Belated Birthdays

I've been slack in this last week of holidays. So slack, that my mind couldn't even think of anything interesting to write about, but I did wanna say Happy Birthday to Paragon and Sammo for the 27th. Sounds like you guys had a blast (some, perhaps, had too much fun? ;-P) and I wish I could've been there to share your day. Hmm, sounds like something you write in a Wedding card. No matter.

So what have I been up to? Nothing! What a gripping life I do lead. Spent most of this week just catching up with people I haven't seen for a while, so that was good, but you know, nothing really worth writing about. Hopefully by the end of next week I'll have my photos back and I'll put some of the better ones on here. Then you can all point and laugh heartily.

Watched some old video clips last night. It's great that certain songs like Mickey by Toni Basil and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper never age. But my god, their filmclips certainly do. Random rambling #353. :-P

Gotta go to bed. Off to the hell hole otherwise known as work tomorrow. Damn, 3 weeks just flew by :-(

Insert comments!

It seems the novelty of my blog has worn off and people don't come here and comment anymore, so I'll spice it up with some naked photos. Hehehe, no way.

So my birthday sucked, largely due to my parents. Damn families. Not gonna go into details here, but it wasn't good. Thank god Ivan was around to ease the stress. Hooray!

Have nothng interesting to write about today, my brain is fried from the interview session I had today. I hate the feeling of thinking you've prepared for all questions and then they pull one you'd never expect. Meh

No point writing when no one reads this! :-P Just teasing.

Happy Birthday to me!

24 today. Oh. My. God.

Early mornings begone!

A 5:30am start to the third day of my holiday - can you believe it? Had to catch the first train into Nerang, rediculous. So we were greeted at Nerang by my aunt, went back and had breakfast, then went to the cemetary. You see, my cousin John died a couple of years ago on New Year's Eve and I never went to his funeral, so wanted to see his grave for some closure. Pretty sad, I know, but was kinda nice. After that we went for some retail therapy at a place called Harbour Town, which is like all these factory direct outlets in the one mall. I went nuts on the shopping, and had to buy an extra bag because i knew all the stuff wouldn't fit in my luggage. Went to bed quite late, considering the early start, and then couldn't get to sleep because at my aunt's I had to share a room with my sister - not good. My sister snores. Very. Loudly. And I had to share a bed with her too, which was even worse. She is very restless, and on more then one occasion I was woken up by her kicking or whatever the hell she was doing. And don't think dirty thoughts and be gross!

So had a sleep in on Day Four, and when I mean a sleep in, I mean I got up at 8am instead of 6am. Joy. My aunt loved having us girls there, we spoilt her a bit and made her breakfast and coffee, was nice. Another day of retail therapy was in order, this time at Pacific Fair, but today I limited myself to only a few purchases. My aunt bought me this really cool vase for my birthday too. Afterwards we went and had a picnic lunch at Broadbeach then went for a HUGE walk along the coastline. Was super nice. When we got home, my aunt and I took their dog, Lexie for a walk at the local park, so did stacks of walking. You'd think I could sleep a little better but no, not with Miss Snores-a-lot beside me.

Day Five was Seaworld Day, and since it didn't open until 10am, we got to sleep some more. Took stacks of photos, may put some up on here when I have the time, and I won't bore you with all the Seaworld chat right now. It's a theme park, it was fun, no need for nitty gritty details. Except to say the polar bears were gorgeous. I took almost a whole roll of film just on them, and know that when I get my photos back I will wonder why I took so many photos of the same freaking bears. Hehehe. My aunt and uncle said they'd teak us out for dinner, went to some place called Ashford (Aston?) Rd Seafood & Steak or something, so I thought "Excellent, I can order something healthy". So I order the grilled fish with sauce on the side, being good, then my aunt announces that the three of them will be sharing one meal - my meal for myself would have cost more than the three of theirs. So ofcourse, I felt really bad, and scrapped my order to share their fat-filled battered fish platter thingo. I was so pissed off. And quite rightly so, turns out I put on over a kilo while away, grr! Stupid fat loving family. I can't convey through writing how annoying the situation was.

The final day was spent at Robina Shopping Centre, just window shopping this time, and us shouting my aunt some lunch. We then packed, got on the train to the airport, hopped on the plane and got home a few hours later. The plane ride home seemed to last forever. I had a great holiday (despite my rants here), but next time I would prefer to go where I have no family, and also to go either alone or with my man. By the last couple of days, possibly due to lack of sleep, I was really quite annoyed with the family and wanted to be alone from them.

Here's an example of a typical conversation with my sister, but just as some background info, I dislocated my knee last August and it flares up on occasion. Ok, so we're at Seaworld, been walking all day, and we're about to leave but the souvenir shop at the exit doesn't have some stuff we wanted so we decide to go to the other one on the other side of the park. That's fine, I wanted something from their too. So, as we go, this is the basic conversation:
Maria: "If you want, I can go by myself and you can wait for me here"
Mel: "No, I want to go with you"
Maria: "But what about your knee? I'm sorry for making you walk so far"
Mel: "Maria, I'm fine, if I wasn't fine I would stay here and wait"
Maria: "I'm so sorry, sister" (she never calls me by my name, always calls me sister)
Mel: "I'm not gonna repeat myself, stop apologising and let's go"
Maria (about 30 seconds later): "But I feel so bad for your knee!"
Mel: "For fucks sake, I'll say it again - I'm not going to repeat myself again, I am FINE!"
We finally head off to the shops.

Day Two - Thar be pythons!

You know it's a bad thing when you're on holidays and you're getting up earlier than when you're going to work. On the plus side, you get to do more things, but it just throws your body clock out of whack. Viktor and Germaine live in Kenmore in Brisbane, and we were heading out early to go to Australia Zoo, so I asked to be woken up at 6:30. But damn if Maria didn't get me up at 6am, so as you can imagine, Mel's grumpy side came out to play.

Anyway, we headed off and got to Australia Zoo by about 9am. Let me tell you, this was the best place they could ever have taken me. I am really into conservation, love Steve Irwin, and LOVE reptiles, so I was in heaven. I really liked the zoo because it wasn't like a zoo at all, meaning there were few bars and it felt really open. We saw the usual shows and things and then my favourite part of the day came - getting my photo taken with a reticulated python. Viktor wanted to hold it too so we stood in line together, and then just as she went to give us the snake, Germaine jumped in too, so the photo is with the three of us. Maria was too scared, hehehe. I'd scan it and upload it if I wasn't looking so awful in it :-P

So when they finally managed to drag me away from Australia Zoo, we went for a huge drive to the Sunshine Coast stopping at several lookouts along the way. My stupid memory means I can only remember us going to Gerrard's Lookout, driving through Montville, and stopping at Coolum Beach (where we saw some dolphins, w00t!). We went all the way to Noosa and had afternoon tea at Noosa National Park - what a beautiful place! I couldn't get over the beach in front of us with scrubland behind. Then we went for a walk down Hastings Street, bought an ice cream then went on the beach to eat it. I have decided that next time I travel, I will spend my time at Noosa.

After the long drive home we got some pizza, hired the crappy movie I Spy and then had an early night. Question - why do people who have spent so much money on a large TV and good DVD player have crappy little speakers? What's the point? And why do these same people not even know about watching things in Widescreen? When I asked them if the picture didn't seem stretched out to them at all they said no, so obviously they have never even heard of the concept of widescreen. What a waste! Oh, and while I'm in the "Tell it like it is" mood, here are a few more things I'd forgotten about QLD:
- People drive like maniacs! My cousin and uncle especially. At least 20kph above the speed limit, weaving through traffic, you know, the type of driving where you literally have to hold on for dear live. My aunty, ofcourse, is the complete polar opposite. At least 20kph below the speed limit, holding up traffic in the fast lane, not indicating at roundabouts, braking early and braking often. I tell you, I don't know how I survived the days. Methinks a hire car is in order for future trips.
- Traffic - gah! If I ever lived here I would take public transport to work I think, as peak hour extends over two hours it seems.
- On the good side though, it IS a beautiful green place. There's always somewhere nice nearby to go for walks.

Well that concludes Day Two I think. The last four days were full but not of anything overly exciting, so will probably write them all up in one go.

Mel's holiday, Day One

When my sister, Maria, and I boarded the plane, she told the steward "We're together" so that he wouldn't have to explain to her aswell how to get to her seat, to which he replied "Oh, okay" in a funny tone. Knowing what he meant, I said "Not like that, we're sisters!". Thus begins the journey.

The plane trip itself went really quickly. When we arrived, my cousin Viktor and his wife Germaine were waiting for us, we got our luggage and then we went out for dinner, to a place called Paris Cafe or something. I'm terrible with names, but it was under a big neon Eiffel tower. Sounds classy, huh? Was actually really nice though.

Then they took us up to Mount Coot-tha (sorry QLDers, forgive all future spellings of places), kind of like our Windy Point or Mount Lofty Lookout except it not only has a restaurant but also a really nice coffee shop, so we had some coffee and then headed home.

Luckily, I had my own room with a nice double bed. I hate sharing rooms (for reasons you'll discover later), but going to bed at midnight was way too early for me, so I didn't get much sleep. On a side note, I met Germaine on the day of their wedding, so have never really spoken to her, but she is such a nice person. Anyway, on to Day Two....

I'm back!

Seeing as it's so late this is just a quick update to let everyone know I'm back from my time in QLD and will write about it all some time soon. I hope my stories will bring some pity, laughter, maybe some understanding of "Oh yeah, I hate it when that happens", perhaps even bore you! But I will write when I have more time. This weekend is quite busy but dammit, I am dedicated to my fans! :)

Missed you all! (You know I did!)

Play nice

Last entry for a while, nothing much to say except ta-ta, behave yourselves and beware of one-eyed bad guys with wooden legs (I'm working on it Jantar).

Hmm, this holiday is going to go way too quickly. Maybe next time I'll do a full Around Australia trip and visit all the friends I've made.

I have nothing to write about today, isn't it obvious?

Sammo just suggested I write about airplanes so will fill up a few lines on the subject. I love airplanes, going to airports always makes me want to jump on a plane to anywhere. Maybe that's why I like flyboys so much, like Jantar and Aeromax. I guess it's like racecars, even if it is just on a computer and they'd have no skills in real life, is kinda cool.

If this makes no sense, it's because I'm listening to Eminem-Superman as I type this and am being distracted by the fact he hates women. Damn, there goes my chance. Oh, I was meant to mention topless people on the airplanes. Why would people be topless on an airplane, Sammo? And why didn't I think to ask that when you suggested it? Why do I ask so many questions? Why don't I log off now and finish getting ready for the trip? I've just been informed it was meant to be a topless beach party. Oh. Do they have those in QLD? If they do, methinks I won't be attending.

This entry is a perfect example of how scrambled my mind can be. Empty one minute, then someone plants some thoughts, then those thoughts get dissected until there is nothing left but a perfect example of Mel's Random Ramblings. Good thing I named my site that, hey?

Life without the internet

Well, tonight is my last night online for a week, and I think I'm going to have withdrawls. I love chatting to certain people, playing the occasional game of battlefield, and searching for porn. One of these things is a joke, can you guess which one?

Like, tonight, someone mentioned Degrassi High and then it got in my thoughts. I used to love that show! Ahh, Joey Jeremiah was so cool, and Kaitlin was my favourite. So, if nothing else, the internet is fantastic for remembering how you used to live your life. Except, now, you've replaced television with the internet, or, as in my case, you live a life of balance between the two. Conclusion: I need to get out more. And that's why this holiday is going to be so good - no internet for almost a week, and I doubt we will watch much television at all. And while on the one hand I think I'd rather go by myself and meet up with people and do my own thing, going with my sister is kinda cool because we get to do something no man likes doing - going clothes shopping!

I will need to go shopping too, barely anything fits into my tiny suitcase. Note to self: Buy a bigger suitcase.

So what is the moral of this story? Who am I kidding?!? I'm going to miss my online friends so much that my next investment will be a laptop ;-P

A mindless update for Jantar

Being that I leave for QLD in 2 days, I thought I'd better catch up with dad before I go. We went for a drive to check out a house my sister was gonna buy, then went to a restaurant to book in for my birthday dinner, then went to the pub for lunch and played the pokies. A nice afternoon! Is quite sad though, when you see all those people who had just collected their pensions gambling it away. The bistro was almost empty, the pokies section almost full.

So I ran in to this friend, Tanya, who I haven't seen since just after high school. She is a year younger than me but used to live just down the road so we would always get together and play, but in high school we drifted apart. Anyway, when she spoke, I could not get over how different her voice sounded. She was so croaky, she sounded about 20 years older than she is, and it was one of those scratchy voices, I'm guessing from way too many cigarettes. Things like that just make you grateful for making changes in your life. Sure, every now and then I still feel like one and may have one, but I don't think I'd ever take it up again.

Hmm, I need sleep, my mind is all over the place. Damn Big Brother Up Late! Unfortunately I'm not feeling very creative and therefore can't think of anything interesting to write about, so I'm just gonna have to use someone else's idea and include a one eyed pirate in here somewhere. Um, that's it.

Oh, if anyone has any links they'd like me to put in my Links page, please let me know, it is looking rather bland right now.

Opening Titles

Welcome to Mel's Random Ramblings, a pretty dull looking site where I'll just come in every so often and update you on what's going on in my dull existance and ways to prevent you from ending up like me :-P

I'm a soon-to-be 24 year old stuck in a crappy job after years of studying who spends way too much time online and too little time outside. My family is kinda loopy (hence why I've turned out this way) and I have a boyfriend who I live with who sleeps too much.

That's me in a tiny nutshell, stay tuned for mindless ramblings.