cranberrygoddess

Got my masters degree in a mail a couple of weeks ago. hooray :) now it’s back to the unsatisfying career, hmm…

I’m back in Canberra now, and feel really relaxed to be here. I felt a bit apprehensive about moving back, but after a day or so I just totally chilled out like I hadn’t for a year. I chilled out even more a week or so later when I worked out how the snakeskin in my room got there, and that my most recent blood test result for my diabetes had improved to the levels they hadn’t been at for 3-4 years. Then I got a bit of a blow when I got comments back on my thesis from my advisor =- they were pretty harsh and personal, but I just have to tell myself it’s her problem and not mine, as long as I pass. So now it’s head down studying, going back to work when I have to (my old job), but enjoying the beautiful sunshine and warm glow of being at home with my old friends and family.

An update on my New York adventures:

I leave New York on 3 September, and travel through England, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong on the way home, arriving 29 September.

I have finished the coursework on my thesis, and I think I got a 3.83 GPA but I’m not sure if I calculated it right. I still have to finish off my thesis, but will be doing that by correspondence with my advisor till mid december.

I feel like the last few months I have conquered something by being able to feel at home on the other side of the world, which I never thought I could do. Alot of the anxiety has gone, and I am really enjoying myself here. Of course, this comes just as I am leaving, but I was warned this would happen, and don’t want to change my plans because I still miss home somewhere in the back of my mind, and I will run out of money soon, and need to go back to my job back home.

I’m pretty sure I have done some growing up, even though I was always way too mature for my age (maybe not now that I’m 27, but certainly when I was 12). I can also use this experience as a badge of honour and coolness (“oooooh, you just came back from new york, how exciting, tell me about it?”).

This website has been really useful in finding out of the way places that don’t make the lonely planet (like one of my favourite restaurants here, the caracas arepa bar, but more than that, it has provided a sense of continuity when so much has changed in my life, an extra way of communicating with people when I was alone, a way of planning my future, and tracking how I have progressed in a way that is beyond passing milestones, more about achieving an emotional state.

I could recommend living overseas to a year to most people, it’s not easy for quite a while, but the sense of achievement is great :)

I think I can tick this one off now. I’ve made about 10 friends here and I’ll only be here a few more months probably. It’s funny how friendships are made, it’s usually when you least expect it. The bit that takes effort is staying in touch so you maintain the friendship, which is much more important than making new friends.

I just got back from my trip to England to go to my cousin’s wedding. It was great seeing my two cousins again, as well as some more distant relatives. Reminded me of where I got my sense of humour from. This time I won’t take so long to see them again! I just wish I’d gotten there a few years ago before my aunt and uncle died :(

I saw him play at the national folk festival in 2003. During the set before his, he walked up to me and said ‘You should see the next guy, he’s really great’ and I said ‘Isn’t it kind of sad when you have to plug your own shows?’

I had heard his ‘bedroom philosophy’ lots on JJJ radio up till that point.

My favourite song of his I didn’t hear till later, it’s called ‘I’m so Postmodern’ and includes lyrics like …

I’m so postmodern I only go on dates that last thirteen minutes, via walky talky, while hiding under the bed.

I’m so postmodern I went home and typed up everything you said and printed it out in wingdings and gave it back to you.

I’m so postmodern I take my lego to the supermarket and build my own shopping trolley, and only buy one nut.

I’m so postmodern I wrote a trilogy of novels from the perspective of a possum that Jesus patted once.

I’m so postmodern I prerecorded this song, and laced a message subliminally telling Shane Porteous to buy a smock.

My cousin in england is getting married in June this year. I hope I can get there for it. The frustrating thing is, I have a ticket through there on my way home to Australia from New York, but I don’t think I can finish my course in time to get there for the wedding. The only way I could get there would be to buy a separate return flight from New York to London for like a week. Is it worth it, when I should be going there later anyway?

I guess I should mention that now that I’m on holidays I feel like I have finally settled into new york, and the stress of the transition is over, I’ve been going to lots of concerts and museums (see entry below), and I’m about to go to LA and Mexico with my sister, it feels good to be human again :)

I had seen him in concert more times than I can remember, starting in the famous (now closed) Gypsy bar, and was on his email list which tells you about upcoming performances. He comes from the same city as me, and we are both in exile in the US, and when he performed in NYC on boxing day I had to go. When I walked into the bar he asked me if he had met me before, because I looked familiar, and I explained that I was from canberra. His wife Maryanne came over and asked the same. I got a mention on stage as one of the fellow canberrans in the crowd. Then after the show I was invited to go back to the place, after he gave me a beer because he had a free ticket for one, and his guitar got left behind in the taxi they were staying in with Maryanne, her parents and sister, and some of their friends, and they gave me a home cooked meal (salad, oysters – which I don’t like but ate anyway, lasagne, and apple pie) and wine and champagne, then after that some of us went to this aussie pub to watch the cricket (which again, I also hate, but the night demanded it of me, and I quite enjoyed it – the pub was full of australians who stayed till it finished around 2:30am).