So it's been another while... but in my defense I have been WAY busy.
Things have been really great! I've been temping and working at "Rock of Ages". I started working for a company called Stage Door Promotions. I met Damien (who owns the company) at Zhivago back in Sydney. Kate and I basically met him while I was talking to someone else. We kinda hit it off and found out we lived right down the road from each other in Melbourne. I had no idea what he did, but he gave me his number and we decided to meet up when we got back. Well come to find out, Damien did the European tour of Grease with Roy Chicas, who I worked with back in NY! Talk about a small freakin world. Damien's business brings schools into shows and events. He's worked on Hairspray, Xanadu, Fame, etc. and right now we're working on Walking with Dinosaurs and King Tut. Damien's GREAT and wonderful to work for!
The other HUGE news is that I actually had a meeting with John Frost! I emailed him and never heard back, about 3 weeks later, I sent a short follow up and his assistant emailed me back and asked if I'd be able to meet with him while he was in Melbourne for the Zhivago opening before he flew out to Adelaide for Wicked. SURE! Let me just move around my conference call with Obama and meeting with the Queen about why I didn't receive her personal invite for the wedding.
Anyway, the night before Damien helped prep me and I spent hours prepping myself. So I met with him and another member from his team at 2pm on Wednesday at Her Majesty's Theatre cafe. It could not have gone better! John's one of those people that you can't say "yes sir...". With people of that caliber they want to hear you speak your mind... what you can contribute, how you can make his business better. Gotta be ballsy... which can be a bit intimidating at times. So between the 4 cups of coffee and my nervousness at having to show him why he should hire me I was shaking like a mad woman! Luckily I was able to calm myself down a bit before they walked in. So they walked in with this guy Jay... who I actually met through Damien. Jay is Damien's best friend who works VERY closely with John doing work for him. He helped John build his business for nearly 25 years. Anyway, Jay walks right over to me and gives me a kiss and says "I'll see you tomorrow gorgeous". (In regards to the opening of Zhivago) So John says "O you both know each other?" Jay says "O yea... it's a long story" before heading off. So then John, his business colleague, and I sit down. We talk for quite for some time about things I have done, things I can do, and where I want to go with my career. John looks at the woman and says "I can't think of anything I have at the moment for her" then turns to me and says "but that's TODAY... and as you know, in this business we don't know what tomorrow will bring". He said to stay on top of him because he does have some shows in the work coming up next year and will be looking for Assistant Company Managers... which is EXACTLY what I would DREAM of! Your Assistant and Company Managers oversee the show and report everything back to the producers... basically being the go between between the two. From there the line of command upwards is the Executive Producer and then Producer (John). All Executive Producers must first pay their dues as Company Managers... so for me to walk into an Assistant Company Manager for a show like Legally Blonde or Shrek would be UNREAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! An absolute dream job and it's RIGHT up my ally! John said for now, he wants me to talk to Jay because he's very close with Caryn who owns ACMN which does ALL the marketing for nearly every show in Australia. John said they are always on the look out for people and I should get in with them for immediate work. He also suggested I call Rodney Rigby who is another big producer here (Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages). He then made mention again to stay on his about anything that is coming up because he wants to keep me in mind.
So in a nutshell... things could be BOOMING big time for me soon! I just can't believe how well the meeting went! Forget the fact he actually took the time to meet with ME!!!!! lol. Unreal! He's recommending me to people AND wants me to stay in touch for when stuff down the road starts to open up. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good stuff, good stuff! I think this Dorothy does belong in OZ ;)
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Ya Knowz.....
Well it's been a while... Sorry for that. Anyway, first things first... My grandfather is currently in the hospital. Last week he had pneumonia and wasn't eating... He took a fall and called 911. They took him to the hospital and then brought him to rehab. While at rehab he took a bad turn and they brought him back to the hospital on Thursday. They found an infection in his blood. The doctor called my parents and said he doesn't know if he's going to make it... So we are suppose to just keep waiting to know I guess. They ran a bunch of tests Friday and he's currently stable, but it's still a waiting game. And we all know how well I do with waiting, especially with the unknown. Anyway, I'm not going to get into my family drama here, because that's now what you want to read about... But between that and a few other things, the past few days have been the polar opposite from the amazingness I have felt since being here. I guess that's what happens though... Life happens... The good, the bad. I think my heart breaks mostly for my dad. He needs something good to happen. Deep breathes.
Anyway, onto more exciting things. Veg arrived February 11th! It's been great having her here. I swear sometimes I believe we were separated at birth. I left for Sydney on the 16th. I flew up and stayed most of my time with Micharne. I felt bad because she was in school the entire time. (For those who don't know... Micharne is in the graduate playwrighting course at NIDA... Which is equivalent to our Julliard.) I tried to occupy myself during the days by exploring the city... Going into the opera house, hanging out by the bridge, ferry to Darling Harbour, bit of shopping in the massive new westfield. I saw two shows with her and some of her NIDA friends. One was a collection of 11, 8 minute monologues for teens around 16-20. Some were written by other kids and other written by real playwrights. I was really impressed with both the young actors as well as the monologues. The second show we saw was in Kings Cross at the Griffin Theatre. It was called "Speaking in Tongues". It's a very famous Australian play that was also turned into a movie. It was FANTASTIC! It was in a small black box and it worked so well! Not just the play itself, but the actors, the set, lighting, direction! Superb! So FYI.... Kings Cross is probably the craziest place I've ever seen! It's probably a cross between Christopher street in NYC (after midnight) and Vegas.... But the scary party of Vegas, not the strip really. Every other stores you walked by was some sort of sex shop. (no lie) the streets were covered in crazies, homeless people, and drag queens. Anyway, just a bit of trivia for ya. :-)
So Saturday night was the world premiere of "Dr. Zhivago". I took Kate McRostie as my date and thank goodness I did! Joe Corcoran (one of the co producers from NY who invited me) told me to arrive at 6pm for cocktail hour. Kate and I arrive, but because we didn't exactly know where we were going, we ended up going through the back entrance... Instead of the RED CARPET! Totally bummed about that one ps lol. O well. The rest of the night was so awesome, it doesn't matter. Any who, I go up to the box office, as they're suppose to have my tickets... They said they didnt have them, I asked if they could check under Joe's name they said they didn't but may have them later... Then a girl came up to me and said "o you're Joe Corcorans guests? There's a cocktail party upstairs for you all. Fancy! So Kate and I go up to this very small room which is filled with maybe 20 people... Who are obviously very high rollers. You can feel it in the room. You knew the diamonds and prada purses in there weren't from canal street. Anyway, we walk in and you're immediately asked by the bar staff what you'd like to drink. Kate and I both get a glass of champagne. You don't even get 2 sips in before someone is there to top off your glass! Lucy Simon (the composer who also wrote Secret Garden) came in for a few minutes. I walked over to her and mentioned who I was... She then gave me a huge hug and kiss and said how wonderful it was that I was there. I told her, I didn't want to keep her (as the entire room was now circling us to say hello) but that I did want to say hi and congratulate her. Joe and his wife Karen arrive and he hands me my ticket, and the wristbands for the after party. We then start to go into the theatre. We are sitting first row mez! My favorite seats in the house! :-) i haven't sat front row mez, in I dunno how long! The first Act ends and we head back to our little room. Joe tells me theres a few people he wants to introduce me to. The first one in John Frost! (for those who dont know... John is the #1 producer in Australia... Think the Australian Cameron McIntosh) Joe says to John that he's worked with me for the past few years in NY and Ive come to Australia and am searching for a job... John takes his business card out of this jacket and says to call him! That's right... I have John Frosts personal business card! How you like them apples? Lol. Joe then introduced me to a woman named Bernadette who is an Executive Producer and GM... currently the GM of Wicked here. She didn't have any cards on her, but took mine and said she'll give me a call to set up a coffee meeting. Joe also pointed out Mitzi to me, who is John Frosts GM and said when she wasn't speaking to someone later go up and introduce myself. We go back n for Act II. The show went soooo well! I was quite impressed. Lucy being one of my favorite composers didn't disappoint. The cast was perfectly cast and the set was great... Making it easy to change from location to location. After the show, we went up through the casino to the after party up in one of the very large ballrooms. You get up there and the outside is lined with red carpets and rose pedals scattered. The backdrop were all these massive posters of the show. You walk into the ballroom and its dimly lit with all red lighting. The walls are red curtains with Dr. Zhivago projected upon them. There's a few bars where you can get your drink. They have champagne, wine, beer, or their specialty vodka drinks... Which is sponsored by this new vodka that is organic and not suppose to give you hangovers (and I believe it... Even with the champagne I had). once again, there were people walking around everywhere ready to top off your glass after 2 sips. It was a bottomless glass. There had to of been a good 300 people there. Apparently the place was swarming with movie stars, tv stars, and models! I was clueless (aside from the models who towered over me) but otherwise I wouldn't know anyone.... EXCEPT CAROLINE O'CONNOR!!!!!!!!! The dancer (roxanne) from Moulin Rouge! I had a minor heart attack.... I really don't get star struck, but she was my favorite part of that movie.... LOVE HER! Anyway, aside from the movie and tv celebs I knew the place was swarming with Big shots! Your producers from all over the world looking to invest and bring the show to their country. Des Arnoff was there too! (he directed the show... Along with 800 other broadway shows including Jersey Boys and earned himself 2 Tonys in the past for his direction). I networked quite a bit and also felt like a big shot myself lol. I cannot thank Joe Corcoran enough for inviting me and taking me around to introduce me to all those people. It was truly an amazing night. Joe and I are going to stay in contact and he's going to look out for me with all those people. :-)
Anyway, after sydney I headed off to Adelaide. Had a good time there with Will. Went to Jacobs Creek winery which was GREAT! I had never been to a winery... It was a lot of fun and really quite interesting. We got to taste grapes and then taste 8 different wines.... For $14 HOLLA!!!!! Will also took me to quite a few bars and events that were happening for the fringe festival which was cool. The first day we actually just walked around Adelaide, seeing his uni and the gardens, etc. Met up with Steve one night too... He was there for the fringe so the three of us caught up.
I think that's about it at the moment. Back in Melbourne and VERY happy to be back. Feels like im back home with my girls :-)
Anyway, onto more exciting things. Veg arrived February 11th! It's been great having her here. I swear sometimes I believe we were separated at birth. I left for Sydney on the 16th. I flew up and stayed most of my time with Micharne. I felt bad because she was in school the entire time. (For those who don't know... Micharne is in the graduate playwrighting course at NIDA... Which is equivalent to our Julliard.) I tried to occupy myself during the days by exploring the city... Going into the opera house, hanging out by the bridge, ferry to Darling Harbour, bit of shopping in the massive new westfield. I saw two shows with her and some of her NIDA friends. One was a collection of 11, 8 minute monologues for teens around 16-20. Some were written by other kids and other written by real playwrights. I was really impressed with both the young actors as well as the monologues. The second show we saw was in Kings Cross at the Griffin Theatre. It was called "Speaking in Tongues". It's a very famous Australian play that was also turned into a movie. It was FANTASTIC! It was in a small black box and it worked so well! Not just the play itself, but the actors, the set, lighting, direction! Superb! So FYI.... Kings Cross is probably the craziest place I've ever seen! It's probably a cross between Christopher street in NYC (after midnight) and Vegas.... But the scary party of Vegas, not the strip really. Every other stores you walked by was some sort of sex shop. (no lie) the streets were covered in crazies, homeless people, and drag queens. Anyway, just a bit of trivia for ya. :-)
So Saturday night was the world premiere of "Dr. Zhivago". I took Kate McRostie as my date and thank goodness I did! Joe Corcoran (one of the co producers from NY who invited me) told me to arrive at 6pm for cocktail hour. Kate and I arrive, but because we didn't exactly know where we were going, we ended up going through the back entrance... Instead of the RED CARPET! Totally bummed about that one ps lol. O well. The rest of the night was so awesome, it doesn't matter. Any who, I go up to the box office, as they're suppose to have my tickets... They said they didnt have them, I asked if they could check under Joe's name they said they didn't but may have them later... Then a girl came up to me and said "o you're Joe Corcorans guests? There's a cocktail party upstairs for you all. Fancy! So Kate and I go up to this very small room which is filled with maybe 20 people... Who are obviously very high rollers. You can feel it in the room. You knew the diamonds and prada purses in there weren't from canal street. Anyway, we walk in and you're immediately asked by the bar staff what you'd like to drink. Kate and I both get a glass of champagne. You don't even get 2 sips in before someone is there to top off your glass! Lucy Simon (the composer who also wrote Secret Garden) came in for a few minutes. I walked over to her and mentioned who I was... She then gave me a huge hug and kiss and said how wonderful it was that I was there. I told her, I didn't want to keep her (as the entire room was now circling us to say hello) but that I did want to say hi and congratulate her. Joe and his wife Karen arrive and he hands me my ticket, and the wristbands for the after party. We then start to go into the theatre. We are sitting first row mez! My favorite seats in the house! :-) i haven't sat front row mez, in I dunno how long! The first Act ends and we head back to our little room. Joe tells me theres a few people he wants to introduce me to. The first one in John Frost! (for those who dont know... John is the #1 producer in Australia... Think the Australian Cameron McIntosh) Joe says to John that he's worked with me for the past few years in NY and Ive come to Australia and am searching for a job... John takes his business card out of this jacket and says to call him! That's right... I have John Frosts personal business card! How you like them apples? Lol. Joe then introduced me to a woman named Bernadette who is an Executive Producer and GM... currently the GM of Wicked here. She didn't have any cards on her, but took mine and said she'll give me a call to set up a coffee meeting. Joe also pointed out Mitzi to me, who is John Frosts GM and said when she wasn't speaking to someone later go up and introduce myself. We go back n for Act II. The show went soooo well! I was quite impressed. Lucy being one of my favorite composers didn't disappoint. The cast was perfectly cast and the set was great... Making it easy to change from location to location. After the show, we went up through the casino to the after party up in one of the very large ballrooms. You get up there and the outside is lined with red carpets and rose pedals scattered. The backdrop were all these massive posters of the show. You walk into the ballroom and its dimly lit with all red lighting. The walls are red curtains with Dr. Zhivago projected upon them. There's a few bars where you can get your drink. They have champagne, wine, beer, or their specialty vodka drinks... Which is sponsored by this new vodka that is organic and not suppose to give you hangovers (and I believe it... Even with the champagne I had). once again, there were people walking around everywhere ready to top off your glass after 2 sips. It was a bottomless glass. There had to of been a good 300 people there. Apparently the place was swarming with movie stars, tv stars, and models! I was clueless (aside from the models who towered over me) but otherwise I wouldn't know anyone.... EXCEPT CAROLINE O'CONNOR!!!!!!!!! The dancer (roxanne) from Moulin Rouge! I had a minor heart attack.... I really don't get star struck, but she was my favorite part of that movie.... LOVE HER! Anyway, aside from the movie and tv celebs I knew the place was swarming with Big shots! Your producers from all over the world looking to invest and bring the show to their country. Des Arnoff was there too! (he directed the show... Along with 800 other broadway shows including Jersey Boys and earned himself 2 Tonys in the past for his direction). I networked quite a bit and also felt like a big shot myself lol. I cannot thank Joe Corcoran enough for inviting me and taking me around to introduce me to all those people. It was truly an amazing night. Joe and I are going to stay in contact and he's going to look out for me with all those people. :-)
Anyway, after sydney I headed off to Adelaide. Had a good time there with Will. Went to Jacobs Creek winery which was GREAT! I had never been to a winery... It was a lot of fun and really quite interesting. We got to taste grapes and then taste 8 different wines.... For $14 HOLLA!!!!! Will also took me to quite a few bars and events that were happening for the fringe festival which was cool. The first day we actually just walked around Adelaide, seeing his uni and the gardens, etc. Met up with Steve one night too... He was there for the fringe so the three of us caught up.
I think that's about it at the moment. Back in Melbourne and VERY happy to be back. Feels like im back home with my girls :-)
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Past week and a half...
I arrived to JFK by 1pm. They told me they could't check my bags all the way through and I'd need to collect and recheck my bags at LAX, which is a major pain in the A, but what can you do. I grabbed a chicken ceased wrap and a diet coke to eat while I waited since I hadn't eaten lunch. They finally started to board first class around 4:05 but they stopped and announced the pilot wasn't getting there until 6pm so we would board around then. Well we actually don't start boarding until 6:15 and probably don't take off until maybe 7ish. The captain made an announcement about hoping to pick up some time on the flight. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed I can get my bags and head over to the international terminal in time! I checked with one of the American Airlines personal behind the counter at the gate and she said "well that's a messy situation, you should forget about your bags and just go to the gate.... You can get your bags shipped within 1-2 weeks." IS SHE CRAZY????? I can't wait that long for my luggage! So fingers crossed I can make it.... Maybe wearing heeled boots wasn't the best decision for how much running I'm going to have to do. :-/ I was hoping to change and chill out a big in LAX too... Charge up my iPad, grab star bucks and get my pjs on.
Any who, the flight so far hasn't been bad. (although I'm only 3 hours in) I watched Under the Tuscan Sun on my iPad. Good movie! I then played a few rounds of angry birds... But got frustrated so I'm giving it a break. I also had a delightful bloody Mary :-) my airline drink of choice and hey.... I think i deserve to cheers myself! It is New Years Eve and I'm on an airplane to the other side of the world to start an epic journey! I saw bring it!
Got my bags and had to truck for what seemed like forever to the international terminal and up and elevator. Luckily I got a trolley or i would have died. Seriously the heels were a super bad idea. I finally checked in (BAGS WERENT OVER WEIGHT!!!! Yaaay) got through security and headed to the gate. I found the nearest restroom to change into my pjs, take out my contacts, and brush my teeth. I also grabbed a water at star bucks cause i was parched! We finally boarded and the flight hasn't been TOO bad. I watched Cyrus, The Social Network, and The Kids Are Alright. Nice to catch up on my flicks. I also just watched the pilot episode of Modern Family. I slept a little but not a ton which will suck later, but right now I'm ok. Dinner was actually really nice. I had tortellini with a roll, and a piece of moneray jack cheese and a glass of merlot. They're about to serve breakfast since we're only 2.5 hours away now. After we land I need to get my bags, bring them through customs, re check them at a baggage drop off and then head over to domestic for my flight to melb. The people next to me are some young couple. The girl brought me back cookies when she got up to stretch. I didnt even ask or say i was hungry. Thats Australians for ya. I need coffee!
Got off the plane aok. Got my luggage and customs and quarantine were a breeze. I. Then had to recheck my luggage and take a bus over to domestic. It's quite warm out.... Especially when you're still wearing sweatpants :-P I went through security again and headed straight for the restrooms. I was shvitzing quite a bit by this point. Unfortunately i couldn't find any showers so i just changed into some shirts and my FDNY tshirt. I then brushed my teeth, washed my face, put in my contacts, and put on a fresh coat of makeup. I then headed over to a little convenient store which sold some prepaid cell phones so hopefully i can get it working soon. I then went to get a cappuccino and i left my bag at a table.... Well I had planned to just grab my coffee and keep an eye on my bag, but it took a few minutes and because Australians are so friendly, I ended up talking and then the woman was like "um thats not your bag is it?" 3 police men were starting to search it. I ran over and people were staring. They told me they were going to send me back where i came from and i cant leave my back. Well after talking to me for 2 minutes, me and the 3 popos ended up having a 15 minute NYC chat! They loved me lol. But for real.... They do. I then payed $2 and hoped on a computer at the airport to send mom and dad and email. So now I'm at the gate.... Waiting to board which should be soon, since it's 10:30. Only 3 more hours of traveling!!!!! Well until i have to get in the car for about 2 hours lol but at least itll be with Hannah Montana!!!!
So im on the plane to Melbourne. I think the 34.5 hour of traveling is starting to take it's toll. Im feeling over emotional. I can feel tears in my eyes and I'm not sure why. Probably being over tired and over excited. The two don't exactly mix well. Looks like I've got slightly less than an hour of flying left. Thank god. I really dont think i could handle ANY more traveling. Between getting my bags and rechecking each time. TOTALLY makes sense to pay the exa few hundred just to get your bags checked all the way through. Although i guess i didn't have a choice for the last leg with having to go through customs in international before they'd let me get to the domestic terminal. Regardless I'm beat. I am really so excited beyond words though. I know most people may think im nuts for doing this and maybe they're right... But i cant tell you how right it feels. I feel so free.. So different... So ready for whats ahead. Skies the limit. There's truly something magically about this country too. It's weird but i almost feel like im at home here. That probably sounds REALLY crazy, but it's true. I feel very happy and so in power here. And now the crazy over tiredness has set in because my eyes are watering up thinking about how happy i feel here. There will be good days and bad of course. But i feel like everything is really going to be amazing for me here. It's going to be a dream come true. Ok I need to stop now because tears are streaming down my face and i think people are starting to stare. AWKWARD TURTLE!!!!!!
So i finally arrived at Melbourne. I got to baggage claim and finally met up with hannah and her family. Hannah brought me an Australian flag to greet me. We then got my bags and headed to the car. We took a scenic route and got to see the skyline of gee long. We then got to the house and i was able to have a shower and throw on some fresh clothes. We then got in the car and headed down to Lorne. We took Great Ocean Road down there. We stopped at some surfers place where all the good surfers journey to to check out the view. We then stopped at the Great Ocean Road official sign so i could take pictures. We also stopped at a golf course where apparently a whole bunch of roos hang out. I got some amazing photos and they really wee EVERYWHERE! After getting to the camp site in Lorne, we hung out for a few before all going to a golf country club for Hannah's brothers birthday dinner. I had pasta with marinera which here means with seafood.... Like shrimp, scallops, calamari, and muscles. After we headed back to the camp site and me, Hannah, and her brother Ryan went back to the house, since Hannah had to work in the morning and i could get a good nights sleep in a bed. I finally hit the pillow and passed out. I woke up about 9:45am and got to rearrange my suitcase a bit. I then took a shower and we got a bag together and headed back down to Lorne. First we stopped at mcdonalds and I got my first iced coffee.... Which is COMPLETELY different than ours. Theirs has cream (and by cream i mean a very sweet cream that you could put on dessert) and a bit of ice cream and powdered chocolate! It's amazing! Any who, we got down there and met Hannah's friends for a bit of shopping and lunch. We went to a fish and chips place. They actually wrap the fish in a paper and you eat it with your fingers! Lol. That was new for me, but it was really yum. After Hannah and I went back to the camp and played some UNO. Mrs. Burville made burgers. They put eggs on burgers here... Which is different but really good. After dinner we started getting ready for bed as we were pretty tired. Yes, i actually camped in a tent! :) i woke up fairly early and started getting my phone in order. We then had breakfast... Cereal and eggs with bacon (which is more like our ham... Like what you get on a mcmuffin) on an English muffin. After breakfast we got showered and went to drive to Erskine Falls. They were AMAZING. we walked down tons of stairs and then Hannah said we should get closer. So we had to climb over crazy amounts of trees and rocks. I nearly died lol. Thank goodness for Hannah and her dad for helping me and yes I slipped a bit of the rocks.... Nearly falling into the water. Lol. But i made it! Gt some great photos. We then had to climb up a lllllll those stairs. We got back to the car and went to a place up the road a bit to some little cabin place where you could feed birds. Hannah's parents bought us a bag of bird seed and we started to bird feed the Australian king parrots that are absolutely beautiful. They came and stood right on our arms and ate off our hands. Then the cockatoos came over. I asked Hannah if she fed them and she said "o yea!" so I started to feed them as she then said "yea no.... I didn't feed them...." come to find out they normally don't eat out of peoples hands and can bite, but i was fine. It was really cool. Then we drove to the pier and hannah and i walked to the end to watch people fish. We started to look into buckets to see if anyone caught anything. One guy caught a whole bunch of crabs. We saw another bucket with something that was clearly wiggling around. We started to get closer and closer to the bucket to see what was inside until (the fish) went crazy and nearly splashed us in fishy water! We both jumped to about 5 feet and couldn't stop laughing and freaking out. We then walked all the way along the beach. We went over to the Lean to Surf hut to sign up. So we have that tomorrow (thursday) morning. Should be interesting to say the least. We walked back to camp and then headed back to hannahs house in gee long. We got dinner at a noodle place. I ordered teriyaki noodles with chicken. So we had dinner and watched the movie Death at a Funeral. Hannah then had to go to work so i caught up with a few people on email, set up my cell phone and finally went to bed. This morning we woke up, i got my iced coffee, and headed back to Lorne. Hannah and i went shopping and came back to the camp site and chilled out, it's been a nice chill axing day. That night Hannah and i took a walk along the beach. It was so beautiful and nobody was there. I was a very romantic date for us :-) hehehe. After we walked past the playground an my inner 4 year old came out so we went down the slide a few times and tried to walk up this wall with a rope.... That was an epic fail. I then hopped on the swing and showed hannah how i use to flip off. She was freaking out.... Scared i was going to kill myself. :-) but i assured her i did it so much as a kid.... I knew what i was doing. ;-)
I went surfing the other day. Hannah and i woke up and had to be down on the front beach at 9:45am. We got there and had to sign our lives away before getting into our fancy wetsuits. They were actually kinda big. So after we got into our suits, they broke us up into 2 groups. They put Hannah and i with a family and we headed down to the beach. There were boards there for us. They were HUGE obviously and made of a foam material.... So we wouldn't kill ourselves. They went through a few safety things and then began to teach us the basics. You lay flat on your stomach on the board with your toes barely hanging off. You don't want to be too forward to nose dive and if you're too far back, its like the breaks of the board. So when a wave is coming you paddle 4 times and then drag your knees into your chest so you're now resting on your knees. You then swivel while still holding the board so that you are slightly crouched to the side and the stand up. After doing it a few times on the sand, we velcroed the foot attachment to our ankle and headed to the water. The board is so large it's kinda hard to handle getting in. Lol. The instructors were GREAT! Well all of them except the hot one. Go figure. I think he is so use to just being hot he doesn't have to do much. He was nice to talk to though. I guess its kinda nice being from NY. cause if they're not laughing at my accent... Then they're asking me lots of questions about it. So i don't exactly have to do a lot to get people talking to me.... Which is nice, i won't lie :-) anyway, one of the guy instructors was GREAT! He told me to get on the board and then when a wave was coming he said "ok start paddling".... It helped because you were ready for it. I had a hard time getting my knees up the first while.... But then one of the girl instructors figured out why. Im short! Haha. So instead of keeping my feet slightly off the board, it made more sense to keep myself more in the center of the board. That way I could pull my knees in and once i was balanced correctly, getting to the crouching and standing position wasn't too rough. It is hard to catch the right wave. I think i only caught and rode one wave by myself.... But hey, i think that's decent! :-) look out Kelly Slater! Once you did manage to catch a wave... I always fell HARD afterwards. I don't think ive ever swallowed and snorted so much salt water in my life. After the first hour i was nearly dead. You wouldn't believe how much it actually takes out of you. I almost cried when i found out we had another HOUR! But we went back out, and talked to cute boy for a while before catching a few. We then had to bring our boards up to the surf shop. By this point your body is like silly putty. But you had to bring the boards up and CLEAN. so we couldn't drag them and get them sandy. Remember how HUGE my board is. So i just balanced it on my had because i couldn't wrap my arm around it. Lol. We got out of the wet suits and headed back to camp. We had a sandwich and chilled out. Later we went back to the house in Geelong.
The next few days we kinda chilled there. Hannah's grandmother passed away so the family had lots to do and i tried to keep a low profile. Monday, we went into the city for the first time! I was soooo excited. Sindy was meeting me to discuss apartments. Yes i am moving in with sindy and veg! So we're all BEYOND excited! Will atkinson met us too! It was soooo great seeing them all! I hadn't seen will in over a year. He took us nearly all around Melbourne so i got a real feel for the city. It's amazing! I absolutely love it! They have lots of these little alleyways.... Which reminds me of Diagon Ally in Harry Potter. They're so hidden.... But are jammed packed with all these amazing cafes and boutiques hidden in them. I fell in love with them. There's so many places in that city where you just sit outside and enjoy your coffee, meal, beer, whatever. I wore boots.... Which was a life lesson. When traveling around a city for your first time... And will atkinson is your tour guide.... DON'T wear heels! My feet were screaming and i couldnt find a cheap place for flip flops. Because by that point we were inside some 8 star hotel with shops including Gucci, Prada, Louis, etc. The cheapest place was $40 flip flops in FCUK and i didnt feel like spending money on them when i didnt love them. By the time we made it back to Southern Station to catch the train back to Geelong, i saw a Peter Alexander! Which i guess would be equivalent to our Victorias Secret, but not nearly as big. Any who, i found some cute slippers that were like flip flops that were on sale for $18! So i definitely bought them and slide them on!!!!! My feet were seriously on fire!
I went into the city by myself yesterday. Met sindy at the train station and we went on a hunt for a place with internet to do apt hunting. Mcdonalds was a lost cause.... It kept dropping so we found a star bucks and worked there for quite a while. We put in quite a few calls so we shall see. We're checking out a place today at 5:45... 3 bedroom / 2 bath for $410 a month and it's suppose to be RIGHT outside the city. Like one train stop away. I also have an interview tomorrow at 10am with Tony Bones Entertainment... Laurens old job actually. So we shall see! Im staying at Sindys today.... So we cansee the apartment tonight and i can get up semi early and be close to the city to get to the interview. It also gives hannah and her family time to be with their family and friends since the funeral is today.
Any who, the flight so far hasn't been bad. (although I'm only 3 hours in) I watched Under the Tuscan Sun on my iPad. Good movie! I then played a few rounds of angry birds... But got frustrated so I'm giving it a break. I also had a delightful bloody Mary :-) my airline drink of choice and hey.... I think i deserve to cheers myself! It is New Years Eve and I'm on an airplane to the other side of the world to start an epic journey! I saw bring it!
Got my bags and had to truck for what seemed like forever to the international terminal and up and elevator. Luckily I got a trolley or i would have died. Seriously the heels were a super bad idea. I finally checked in (BAGS WERENT OVER WEIGHT!!!! Yaaay) got through security and headed to the gate. I found the nearest restroom to change into my pjs, take out my contacts, and brush my teeth. I also grabbed a water at star bucks cause i was parched! We finally boarded and the flight hasn't been TOO bad. I watched Cyrus, The Social Network, and The Kids Are Alright. Nice to catch up on my flicks. I also just watched the pilot episode of Modern Family. I slept a little but not a ton which will suck later, but right now I'm ok. Dinner was actually really nice. I had tortellini with a roll, and a piece of moneray jack cheese and a glass of merlot. They're about to serve breakfast since we're only 2.5 hours away now. After we land I need to get my bags, bring them through customs, re check them at a baggage drop off and then head over to domestic for my flight to melb. The people next to me are some young couple. The girl brought me back cookies when she got up to stretch. I didnt even ask or say i was hungry. Thats Australians for ya. I need coffee!
Got off the plane aok. Got my luggage and customs and quarantine were a breeze. I. Then had to recheck my luggage and take a bus over to domestic. It's quite warm out.... Especially when you're still wearing sweatpants :-P I went through security again and headed straight for the restrooms. I was shvitzing quite a bit by this point. Unfortunately i couldn't find any showers so i just changed into some shirts and my FDNY tshirt. I then brushed my teeth, washed my face, put in my contacts, and put on a fresh coat of makeup. I then headed over to a little convenient store which sold some prepaid cell phones so hopefully i can get it working soon. I then went to get a cappuccino and i left my bag at a table.... Well I had planned to just grab my coffee and keep an eye on my bag, but it took a few minutes and because Australians are so friendly, I ended up talking and then the woman was like "um thats not your bag is it?" 3 police men were starting to search it. I ran over and people were staring. They told me they were going to send me back where i came from and i cant leave my back. Well after talking to me for 2 minutes, me and the 3 popos ended up having a 15 minute NYC chat! They loved me lol. But for real.... They do. I then payed $2 and hoped on a computer at the airport to send mom and dad and email. So now I'm at the gate.... Waiting to board which should be soon, since it's 10:30. Only 3 more hours of traveling!!!!! Well until i have to get in the car for about 2 hours lol but at least itll be with Hannah Montana!!!!
So im on the plane to Melbourne. I think the 34.5 hour of traveling is starting to take it's toll. Im feeling over emotional. I can feel tears in my eyes and I'm not sure why. Probably being over tired and over excited. The two don't exactly mix well. Looks like I've got slightly less than an hour of flying left. Thank god. I really dont think i could handle ANY more traveling. Between getting my bags and rechecking each time. TOTALLY makes sense to pay the exa few hundred just to get your bags checked all the way through. Although i guess i didn't have a choice for the last leg with having to go through customs in international before they'd let me get to the domestic terminal. Regardless I'm beat. I am really so excited beyond words though. I know most people may think im nuts for doing this and maybe they're right... But i cant tell you how right it feels. I feel so free.. So different... So ready for whats ahead. Skies the limit. There's truly something magically about this country too. It's weird but i almost feel like im at home here. That probably sounds REALLY crazy, but it's true. I feel very happy and so in power here. And now the crazy over tiredness has set in because my eyes are watering up thinking about how happy i feel here. There will be good days and bad of course. But i feel like everything is really going to be amazing for me here. It's going to be a dream come true. Ok I need to stop now because tears are streaming down my face and i think people are starting to stare. AWKWARD TURTLE!!!!!!
So i finally arrived at Melbourne. I got to baggage claim and finally met up with hannah and her family. Hannah brought me an Australian flag to greet me. We then got my bags and headed to the car. We took a scenic route and got to see the skyline of gee long. We then got to the house and i was able to have a shower and throw on some fresh clothes. We then got in the car and headed down to Lorne. We took Great Ocean Road down there. We stopped at some surfers place where all the good surfers journey to to check out the view. We then stopped at the Great Ocean Road official sign so i could take pictures. We also stopped at a golf course where apparently a whole bunch of roos hang out. I got some amazing photos and they really wee EVERYWHERE! After getting to the camp site in Lorne, we hung out for a few before all going to a golf country club for Hannah's brothers birthday dinner. I had pasta with marinera which here means with seafood.... Like shrimp, scallops, calamari, and muscles. After we headed back to the camp site and me, Hannah, and her brother Ryan went back to the house, since Hannah had to work in the morning and i could get a good nights sleep in a bed. I finally hit the pillow and passed out. I woke up about 9:45am and got to rearrange my suitcase a bit. I then took a shower and we got a bag together and headed back down to Lorne. First we stopped at mcdonalds and I got my first iced coffee.... Which is COMPLETELY different than ours. Theirs has cream (and by cream i mean a very sweet cream that you could put on dessert) and a bit of ice cream and powdered chocolate! It's amazing! Any who, we got down there and met Hannah's friends for a bit of shopping and lunch. We went to a fish and chips place. They actually wrap the fish in a paper and you eat it with your fingers! Lol. That was new for me, but it was really yum. After Hannah and I went back to the camp and played some UNO. Mrs. Burville made burgers. They put eggs on burgers here... Which is different but really good. After dinner we started getting ready for bed as we were pretty tired. Yes, i actually camped in a tent! :) i woke up fairly early and started getting my phone in order. We then had breakfast... Cereal and eggs with bacon (which is more like our ham... Like what you get on a mcmuffin) on an English muffin. After breakfast we got showered and went to drive to Erskine Falls. They were AMAZING. we walked down tons of stairs and then Hannah said we should get closer. So we had to climb over crazy amounts of trees and rocks. I nearly died lol. Thank goodness for Hannah and her dad for helping me and yes I slipped a bit of the rocks.... Nearly falling into the water. Lol. But i made it! Gt some great photos. We then had to climb up a lllllll those stairs. We got back to the car and went to a place up the road a bit to some little cabin place where you could feed birds. Hannah's parents bought us a bag of bird seed and we started to bird feed the Australian king parrots that are absolutely beautiful. They came and stood right on our arms and ate off our hands. Then the cockatoos came over. I asked Hannah if she fed them and she said "o yea!" so I started to feed them as she then said "yea no.... I didn't feed them...." come to find out they normally don't eat out of peoples hands and can bite, but i was fine. It was really cool. Then we drove to the pier and hannah and i walked to the end to watch people fish. We started to look into buckets to see if anyone caught anything. One guy caught a whole bunch of crabs. We saw another bucket with something that was clearly wiggling around. We started to get closer and closer to the bucket to see what was inside until (the fish) went crazy and nearly splashed us in fishy water! We both jumped to about 5 feet and couldn't stop laughing and freaking out. We then walked all the way along the beach. We went over to the Lean to Surf hut to sign up. So we have that tomorrow (thursday) morning. Should be interesting to say the least. We walked back to camp and then headed back to hannahs house in gee long. We got dinner at a noodle place. I ordered teriyaki noodles with chicken. So we had dinner and watched the movie Death at a Funeral. Hannah then had to go to work so i caught up with a few people on email, set up my cell phone and finally went to bed. This morning we woke up, i got my iced coffee, and headed back to Lorne. Hannah and i went shopping and came back to the camp site and chilled out, it's been a nice chill axing day. That night Hannah and i took a walk along the beach. It was so beautiful and nobody was there. I was a very romantic date for us :-) hehehe. After we walked past the playground an my inner 4 year old came out so we went down the slide a few times and tried to walk up this wall with a rope.... That was an epic fail. I then hopped on the swing and showed hannah how i use to flip off. She was freaking out.... Scared i was going to kill myself. :-) but i assured her i did it so much as a kid.... I knew what i was doing. ;-)
I went surfing the other day. Hannah and i woke up and had to be down on the front beach at 9:45am. We got there and had to sign our lives away before getting into our fancy wetsuits. They were actually kinda big. So after we got into our suits, they broke us up into 2 groups. They put Hannah and i with a family and we headed down to the beach. There were boards there for us. They were HUGE obviously and made of a foam material.... So we wouldn't kill ourselves. They went through a few safety things and then began to teach us the basics. You lay flat on your stomach on the board with your toes barely hanging off. You don't want to be too forward to nose dive and if you're too far back, its like the breaks of the board. So when a wave is coming you paddle 4 times and then drag your knees into your chest so you're now resting on your knees. You then swivel while still holding the board so that you are slightly crouched to the side and the stand up. After doing it a few times on the sand, we velcroed the foot attachment to our ankle and headed to the water. The board is so large it's kinda hard to handle getting in. Lol. The instructors were GREAT! Well all of them except the hot one. Go figure. I think he is so use to just being hot he doesn't have to do much. He was nice to talk to though. I guess its kinda nice being from NY. cause if they're not laughing at my accent... Then they're asking me lots of questions about it. So i don't exactly have to do a lot to get people talking to me.... Which is nice, i won't lie :-) anyway, one of the guy instructors was GREAT! He told me to get on the board and then when a wave was coming he said "ok start paddling".... It helped because you were ready for it. I had a hard time getting my knees up the first while.... But then one of the girl instructors figured out why. Im short! Haha. So instead of keeping my feet slightly off the board, it made more sense to keep myself more in the center of the board. That way I could pull my knees in and once i was balanced correctly, getting to the crouching and standing position wasn't too rough. It is hard to catch the right wave. I think i only caught and rode one wave by myself.... But hey, i think that's decent! :-) look out Kelly Slater! Once you did manage to catch a wave... I always fell HARD afterwards. I don't think ive ever swallowed and snorted so much salt water in my life. After the first hour i was nearly dead. You wouldn't believe how much it actually takes out of you. I almost cried when i found out we had another HOUR! But we went back out, and talked to cute boy for a while before catching a few. We then had to bring our boards up to the surf shop. By this point your body is like silly putty. But you had to bring the boards up and CLEAN. so we couldn't drag them and get them sandy. Remember how HUGE my board is. So i just balanced it on my had because i couldn't wrap my arm around it. Lol. We got out of the wet suits and headed back to camp. We had a sandwich and chilled out. Later we went back to the house in Geelong.
The next few days we kinda chilled there. Hannah's grandmother passed away so the family had lots to do and i tried to keep a low profile. Monday, we went into the city for the first time! I was soooo excited. Sindy was meeting me to discuss apartments. Yes i am moving in with sindy and veg! So we're all BEYOND excited! Will atkinson met us too! It was soooo great seeing them all! I hadn't seen will in over a year. He took us nearly all around Melbourne so i got a real feel for the city. It's amazing! I absolutely love it! They have lots of these little alleyways.... Which reminds me of Diagon Ally in Harry Potter. They're so hidden.... But are jammed packed with all these amazing cafes and boutiques hidden in them. I fell in love with them. There's so many places in that city where you just sit outside and enjoy your coffee, meal, beer, whatever. I wore boots.... Which was a life lesson. When traveling around a city for your first time... And will atkinson is your tour guide.... DON'T wear heels! My feet were screaming and i couldnt find a cheap place for flip flops. Because by that point we were inside some 8 star hotel with shops including Gucci, Prada, Louis, etc. The cheapest place was $40 flip flops in FCUK and i didnt feel like spending money on them when i didnt love them. By the time we made it back to Southern Station to catch the train back to Geelong, i saw a Peter Alexander! Which i guess would be equivalent to our Victorias Secret, but not nearly as big. Any who, i found some cute slippers that were like flip flops that were on sale for $18! So i definitely bought them and slide them on!!!!! My feet were seriously on fire!
I went into the city by myself yesterday. Met sindy at the train station and we went on a hunt for a place with internet to do apt hunting. Mcdonalds was a lost cause.... It kept dropping so we found a star bucks and worked there for quite a while. We put in quite a few calls so we shall see. We're checking out a place today at 5:45... 3 bedroom / 2 bath for $410 a month and it's suppose to be RIGHT outside the city. Like one train stop away. I also have an interview tomorrow at 10am with Tony Bones Entertainment... Laurens old job actually. So we shall see! Im staying at Sindys today.... So we cansee the apartment tonight and i can get up semi early and be close to the city to get to the interview. It also gives hannah and her family time to be with their family and friends since the funeral is today.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
1.5 days!
Well it's officially 1.5 days til I'm off! Pretty crazy! I'm enjoying my "pre NYE" with a bit of champagne.... or a LOT of champagne. ;-) But hey.... I don't really get a NYE or a New Years Day..... so cut me some slack. I leave here at noon... my flight takes off from JFK at 4:45pm, I depart LA at 11:55pm and it's a 14.5 hour flight to Brisbane Australia.... to which I then have another 3 hour layover and another 2.5 hour flight to Melbourne. So I am enjoying my champagne tonight to toast myself to a new year, a new job, a new country, a new path, and a new me. Some of you may or may not know that this year has been exceedingly difficult for me on many levels. I will say that 2010 may have been the hardest year of my life.... and I know that may sound naive coming from a 27 year old.... but it's true.... and I'll leave it at that. This year is going to be different because I am MAKING it happen. I am taking hold of my own reins and taking my life and my wants/needs into priority. There will be good days and bad.... but it's my time now. My world.... my life! BRING IT 2011! I'M READY!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
18 Days........
So lots of time has passed since my last entry and a lot has happened. Lots of ups and downs. Lots of emotions. BUT it is officially 18 days! 18 days and I will touch down in Melbourne Australia. Pretty insane to think about. I think I have everything in order. Got my int'l driver's license, Australian cash, opened and deposited money into my Australian bank account, took out basic health ins, put everything in storage, said my goodbyes, and will be staying with the AMAZING Hannah Burville and her family for the first few weeks until I get myself situated. I feel so lucky and grateful to have them open their home to me without m even asking! It's something I don't have to stress about, and that is a HUGE deal! Once I get there, I need to get a cell phone, figure out my internet, and submit for my tax ID number. I also need to get into the bank to prove my identification and get my debit card. I also will apply and hopefully set up some interviews for jobs and check out places to sublet. It'll be nice to explore the city and do a bit of traveling before I start a job.... so I guess I'll have a good 2 weeks to do all that.
Anyway, I've decided to make this my blog to keep people in the loop. That way, if you want to read it, you can! And if you don't, you don't have to! :-D I'll probably send out an emailer here and there..... but I don't want to annoy people with boring stuff like "I hugged a koala today!" unless you want to know! :-D
Soooooo I think that's about it here. 2.5 weeks now! AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xoxo
Anyway, I've decided to make this my blog to keep people in the loop. That way, if you want to read it, you can! And if you don't, you don't have to! :-D I'll probably send out an emailer here and there..... but I don't want to annoy people with boring stuff like "I hugged a koala today!" unless you want to know! :-D
Soooooo I think that's about it here. 2.5 weeks now! AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xoxo
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Love/Hate
I'm sitting here in Rita's apartment on 110th and Broadway sipping my venti nonfat pumpkin spice latte with the windows wide open. Below there's a huge street fair going on... expanding from 110-116th Streets. I guess it's called "The Upper Broadway Fall Festival". I can hear a Beetles cover band playing... which aside from the cool breeze rushing through the apartment, gives me another lovely reason to keep the windows open. It's times like this when I wake up to a beautiful crisp autumn day, throw on my flip flops, and walk down the street to grab some starbucks in my pjs, and come back to hear a beetles cover band playing right outside my window that makes me fall in love with this city all over again. I have such a love/hate relationship with you New York. The days where it's pouring rain, the trains are overcrowded and running ever so slow, the cab drivers running you over and honking to wake you at 4am, the pavements smelling of stale beer and urine, paying $3 for a bottle of water... make me hate you so. BUT then you pull days like this out of your pocket and I am in heaven.... simply sitting in a small studio apartment... and I fall for you all over again. You really know how to fuck with me. You push me so I'm nearly teetering on the ledge with only my pinky toe hanging on for dear life.... and then you grab me, wrap me up in a big blanket, and hold me tight.
I learned an important lesson last night from my big brother Roger. "Love is suppose to feel good". Sometimes I forget that. Sometimes I think I forget that I do deserve more. That maybe what I think it good enough... isn't really so. That I can do better and I should have better. I love New York... BUT I need something different at the moment. I need to feel like I can conquer the world first. I need to feel good, important, intelligent, respected. I need to know and remember that I can do what I want. That I am worth so much more than I think I am. I know it sounds crazy and it probably is... but I need to find myself. I never thought I'd say that, but I know it's what I need. I need to try, explore, do crazy things to realize what I want. I just need some time away from New York to realize if it's TRULY what I want. I have never thought about anything/place other than acting in NYC and I think after all these years... while it is a dream, I don't feel the passion I once had. Maybe I've been away from the stage for too long, maybe I'm realizing it's not all it's cracked up to be... I don't know. What I do know, is I need some ME time and that's my final word. It's about ME.
I learned an important lesson last night from my big brother Roger. "Love is suppose to feel good". Sometimes I forget that. Sometimes I think I forget that I do deserve more. That maybe what I think it good enough... isn't really so. That I can do better and I should have better. I love New York... BUT I need something different at the moment. I need to feel like I can conquer the world first. I need to feel good, important, intelligent, respected. I need to know and remember that I can do what I want. That I am worth so much more than I think I am. I know it sounds crazy and it probably is... but I need to find myself. I never thought I'd say that, but I know it's what I need. I need to try, explore, do crazy things to realize what I want. I just need some time away from New York to realize if it's TRULY what I want. I have never thought about anything/place other than acting in NYC and I think after all these years... while it is a dream, I don't feel the passion I once had. Maybe I've been away from the stage for too long, maybe I'm realizing it's not all it's cracked up to be... I don't know. What I do know, is I need some ME time and that's my final word. It's about ME.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
There's No Place Like OZ
So at 12:45pm on Monday September 20th 2010, I booked my flight to Melbourne Australia. My flight is below:
Depart: 4:45 PM | New York, NY (JFK)
Arrive: 20:20 PM | Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
Depart: 23:55 PM | Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
Arrive: Sun 02 Jan 2011 8:00 AM | Brisbane (BNE)
Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2011
Depart: 11:00 AM | Brisbane (BNE)
Arrive: 14:25 PM | Melbourne (MEL)
So there it is... on December 31st 2010 I will be on my way. It seems so surreal. I won't have a January 1st 2011 either... which is kinda weird, but it just worked out for the best. Since it was so cheap to fly on NYE and it lands me in on Sunday the 2nd, which means it will be a lot easier for someone to pick me up when it's not NYE, or the 1st (hangover day), and yet it's still a weekend so nobody's working.
So this is it! I got approved for my visa on Thursday August 26th 2010. I had been looking at flights and prices for a loooong time and I can't believe what an insanely cheap price I got! I booked the flight from NYC to LA separate from the LA to MEL flight because it was like $250 cheaper. Because I had a like $19 credit from Chase for using my debit (gotta love rewards) my flight from JFK to LA was about $170. My flight from LA to MEL was$747.95 for a GRAND TOTAL of: $918!!!!!! I'm very excited, but I'm also getting anxious and a bit nervous. Just a lot to get done and the fact that it's done, set in stone. Which means I have 3 months to figure out where I'm gonna stay initially, job interviews set up, pack, get stuff in storage, let Neil know, say my goodbyes, get things like an international driver's permit, tax ID number, bank account, and cell phone as soon as I enter the country, sign up for health ins. and I can't even think of what else... BUT I think I'm in a really good place right now. I'm just still in freak out mode! AHHHHHHH!!!!! 3 MONTHS!!!!!!!!
Depart: 4:45 PM | New York, NY (JFK)
Arrive: 20:20 PM | Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
Depart: 23:55 PM | Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
Arrive: Sun 02 Jan 2011 8:00 AM | Brisbane (BNE)
Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2011
Depart: 11:00 AM | Brisbane (BNE)
Arrive: 14:25 PM | Melbourne (MEL)
So there it is... on December 31st 2010 I will be on my way. It seems so surreal. I won't have a January 1st 2011 either... which is kinda weird, but it just worked out for the best. Since it was so cheap to fly on NYE and it lands me in on Sunday the 2nd, which means it will be a lot easier for someone to pick me up when it's not NYE, or the 1st (hangover day), and yet it's still a weekend so nobody's working.
So this is it! I got approved for my visa on Thursday August 26th 2010. I had been looking at flights and prices for a loooong time and I can't believe what an insanely cheap price I got! I booked the flight from NYC to LA separate from the LA to MEL flight because it was like $250 cheaper. Because I had a like $19 credit from Chase for using my debit (gotta love rewards) my flight from JFK to LA was about $170. My flight from LA to MEL was$747.95 for a GRAND TOTAL of: $918!!!!!! I'm very excited, but I'm also getting anxious and a bit nervous. Just a lot to get done and the fact that it's done, set in stone. Which means I have 3 months to figure out where I'm gonna stay initially, job interviews set up, pack, get stuff in storage, let Neil know, say my goodbyes, get things like an international driver's permit, tax ID number, bank account, and cell phone as soon as I enter the country, sign up for health ins. and I can't even think of what else... BUT I think I'm in a really good place right now. I'm just still in freak out mode! AHHHHHHH!!!!! 3 MONTHS!!!!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)