaming around the UK & Ireland, then finally finding somewhere to live in Edinburgh, hopefully. I can't wait, it's been over 3 years since I was last overseas, and I miss my awesome friends and the feeling of being completely independent.

I'll be putting my masters on hold while we travel around, and will possibly resume one course per study period once we've found a place to live in Scotland. Thank god for Open Universities, hey? I'd love to get a writing job while I'm away - even if it's just some freelance work for various publications. Would be great to get some exposure while I sort myself out. I've been reading like a maniac lately as well, that's one thing I'm going to have to let go for a few months - can't exactly haul a library around with me. Might have to get myself an Ipod or similar to pass the time.

Mark has himself a new job at the Coffee Barun, he's loving it! Learning to roast coffee is something he's wanted to do for ages, so it's great that he's finally getting the opportunity. Thanks Mark and Kate :)

On a side note, I miss Hannah. Come and visit again!

I heart David Walliams (and Matt Lucas).

Hello.

So tonight I went and saw Little Britain live. It was hilarious (as was to be expected), and although I was sitting right behind the tallest person in the world, it was definitely worth it. And, without wanting to sound like too much of a celebrity whore (even though I totally am), I just love them! The sketches were brilliant, and although you only got to see each character once, it was more than made up for by the obvious effort the guys put into Australianising (and more importantly, Adelaideianising (sp?) ) the script. Much appreciated.

Thanks to a not-so-anonymous tip off from my cousin who works at a hotel in Adelaide, we knew where the boys were staying, so I encouraged (read: coerced) the girls into dropping by to see if they were around. We were not disappointed. As the only person bold/stupid/pathetic enough to look like a crazy fan, I asked Mess'rs Walliams and Lucas for a photo. They very kindly obliged (see below). Must say, though it was a brief meeting, my overall impression of the guys was great. David was aloof (which, to be entirely honest, was expected, and made him even more attractive in my opinion), and Matt seems genuinely lovely.

If they ever come back into town (unlikely, as Adelaide is a piece of shit), I'll definitely hitch a ride on that bandwagon. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up.

Chloe xx

Get to the fucking monkey.

I'm sick of people who waste my time. Do I look (or sound) like the kind of person who has infinite amounts of time to just sit around listening to people crap on? Furthermore, why do people call telephone banking to crap on to a stranger about their lives?
I'm not talking about the elderly either. The elderly I have time for. They've earned their right to spend 50c on a local call and get their money's worth. I fully intend to be exactly the same when I'm old. It's the other ones I have problems with. The ones who should know better.
You know who you are.

On another entirely unrelated note, I hereby pronounce July "Harry Potter Month". A movie and the final book in one fell swoop seems too good to be true. It probably is - sure, we'll get the final book, but Harry will die in a tremendously unsatisfying manner with little to no closure on all of the questions we've been asking for years. Not that I'm trying to be cynical or anything, I'm just saying. Musn't get hopes up. Pfft.

I keep having these really irrational thoughts lately. I'll be getting out of bed and I'll hear a little voice in my head that says "today, Chloe, is the day you quit your job". I have no idea why, I don't even want to quit my job, but that's what I feel like doing. Just as quickly as the thought pops into my head, it floats out again. I swear sometimes I have a brain like a sieve. Mum used to say that to me when I was younger. I remember the most random things, but I'll forget to get toothpaste from the supermarket. Oh, stupid annoying things like peanut butter I remember, but it's a dismal day when you realise you then have to take your whole damn trolley back into the supermarket for a solitary tube of toothpaste.
This is how I get myself into trouble.

I wonder...

...when it became socially acceptable, or even 'normal' to request lifts from perfect strangers.
When exactly did it become appropriate to stagger drunkenly up to an unfortunate individual, trapped in their vehicle, and tap on their window "hey love, give ya 20 bucks to take us to [insert random bogan location here]". Yeah, right.
Cos, you know, I can't think of anything I'd enjoy more than soiling the interior of my vehicle with everything your typical bogan australian drunkard has to offer (not to mention the potential dangers of travelling as a lone female). I had, in my hospitality blindsighted haze, forgotten the downsides to being available for outings on saturday nights - all of a sudden, you have the usual boring 'going out' issues again. Who drove, who doesn't feel like drinking, and who point blank refuses to go to certain places. Then there's the whole 'where do we go' issue, not to mention the 'inbetween clubs' phase where you freeze your arse off in (what feels like) -10 degree weather, tossing up whether it's better to line up in the cold for half an hour to get into a reasonably good club, or get into a shitty (albeit warm) club straight away.

Still, it beats the crap outta having to work every saturday. I'll take an ass-freezing moment outside a crap club over working anyday.

Love Chol.

So.

So.
I'm not in Sweden anymore. Der.

Back in good ol' Australia, hanging out with the boyfriend, the kitties, and the girls. Am going back to the blog thing because I like it, despite the stigma associated with bloggers these days. Meh.

Hannah came back from Canada! Tis wonderful news indeed, everything is back to normal now in terms of girly get togethers, except our group is now a little more worldly, and a little more confident - a welcome change. Though I'll admit that it's still hell trying to get everyone together for a night out every once in a while. Why is it that I have to work 5 nights a week just to be able to pay stupid bills and rent? Is it really so important for me to show up when I'm rostered, just to serve drinks all night for alcoholics and compulsive gamblers who complain about forking out a measly dollar or two for soft drink?
Well, that's all about to change, because I have a new job! I start working for a bank in 2 weeks, boo-yeah!
Sigh. It's going to be brilliant. I get a chair, I don't have to look at customers, I get to wear jeans to work, I get to work 9-5, no weekends... Simple pleasures.

Oh, and the cats are driving me nuts at the moment. I busted my balls last week cleaning the damn loungeroom rug, and the damn bloody cats have messed it up shedding their winter coats! The furniture's shot to shit too! Dagnabbit.
I reckon Jasmin's the culprit... all that black and white fur...

Chlomoe

Sunset at around 11pm 

Playing 'asshole' in the tent... 

Midnight Minigolf Mayhem 

Stupidity in Motala 

Roadtrippin'...and farewell to a friend :(

First things first.

Silja, you rock babe. I had the most fun ever with you, and I hope that you'll take care of yourself and that we meet up again someday. I'll never forget how much fun we had here in Linkoping, and you have to come and visit me in Australia. Kram och puss!

So we said farewell to a vital member of the B-team on sunday...Silja (duh). We had an awesome time making her a farewell video, which you can view at http://prof3ta.homeunix.org/index.php?topic=videos. Then, on the last night in HG, we had a farewell party for her, which was the most fun night ever! Then of course, the last kravall (Sommer X), a non-overalls party to which the B-Team wore overalls to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the plebs. Worked rather well too. Then after a lovely afterparty in the playground, we all went to bed and woke up the next morning for our roadtrip!

First stop was Goteborg, a really nice town on the west coast of Sweden. This is the second largest town in Sweden, and although it is pretty, our going out experience there was not the greatest. Our hostel was really nice ('Dalagarde'), and we had a great time picnicking in the sun, and going on a very strange boat tour through the canal system (i've never been on a boat tour where everybody had to sit on the floor in order to get under a bridge).

After Goteborg we headed north to some place i can't remember the name of *lol*. We found a camping ground beside one of Sweden's 96,000 lakes (i'm not exaggerating), created a bonfire, doused ourselves with insect repellant (the mosquito swarms were UNBELIEVABLE...and even more unbelievable that i didn't get bitten once!), and sat around the fire drinking beer and chatting...lovely. Poor Jonathan got bitten around 70 times by some mystery insect during the night, and was the only one to have problems with the insects! Poor guy.

Monday we packed up and headed north again, in search of another camping ground. Had an almost disaster when it didn't look like we were going to have a place to sleep, but then a campsite came through for us, and even had mini golf! Of course, we had to attempt a drunken round in the middle of the night (I didn't even come last... okay, second to last, but at least I didn't lose!! Thanks Lex ;) ). After watching a couple of idiotic friends (namely Koen and Gugu) go midnight swimming in yet another lake, we all went to bed, then woke up and came back to Linkoping.

I could explain more, but camping is camping. We saw some things, ate some things, drank some things, and drove. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Knock em' dead.

Finally, some photos!

Just a quickie to say that I've finally managed to post my photos from the farewell dinner we had on tuesday 16/05. Sooo great, sooo many idiotic faces.

Please don't judge me too harshly.

Probably my best attempt at trying to eliminate the classic 'party photo' smile 

My lovely gang leaving the dining hall from our farewell dinner :) 

Again, jumping into someone else's photo 

Marian and I interrupting someone else's photo 

I have no idea what I was trying to do here... 

Well and truly toasted! 

Let's all welcome Chloe's liver back to Linköping, HG styles!

Greetings and Salutations!

I'm in a particularly good mood at the moment, having just finished my last class for the week. Lets ignore the fact that this was the only class I went to this week, and press on with the more important issues... such as my reintroduction to the world of binge drinking. And what a reintroduction it was!

When I returned to Linkoping it was time to prepare for our Erasmus farewell dinner - in other words, the last Sittning we'll have in Sweden *sob*. Had a jolly good time racing around my room, getting all dressed up, until i realised that i was running late for pre drinks (as per the norm), and had to bolt to Jochems.
We finally arrived at the dinner for 730, I got very confused as to the seating arrangements (at Sittnings, you don't get to pick where you sit), but finally found my seat thanks to my clever detective work (that and the fact that I got called over, lol). As per usual, we got beer and half a bottle of wine each (unless of course your name is Roberto or Jochem, in which case you get 3 bottles each, all stolen from other people through a combination of 'Look over there!' hand movements, and some very fast switching, empty bottle for full). Needless to say we had one messy Sicilian, and an even messier Dutch boy who doesn't remember a damn thing from that night. And what do you do when you don't remember things from the previous night? Why, you make up rumours about other people, of course! (Silja will never forget that one)

After much singing (including a rendition of our national anthems by the Australians - "We're happy little Vegemites", and "Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oy Oy Oy!"), photo taking (Ben was taking photos of people leaving the dinner hall...I'm very proud to say I made it into every single one of them), and eating (potatoes were YUM), we adjourned to the dancefloor in HG to boogie down for the rest of the night.
Now, since being here, I've noticed that my 'party photo' faces have gone from respectable, to downright ridiculous. I will have to illustrate my point later, because Hello is (yet again) being a cockfag.

TTFN,

Chloe xx

Damn Hello to the depths of hell...

I'm trying to upload pictures...
damn Hello is being an arsehole.

Here you go people. Be grateful, frankie moo! (just kidding, didn't mean to be so harsh, love you cutie pie xoxo)