serenade

Golden glow
Originally uploaded by catmadogma.

New world forming
Picturesque in its stance
Midnight calling
Moonlight shadows start to dance

For the dark finds ways of being
Engraved in the light
And the heart bears indentations
Of yesterdays hurting child
The now we will run with smiles
The morrow will heal the night so
Morning comes
Midnight make fast with the sun
I can hear my name be reborn
On the cloud within the sky beneath the dawn

Oh I
Serenade the dawn
Serenade the dawn
Serenade the dawn

Serenade - Emiliana Torrini

aftermath

Well, its all over... Christmas 2006 over already!
Flew by too fast for my liking. It seemed like I arrived, and had to leave again... Ah, I need a holiday!
Thanks everyone for all your gifts! (And for looking after Y's sister so well, she really enjoyed it up there..)
So, on with the news. Y is coming out next week!! He finally booked, and like I said, he would decide at the last minute if he was going to come out for mango season or not... So, booked a flight arriving next Thursday, and staying for around 10 days all up. I know its not long, but its better than nothing. The only slight complication, is he may have an allergy to bees/wasps... which is not exactly the best thing you could have when you want to pick mangoes!!! We don't know for sure, but will try and get some sort of medication just in case.
Work is still busy, even though its Christmas/New Year. A little annoying. Never seem to get a break here.. but I wouldn't really have it any other way... *shrug* And geez it will be hard to leave this place. Its hard to imagine not working here to be honest....

Anyway, onto more jovial things. :) Y sent through this picture today, a look-a-like (apparently):

What do you think?? (I think it could be just the fact that she has glasses..) She is Italian/American/Japanese... I tracked her down, her name is Angela Aki. I checked out her music, its quite good... Going to have to remember her name.
;)

awwwwww

My boss, Ian, rang me on Monday, to ask if he could forward a resume through to a school in Japan for me... He used to work there as a teacher, and actually they are our sister school. (Well, sister/enemy. When we first opened we were Shane Global Village, and then we dropped the Shane part, Shane got ditched, and now we are just Global Village, which is actually a lot better. Because who the heck is Shane??) Anyway, he wanted to send my resume through to them for me, to help out. Very sweet...
But wait until you read what he wrote. Managed to make me feel incredibly good about my work, and incredibly guilty at the same time... :/ I will miss these guys....

Now, out of the 100 or so staff we have between Noosa and Brisbane, Liz is about as good as I've ever seen. She is sharp as a tack, completely proficient in all areas of her position and puts more into her job than anyone else I know. I think the world of her and am very, very disappointed that she's leaving. If we ever manage to wrestle her away from Japan, we'd have her back in a second.
I think she'd be an exceptional teacher and I think she'd be a real asset for Shane in Chugoku. As an aside, I also think she'd be superb in any admin roles you have floating around - perhaps something to think about for the future.
I've attached her resume with this, and while I know she falls a little outside the normal recruitment requirements I think she's too good to miss. Let me know if you're interested in her and I can help out from this end. I'd be very happy if this were the first teacher we found for you, though I make no claims that the next one will be as good!

miss liz

Well, my in-class component of my Certificate IV in TESOL is complete!! Woo hoo!!
It was pretty full-on; I had classes from 6pm til 10pm last Wednesday to Friday, and then classes all day Saturday and Sunday, 9am til 6pm... So, you can imagine, I am pretty relieved to have that finished.
The course itself though was actually pretty fun. It was very involved and interactive, there was never really a dull moment. I didn't find myself clock-watching at all.. which I was really surprised at. I think all the other students were surprised about that too.
Even got to prepare a sample lesson, we had an adult beginner class, learning Present Simple for habits... ie. Every morning I drive to work.
It went well, I got some pretty good feedback, (apparently I'm a very smiley teacher.. hahahahahahaha). And yeah... I'm actually pretty surprised, there were a couple of things I could have done better, nerves get the better of you sometimes... but I was not BRIGHT RED or dripping buckets... which i was quite pleased about, and yeah, felt quite confident. I think it will be easier to teach a group of people that are actually learning English, rather than learning how to be a teacher.
So, now, the rest of the course. I have to complete 8 elective courses, which are all online, so I can do them whenever I want. And the other major part is my practical teaching... *ominous music*
The practical teaching part is 20 hours, but only 3 hours of actual lessons, the rest of those hours are spent doing observations and lesson planning... So I guess its not so bad... but still. Work has already lined me up doing all the prac here, which is handy, I know all the students and its a comfortable environment...
I will think about that later, when I actually have to do it. For now, I am taking a little break from TESOL, at least for a day or so...
I've asked to take Tuesday off work, so that I can get some of my Christmas shopping done and catch up on sleep, cleaning etc. etc. So, looking forward to tomorrow!

zoom zoom

Well:

PRODUCTS PURCHASED:

FLIGHT DETAILS
------------------------------------------------
Galileo Booking Reference : XXXXXX

Flight : Qantas Airways QF798 (Economy Class)

Departing : Brisbane at 7:00 AM on Wednesday
: Brisbane Airport 28/02/2007
Arriving : Cairns at 9:20 AM on Wednesday
: Cairns Airport 28/02/2007

Flight : Qantas Airways QF113 (Economy Class)

Departing : Cairns at 12:35 PM on Wednesday
: Cairns Airport 28/02/2007
Arriving : Osaka at 7:10 PM on Wednesday
: Kansai International Airport 28/02/2007

------------------------------------------------

It's all booked... I'm off to Japan, 28 February 2007. Write that down in your diaries!
:)

coming together

From a whirlwind, things are settling into place...

- started on the visa application
- will be booking a flight soon
- studying TESOL
- will do prac teaching, and classes soon
- still saving money
- still studying Japanese

Still whirling around, but getting everything together...
Need to get some more stability, but getting there.

advent

Its the first day of December, I hope you have all got your advent calendars out! I went out and bought a little wooden Christmas Tree, that has all these tiny sweet decorations that hang off it. It isn't an advent calendar, but I am going to use it as one... Everyday I will hang a new decoration on the tree. The decorations are tiny, and they look German and just like the decorations we hang on our Christmas Tree. I would upload a picture of it, but my photographic skills are just not quite good enough to take a picture of it... Want to take a closeup shot of the decorations...
What about everyone else? Do we all have advent calendars up?? :)

cross that off the list

*sigh*
Well, at least thats over and done with! We've just said goodbye to a group of agents that came all the way from Japan to have a whirlwind look at our school, trying to impress them. Frantically running around making sure everything looks good, that we say the right things, and that we impress them. Basically, a lot of stress for a 2 hour visit!!
Let me tell you, marketing is such a load of crap sometimes. You have to be so fake!!
But, its all over now...

One thing down, now I can move on.
Things are starting to bear down on me. I just realised how little time it is until Christmas already... which means I gotta start thinking of ideas for presents!! (Any ideas would be greatly appreciated... ;))
Then I also started the teaching course just last week. Doing a Certificate IV in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Thats not so bad, its really quite easy so far... but the problem is, I realised that not next week, but the week after, I will be doing my practical!!! CRAP! I am supposed to have finished one of the courses before then, which is a little hard a the moment...
Due to the fact that from tomorrow, or Friday, or Saturday or Sunday, (sometime) Y's sister will be arriving in Brisbane! So I will be rather busy showing her around the place I call home... Showing her the sights, and being a good hostess.
Plus there is the Japanese study... But I guess, having Y's sister here will be a good opportunity for me to practice... (Just have to get over the embarrassment about speaking Japanese to a native speaker).
I also have to start working out things for this impending shift to Japan. Talking visa's, tickets, insurance, what to do about work, and everything else....

So, I'm taking baby steps. Writing countless lists of things I have to do. Seriously. I write a list of things every morning, working out what I have to do today... Hahah!
Speaking of which... what did I have to get done today?????

drool

I've fallen in love with a pair of shoes.
:)
I've been looking for a new pair of shoes for work, because the ones I have now are falling apart, have a huge crack in the bottom of the sole. You can actually see the bottom of my foot, hehe. So, its time for a new pair of work shoes.
Do you know how difficult it is to find a good pair of shoes that are flat, black, mary jane style, or ballet style, that look good and don't have these stupid tassels or annoying decorations or pointy toes? Due to fashion at the moment, d-i-f-f-i-c-u-l-t!
And I browsed around the shops today, looking looking looking.
*ding*
Found a pair... Tried them on and they fit perfectly. Look good with my work clothes, very sweet looking, could wear them with jeans too.
But then I looked at the price tag....
WOWSERS! They cost a fortune!! Not $100, no, not $200, not $250, but $295!!
Spent about a minute trying to justify the price. "If I'm wearing them everyday it will be worth it in the end"; "There are no other shoes around"; "They are very cute...."; "I r-e-a-l-l-y like them" etc. etc.
Ah, but in the end, I put the shoes down. Picked up my wallet and walked out of the store. :*(
Very responsible of me, but I can't get them out of my head!

Aren't they adorable??! ;)

will it be??

Snow-vember!! Yes, that is real snow in November in AUSTRALIA!!

And not just light snow either. This is Mount Baw Baw, and they had 30cm overnight. (During the entire snow season this year, they only received 50cm!!) So, in one night they had almost as much as an entire season.

5 and a half weeks to Christmas, and there is snow falling over here! Will it be a "White Christmas"?? Wouldn't that be amazing!

Freak weather activity over here lately, snow, record high temperatures, bushfires and hail storms! Yesterday we had a freak storm, hail and strong winds, ripped roofs off houses, and was over in 10 minutes flat.
A sign of things to come?

I tell ya, if it means we get to have snow at Christmas time, bring it on! ;)

weekend antics

Things I learnt over the weekend:

1). I cannot sing... Okay, I already knew that. But I really c-a-n'-t sing. We had a bit of a celebration on Friday night for one of the people I work with who is getting married, (actually got married yesterday). Anyway, we had a big night on Friday. It began with champagne and wine, then we went to a Karaoke club. Ever seen one of those? Well, let me explain. Basically, you rent out a room, and inside the room is a Karaoke machine, and some couches and a table. So the idea is, you drink a lot, and sing (very badly). Haha... Drinking is the key, so get some more drinks; beer, and then a tequila, then some more beer. Then you can just let loose. I did a particularly fantastic version of Bohemian Rhapsody. And I must say I am particularly good at the rock out part!! ;) HAHAHA (In fact, I'm so good at not singing, that I actually lost my voice!! I think my idea of singing is raising my voice, people would probably call that yelling.. hahah)

2). Eating croissants and strawberries by the river is a good way to start a Sunday. G & I went to the Riverside markets on Sunday morning, which are actually pretty good compared to the other markets around. All these fresh fruit and veg stalls, and fresh baked breads, real French crepes, and Greek baked sweets... yummo!

3). Good Food and Wine Shows are great! Get to taste test lots of different wines, some beer and some food, but mainly the wine and the beer. G and I went a little late on Sunday afternoon, and man, we should have gone earlier!! Free samples!! Fantastic... And you could really pick out the people that had been there all day, they were walking through Southbank with their wine glasses (you have to buy a wine glass for all the sampling) and giggling... haha. I must say, we did pretty well in the hour and a half that we had there to get affected as we were. Hehehe.

Hilarious.

float on

and we'll all float on okay,
originally uploaded by diarmuid2006.

And we'll all float on alright

Already we'll all float on

Now don't worry we'll all float on

Alright already we'll all float on

Alright don't worry we'll all float on

high and mighty

Ah geez, get off your high-horse!

We have a new database here at work, well we will in a few weeks, and I have been put in charge of creating the templates for this new database. (insert joyous sounds here) (insert rolling eyes here). I've been having a bit of difficulty creating receipt templates, the new program doesn't create them the way that we need them set out for our various clients. I decide that I should ask the support team if it is possible to create them the way we need them, and send off an email.
Now, the person that is in charge of support questions for this program is a right pratt. He treats everyone like dirt, and thinks that he is No. 1. I don't like sending emails to him, because frankly, I can't stand the way he replies.
For example: I ask him how to create a template for a receipt that details how we can have gross amount, less commission, and a nett amount received, as per the receipt which I have attached to the email.
He writes back to me and says: What are you talking about in the receipt. Be specific.
Ahh... I thought I was specific. Anyway, I write back and tell him again what I need to create.
He replies and begins with "an overview so that I can understand the terms he uses". BLAH BLAH BLAH I've learnt all this stuff already. And he goes on and on about all these things that this program can do, which I already know! All I need to know is if it is possible to create the receipt like we want it, gross, less commission, nett received...and this email goes on and on and on and on and not once does he give me an answer to the question I asked. No mention of anything regarding what I wanted to do.
FRUSTRATING
Attached to the email, is two templates, apparently, one is a nett receipt, and the other is a gross receipt. But, on opening them, they are both EXACTLY the same!!
And to top it off, now this is the pièce de résistance, he ends the email like this: "I hope this helps and gives you a broader perspective that from our experience better answers your need."
WHAT THE?!?!
Such a PRATT!!!
;)

talking only me and you

"talking only me and you, talking only me and you (insert whistling here)"
There is this song out, by these guys, Peter, Bjorn and John, and it is SOOOO catchy!
Its not an annoying catchy, well, it could get annoying, if I keep singing it... but at the moment, I'm liking it. :)
Quite happy go lucky really... lots and lots of whistling! I heard somebody whistling it today, here at work. Well, they were in the lift and they were whistling this song when the lift opened to let one of our many students out. He must work in one of the floors above.

Actually, I have a funny story... I think I may have told the story about the lift doors opening one day, and as some of our students got out, and I normally would say: "Good morning", the rest of the people in the lift (that were going to other floors) said before I got a chance: "Good morning!"
Well, last week I had to go to the post office quite late in the afternoon. So off I go, to the post office, and coming back, waiting for a lift on the ground floor... 'DING, Ah, here is the lift!' Lift doors open, and its full of people going home... As I wait for them all to pile out, one of them says: "Seeya Liz!"
*Stunned face*
Ah... how did you know my name? Who are you??
It was somebody that works on one of the floors above... Freaky! They know my name now too!
Yes, I am quite famous over here! For example, on Friday night, we went out for a few drinks after work, and we walked past the bar that is downstairs, and a woman stopped me and asked me if I work on Level 6... uh, yes I do.
I work on one of the floors above you, and I am just wondering if they annoy you as much as they annoy me?
Ah, sorry, what are you referring to? (Oh god, here we go again)
The people that study at your school! They're always scuffing their feet, and they walk along in big groups and don't move out of the way, and they're always scuffing their feet, and they press the lift buttons, and they don't pick up their feet when they walk.
Ahh, yeah... right. (Can't believe she has such a big problem with people that scuff their feet!)
I mean, I don't mean to be racist, but they're always scuffing their feet. And I just wanted to know if you get tired of them too.
Ah, yeah, sure, sometimes. Anyway, gotta go now, seeya! (leave me alone)
Damn being the face of Level 6, damn being the face of our building!!
Hahaha... ah.. the joy of it all!
*whistle whistle whistle*
Anyway, check out this song! Its called: Young Folks. This is their myspace site: Peter Bjorn and John :)

giggles

Ears! Ears! Ears!,
originally uploaded by ComebackCupcake!.

Random puppy happiness!

sleepy princess

So tired today. Woke up last night, to the high-pitched yapping of Carlton, one of the dogs upstairs. Started early in the morning barking at something, or possibly nothing, and kept going until my alarm went off this morning.
Yap yap yap yap yap YAP YAP YAP YAP
Right above my bedroom. Piercing through the wooden floors, unable to be ignored. Yes, the owners are away again. There is someone that is staying in the guest bedroom, looking after the place and the dogs, but (lucky for him) he can sleep through Carlton's barking. I unfortunately was not sleeping as heavily as I normally do.
*yawn*
I could quite easily curl up under my desk and fall asleep... Ah, it looks so comfortable down there.

tempest

thunder storm moves on —
once more the songs of sparrows
in the pines

blast from the past

The book I'm reading at the moment, is about a high-school reunion. A group of high-school friends meet 20 years after their graduation... And the weirdest thing happened to me this morning, I ran into someone I knew from high-school!
I went into one of the coffee shops that I usually get my morning caffeine hit from, and joined the end of the line, I turned around to adjust my bag on my shoulder and he was standing right behind me! Woah... He didn't recognise me, (must be the glasses.. heheh). Gave me all the goss on everybody from up there. Turns out most of the guys that were previously living up there, have moved down here to Brisbane! And that explains the run in I had the other week, walking around on my lunch break, I saw this guy out of the corner of my eye that looked remarkably like someone else I went to high-school with, I didn't go over and talk to him, but it turns out it was him...
Isn't it strange when you run into people from high-school or school? Its like, chat chat chat about people you remember... and then yeah.. move on...... heheh

little miss sunshine

Everyone...pretend to be normal!

G and I went to the movies last night, watched one of the funniest movies I have seen for a long time. Little Miss Sunshine.
Definitely have to recommend it to everyone... :)
I won't rave about it, because that tends to work against movies sometimes. When you hear a lot of hype about a movie, people saying how hilarious it is and then you get in there thinking its going to have you in hysterics the whole way through, and it turns out its not funny at all... So, yes, none of that here. Just a recommendation... to watch it if you get a chance.

its begining to look a lot like ???

Feeling a little bit happy, a little bit excited.. Got a secret smile on my dial! I've had my little spat, and now things are going well again.

Secret smile, because its coming.... ;) What you ask??

CHRISTMAS!!!!
I got a little flutter when I walked through the shopping centre today and saw all the Christmas decorations out, all red and green and sparkly and holidayish... :D I loooooOOOOOOve Christmas!

My favourite time of year... And its just around the corner!! HURRAH!!!!
A little early to get excited, but there is just so much to look forward to... :)