I kind of realized that I was stuck in a semi-rut after that trip. I was just seeing that I maybe wasn't being as social or adventurous here in Australia as I could be and I got real panicky and felt like I was going through a[nother] quarter-life crisis because I didn't know what to do with my life. I'm going back home in July, which really isn't that far away. It's less than two months away and I don't want to go home thinking that I wasted my time here. I always get so pumped up about doing things like getting a good job or exploring all these other places in Australia, but then I kind of just get comfortable and get stuck doing the same routine.
I think it's really important to do the things that you want to do and not let anything get in the way. Sounds selfish but I think this is a time in my life I'm allowed to be selfish. Maybe there's not an actual time you're ever allowed to be selfish, but I think it's okay to do things for yourself. I feel like I'm just a little lost right now. So I'm just trying to figure things out.
I decided I might just be a "permanent temp worker" for the rest of my life. Well hopefully not the RESTof my life, but I wouldn't mind doing it for a few years. So I can save up money to travel to the next place. And we all know I don't like staying at jobs for too long anyway ha. OH and that reminds me - I got another job! Well let's first talk about my first job that I got - the cafe job. So it's at Cafe Moravia, which I love. I love the cafe I mean. The food is good, the coffee is delicious, everybody that works there (minus my boss) is awesome. But like I said before, the pay is shit and my boss tried to pull a fast one on me and pay me LESS than $11 an hour. So I talked to him and [hopefully] sorted everything out... we'll see when I get paid this Wednesday if he's going to pay me $12 like he said he would. But other than the low pay, I really like working there. The best part is that I tell them my availability week by week and so I essentially make my own schedule! They usually schedule me around 3 days a week, which isn't bad because they're usually 8 hour shifts and so it's a good amount of money to make on the side.
Anyway, I applied for a few other places and I ended up finding out today that I got a job at this company, Thumbprint Creative Promotions, as a Brand Ambassador. So it's essentially the same as a job I had in The States where I did promo work and basically just promoted Bacardi & Grey Goose and other alcohol brands by giving away samples at bars or doing in-store booths. Pretty easy work and so hopefully I'll get a couple shifts a week. And they pay $20, which isn't bad - more than my other job at least. But the hours are shorter but together with both jobs, I think I'll be fine in the earning money area. I just got my tax return finally but I'm trying not to touch any of it so I'll have money when I leave Australia.
Oh so that brings me back to what I was originally talking about... I leave in July but I don't really want to leave. I don't think that I've really experienced enough and so I think I'm going to come back after I go home for a few weeks in July. I'm going to one of my high school best friend's (Rosy) wedding and I also have other things I need to take care of when I go home - find a place to put my car and get the rest of my furniture and stuff out of my old place in San Diego. And of course it'll be nice to see my family and friends too. So I think the plan right now is to go visit and then come back here, maybe make a stop in the UK on the way back. Which really isn't on the way at all and actually will cost a shit ton, but I'm trying to go travel there for a bit too. Vince, my friend I met in New Zealand, lives in England and so he'll hopefully show me around a bit. I also want to go to Ireland while I'm over there too but we'll see how much money I'll actually save from these two jobs. Plane ticket prices are NO joke. It's actually only like, $400 to fly to London from LA, but from London back to Melbourne is like, $1300 one way. Ridiculous.
So after the UK, the plan is to go back to Australia. Ash, another friend I made in NZ, is all about scuba diving and I'm trying to get my scuba certification soon (I actually just got a Groupon deal that's super cheap to get certified!) and he's going to the Great Barrier Reef in September or something so that's another trip I'm planning on making! We're also trying to train to run a half marathon! Super exciting.
Nate and I are going to Fiji in June so I'm pretty excited about that as well. We got super cheap tickets for like, $150 each for a ticket there but we haven't gotten a ticket back, so we're probably gonna need to work on that soon. I've also been going to hip hop classes! Well technically I've only gone to 2 so far, but I LOOVE it so I'm planning on going every week! I've also been trying to explore different parts of the city more as well. Finally went to Brunswick Street last night and we went to a couple bars there - Bimbo Deluxe and Naked For Satan. Melbourne bar names are hilarious. Bimbo had $4 pizzas and Naked for Satan had $1 tapas so it was a pretty good deal. Every bar I go to I always ask if there are any "drink deals" or "happy hours" but I've concluded that NOWHERE in this state has anything like that, which is mildly depressing. Nate and I also went to the Crown Casino on Saturday and went to their sports bar to watch the NBA playoffs. We actually were only able to watch one game (Lakers Nuggets) because the rest of them started at 4am, 7am and 9am. But I'm probably going to live there during the finals because those will all be night games (AKA noon games here). It was kinda lame because there were footy games on the second half of the game and so they changed the NBA game to a small TV and had the AFL games on the big TVs w/ sound. I HATE watching games without sound. But just being able to watch them period is nice.
Anyway, this has been a relatively boring entry, my apologies if you actually read it the whole way through and feel as if it were a waste of time. Hopefully next entry I'll have more interesting things to talk about :)