Survivor...

Alright, I know I said I wouldn't make entries about survivor. But, how can I not with this new racial twist? I am happy to report that all the white guys are total shit heads. Seriously, as a part of the new racially diverse Survivor, they've chosen the two biggest Caucasion wankers in all of the United States.

Yul's gonna win. He's smart. Goodlooking. Korean (yay!). And, I just think he's going to win and stuff.

Hello, my name is Yul. I like long walks on the beach, ultimate fighting, bibimbap and winning Survivor: Cook Islands.

In coming!

I'm taking this class called "Dealing with the Media". It's a total, complete, utter waste of time. While I would hesitate to call the lecturer an 'idiot' (he isn't totally), I would definitely question his organizational skills and maybe bring to light his over confidence as a teacher. Yes, he has written a couple books (about Smyrna, no less), but he still can't seem to string together a coherent thought and has created a course without any central train of thought. Oh, and I haven't learned a damn thing about the media, other than journalists are busy people (umm, join the club?). Apparently some people are too busy to dig up some relevant material to teach. ahem.

Anyway, blathering on about the inadequacies of my lecturers wasn't the intent of this entry. Instead, it was going to talk about blogging itself. In one particularly riveting lecture (I drew pictures, sent text messages to my boyfriend, and passed notes in class -- I was caught and appropriately chastised) the lecturer (who, from now on I will simply refer to as 'Dwight') started talking about blogs. I don't remember what the exact context was because I refuse to do the readings (I can get info from Wikipedia all by myself, thank you very much) and I only half listen. But, I do remember Dwight saying that the premise of blogging is that entries are supposed to be daily and, additionally, that comments are usually made about social topics, business, sport etc. Something societal, anyhow.

WTF! Nobody told me that! Blogs aren't supposed to just be about the individual person (read: me) and all the (un)exciting things they're (I'm) doing with their (my) lives (life)? Apparently, blogs are influencing a lot of people and acting as a serious conduit of public opinion. No, really! Dwight said so! And, seeing as Dwight seems to always be saying such intelligent things, you've heard it here first, people: I'm going to start writing about more important stuff, thus adding to the delusion that people actually read this thing.

Okay, I'm totally lying. I'm going to just keep putting pics and stuff up (my mom is coming for Christmas, after all!). But, every so often I might take a stab at saying something worthwhile and unrelated to survivor. And yes, in retrospect, the point of this entry is that my lecturer (a so-called member of the Australian 'intelligentsia') is actually just a bumbling moron.

Why, oh why...

With six weeks left to finish my masters, an endeavour that brought me across the world and put me into a whole heck of a lot of debt, I have come to a startling conclusion: I don't really care all that much about learning. I know, earth shattering. I'm not saying I don't like learning. I do. I'm also not saying there aren't positives to learning. There are. All I am saying is that while I take off entire weekends from work to study (aka 'learn'), why do I find myself doing everything but? Case in point, despite the fact that I actually have put a whole lot of time into one of the two papers I have due on Wednesday, what else have I done this weekend? I went to The Body Shop. and Myer. Walked through Hyde Park. Called Canada about 28 times. 3 episodes of Angel. 2 episodes of Veronica Mars. Multiple hours of YouTube time. 3 different restuarants were visited. Drank wine (whilst studying). Made guacamole. Organized pictures. You get the drift.

And, as the deadline is looming even closer, what have I found myself doing today? I just memorized The Fray video, which features scenes of Greys Anatomy season 3 -- how many points will that get me on a paper about The WTO and a global public sphere? How about my indepth knowledge of the behind the scenes footage from episode one of Survivor: Cook Island? Cause seriously, I could write a full on thesis about Survivor.

Anyway, so as to not string out this non-sensical rant too much longer, all I have to say is this: I love TV. It makes me happy. and, while learning does, on some levels, make me happy (I really am the life of those conversations that don't really happen at those really important cocktail parties I don't attend), TV just makes me happier. The people on TV? They're my friends. I learn from them. While Meredith Grey, Veronica Mars and Jeff Probst aren't such good friends as to get me, umm say, a job, I know they'll always be there for me. Their sagas affect me greatly... even moreso than, gee let me think, the WTO and the global public sphere.

And, until I can really devote myself to my friends (ie, when survivor is finished downloading and all my other shows finally premiere), I'll return to my lesser friend, school, and apply myself aptly to scholarly pursuits. Or, at least I'll half ass it for the next six weeks, realize that nobody besides people in and around universities care about a global public sphere, find a job (probably as a baker, or some shit like that), return home each night, fill a glass with some oh-so delicious boxed red wine and call on my good friends.

That is all. I will now have to find something else to do to occupy my brain and help me forget that scholarly pursuits require an investment of time and energy.

Poofs at one with nature...

Six poofs (me, stafford, kris, lucas, alan and mick) headed out for a weekend at stafford's cottage in Barrington Tops -- this weird altered-reality-like place. We frolicked in nature (fully clothed), played with wild animals and created one of the most majestic breakfast servings known to man. Seriously. I think it brought out the inner lumberjack within us all. tee hee.
We were the only people there under sixty (in addition to being the only homos). No crosses were burned and no stones were thrown (minus those we threw at the big mean black birds). But, good times were had by all.

I had to include more pics of the rosellas cause they were so freaking cool.  

that actually hurt. but, i loved it. 

. 

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Down by the river. Im sitting in the sun, ignoring everyone because a) it was morning and that's what I do when I am forced to move before it is appropriate and b) because it was warmer there.  

Me:"ZZZZZ.... lalalalalala... sleeping is bliss."
Stafford: "I can't wait to carry out my murderous plan the second this person stops taking this photo. Bwa hahahaha!"

Wild Turkey. They were pretty boring actually, but I felt bad not taking a picture of them after giving the rosellas so much attention.  

Possum! Yay! Anna, my roommate, gave me a huge lecture afterwards surrounding her belief that possums are actually the most disgusting animals on earth (maybe below the rat and the pigeon)... but, damnit, i was excited.  

After the possums totally shat all over the balcony... i did the only reasonable thing: I coaxed it into the house.  

Kris and Lucas feeding the really big, wild (but cute) rat.  

Rosellas are part of the parrot family. Okay, I could totally be screwing that up. But, maybe not. Whatever the case, here is one sitting on Alan's head.

"Look!" we say in amazement (ignoring for a moment that there are several wild birds perched or planning to perch on our bodies). What is it we see? (scroll down).  

This is what we were looking at! Apparently this is something that even most Aussies havent experienced. We got to pet a kookaburra! Apparently it's carnivorous and totally rejected the bread we offered it. It also stuck its nose up at camembert cheese and strawberries. For the record, that's expensive cheese and fruit. It flew away before we realized we also had German sausage. Oh, I also learned that kookaburras are "cheeky". And, furthermore, I astonished the aussie crowd with my knowledge of the kookaburra song. Crazy Canadians and their love of irrelevant songs about foreign birds.

After a nice leisurely morning game of tennis, we set out in search of the alleged kangaroos. Instead, we found big, crazy, wild birds (that in actuality, were neither crazy nor wild -- but, were big).  

Hail to the Biatch...

Okay, so envision this... Studious Matt McKenzie quietly working at his hw, when he looks out the window (of the cafeteria -- im not so studious as to be caught dead in the library), and what does he see? The University of Sydney campus is being pelted with a horrific snowstorm. I get up and mention to another student, "Oh my god, it's snowing!". The girl responded as any blue-blooded, head-up-her-ass Australian would: "Yeah, it's actually hail. Kind of like you're back home in America." For the record, I wasnt wearing any sort of corrective lens. And, I'm smarter than her.

The point of this story is that this random girl was (is) a bitch.

The End.

ps - the hail was still pretty cool. so, i took some photos.
pps- i usually like australians. good people.

close-up 

These areas are usually a) green and b) covered with people engaging in any number of australian-like activities... 

more white campus shots 

That used to be a grass tennis court 

the coca-cola sign in King's Cross... hookers to the right, strippers to the left...