week 8 ( Aug. 30 - Sept. 5) - In real time (sept. 14th) I just pulled my first all-nighter finishing up my second paper for this program. I'm slightly delirious at the moment but I need to stay awake til a reasonable bedtime hour so I sleep through the night. In this valiant post-grad effort to maintain consciousness, I will blog to you about stuff. This is your disclaimer that there is an 89.9% possibility the following blog writing may not make any sense. Ok, here it goes...
So at this point I've been here for almost two months. A lot of my lifestyle has changed, I've changed. TV is non-existent, news is received by various reliable and (mostly) unbiased internet sources where I get to pick and choose the information I receive. I've realized the amount of sensationalism in most news programs actually added anxiety in my life, so it's a great change to get rid of that unnecessary stress. I also had a goal before I moved here to learn to become a good runner so I could take advantage of the surrounding beauty in the neighborhood and local forest areas. Slightly delayed in that goal, but Lina and I started running this week and plan on running about 4 days a week. I'm not a runner, at all. In fact, I really have always hated running and my body generally gives out after two minutes of trying. But, after all the obstacles I've overcome the past couple years, I feel that I've mastered mind over matter and running should be a breeze. Plus, I know it's going to be an amazing feeling to run through some beautiful forests. I promised myself I would remain cognizant of the fact that I only have this life and this moment so I really plan on taking full advantage of everything I have. In any case, if I don't send out another blog post within the next week, please send search and rescue crews to Mt. Coot-Tha.
I've really been trying to be productive in getting my paper done this week, but the idea of possibly coming home next week had me completely sidetracked. I couldn't focus on getting my paper done at all. I've been feeling anxious, happy, sad, nervous, excited, pretty much everything, and all potentially over nothing. The waiting game was a complete life distraction and my work was suffering from it.
Luckily the weekend came up quick to give me a decent reason for not being productive. The beginning of September marks the month long Brisbane festival, and yes, Brisbane is such a great city that it deserves a month-long celebration. The kick-off festivities began Saturday night where the city puts on a yearly event called RiverFire. It's basically a massive fireworks show where they shoot fireworks from buildings and bridges around the river and downtown area so everyone gathers by the Brisbane River to watch. They also have F111 fighter jets that do a dump and burn, where they set the engine exhaust on fire and the jet takes on the form a giant fireball flying through the sky, it's very cool looking in a slightly Armageddon-like sort of way. Kate and I decided to go to my classmate, Ben's house (he lives right on the river), to see this sight for ourselves. We partied and drank on the roof of his apartment building with several other people from my grad program. After the fireworks show a group of people stayed for a couple hands of poker. Fireworks and poker, all in one night, I was indeed a very happy girl!
Photo #2 - the jet fighter dump and burn (it looks far more ominous in person) here's a video as the picture does no justice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbK1koSNxc0&feature=related
I have successfully made it to midnight, so goodnight to me and good morning to you.
To tired to think of something clever,
Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Dilla, J-Bones, and sometimes crab cakes
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