Left over Sand

20 Pictures from a summer that won`t be forgotten- Part 10

2011-01-09T21:15:21Z

The best bookshop in the world. "The Book Exchange" Maroochydore, QLD.

As crazy as it might sound Logan and I loved used bookstore in Australia. We loved books. We read like we hadn't in years. Our trip to Australia involved a lot of adventuring, hiking, beach walking, working, hanging out, drinking and fun. And it also involved long travel, beach sitting, hostel hanging and park chilling. One needs books for such occasions. We decided that our summer was going to be a break from our lives. A break from school and stress and computers. Thus we needed books. And we needed a lot of them. Probably too many in fact, considering that we were BACKPACKING. By the time we caught the train from Adelaide to Perth (our last trek) we had an entire bag for our books.

The love of all things literary began in Maroochydore.

Books in Aus are expensive. New soft cover books seemed to average in the 20-25 dollar range. Hard cover 35-45. Even used books were expensive but cheap in comparison. 5-10 for soft cover. 10-15 for hardcover. Thus, Australia has a wonderful collection of used book stores. They have character. They are amazing. And we spent a lot of time in them!

Books I read (in no particular order):

October Sky-Homer Hickham (brought from home left at hostel in Maroochydore)
*A Sunburnt Country- Bill Bryson (brought from home left at hostel in Maroochydore)
Small Island- Andrea Levy (brought from home trade in Maroochydore)
Her Fearful Symmetry- Audrey Neffinger (Got at hostel in Maroochydore traded in Maroochydore)
Handle With Care- Jodi Picoult (Got at hostel in Maroochydore traded in Maroochydore)

*Shipping arrivals and departures: Tasmania: Volume III: 1843-1850 -by Graeme Broxam (bought at the Maritime Museum in Hobart and brought home)

Second Glance- Jodi Picoult (Bought at farmer's market in Maroochydore traded in Maroochydore)
Vanishing Acts- Jodi Picoult (bought at book exhange in Maroochydore, traded in Maroochydore)
Tenth Circle- Jodi Picoult (Bought in a three pack at Australian post office in Perth, brought home)
*The Potato Factory- Bryce Courtney (Bought in Launceston, Tas brought home)
Maus- Art Spiegelman (Bought at library in Maroochydore, brought home)
Maus II- Art Spiegelman (got out on library card maroochydore)
Cairo- G. Willow Wilson (got out on library card maroochydore)
Badlands Part 1-Susan Wright (bought at farmers market in Alice Springs, brought home)
Rendevous with Rama- Arthur C. Clarke (Picked up at hostel in Atherton Table Lands, QLD -where I wasn't even staying- and brought home)
Salem Falls- Jodi Picoult (Bought at farmers market in Alice Spring left at Hobart Hostel)
The Eyes of the Beholder- A.C Crispin (bought at Book Exhchange in Maroochydore, exchanged in Maroochydore)
Ghost Ship- Diane Duane (bought at Book Exhchange in Maroochydore, exchanged in Maroochydore)
Holy Fools- Joanne Harris (bought at Book Exhchange in Maroochydore, exchanged in Maroochydore)
*Territory- Judy Nunn (Bought at Book Exchange in Maroochydore, exchanged in Alice Springs)
The Chosen- Chaim Potok (Bought in Alice Springs, brought home)
Blackberry Wine- Joanne Harris (Bought at Oxfam store in Adelaide, brought home)
Coastliners- Joanne Harris (bought at farmer's market in Maroochydore, exchanged in maroochydore)
Space-James Michner (Bought in Hobart, brought home)
The Shipping News- Annie E. Prouloux (bought at Oxfam store in Adelaide, brought home)
*Wombat Revenge- Kenneth Cook (Bought in Alice Springs, brought home)
*Diary of a Wombat- Jackie French (Bought at Border's in Perth, brought home)
Isvk- Hammand Innes (Bought in Launceston, brought home)
Rama Returns (Picked up in Hobart, Brought home)
The Blue Castle- Lucy Maud Montgomery (Brought from home, brought home- my favorite comfort book)
Imzadi- Peter David (Bought at Maroochydore library left at Hobart Hostel)
Imzadi Forever- Peter David (Bought at Maroochydore library left at Hobart Hostel)
The Peace Keepers- Gene DeWeese (Bought at Book Exchange in Maroochydore, exchanged in Maroochydore)
Gullivers Fugitives- Keith Sharee (Bought at Farmer's market in Alice Springs, brought home)

*Books about Australia/Australian authors- I did try to soak up some culture in my reading

Yes, it's true, i'll admit it, these are not exactly fine literature. I got a little obsessed with Jodi Picoult. For the keen eye, yes, some of those are Star Trek novels. But it was fun. Fun to read, fun to comb the used bookstores and the farmer's market. Fun checking out every hostel's book exchange. Fun to chat with Logan about the books.

20 Pictures from a summer that won`t be forgotten- Part 9

2010-11-08T16:52:17Z

Twist Brothers Strawberries. Logan and I found these strawberries in a specialty grocery store in Hobart, Tasmania. 2000 kilometers from Chevallum, QLD. I nudged Logan and we both starred. I whipped out my camera and took a picture. An employee walked by us and said,
"You think our strawberries are special do you?"

We both looked at him, aware that we looked like raging idiots. You don't understand, I wanted to say. I picked these strawberries. I worked for this company and it was simultaneously one of the worst and one of the best times of my life. To find them here, far away, is just a reminder of it all.

I picked those strawberries.
Logan and I worked on a farm for seven weeks picking strawberries. I got up every morning at 5:45am, ate breakfast, made lunch. Was out at the front tying on my boots at 6:20, said hi to Luke who walked out yawning to say goodbye before he went surfing, and off we went. Two vans full of people heading off to work. We drove twenty five minutes, got there, signed in, put our lunch and water on the truck, put on some sunscreen, got our gear and at seven am, we were standing in a row, one amongst the many and Brad the boss yelled "ADDIO" and we were off. 9:30 we had a fifteen minute break. Noon we had lunch. Around 2:15 you waited to hear if they would call another break. If they did it mean we worked until four. If they didn't it meant you got off at 2:30. They never told us in advance.

It was hard work. Hard manual labour. When I started off we pruned. You went through the rows with a pair of pruners and you took of the "runners and the spotty leaves" and were sure to "don't cut the flowers. The flowers are the strawberries." I did that for two weeks. After that we picked. We picked everyday. We had a huge metal basket and we picked.

There were four farms: Humptie, Revella Two, Main Farm and Highway Patch. With 90 people we could pick it all in four days. One million plants. The farms were all separated from each other, so when you finished one, you'd go to your van and drive to the next one. There were one or two minutes down the road, but they docked us fifteen minutes for travel time.

Twist had several rules which were written on the side of the truck for emphasis:

Always pick with two hands
We do work in the rain
If you can't work and talk at the same time, don't talk.

My back ached. My legs ached. I got a tan. I got thin. I got muscles. Every day after work I went to the beach.

Days off were special. You never knew when they were coming. We would gossip the whole day. Around 90 people worked there, and I ended up talking to all of them at one point. And we would gossip. "I heard we were going to get Wednesday off."
"I heard Tuesday."
"I heard Elaine say maybe Thursday and Friday."

You'd never know until we were done for the day and Brad and Elaine would call out, "No work tomorrow."
Which meant it was time to go home and dream about what you would do with no work. Buy a box of wine, and party out in the front yard.

There were politics going on there. Mostly Aussie-Queensland politics. Brad, the boss, was a white Queensland Aussie and he hated foreigners and women. Which was unfortunate as most people there were foreigners and about half were women. He'd never yell at a girl though, he'd only yell at the boys, he just made the girls feel stupid.

At any given time he could come up to and say "Whaddya know?" And you would stumble, "Uh, I don't know."
"That's what I thought." He'd reply smuggly and stride off. I kept coming up with things to tell him, and eventually he stopped asking.
Did you know the first big blockbuster art exhibition was curated by Hitler?
That balabusta means housewife in yiddish?
More people die from vending machine accidents than shark attacks?
That aztecs believed there were made from corn so if children died they left them in the corn fields?

One time I was picking a row and a guy from Finland was picking the row next to mine. Brad was picking the row adjacent. He starts chatting with the Finnish guy.

"Do you have a monarchy in Finland?"
"No, we have a president?"
"Oh, what's his name?"
"Her."
"Excuse me?" He's starting to get confused now.
"Our president is a woman."
Brad stops work for a moment. Stares.
"You have a bitch president? That says something about the men of your country if you have a bitch for a president."

At this point the Premier of Queensland was a woman. Three weeks later the Prime Minister of Australia was a woman. I wonder what that says about him.

He hated foreigners more. Hated to hear any language other than English. He'd walk up to them "Blah, blah, blah, speak English!"
"Speak english, or don't speak anything at all!"

Elaine was a Twist. Her husband was a Twist brother. She was the real brains behind the operation, but tried to never look mean, she'd just tell Brad to yell at us. She always sure to remind us that there were a hundred people on the waiting list and that any of them would love to have our job.

I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I worked on a farm. Glad I worked in a different country. Glad that I got to live in a working hostel and meet the people I did. Glad that I have an idea about where food comes from and what hard work it is.

20 Pictures from a summer that won`t be forgotten- Part 8

2010-10-23T17:28:49Z

Mumford and Sons.

It seems crazy but Mumford and Sons was a huge part of my trip. They followed me around and I can't listen to their songs without thinking about it. Call me crazy but I had never heard of them before I got to Australia. The first time I heard them was at the Strawberry Farm. Brad and Elaine usually played the radio out of the main truck, same radio station, all day. They had a "no repeat work day" which was repeated EVERY DAY. They never played the same song twice in one day, but they played the same songs every day. And every day, I would listen for The Cave. Everyday, I got to hear it, it made those four minutes the best part of the day. Logan didn't have the same attachment to the radio as I did. He barely listened. When we got home, I would bring up a song i'd heard, or a snippet of news and he'd just shake his head and say, "Oh, I didn't hear." I tried to explain The Cave to him. "You know the one about the noose, and changing your ways."

He didn't get it. One day it came on and Logan was only a row away. "Logan! This is it! This is the song." And he nodded, and we went back to work. I thought about buying the CD at the Sunshine Plaza in Maroochydore, at the Virgin Store. I looked at it every Tuesday night when Logan and I went to the cheap movies. I didn't. I didn't have a computer or a discman.

Mumford and Sons returned in the outback. 11 people and our tour guide, Tom, in a bus cruising 400 kilometers back to Alice Springs. I'm sitting on the floor at the front with Tom picking music on his IPOD to listen over the system, he likes my music taste and I am surprised how much I like his selection. Logan and I write down music selections for him.

I select this one:

but it was not your fault but mine
and it was your heart on the line
I really fucked it up this time
didn't I, my dear?

Everyone in the van sang along. Outside the outback spins by and I can't help but think:

Goddamn, i'm lucky.

How many others have experiences like this one?

We get back and Miko invites us to a festival when we get to Perth and Mumford and Sons are playing. $145 for one day. I just can't justify it. I listened to the CD everyday in psycho_tabby 's kitchen.

20 Pictures from a summer that won`t be forgotten- Part 7

2010-10-04T02:22:25Z

Paddy Melon, Russell Falls, Tasmania.

Marsupials. They really are as cute as they are cracked up to me. Kangaroos, wallabies, paddy melons, wombats, tasmanian devils, koala bears. I saw them all running around in the wild. I got to say I was pretty enamored. No matter how hard you try, you can't even see a wild Kangaroo anywhere else.

Logan put up with me pretty well, as I chased after wild animals trying to take their pictures.

On a side note to the marsupials, I must admit. I ate that kangaroo. On a pizza. And I ate its tail (and it was distgusting). In Coober Pedy, a tiny, quirky mining town in the middle of the outback, Logan and I ate Kangaroo and Emu pizza. Camping out on a cattle station in the middle of the outback, a guy named Tom cooked a kangaroo tail, he shoveled some coals in the ground, put the tail on top and covered it in dirt. He dug it up twenty minutes later. He scraped the hair and dirt off it and I took a big greasy bit. Gross. But i'll try anything once.

A tough ass wallaby with battle scars, Alice Spring, NT.

20 Pictures from a summer that won`t be forgotten- Part 6

2010-09-27T19:38:29Z

The most beautiful sunset I have ever seen.

Coober Pedy, South Australia.

I have not touched this picture with photoshop. I wasn't even using my "sunset" filter on my camera. It actually looked like this. Just like this only I saw it was a 180 degree panorama. The outback continued to amaze.

I sipped tea in wide opened glee and snapped a few pictures and could not believe that there were places on earth where sunsets could like a Turner painting.

Coober Pedy is a story for a different day.

20 Pictures from a summer that won`t be forgotten- Part 5

2010-09-27T16:25:18Z

Cradle Mountain, Tasmania.

When people ask, so which place was your favorite? There is always hesitation. I was there for three months, I traversed a continent, how can you pick a favorite? But if I had to? This would be near the top of the list.

When we started telling people in Queensland and the Northern Territory that we were going to go to Tasmania, they would look at us like we were crazy.
"It's winter down there." They would say. "Tassie is going to be cold. Really cold. Sometimes they even get snow. Tassie's only beautiful in the summer."

And we would grin. "We're from Canada. We can handle winter." We would tell them.

Others told us that Tasmania was the poor man's New Zealand. Others told us Tasmania is what New Zealand wished it could be.

I didn't go to New Zealand,so I can't actually compare. But if there had been hobbits beside me scaling this mountain, It wouldn't have felt weird.

Logan and I climbed 1600 feet, past wombats and waterfalls. It was raining and the trail was a waterfall beneath our feet. It was worth every second.

This is a view I won't forget.

20 Pictures from a summer that won`t be forgotten- Part 4

2010-09-20T19:41:41Z

Home. That's what it felt like.

I feel blessed to have once called one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, home.
It was the highlight of the trip. We saw so much, but this was, without doubt, the highlight. And it was all luck.

Maroochydore, QLD. The Sunshine Coast.

Logan and I always planned on work and this is where work took us. Seven weeks. We worked on a farm and we expected to be somewhere in the middle of nowhere. And everyone else we talked to was. We got lucky. So incredibly lucky. Our working hostel was across the street from the Maroochydore river, which ran into the ocean. The beach was literally our backyard. The hostel became home, because it was a working hostel, nobody really leaves. Essentially the same people who were there when we got there, were there when we left. You knew everyone. On days off, everyone drank on the front porch. We all worked together. We spent every single day together. Not to say they were perfect. They weren't. I hated some of them. I could fill pages (and I have) about relationships in Maroochydore. Lucy, Jenny, Yoshi, Adam, Jamie, Luke, Anna, James, John, Bruno, Mattieu, Chris... the names go on. But they were there and all of them are apart of this story.

Everyday after work, Logan and I went to the beach. Swimming, boogie boarding, surfing. We would watch the sun go down over the water and then we would go back and make dinner. We spent days on that beach. We went kayaking. We biked. We climbed mountains.

I knew this place. The people. The culture. I got to observe here. This is where I really understood Australia. And that was so important to me. I cannot say enough positive things about this place. Tourists don't really go there, there is not a single store where you can buy a stuffed kangeroo. If it wasn't for work I would have never come here and I am so glad I did.

I miss it.

20 Pictures from a summer that won`t be forgotten- Part 3

2010-09-19T15:21:16Z

Byron Bay, NSW

Logan and I left Sydney at four o'clock in the afternoon and arrived at Byron Bay, 1000 km to the north at 5am. We took the train. On the way up, I was dropped into my first, (sadly of many) ridiculous racist, Aussie moment. My Aussie friend psycho_tabby was always telling me horror stories of white, racist aussies, but I never really believed her, since all the Aussie's I ever met were so nice. Now, I know the truth and it's a little sad.

A few rows back a middle aged (drunk) woman was sitting with a young, Korean who was heading to Brisbane so that he could fly home after working as a cleaner in Sydney for six months. Samples of the conversation:

"So like what's the difference between Chinese, Korean and Japanese?"
"They are different languages."
"I think Korean is just Chinese backwards."
"No, it's a different language."
"Yes, it's just backwards. But they are all backwards to me."

"So what do you study?"
"I want to study business."
"Well, tell me something smart, i've never met a foreigner who was smart."

Ahem. I think Logan went to sleep just so he wouldn't have deal with it anymore. We arrived in Byron Bay (although we quickly learned that no one called it Byron Bay, everyone called it Byron) at 5am. I thought, I am damn tired, my hostel is not open, I am going to sit my ass on the beach and watch the sunrise. And we did. It was a wonderful experience, we dropped our backpacks in the sand and within minutes we were up to our knees in water as the sun rose.

Bryon is a beach town. The water is wonderful and warm, surfers are everywhere, and it was just beautiful. We went on hikes and saw the most Eastern tip of Australia, dolphins, dragons, snakes and the ever present bush turkeys. We went boogie boarding, we lounged on the beach and we got caught in one hell of a rainstorm... in a tent. But most of all I remember this:

20 Pictures from a summer that won`t be forgotten- Part 2

2010-09-18T15:08:03Z

The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. These are two sights not to be fucked around with. Our flight landed at 6:50am, after being in transit for over thirty hours. By 9am, we had walked the three kilometers from the hostel and we were here, and by definition we were HERE. Here, Australia. This place we had talked about, thought about, dreamed about. What single building defines it better than this one?

Sometimes those iconic places, which you've built up in your mind end up being disappointments. But not this one. Throughout our trip we wandered from the beaten path, wanted to take in those things that were not on the backpacker beaten trail. To get away from Happy Hour and drunken brits and Peter Pans. But this first day, I needed something like this.

This day was special. We saw penguins in the harbour. We saw seventy types of rare cacti. And we saw this bridge from every angle. We walked across it, at noon all the little workers from the big office buildings put on their running shoes and run across it, instead of eating lunch. We meandered through the modern neighbourhoods on the other side, and wondered how much it costs to buy a house where you can view the Opera House from your living room. We ended up in a park filled with poinsettas and guys down on their luck fishing for fish that I certainly wouldn't eat. You should see that water. And always, the view.

And the Opera House, it's tiled. Most people don't know that.

20 Pictures from a summer that won`t be forgotten- Part 1

2010-09-17T15:16:31Z

Everyday for the next twenty days I am going to post a picture from Australia with a small story. Mostly this is just for me- to reflect back on the trip. I wrote in a journal while I was there, but I would also like a record here.

I was once asked something I loved and something I hated about Australia. I said I loved the trees and hated the strawberries.

Massive trees, unusual trees, trees that create a completely different view. Rainforest trees, tropical trees, temperate trees, desert trees. Seeing the vast spectrum of trees throughout Australia gave me such an appreciation for the diversity of the country. These trees put everything into perspective. This is big, those trees say. You just crossed a continent. All of them amazing, all of them unusual. All of them, so completely Australian.

danov @ 2010-02-04T00:27:00

2010-02-04T17:27:54Z

A professor of mine just added me on facebook....

Uhhh.

I think I need to do some serious blocking of the pictures in there. Make it seem like I am a cultured, well-traveled intellectual. Rather than a drunken bum.

Yes, this needs to be worked on.

danov @ 2008-11-05T17:26:00

2008-11-05T22:28:20Z

PS- Can I just say YAAAY OBAMA! (Just to get on that bandwagon!)

In Deutschland and a new journal

2007-09-16T17:40:41Z

So wow.

The last week and a half as been crazy. So many stories, so many happenings, so many new things!
But the basics are I am now in Germany, life is good, I am surviving and whats more even enjoying myself three quarters of the time. (hey making new friends in a different language, attending school and getting used to a different culture and language isn't always a piece of cake ya know?)

So, I will still be writing in this journal for everyday journal stuff, and more personal based things, but all the pictures and details of where I am and any trips I may take will be here:
deutschlanddani

SO GO THERE!!!!

None of the entries are friends-locked so you don't have to technically friend me, but it would be nice, just so I can know who is hanging out. Don't worry if uou never talk to me, or don't really know me, or if we've fallen out of contact, that's cool.
But yes, cool pictures and travel stories this way---------> deutschlanddani

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T14:43:00Z

As per my cheesy tradition, I bring you a cat inspired holiday pictures, and some Christmas lyrics.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks
Dressed in holiday style
In the air
There's a feeling
of Christmas
Children laughing
People passing
Meeting smile after smile
And on ev'ry street corner you'll hear

Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring-a-ling, hear them sing
Soon it will be Christmas day

Strings of street lights
Even stop lights
Blink a bright red and green
As the shoppers rush
home with their treasures

Hear the snow crunch
See the kids bunch
This is Santa's big scene
And above all this bustle
You'll hear
Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring-a-ling, hear them sing
Soon it will be Christmas day

danov @ 2006-12-08T04:20:00

2006-12-08T04:20:14Z

Yup, that's right it's exam time again, saw this circulating around on a few of my friends list and thought I would do it again (I think I do it once a year during exams).

Ten songs randomly on shuffle, first line from each song, guess that song, no internet help.
And just so you know, if you guess number 4 you're a gift from God.

1. I heard you knocking on the cellar door, I love you baby, can I have some more?
2. There are my specs, the ones I have been looking for, I threw them out my window ten years ago.
3. It's true we named our children after towns that we've never been to, and it's true that the clouds just hung around.
4. No more aragatu, Mr evan hall it's so good to have you back in Canada, no more I worry about earthquakes or typhoons killing you.
5. Three important rules for breaking up, don't put off breaking up if you know you want to prolonging the situation only makes it worse.
6. I walked across an empty land, I knew the pathway like the back of my hand, I felt the earth beneath my feet.
7. Sitting on your ass all day thinking about your hangover and the party, and the fucking keys I had to beg for, from a stranger I never met before.
8. So it's is, just like you said it would be, life goes easy on me most of the time.
9. Lead me through these cities of imaginary trends, somethings gonna be changing come the morning time my friend.
10. I can't tolerate your saddness, cos it's me you are drowning, I won't allow for any happiness.</div>

danov @ 2006-10-01T12:53:00

2006-10-01T16:56:01Z

Things to do today:

~~-History Paper on Dickens and Ibsen~~Needs editing
-Readings for:

~~ARTH3100~~
~~ARTH 2480~~
~~Write one page analytical paper on Baxandall~~ Needs editing- due Tuesday
Germ 3020

-~~Start abstract with Biblio for Nationalism (due Thurs)~~
~~- Post group work for Germ 3020~~

danov @ 2006-08-30T17:54:00

2006-08-30T22:15:47Z

Sometimes my family drives me crazy. Sometimes, and i know this is a strong word, I hate them.
Yesterday was my 21st birthday, i know it's not that big of a deal, but it's still my birthday, I should feel somewhat special. I took the day off work because there was no way i wanted to spend a day with electronic Jewish old people (although now that I know the alternate maybe I should have). We went downtown so I could buy settlers of Catan, and of course, since we were downtown we had to stop and see Zach and Heather at the market (he sells his photographs). For started my Mom had to pull them both aside to remind them that it was my birthday and they both didn't even fucking look at me, they stared at their shoes and muttered 'happy birthday'. Then they went back to doing what my Mom, Zach and Heather do best when they are together. They talk about the baby. Now, i love Cora, Cora is sweet, cute, adorable, but she is also 4 months old. There is a limit.
for starters they made a HUGE FUCKING deal about the fact that it was Cora's 'birthday' meaning that she had turned four months old the day before. They talked about this for about 10 minutes, how proud they were, how cute they were, ect. Meanwhile it was my birhday and they could barely say a word to me. Then my Mom invited them over for cake (which I expected) but also invited them out for lunch (which I had previously told her i did NOT want).
So they came out for lunch, where nobody spoke to me. Big FUCKING surprise. Zach and Heather practically ordered the most exspensive things on the menu, and everyone talked about Cora, Mom's allergy and what was going on in Zach and Heather's life. Not a single question in my direction, barely a single comment and anytime I tried to say something I would get cut off by something about Cora. I was fucking miserable. I hated it.
After lunch, me and Mom went to the movies which I think was the only high point of my day. Little Miss Sunshine is a bloody hilarious movie! After that Zach, heather and Cora came over for cake (which I made myself because my Mom made a huge deal about how she could only eat one kind of cake at the grocery store). The minute everyone sat down, everything was about Cora. They make her talk, and carry on conversations about themselves, yet again came back to the fact that it was Cora's 'birthday'. Then Heather said to me in a snarky tone, "well open your presents'. Nobody even watched me do it. They all just paid attention to Cora, which was probably just as well as they seemed to have bought presents for Cora and then just wrapped them up and given them to me. They gave me gifts appropriate to a baby!
A few months ago, me and my Mom looked at silver spoons for Cora and my Mom mentioned how mine had been lost. So she gave me one for my birthday! WTF? A silver fucking baby spoon? A few weeks ago we had been looking at books for Cora, and my Mom showed me one and said 'I used to read this to you when you were little', so i was like 'cool'. Thinking she'd probably buy it for Cora for Christmas, instead she wrapped it up and gave it to me for my birthday? WTF! Did they want me to just hand over my presents to Cora? Can my Mother not stop thinking of Cora for three seconds long enough to think of me? The only Danielle appropriate gift I got was the DVD of Goodwill hunting.

I'm sorry, but excuse me? This is my birthday, and she kept making a big deal about what I wanted, so I had pointed out some clothes and some books and instead she bought me a BABY SPOON, and A BABY BEDTIME STORY? WTF!

After the presents they ignored me for a good solid 25 minutes, I sat in the chair and read the back of good will hunting over and over and over again, because no one would talk to me. They talk about Cora, to Cora, they watched her lie on the carpet and oohed and awwed.
Finally they brought the cake. My Mom was so busy showing Cora the cake that they only managed a weak 'happy birthday to you' before it was plopped in front of me. I blew out the candles, and they made a huge deal of 'why did i do that because Cora liked the candles' so they took the cake away, lit the candles again and let Cora watch them until they had practically burned down (getting wax all over my cake). I cut the cake, and by the time me and my Mom had our pieces Zach and Heather had already scarfed (think wild wolves) down theirs and we're out the door because Cora was tired and Heather wasen't feeling well.
They didn't even say good bye on their way out, and of course they didn't stick around to play settlers which they said they would (and was the only reason I wanted them to come over) since you can't play settlers with one person.

Also, my Mom called my grandparents today to find out why they didn't call me for my birthday, and they had no idea what she was talking about! My grandparents are not senile, they have good memories and they TOTALLY FORGOT MY BIRTHDAY!

I basically have been stewing all day. I hate birthdays. I wish I could have stayed 19 forever.</div>
But I want to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday. Birthday wishes from around the globe made my day a little brighter. Thanks guys!

danov @ 2006-08-26T11:22:00

2006-08-26T15:34:09Z

I can't wait to move back to Guelph. For the billionth time I wish I was an OV just so I could go back early.
I feel like everyone in my family is slowly replacing me. it dosen't matter what I want, or anything.

This may sound like classic 15 year old angst, but i don't really care.
Coming up on Tuesday, is the lost monumental birthday of my young years/. But I didn't do anything for 16, or 18, so why would I do anything for 21?
I would have prefered spending it with my friends, perhaps a large gorge and a bottle of vodka with a great friend. But

i'm stuck in Kingston, and stuck with my Mom. Who of course won't let me celebrate anything with my brother, his demented wife and their small child. They don't talk to me anymore, I don't talk to them. We can be in the same room for hours and not speak a word. They treat my Mom like crap and use the baby to bribe my Mom into giving them things. Yet of course, for my birthday they have to come.
I don't even want to go out for dinner. I hate going out for dinner with my family. The big ho-ha about what my mother can eat, the constant going back and forth to the kitchen, the gigantic book of ingredients, everyone staring at us. The baby crying, and Heather whipping out her boob and plopping it on the table every five seconds, not to mention Zach going on and on about his life. Does anybody talk to me when we go out as a family? No, they don't.

Let's flash back to my last birthday, shall we? We're at the resteraunt and right after the drinks are brought to the table Zach and Heather drop the bomb that they are having a baby. Why? because they know they are in public, and that my Mom won't freak out. The rest of the meal is hushed conversations, forced congradulations and not one single fucking word to me. After instead of doing what was previously planned, what I wanted because it was my birthday. We went baby shopping instead. For three hours, everyone cooed over baby clothes and about what a special day this was. Not because it was my birthday, but because of Zach and Heather and the baby.
It's my goddamn birthday and maybe for once I want to feel special.

I hate growing old, i hate feeling my stagnated life.

Sorry, I know, i'm a giagntic whinger.

danov @ 2006-08-17T22:48:00

2006-08-18T03:09:20Z

I've been getting used to my job. It all seems a little strange.
Everyday i walk by a group of Samurai warriors testing out their skills.

I then proceed to my small room, with my rather large computer in the corner. (in the afternoon the unfriendly researcher of the grand trunk railroad barricades herself in MY room and turns on the GODDAMN HEAT.. it's summer time, the air conditioning makes it wonderfully comfotorable until you are practically sitting on a radiator that is pumping out heat!!)

So far I have listened to:
a. an 80 year old woman named Leah who mumbles, speaks hebrew and changes subjects like nobodies buisness.
b. A young guy who used to be ridiculously good thinking, but then he lost his hair. he's miserable and tries to make it up by talking about the past.
c. A south African couple who hate their religion, hate their synagogue, and hate their congregation. The only reason they don't leave their super repressing orthodox synagogue and flee to the happy-clappy reform one down the street? They don't want their son to have to live with the embarrasement of having his bar mitzvah in a reform. (he's 6 years old).

So clearly these are some messed people.

There is also my boss, Gourd, who shows up only when he likes (one day so far). Gourd is a middle aged jewish history professor who took this job because he enjoys hanging out with the rabbi and reading old prayer books. So all i have seen of Gourd is him baked out of his gourd (haha, couldn't help it) while we scanned prayer books together. The guy is reading me hebrew and explaing about the high holidays.
"So, yeah like the high holidays, you know like Hannukah.. and uh..."
"Rosh Hashana, Yom Yippur, Sukkot?" I reply.
"uh yeah... i must be really high, Hannukah isn't even a high holiday. how did you know that?"
I just raise my eyebrows at him.
"Oh i see the gentile has got skills."

After that he sent me up to the attic to do inventory of 70 years of Synagogue paper work, while he stayed in the reading room popping pills and reading comics. When I finished (boxes A-W) he introduced me to the grand trunk railroad (heater girl):
"This is Nicole, she likes it hot" then he almost ran out of the room giggling.

It's quite funny, because I am actually enjoying my job.

danov @ 2006-08-09T14:29:00

2006-08-09T18:38:15Z

Perhaps the rest of the summer is shaping up slightly better than i thought.
The other day i called the University of Queen's archives about volunteering there (So I could finally have experience to put on my resume!) and today they call and offer me a job! (a job with money!!) I mean, it dosen't sound like the most thrilling of jobs (in the 1980's the university took taped interviews of the jewish community on oral history- and i get to listen to the tapes and transcribe them) but considering i was willing to do it for no money, now i will have money! Even if its only a little bit!

Also I have an interview in Guelph on Monday, which means i'll be in Guelph for the weekend (Dutch Jen!! This means you!) If I get that (SLG leader for history classes) not only will it mean i'll have money during the semester, but it'll look hella good when i apply for my Germany scholarships!

Music meme

2006-08-08T00:46:40Z

Reply and I'll give you a letter and you have to find five songs that start with that letter and post them to your journal.

Ari literati555 gave me an L:

1. La Vie Boheme- Rent (original Cast)
2. Landlocked Blues- Bright Eyes
3. London Still - the Waifs
4. Los Angeles, I'm yours- The Decemberists
5. Like a Leaf- The Tenderfoot

danov @ 2006-08-03T13:42:00

2006-08-03T18:09:31Z

Well. after resizing, sorting and transfering, I have finally uploaded some Australian pictures for you to all see!

Some pictures stolen from the wonderful psycho_tabby

Is it Native Dee? It's pretty anyway! From the botanical gardens in Sydney.

That's the harbour bridge peeking between trees -Botanical gardens Sydney

The stereotypical Sydney opera house shot.

Sydney skyline from the harbour.

Taking that architecture class made me appreciate the opera house way too much. Did you know its considered the great architectural masterpiece of our time?

It's a kangeroo, I know, how cliche. From the blue mountains in Sydney.

The sky was somehow higher in Australia.

the blue mountains

The three sisters, aboriginal story will be told upon request.

The entrance to the Botanical gardens in Sydney- has an old new thing going on.

Wallabies! Okay its at the Sydney zoo- but we can pretend they aren't.

*cough* from the zoo again.

It was private and had a view.

Kookaburra!

Its very difficult to capture the rainforest with a camera, but i tried. Mount Lamington National park- Brisbane.

The palm rainforest.

Crazy huge trees in the rainforest

The harbour in cairns- i'm a sucker for palm trees i make no excuses

I ate lunch here and thought it was pretty.

This is a 700 year old strangler fig- it was difficult to capture.

Wild Turtles!

Sadly in Queensland this is what's left of huge chunks of rainforest after the cyclones. I'm told they will grow back- in a few decades.

This is Malla Malla falls- the most photographed waterfall in Australia- I went swimming under it!

View of the Atherton tablelands in Queensland- this used to be rainforest- 94% percent of it was clearcutted.

In queensland.

One of my all time favorite Australians. Dee plans our next move atop a hill in Alice Springs, northern Terriority.

Sunset from Anzac hill in Alice Springs- okay so we were both really out of shape and almost didn't get up the hill.

First stop on our three day, backpackers extraordinaire tour of Uluru was Kings canyon. It was red and blue, with desert in between. Amazing.

Yeah that dropped plunged straight down. I didn't want to get too close.

Things don't really decompose out there, they just go black and look cool

The next day our first stop was Kata Tjuta- many heads. It was amazing, and tall, words can not describe the hugeness.

Taking a little break waiting for more pictures to upload. Hopefully you are still enjoying the huge amount of pictures.. and hopefully you're not running on dialup.
Sorry i just couldn't pick which one to get rid of.

Dee the environmentalist pointed out these flowers, Malla Mallas, and I thought they were pretty cool. But then again anything that can live on 250mm of rain a year is hella cool.

Ularu- I was trying to show just how big this rock is. Its huge.

Okay the next few pictures, i'll admit ive never seen rocks that red, or sky that blue- i think all of those pictures are pretty.

Ularu on the full moon.

Dee and I- yes she is wearing a Canadian sweater and I am wearing an Australian one. Posing with the rock as all tourists need to do, personally i think our shadows might have been cooler (first picture).

Sunrise over Ularu- we were the only tour for that. Probably for the best, it was damn cold.

Dee and i both concurred- Dead trees make pictures more interesting.

I had numerous theories for these holes- not one of them was plausible. I think at one point dee and I hatched a plan where breeded wallaby-mountain goat mixes could live in them.

It's PERTH!!!! From Kings park.

Meercats are just fucking cute.

Cottsloe beach- I ate fried pineapple and it was super fun.

Blue water and white sand.

From the second I snapped this one, I loved it, i'm not sure why.

You could look into the water and see huge schools of fish just swimming around.

Dee might have taken this one- so i won't take credit. This is a 28 bird we had a picnic at Mundaring weir and had them eating out of our hands.

We both clearly suffer from a computer addiction. We watched Life on Mars at our picnic.

bright tropical fish from AQWA

I knew I would find nemo eventually.

Downsouth, the light house in Augusta were the Southern and Indian ocean meet.

From skippy's rock right down from the light house- on this sand dune i felt like i was walking around on another planet- a very pretty one.

jewel cave- down south. I have a great love for rocks that hang from the ceiling. This rock formation was aptly called the waterfall.

Pictures can truly show how big the waves were that day. let me just say HUGE. The wind was howling. water was splashing and I nearly got blown away (with a huge grin on my face).

Where the creek meets the Ocean in Gracetown.

The waves really were huge.

Awesome Aussie Mates, Dee, Miko and Me.
The remaining pictures are out of order, because Dee took them, or I had already labelled them and thus they were uploaded later.

I need some evidence that I camped under the stars in a cattle farm near Ularu in the wintertime- this is it.

Tingle Trees are big ass trees! The tree top walk- near pemberton

We drove through dunes and down to the beach with James and his Dad- the sunset was awesome!

Feeding brightly coloured birds donuts and convincing them to sit on us at the Glouchester Tree.

Do I like terrified? At this point I had a climbed a 60m tree, my heart was beating so fast it hurt.

It was a very very scary tree.

Can anyone go to Australia and now have their picture taken with a kangeroo? Never mind that this is Dee's uncle's pet kangeroo.

Cows in Margaret River- they were all so curious.

The dunes in Pemberton were one of the coolest places ive been.

It felt like going to the Sahara only we drove there.

Amazing sunset

JELLYFISH! AQWA

The great barrier reef- its hard to take pictures underwater, but maybe just maybe you can see the amazingness of it

That one is sideways (too lazy to change it now) and I don't know how the hell the date (the wrong date) got imprinted on my photos!

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danov @ 2006-06-28T08:38:00

2006-06-27T22:43:27Z

In Sydney... it's pretty rocking.

So far none of my worst nightmares of losing things, being robbed ect have come to pass.

They do however have palm trees and wild cockatoos in the middle of the city. That's just awesome.

danov @ 2006-06-23T21:54:00

2006-06-24T01:56:10Z

Well tomarrow I am off for my adventure down under.

Wish me luck.

Miko, Dee- i'll see you soon and you better believe I am excited.

danov @ 2006-03-24T13:01:00

2006-03-24T18:03:27Z

2 three thousand word papers -FINISHED
1 fifteen hudred word paper- FINISHED
One final exam- FINISHED
Two quizzes- FINISHED

All in 5 days, all completed, all handed in on time.
Maybe now I can finally get some sleep.