Happy Birthday!

As always, this post will be a day early in the States, but happy birthday to the lovely Beth. She's one of my best friends and best people in the world in general. :) I know. I've traveled. She's still up there on the list.

And with that, can we talk about how everyone I know is getting older? Can we? I mean, I'm 24 for the love of God. Almost halfway to 30, which is almost 30. Which is almost middle aged.

Don't blink, man, don't blink. You'll wake up and you'll be 80.

Quiet as a Mouse

It's happened again. Whenever I start a new job, I go into Professional Annika mode. I just feel that I don't need to jump in on every conversation or divulge too much about my personal life. It isn't that I think my life is too private for work or that I don't want my co-workers to know about me. It's just that whenever I tell a story, you'll be lucky to get out alive in twenty minutes. Especially when my story is really "I just dropped my pen." It's ridiculous. I like for people to think of me as quiet and diligent instead chatty or the girl who won't shut up.

Usually this wears off over time. I get comfortable, I feel secure in people's estimation of my abilities, etc. It hasn't happened at my filing job yet. They think I might be a stick in the mud who works too hard. Sigh. I know it will fade and they'll soon wish I never opened my mouth, but it still cracks me up. As I think of a half hour long story to explain how I am not a stick in the mud or quiet, I realise that maybe it'll be okay if they just think of me as quiet and hardworking... at least for another few days.

Panic

So I just realised I'm an adult.

Okay, not an adult exactly. But I'm on my way. Being here in New Zealand is/was kind of a way to put off the inevitable adulthood. Granted, it will also better my career blah blah blah, but mostly, it's another few years to live in excusable poverty and fun. But, my time here is drawing to a close. I have about four months left. Four! Months! Left! Then I have to go back to the States and get a job, an apartment, a car, and then I'll have to start being financially responsible. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

I know that adulthood sneaks up on you and your capabilities. Like, high school seemed like a big step the summer before I started. But my wise, wise parents told me that it was designed so that I'd be ready. If I wanted to go to high school as a 6 year old, there would have been problems. But you take on more and more so that you can take on more and more. But, graduation was a big ol' step in the adult direction. But I blew it off. "Take that, Graduation, I'm blowing this popsicle stand for a foreign land." Now it's come back again.

It doesn't help that most of my friends are already adults. I'll get back and be complaining about my nerves of having - gasp - my very own classroom and they'll respond, "Dude (yeah, they'll say dude), I've been teaching for two years."

The worst part is that while I fret about it now, it so won't be a big deal. It comes in gradually. Look I have my own apartment. Sweet, tick that item off the list. And now for my car. And oh look! It's my first day of teaching. Then - wham - I'll have been teaching for ten years and I'll suddenly be keeping tissues up my sleeve.

Adulthood, you sneaky fiend.

Hello, Old Friend

I'm going to re-become a gym rat. I basically stopped going. I live up a hill, for goodness' sakes. :) Well, that is my excuse. It's really far from my flat. But I realised that we only have two soccer games left (and only one training?!) so I need to get my fitness from somewhere else. That, and I haven't even been doing soccer since I broke myself (clearly).

I have decided to go straight from work because it's close. That makes me an afternoon worker outer. I am always a morning worker outer. But, if I go in the morning, I have to shower at the gym. I don't think I like that. I can shower at gyms, but I don't want that to become my morning routine. I like my 50+ shower products that I use everyday. For serious. Well, not about the 50+ part, but that I do use a lot of shower products. It is one of the ways I am high maintenance.

Regardless, I am now an afternoon worker outer. And I am working diligently on my thesis again. (Again, broken = not a whole lotta unnecessary typing.) So this is the start of Productive Annika. Again. It'll stick. I dig routines.

Breathe

So I started taking meditation classes. I know! Fun! I quite liked the first session and realised I just may have picked up some helpful meditation skills back in Valpo where I went to a Zen Buddhist temple once. Because I am much better at it than I thought I was. Now, this is not to say I achieved a wonderful state of calm and stillness in my head. But I felt I was near it several times. Harder than it sounds, for real.

Try not to think for the next thirty seconds.

Yeah. That's right.

In other news, I am attempting to play soccer again. Only training, not a proper game! But still, I am scared. I hate missing games and team time, though. It's hard to be a spectator. So tonight is the tryout. If I do okay, I can play on Sunday. Woohoo!

Scandal

This article talks about how New Zealand banned a commercial with Samantha from Sex and the City (because she was clearly playing Samantha in the commercial and not her own lovely self) selling cars. Ridiculous, right? Not because of banning it in general. But because I can hear every word under sun on TV at any given time. After about 7 at night, you just might see penises on TV. And I have never seen an edited for TV version of any movie on TV.

The article even talks about how liberal NZ typically is. But the public spoke. Are these commercials playing in the States?

Smacking

They're trying to pass an anti-smacking law here. As in, it will be against the law to smack your child. Now, I know it's a controversial topic, but I was spanked, slapped and generally physically punished many times throughout my childhood -- and I deserved it every single time.

I remember working daycare when we would joke that we should be able to get a hitting waiver for some kids. Now, that might sound horrible. It really might. But you know what else sounds horrible? Having one kid throw wooden toys at your head, bite your arm three times, and piss his pants on purpose knowing you have to clean it up, and throwing a chair at another student's head... all before nap time. I mean, honestly. I'm not saying beat the kid. But when nothing else gets through? I'm just saying...

Still, wouldn't it be funny if you weren't allowed to physically punish your children at all, under penalty of law? I am reminded of a Family Guy quote: "Hey, you guys wanna go harass the janitor because he can't legally hit us back? (others cheer in agreement)"

SNOW!

It finally happened. I got snow on my block. And okay, it's not very pretty and it's not very much and it's more slush than snow.... but! I got snow on my block. I can see snow on the hillsides in the distance. It snowed!! This is the first time I have seen real live snow in Dunedin (in my corner of Dunedin) since I got here. It's phenomenal. I want to build a slushman. I want to make slush angels. But since the weather's a bit warmer than it should be and the sky looks like it's about to unleash a reckoning of fury and damnation yet unseen, I bet it'll rain before I get done with work. Rain, which will wipe away all remnants of my pretty snow.

But still. Happy friggin' snowy Friday.

Free Gift with Purchase

I was just having a conversation yesterday about how unfair it was that celebrities get free stuff. The costly and gorgeous clothes stars wear down the red carpet are usually gifts to promote the designer's line. They get free gift baskets that cost more than a year of teacher's salary would be. It just seems unfair. I mean, they are the only ones who can afford a $10,000 dress with 1/2 million dollar earrings to match. But they get them for free.

Well, I had to bite my tongue about it today. In other fit of budgeting (which is getting more and more frequent, I must say), I decided to have a small lunch from home (costing a whopping 35 cents). But, at about 10.30am, my co-workers informed me that a morning tea had been put on for my department because of a co-worker's birthday. I scarfed down cheese rolls, biscuits, crackers and hummus, and chocolate. Then, I was told that the Law Faculty was treating my office to lunch for all our hard work over the past few months (I do measly filing and only for about a month). I took them up on it. I am regrettably full of food I didn't pay for. What about the poor people who can't scrounge together money for a meal? I get two free meals in one day, in the space of three hours.

It's the same thing I just complained about, but on a smaller scale. And you know what? It feels pretty nice. Shame.

Chump Change

I read this article (and then stole their picture) discussing whether the penny should be scrapped or saved. I think it's really interesting because here in New Zealand, not only have they got rid of the one cent coin, they are in the process of getting rid of the five cent coin. I know. It's crazy. Even now, if something costs $1.73... what happens? Well, I think I just get charged $1.75. But it is nice and friendly New Zealand so it's just as likely that I am getting charged $1.70. Unfortunately, I never pay attention because I pay with debit card. I hate cash. And coins.

But it is really that big a deal to get rid of the penny? I guess that I don't think it is, but I still don't like it for some reason. But at least American change is easy to handle. Thank goodness, New Zealand is revamping their coin system to make everything smaller and more manageable. Then again, as I read in the paper this weekend (me! reading a paper!!), a lot of coin operated machines are freaking out that all the coins are changing size.

Money, money, money - you are the cause of so many problems.

Working Stiff

Well, it's back to the ol' grind again. I took a little break for birthday fun and brokenness, but it's back to working a lot again. Now, that isn't to say that I skipped out on work. I still came, but we kept filing for later and big jobs for later. Now that I can successfully lift small piles of paper without cringing, I am back in paper filing business. I love mundane jobs. I don't feel I could do it for all my life, but for 4 hours a day for the next 5 months? Sure thing. I now have to match 5 digit codes from files to a spreadsheet. It is unreasonably soothing.

Less fun is that I have to resume work on the dreaded thesis. But again, the break has lit a fire under my buttocks that lets me work on guilt if not pure motivation.

There are downsides to being a working person again. I think I am coming down with the office cold. Jerks. It started on the ground floor, but worked its way into my office on the first floor because of a general staff meeting. Now I sniffle and look across the room to see what I'll be like in two weeks time. Then again, I seem to always be coming down with something, though never actually allowing it to reach full force. Maybe this sniffly nose and sinus headache will go away on its own. Or I have allergies I didn't know about. Whichever.

Also, I get a kick out of random office happenings. For instance, I nearly fell over laughing when a stray staple I was trying to remove flew onto the ajoining desk. That's not really that funny. But when you file papers all day long, it's hysterical. This saddens me. I don't want Office Space to get more funny to me. I don't want to scream along as they beat the copier into submission. Luckily, I'm easily entertained and as long as I can continue to use multicoloured highlighters and paperclips and play with the cool strips of white out, I should be fine. For 5 months more anyhow.

Tacos

I am in another phase of missing certain American luxuries: Mexican food, Olive Gardens, central heating... :)

Last night's menu consisted of tacos at mi casa. It was really good. Like really good. But the hard shell tacos from the store were a bit stale. I realised that this is because they were probably shipped from far away. I know for sure they aren't made in this country. Probably not Australia. So... somewhere far, far away.

I am learning more and more that I will miss certain things from here, food-wise: cheese rolls, pumpkin soup all the time, the sushi they have here, Marmite. And of course many things that aren't food, but that's a whole other post.

So the moral of my story today is that while I enjoy some toast with Marmite and some Indonesian noodles I'm sure I can't get in the States, you go out and eat some Taco Bell or, if time and money permit, someplace real, real nice for Mexican. Then tomorrow? Go to the Olive Garden. It's only fair.

I'm Better!!

...Well, mostly. As in, I can type again. For short bursts of time. :) I am happy. But I still think cleaning is hard with limited ability in the left arm region. Cleaning spree time has happened and it's hard. But satisfying, I guess. If I didn't live in a mold pit.

But it's been so sunny lately that I couldn't complain. I know a lot of you (Americans) are enjoying a little bit of summer, but let me tell you that I am enjoying a brisk day of my windows open and I couldn't be happier. Clothes on the line, flat airing out... What could be better?

And I was going to put up a picture of the view from my parents' new house. Blogger says it's too big. While I work on that, I'll just say I am envious as it is apparently the hot spot to this summer. Fish frys (fries?) and fireworks are among the activities I've missed so far, but I am sure I will test out the festivity factor of the house round about Thanksgiving.

Medical Update

Sorry that I'm so boring that I put up medical updates, but I should be painfree in about 2 weeks. Regular rambling posts shall commence then. :)

I no longer have a cast "to promote mobility"... so my arm feels "broken and dangly". Luckily this should improve vastly over the next few days.

Wish I was more entertaining, but I guarantee I will be up and running with stories so soon. :)

They're Taking Over

It's that time again; the beginning of a term. That means American exchange students and lots of them. I have no problem with Americans in general. I love and miss my homeland. But. These people would remind anyone why they left. They are loud (and that's coming from me). Things I have overheard from American students:

Student1: Do you say ah-pricots or ay-pricots?
Student2: Ah-pricots.
Student3: I told you they were all saying it wrong!!
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Student1: Well, I want a scone, but that doesn't look like a scone.
Cashier: I'm sorry?
Student2: Can you just tell her what they taste like?
C: Like a scone. Try one, they're good.
S1: But I don't know what they taste like!!
C: There are 15 people behind you...
(I was one of them.)
_______________________________________
S1: Did you know it only costs $6 to take a taxi into town?
S2: I can't believe how close to downtown we are!
S1: I say we take a taxi into town on Saturday and hit all the clubs!
S2: Well, we can't do it all in one night, but we can try!!
("Downtown" is small. And no reasonable student will take a taxi the 8 to 10 blocks it takes to get from most student flats to town.)
________________________________________
Now, I'm sure it seems worse because the regular students don't come back till this weekend. So I only have to deal with peroxide skanky girls still wearing uggs for another couple days. Oddly, the loud American males haven't made too much of an appearance... yet.

So I Postdate Blogs...

Well, I may be writing ahead, but I felt the need to tell a story.

I was just perusing emails I save and I found one from my dad referencing the classic "We're not last!" story. So I shall now tell it here. I've always had a history of being on teams that love the game, though lack the talent. My brother being slightly taller than the average bear made me grow up watching him play basketball. When I came of age (10), I joined the team, too. I was not of amazing ability, but was a nicely aggressive defensive player and I could dribble the ball. Due to some team restructuring that is now foggy in my memory, the really good players got bumped up to the 7th and 8th grade team. This left me one of the star players... of an okay, I guess, team. But we loved it. We went to a tournament. I still the highlight was being crammed into my parents' minivan on the way down (to Racine?) rocking out to Jock Jams. But we played our little hearts out, earning ourselves the prized game -- battling it out over being last or second to last. We found the humour in it, and thriving on our good spirit, won our only game of the tournament.

We were ecstatic. We ran into our locker room chanting, "We're not last!! We're not last!!" We were laughing hysterically until someone realised our faux pas -- the other team happened to be sharing our locker room. It was awful and hilarious and has gone down in family lore.

I know that our team rapidly improved (as 10 year olds do) and I think we even finished the next year undefeated. It was still not nearly as fun.

4th of July

In honor of Independence Day that I'm missing...

Sorry

I know I've sucked at posting. You try to type one handed. :) But the arm has been getting steadily better. I can now sleep in just about any position, cook things if they require only boiling (yum...), and shower and dress myself. With some ease. Seriously, the tricks I've learned. If it was socially appropriate, getting dressed with one arm would totally be my new party trick. Not only one arm, but dead weight arm. It's worse, I think. Imagine putting a bra on one handed - I mean, honestly.

Unfortunately, I am now unnaturally afraid of walking. I fear any patch of water on the hill, picturing falling and breaking the other arm. And ice?? I shuffle like a 90 year old down the hill, but at least I haven't fallen again... yet. Knock on wood.

And my new, American, sleek sling should be arriving today from my mommy who loves me so. :) Which will be nicer than this piece of sponge I have stretched from arm to neck and back to arm again. Plus! The birthday package is on its way. This makes me immensely happy. That's right, kiddos. Only 6 shopping days left for Auntie Annika's birthday. ;)

So I'm sorry posting has sucked and will, in all probability, continue to do so. But I get a sleeker new cast a week from today so we'll see what opportunities that opens up.