the theme song for our weekend in cairns. there were heaps of tourist groups abounding. and they got in the way of our walking. it was annoying cuz i didn't know how to say move please in foreign, so i spent my time trying to get around them and giving them evil looks.
i wish everyone spoke english sometime, or some form of bastardized english at least, with some unannoying accents.

if it's not obvio, i'm procrastinating for a paper right now.
that's right, i actually have an assignment due. tomoz. and i really don't wanna do it. i've already started.
but i'd much rather just go to bed.

had a really busy day. but that's not as interesting as my trip to cairns, which i will discuss right....now:

so we got there thurs night. free hostel shuttle didnt pick us up cuz it was after hours so we had to pay our way to our room.
it was not nearly as nice as our hostel in the gold coast. man the islander was a sweet hostel, cuz it was more like a hotel.

the calypso was a little disappointing. surly surly travellers masking as the hostel staff. they weren't very fond of canadians, and that was really disturbing to me.
we're good folk, and we totally got discriminated against.

ugh. there were heaps of pommies and chavs there. i really dont like british accents. or british girls. especially when they dont know how to dance.
the nightlife in cairns sucked. only 1 decentish club, and it was full of brits, who flailed and got all up in my personal space. they were heaps irritating, and such sloppy sloppy drunks.

i actually missed sydneysiders.
yeah that's right. i didn't think it was possible. but the metros were something i'd welcome easily, cuz at least i could stand their accents, and they like canadians!
it was weird too cuz we met some yanks on our last night there, and i was actually really happy to talk to people that weren't from the u.k.
god, cairns just left a bad taste in my mouth, peoplewise.

5 nights was heaps too long to stay there.

it was nice being in the tropics. but it was tropical weather. ie, wet. then sunny. then wet. then sunny.
but hot all the time, which was sweet as.

the reef was gorge. i wasn't allowed to dive cuz of my medication. and i cried cuz that's why i went there. but i got to snorkel, so at least i got to see the reef. heaps of nemos, a sea tortoise, all these colourful fish. it was amazing.
it made me wish i had an aptitude for science so i could be a marine biologist or something. but to be a documentarian for the ocean floor is a possiblity too.

i probably woulda been happier had i been able to dive. i might go back with pat, so let's cross fingers and hope i'll be alright then.

since it rained, we were stuck doing nothing but going to the movies. saw pirates and georgia rule.
pirates...damn. hot fucking movie.
but yeah, if the weather was perfect, the length of stay would be fine. but since it wasnt, there wasnt too much to do.

plus, on every tour/trip we did, there were buffets so i ate heaps of food. heaps. like 2 servings of dinner, a few desserts each time.
it was delicious and i got the most of my money.
but i'm paying for it now. i feel myself getting fat already.
ugh.

i don't wanna talk about it.


but on the upside, i'm done classes in a couple of weeks.
so i've been looking for full time jobs, and i've got some good prospects. i hope they pan out!
i'm excited to move out of the city, into the beach. i spend heaps of time there anyway, so it only makes sense.

i reckon i should stop procrastinating now.
onto writing a paper on degrassi!

so i've been lynnless this weekend. it's been fine. i love having her around, but i'm glad she's got the chance to see melbs.
she says it kind of kicks syd's ass. i believe her - likely heaps less metros, and heaps better music.

but, we're missing each other. it's weird, being so far away from our comfort zones allows us to appreciate each other.
i'll be stuffed when she leaves. i know we're gonna keep in touch mighty good with each other, but to have goon-induced heart to hearts is something i will miss dearly.

i feel so out of the loop with the tdot. i haven't talked to andrew for ages... and heaps of shit has hit the ceiling. i miss him, and i'm stoked on chilling with him and getting all normal once i get back.

ahhhh.
i don't know why i'm so homesick right now. knowing how i'm missed/how my presence would make a more positive difference makes me really want to be there.

but i have to stay here for myself. i put a deposit on a room in bondi where i will be moving on my birthday! i dont think anyone can understand how stoked i am for that. fuck... i thought living in the city would be sweet. it's convenient, but not ideal when nobody else lives here.
but to be by the ocean... normally i get anxious as when i have long periods of time with nothing to do... but to have a oceanview... i could be stuffed if i have only like 5 hours of work per week. aaaand i also got cable finally! as adequate as free-to-air is, i'm gonna love watching more trash tv! yay!

so the earliest i will leave is aug 17. but i'll likely stay a week longer. i really need to get a steadier job though.
promo is fine for now, while i'm going to school. but i'm not dealing well with the shifts i'm getting right now as they're all solo assignments. i wasn't too aware of it before, but i get anxious as when i have to work on my own. especially for like 4 hours straight in a hizzideous uniform. i'm too embarrassed to describe it, and i dont embarrass easily...

so today, instead of doing my shift cuz i was running late and got lost, i engaged in retail therapy instead. was able to buy 2 pants, tights and 2 tops for only $31! they're shitty as quality, but i dont give a shit. at least i wont have to worry about taking them back home.
aand, i can't forget... i ran into b. so fucking random. he works at the mall i was stationed in today.
i was pretty much stopped dead in my tracks when i saw him at the music store, had no clue really that he worked there. and it was great cuz i looked like shit.
but timing actually worked for me in that instance - he was just getting on his break so i chatted with him over oporto's. not the ideal reunion, as i was anxious as fuck over work. i was a little bit hysterical. but we all know it's pretty funny when little nikki gets off on a big rant, so at least it was more entertaining and less awkward. we're gonna chill this wednesday after i meet with greta. relax by the beach maybe. who knows?
at least with this planned, i could look less like shit and more like cute :) ...we'll see how that goes.

so yeah, while interesting things can happen when i miss a shift, i'd rather work in a place that i can actually stand showing up to every single shift. it doesnt take too much as long as i have at least one other teammate. so i reckon i might try a cafe job or even bar.
i have another interview on tuesday, and hopefully that can give me more group assignments. god, i interview so well. like it's amazing how well i can sell myself.
and it's not that i'm lying. but it's a little bit selective when my good qualities can shine. like today for example, they were awol. as soon as i stepped into the mall, i panicked. it's hard for people to relate to, i know. but i just couldnt do it.
not that i was being a baby. i just would rather not go crazy, thanks. and that's not hyperbole.
oh, the place i am interviewing for is hiring for a recruitment assistant. i'd be sweet as at that. maybe i can see what i can get out of that!

jesus.

i really hope my care package from pete arrives soon. lynn gave me some canadian paraphenelia in the form of shot glasses and a magnet, but i'd like something i can wear out to broadcast my canadianness. yeah i vain. whatever.

haha there's this guy on rove who has amazing rants just like me. i'm sorta gonna miss aussie tv.

time to not think about negative things now.
cheers mates.

i finally had a buddy to come with me to the world bar on thurs nights for loaded.
it was sweet as.
a bit sceney. but what the fuck ever. indie kids outnumbered metros by far. weird dancey moves to awesome music.
the crowd was a little young, so all the good looking ones who'd hooked up left early.
the only decent one i spotted had his eye on this one girl who didnt bite, then moved onto her dirty friend. if his taste was so bad, glad he didnt choose me.
it was a little pathetic.

but lynn and i made friends with the kiwi bar manager and hopefully he'll hit us up with drink tix next time. i only have 3 left. it was pretty sweet not having to spend money last night though.

ugh, i have to work soon so it was stupid of me to really write.

but moral of the story - im glad i have someone to go out with and do stuff i wanna do. we're totally hitting blink tonight. turn on some metal heads with our hot dancing. she's my favourite dance buddy.
the end

a.maz.ing.
gold coast was fan-fucking-tastic.

just came home and had a sweet as shower after 5 days of being sans soap and shampoo and deodorant and razor.
goddamn i was lax in personal hygiene, and i still managed to have some fun.

it was chillsauce. like we went there with the expectation of maybe surfing and partying. it was basically just cruisy.
lotsa beach chilling and poolside chilling and hottub chilling and partying.
spent a stupid amount of money on this riduculous booze cruise, i'm kinda too embarassed to admit it. to be fair, randal the dude who sold it to us was hot as. we were fucking putty in his hands. it was pathetic. but he was hot.
i also feel like i lost maybe 78% of my vocabulary there. i can talk heaps good now.

irregardless...

friday night reminded me why lynn is my favouritest drinking buddy ever. i'm a random, and she randoms with me. i more or less accomplished my goal in repaying her for all the times she winged for me. best winggirl ever. and it happened so randomly too, in good nikki fashion.
ps, it should be a rule that hot single guys should only have hot guy friends who are also single/more or less available.
friday night would have been confusing for like last semester nikki. but... i was a lot more receptive to the randomness...
i reckon this isnt making much sense.
long story short, lynn and i ended up in mermaid waters and were able to catch the sunset which was absofuckinglutely gorgeous. we also got to smoke some weed, which was hella long since she and i got to do that together. that was another bonus to the randomness that rose and crown bestowed upon us.

this was the first time i actually was on the other side of the tracks, taking one for the team. it wasn't bad though cuz the buddy was hot, he was just taken and had issues. ie he bit lynn's thigh, after which she slapped him. then he resumed to bite my calf. we have gnarly marks left from that.
but it was entertaining as.
i love gold coast boys. heaps heaps heaps better than sydney natives. far less pretty boy, heaps more tattooed. damn. fuck.
disappointingly, many of them are still high-waisters, which really needs to be outlawed. irregardless... at least in the gold coast i don't have to play the 'i'm not sure if i'd hit that' game since dudes are just more hetero. it was refreshing.

so tired.

we also shared a bed, even after the danish chicks with whom we shared a room departed. it was romantic. i like sharing my bed, i'm game for a sleepover any time.

saturday was a little... bit of a bust i guess, with the booze cruise. yes, some free drinks. but, not enough attractive guy to be stuck with for 3 hours straight to make it worth it. on the plus, they were all aussies, so it was like the most aussies i've hung out with since ive been here. but, aussie chicks are so slag. fuck, one of the drinking games was a striptease, but this one chick was not a tease at all. tits galore in less than a minute of sleaze music. aaand, to make matters worse, she hooked up with the gayest looking guy on the whole ship.
beer goggles much?

lynn was a trooper that night, taking another one for the team. she's also mastered the art of exit strategery. something i really need to learn... but i'm such a glutton for randomness that i'll go along with anything until i get kicked out/wake up and do a walk of shame.
hence why i witnessed a bogan couple fight and subsequent post-make up sex smiles.
these people... they found it so novel that we went to uni. that's so rare for us... as is people still living with their olds.
guhh.
i didnt indulge in sextasy though. as much as i am liberal and go-with-the-flow, i really can't mentally afford to fuck around with my serotonin levels. but since they did, it might've been why our legs got bit?

i'm totally mixing up friday events with saturday events.

i will write more when i get my head straight/adequate sleep.
but i reckon this update was good just to let people know i'm still alive :)

ps lish, i got your facebook sushi roll, and it made me smile cuz i've been eating lotsa sush this weekend, and it was like we were on the same wavelength. loves it!
xx

god i suck at sentences right now.

this goon is pretty good quality. 12.5, nice and dry and smooth.

it was buy 1 get 1 free, so we have about 7ish litres of chard left. it'll probably last us till lynn leaves. hopefully.


but yeah, hectic day alright. we had authentic yumcha cuz it's really good post drinking food. lynn and i are fatass bitches, we ordered as much as the table with 4 people did. but it was delicious.
after that though, i had to book it home to change and shower and get directions to all the places i had to go to today. and then i couldnt find my way to greta, so i was 20 mins late for that. she didnt seem too impressed.
then i had to run to the other side of the country for my shift. and i had the most ridiculous uniform i've ever worn in my life.
like i was totally cool if people pointed and laughed at me, cuz that's exactly what i did when i walked past a mirror.

je.sus.

im still heaps tired, but i'm stoked on tomoz. i need to get in touch with calgary jeff who's still at surfer's for another month or so. i hope we get to party with him.
nothing happened over v-day... we'll see what happens now but.

i had heaps more to say.
brain not working.
be back shortly.

i'm so fucking stoked.

finally!

i can barely contain myself, let alone come up with a coherent phrase to describe my elation!

but today was a sweet day too.. work was simple enough, helped that i worked right by the beach.
so i got to take the coastal walk from coog to bondi, then up to the junction to meet up with asa.

it was lovely and took me 1 hr and 20mins more or less.
a good workout, necessary considering all the junk i've been eating lately.
i wish ice cream didnt taste so good. i wish macca's sundaes weren't so cheap. and everywhere.

sigh.

oh yeah, in all the lynn happiness, i forgot about hwat happened nary 10 minutes ago.
i got locked out of my room amidst doing laundry.
my key card fucking split right in half. in the slot.
so i had to get the security guard to help me. he didnt realize what i meant when i told him it was stuck in the slot - he pushed it down further with his key card.
i instantly called him an imbecile in my head. but with some resourcefulness and tact, he was able to use an actual key to dig up the other half then resumed to let me in.
my luck wasnt too bad today.
it was actually pretty decent.

things are looking up. i'm trying to control my happiness though, so it doesnt turn into mania. that could be dangerous.

but i got back in touch with a group of canadians i met in february on my first day on the job. they're in the gold coast now, so lynn and i have some people to party with when we're there! yayyy for premade friends and canadiana.

seriously, it's so hard to find some good aussies though.
like apart from ben and his crew,
i have paige, cat, keya, adam and denisse as my only australian friends.
i have heaps of acquaintences, but not many i'd talk to outside of the regular forum of where i spend time with them ie work or school.
it blows, it's kind of depressing. well, disappointing more like.
don't get me wrong, i love the people who've become family here. but i went to australia for a reason.

my closest friends include 3 canadians from different groups and 1 swede. i used to have heaps of american friends, but they're gone now.

shaun did warn me about this. of my 2 canadian friends, they have aussie groups so that's good. so i hang out with them by proxy, but i'd never have like a one-on-one coffee date with them or something.

i'd really like this ben thing to be rectified. i know i can't rush things, that was sorta the problem in the first place.
he was an awesome person to hang out with, too bad it got complicated/confusing after crossing the boundaries.
i dont reckon it'll ever be the same, but if i could get a coffee buddy out of it that'd be great. god knows i'm missing adrienne for that fix.

the good thing for me about lynn being here is that it's sorta forced hangout buddy time. i dont reckon either of us would mind, we havent seen each other in AGES! and i have class and work, so we;ll have personal moments then.
but i'll have something to do every night! and a distraction from other not so happy things!

it's good, i need a break from myspace. facebook. and the like.
god.
!!!
she's gonna be here in 50ish hours!
it's gonna be sweet.

aight, i feel heaps better than before. not sure why exactly, things never really make sense to me.

anyway, planning lynn's stay is making me really excited. she's here sooo soon!
i think her vigit will reignite my love with sydney.
this is what i have planned for us so far:

touristy shit we can do in syds-zoo-opera-beaches-footy game?-blue mountains?-tattoo-pancakes on the rocks-go to blink-walk the harbour bridge-races

gold coast:-surfing-amusement parks-partying-shopping?-go to surfer's paradise

cairns:-diving-hikes-skydiving?-kuranda day trip

homo has to:-try tim tams, vegemite-try oz beer, duh-hit an aussie-order coffee-say reckon, heaps, mate, dodgy


eeee!
today i was really happy that i'm here. the weather was gorge. asa and i had coffee on our school's tiny patch of grass.
can you believe ry's quad grass patch kick's uts's grass patch's ass? unbelievable.

anyway, in doco class today, we watched a few profound things. the last one was called 'seeing and believing', how cameras were used as political weapons.
it was interesting, it mostly followed this filipino dude who helped the indigenous folk reclaim their land.
this was particularly of note to me because i was born in the philippines.
seeing all the crap that goes on in the world that gets ignored by sooo many people is very sobering. the images of children, people in general being massacred. for no valid reason.
the other doco was about ethiopian children who were adopted by sydneysider parents when their birth parents died.
both these docos just made me sooo grateful for what i have, the life my mother's given me.
i've gone over this lovefest many times before.

but after the emo sesh i had last week, missing everything and everybody, it was nice to finally see the silver lining.
i promise i will write a blog about all the things i absolutely love about this country, city - this whole exchange experience in general.

i think i'm happy again. content at least.
and i'm grateful for that too.