Didgeridoo

About how long does it take to master the didgeridoo and do significant numbers of musical white Australians give it a try?


It takes a very long time to master the didgeridoo- because to play it 'properly' you need to develop cyclic breathing, that is, being able to breathe in while you're blowing out. The lip vibrations needed are also very difficult. I think that most kids have tried blowing into a didgeridoo or even just a cardboard tube, to try and make the sounds, but most musical adults don't take it up, they stick to things like the saxophone or the guitar or the keyboard- most white people seem to prefer to be able to play a tune. And there aren't many opportunities for a white didgeridoo player to play it.

Most people who buy didgeridoos are tourists, to be honest. Or you buy it as a cultural item, rather than something to play.

Something else to think about- women can't play it (and it's frowned upon for anyone white to play it too). According to Aboriginal traditional Law, it is a man's instrument. That's not stopped girls from giving it a try, but it's very much frowned upon, so by the time they're adults, most of the women don't try or play, out of respect. I haven't tried playing a didgeridoo since I was about 9 years old, it just seems wrong to do it, and when I tried, I didn't know the rules.

Nicole Kidman apparently played one in the Australia movie- that's caused quite a lot of backlash.

Are There Big Spiders In The Street Or In Your House?

The first "Questions about Australia" entry!

This is one that so many people ask. They're terrified that they'll be bitten and killed.
The thing is... yes. There are spiders. We have the most poisonous spiders in the world, and there are quite a lot of them. However, most of them are outside, being poisonous to other insects. They don't usually enjoy being inside- there's not much for them to eat.
They do get inside though.

A few weeks back, my friend and I were at a party, and we were helping clean up afterwards. And we came across a red back spider- one of the most scary ones. They've got a black body and a red line/streak on their backs. They're not huge compared to other spiders, but I hear they're a *lot* bigger than American or English spiders. We had a great time trying to kill it! (sarcasm). One of the guys was trying to spray it while standing on a chair, and it was just flailing around rather than dying, and then it decided to drop from the ceiling and because it was night time we couldn't see it for a while. We eventually had to squish it because we sure couldn't kill it with the spray fast enough! That was however one of the only poisonous animals that my friend definitely saw.

Again a few weeks back, there was a nasty looking black spider running around in my dvd collection- cue me squealing and getting my friend to catch it for me.

A few years back, there was a really big huntsman spider (they're HUGE, look them up!) in our kitchen. I couldn't squish it because it was huge, I couldn't spray it because again, it was huge, and there was food around the place that Mum had prepared for that night. The only option we had was to catch it.
It was so big, I had to catch it in a sieve. One of those big ones.
It was pretty horrifying!

Basically in answer to your question- Yes, there are spiders. Yes, they come inside. Yes some are huge and some are poisonous. But with a bit of common sense you can avoid them or get rid of them, and if you're here on holiday you shouldn't have too much to worry about.

I'm Answering Questions About Australia

Ask me questions about Australia, and I'll try to answer them!

Sponsored Posts

I'd like to offer sponsored posts on this blog. They would help fund my friend and my first website's hosting! That website will be coming out in a few weeks- I won't tell you exactly what it is yet, but it's for positive minded intelligent people with an optimistic view on the world. It's a community project, and hopefully something that people will enjoy reading and commenting and posting on.

The sponsored posts will work like this: You donate however much money you would like to give. It can be as big or small amount as you'd like. Then you email me at Livinginthepast_minis@yahoo.com.au with your post text and any images. It can be an ad, a public message to us, information about immigration or Australia, a 'what's going on in my life' sort of post... anything you want as long as it's not obscene or illegal.

I'll then post it up here for all to see!

Cheap advertising, that also helps two young people get a start on their dreams!

A Catch Up

I know that people don't like scrolling down too far in blogs, so I thought that I'd summarise what is happening.
My best friend was in Australia for two years (I knew him for a year and a half). He had to leave because his visa expired. However he's built a life up here, he has friends, and he loves Adelaide, South Australia (though apparently that surprises some of you!). He loved it so much he stayed here for a year on a tourist visa, of course without a job, making himself broke.
Now, the only ways to come back is 1) to find him a job here that would be willing to sponsor him for a business visa. 2) A student visa- which costs a lot of money.
Which is where this blog comes in. This blog will hopefully get us a little bit of money, but it will also chronicle our attempts to get enough money for a student visa. The blog will also talk about Adelaide, friendship, Australia, the difficulties of immigration, etc.

Where we stand now: He left Australia on the 16th of December, and we're having a slight break for Christmas, before launching ourselves into making websites. And I'm trying to adjust myself to being by myself.

And someone serving me tea has only made me sad a few times.

Sigh

Not to sound melodramatic but right now I'm really not in the mood to talk about it.
... Strange isn't it, that I was all "Oh yeah I'll blog about this" but right now? I really just want to avoid talking about it, and live my life as if nothing were wrong for a little while, even though there really is, and the twinges of loneliness have started. It's worse of course since it's Christmas, and all my other friends are super busy as well.

On the plus side, the bed and mattress got sold! We used Gumtree, because, hey, it's free. Which is important right now. However he lowered the price a few days before he left in the hope that it'd sell faster... and then we forgot to put it back up again after he left and his stuff was sitting in my shed. So, it probably would have sold for a lot more. Oh well, there's hope for the desk yet! And maybe there'll be some sort of fantastic bidding war!

Sorry

Sorry for total lack of updates. Real Life, and helping my friend move out plus socialising as much as possible first, really took over.
The flight is tomorrow.

The Nature of Donations

My friend and I were having a chat the other night about making money. And he was saying that though yes, he'd love to have money, he feels a bit weird about donations. Why? I asked. Because I totally intend to stick by what we said and properly go for this. Because then there's too much pressure, he says. What if we don't make it, or we have to change what we spend the money on? Or he changes his mind? Like, he might decide to do a completely different PHD, or try desperately to get a job again, rather than a student visa. And so, donations and fundraising are too much pressure. I sort of get what he means- he wouldn't want to let any of you, or our friends down. He's certainly not a defeatist, he's not saying that he doesn't intend to try his hardest, but if hundreds of people donated a few dollars even, it'd be hugely embarrassing if things went wrong.

Which is why I'm slightly changing my strategy. Donations and fundraising will be for services and work already done, and fundraising will be for specific aspects of our projects. A slight change in attitude makes all the difference.

For example. You enjoy reading this blog, so you decide to donate $2. What we do with the money is then our business (though, I'm 99% sure his half'll go to trying to get the money for the PHD, or website development. Or maybe paying off his debt so that he can actually start making a profit).

You hear that we're making a new website that you like the sound of. You might want to donate a little bit of money to go towards our hosting fees. Therefore, paying for a service we will be providing.

I might be selling something, and you like it.

I might decide to run a sausage sizzle at uni, and I'd make sure it's specifically targetted to one aspect, such as "To pay for the hosting of our new website that is almost up". And then we'd get the majority of our money from advertisements. Maybe when it's *really* near to getting the right amount of money, fundraising for a certain aspect of coming back, like plane tickets, or a new bed, fridge and desk, might work. Or for shipping fees to bring his stuff back. And whatever the fundraiser is, it'll always be in exchange for something- a nice night out, food, whatever.

I'm pretty sure "I'ts going towards his PHD and coming back to Adelaide" will be in the backs of your minds, and we'll still be encouraging donations, and trying to raise a lot of money, but we're not being hugely specific with what the money is going to.

I can guarantee though that we would never blow it on beer and hookers. :P

I thought some honesty about this would be best. What do you think about the donation situation?

Car!

Well, yesterday, he sold his car. To the first couple to view it. Pretty amazingly fast! And it was for a good price, which is fantastic.
Unfortunately now, this means that he's feeling pretty stranded and isolated. And he still has a bed, desk, and fridge, to be sold.
Only a little over a week to go. *sigh*
Don't suppose anyone can offer him a job that'll sponsor him to stay?

Australia's Prosperity

Prosperity Chart.
ohhh yeah. :D Not entirely unsurprising! I knew we rocked! (as did my friend...)

What Would You Like to See?

What would you like to see me blog about, that fits with the theme of the blog? I'm up for requests! :D I'd like to make this blog interesting and useful.

Tah Dah!

Who says we can't do it?
This was our Project Wonderful account yesterday. Our very first cent! One step the right direction! (Not including the small amount of money I've made from figurines to put towards this)

I know many people who will probably laugh at our one cent. But, many people also laugh at the concept that people can make any money at all off websites. Several of my friends and family members, for example.

How Annoying!

How annoying! Blogger wasn't working for me for several days. Very very strange stuff.

But I'm back now, and have several post updates to make!

Helping Someone This Christmas

Obviously I do 'have' to say "oo! Help us! Help us!" in this post, but if you just get inspired by it, I hope whoever you do help is worthy!

I've been feeling a little disillusioned about Christmas lately. It's a very quiet day- my family only has six people in it, and one of them goes overseas every second year. This year is one of them. I need to do something different. Originally I was vaguely hoping that My Friend might be in the country, but he's of course having to go home, and probably would have gone home for Christmas anyway. Years back, I would have been upset if something 'different' happened at Christmas, like someone else randomly being there, ruining my routine. Now, the routine needs improving.
It'll be something I can do once My Friend leaves- I'll have plenty of time to make decorations, or plan to cook.

One thing that I've wanted to do, is to do something to do with a charity. Not on the actual day. This year, my charity is obviously my friend. He's not a starving orphan, but he is broke. :P

I found this site the other day.

Yes, the car is... magic?

So, does anyone want a car? Of course, you'd have to be in the Adelaide area. My friend is also selling a small fridge, a bed, and a desk. It's going to be really hard for him to sell it all within two weeks. I'm suggesting he says that the car is magic. :P Or that the fridge is haunted. Or Elvis used the desk.

The car is a...
Mitsubishi Magna TE Advance, 1997, 147,259 KM .

Project Wonderful

I'm filled with a sense of... something beginning. The first lot of project wonderful ads are up! And they're on this blog. I know this blog isn't Traffic Central, but it's a start. When my friend said that we *really* were going to have to do the websites, I did what he advised me to do many times before, and just jumped right in. We had many conversations about how so many people who want to be business people spend months fussing about business cards etc, rather than just *starting the business* and worrying about that sort of thing later- it really does put you off actually starting. Think about the projects you've put off before.

So, one of our newly discovered principles is to just jump in, and also, once we've decided on something in our individual lives, to take steps, from that day on, to aim towards that goal. Most people just wish for things, without doing it. I really do advise that you try this yourself, no matter what your goal is. You want more friends? Start asking about clubs or activities, or just talk to random people at parties. Want a better job? Start working on your resume, or start building up your experience. Want to help the world? Pick one thing you could do, and start doing it.

So, a few weeks back, I was like 'you're right. Websites. Gotcha' and started this blog the next day. My aim was to get to a point where I could feasibly start making money, within a month. And I got to that goal.

Now to wait for the ads to come, and to keep the content to a level that might be readable!

Aw, Ebay

My Jeeves and Wooster didn't sell for a second time. Which is very disappointing.
Would it be fantastic to have a bidding war over it, and end up with some sort of Ebay freak thing and get lots of money from it? Actually I'd be happy if it'd just sell. I'll have to have a think about the best time for me to repost it.

Also I'd like to remind you about the poll. :)

The Future

If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting.

A piece of advice that my friend has drummed into me (in the nicest way possible). What do you want, and how do you plan to go about getting it? Are you unhappy with how your life is now? Have you tried to change anything?

33

One of our money making ideas is creating websites. At the moment, this is the only one, but we've got another one coming soon.

I just went and wrote out all the website ideas I remembered we'd had... and a couple of extras, and there's thirty three. That's an awful lot!

I'm very excited about it, and I hope we get as many up and running as possible!

Fundraising Legalities

Maybe some of you could help.
I know, from a club I'm in that does raffles, that raffles are regulated, as it's a form of gambling. But there's all sorts of qualifiers to that that I've heard of... like, it's okay if it's under $1,000 and the whole thing is done within 8 days? And it's okay if... something to do with who it is who is doing the raffle itself.
I also learnt today that there's regulations on asking for money on the street, but it sounds like it's only if it's an actual charitable donation (so ... environment groups don't count as charitable, according to the example), and where it is you're asking for money...
I'm so confused.

I had been considering doing some sort of fundraising competition on here, but it seems like that wouldn't be allowed now.

Does anyone know if I ran a few events, and had some of the entry fee money going to helping my friend, if that would be legal? I'm pretty sure it would be.

What I've Done To Help Today

I know that I've been posting a lot. It's because I keep thinking of new things to post up, and time's so short I can't just space them out to one a day.

So, here's what I've done to help in the past 24 hours.

Posted on the blog
Advertised the blog
Applied for Project Wonderful Ads, as I have 30 posts now.
Applied for Google Adsense Ads
Looked up where's best to sell furniture.
Looked up where's best to sell cars.
Tried to figure out how much he should sell his car for, since he wanted a second opinion.
Did some research for websites that will hopefully be a) fun, b) bring in some income through ads or services.

Worked out that if everyone in Adelaide gave only 5 cents to this, we'd have $50,000 with no problems.

If all the students in Adelaide Uni only donated $4 each, we'd be there as well.

I really do think that should be our strategy- a little, from a lot.


I also looked up things about charities and how to fundraise and how to support charities.

Pretty Pretty Adelaide

What's your favourite part of Adelaide?

Poll

Please note the poll on the side of the blog. I'd like you to vote in it.
By "This" I mean "Raise enough money to get him back to Australia, or at least enough to get a plane ticket for me to go over to England".

Ovens and Making Money From

When my friend moved into his unit, it was filthy. Oh the filth... the filth! We spent a few whole days cleaning it. Mould all over the shower, unexplained black marks around the toilet (BLEACH GET ME BLEACH), and felt faint from all the cleaning products we used.
We gave up on the oven- he doesn't use it, he only uses the stovetop. I was sitting on the floor trying to clean the inside of the oven door (why yes, it was a bad angle!) for about an hour, and it's still not clean. :( We didn't even attempt the inside of it.

So, someone the other day gave a suggestion! We call up an oven cleaning product company, get them to come over and take photos of the oven, and then we try to clean it using their product. If it doesn't work, we might be able to get free stuff. If it does work, maybe they could pay for the photos "See, our products clean even the most disgusting of ovens!"

... do you think it would work? If there weren't only two weeks to go, I'd totally be doing this.

A Reason To Love Adelaide -Flashmobs

I think I'll post up reasons to love Adelaide every now and then.

Adelaide is a city in South Australia. And it's the only one of any size there. It's also rather isolated. It has over a million people but somehow it does still feel like a small town. And as a result, young people either bitch that it's a boring place, or, they make their own fun. My friend and I are in the 'make your own fun' category.

One of the things that some Adelaideians have come up with, is Flashmob. It's not as if we invented it, but they go and do it every month or so. I've not yet been, it's always been a day that I've had something else on. It's a group of people who are given instructions to do something. And it entertains or confuses people who watch. Yesterday they did something. The instructions I was given was "Meet in Hindmarsh Square, and bring bubble blowing equipment".

I'm not quite sure what they did. But I suppose photos will be up soon.

Other times they've dressed as ninjas and run through Rundle Mall, other times they've made a fake queue outside a shop pretending to wait for an author's signing or a release or something, not quite sure. They've done lots of other things too.

Ebay

Well so far my ebay idea hasn't been going that well. Not that that means I'm giving up, it just means I have to go about it a different way. There's two days left on the new Jeeves and Wooster listing. Does anyone know how to promote it more? Or maybe what I should make next time that might 'work' better?

Also, can I draw your attention again to the donate button. :) Usually I won't be just asking for random money without me giving you something in return, but in this case it might be a "Wow, you're entertaining me with your crazy money raising idea!" or "Hmn, I have two dollars sitting around in my paypal account..."


Does anyone have Stumbleupon? I'd love it if you'd thumbs up me. :)

So Many Things I'll Miss

There's such a huge list of things that I really wanted to do with my friend, and now won't have time for.
Until we get him to come back of course.
I was just thinking about dancing, and a song came up in my head, I think it's called Chasing Cars? "If you lie here, would you lie with me" etc...
It is played when we do certain styles of dance.
... and it's a sad song anyway. I now also connect it with dancing. And, though it's a happy memory, sometimes losing something happy makes it become sad. I don't know if I'll be able to listen to that song without crying now.
Does anyone know if there's a way to stop doing that, getting upset at things that you've lost that were happy?

Well, not lost. Just... delayed. I hope.
*sigh*

Don't worry dancing friends, I probably won't randomly burst into tears in the middle of rumba.


I've been doing more Project Wonderful advertising today. I hope it's worth it! And soon I'll be able to have my own adspaces on this blog, which will be excellent!

/emo

Running Out Of Time

I'm so stressed right now. As in, this exact minute.

I had a really great night last night with my friend, and a whole bunch of other people. But at the same time I'm so aware that Time Is Running Out- Not that that made me stress out last night. It's more today.
I was hopeful to do something tonight with him and some of my different other friends who he hasn't seen for ages (well, at a party about three weeks back, but that is different to actually properly hanging out, you know?) and enjoys the company of, but it was not to be apparently- they're all busy/otherwise unable to hang out, unexpectedly.

So instead he's working on selling his stuff, as he was torn between working on 'things that must be done' and socialising, and so the fact that other people can't come now tipped the balance towards work.

Which means I'm sitting here at home, unable to help or socialise. ... I need to work out something constructive I can do, as I can't really help with any of his 'selling possessions' problems right now. I looked up some websites for selling things. But that's about all I could do.
I totally hate this feeling of helplessness and Time Running Out. It can't be helped for tonight, but what if the group of us don't manage to find a time we're all free? It's an upsetting thought. I've been reassured that *somehow* we'll find time.
I shouldn't be so negative but ... yikes. Time. Bad.

Are You on MSN Right Now?

If you are on msn right now, it would help me greatly if you would take the link to this blog, and give it to your friends. Whoever's online.
Word of mouth is a fantastic tool!

Stats

I just signed up for sitemeter.com , so that I could get some stats for this blog. Wonder how long it takes to update! It's still showing no views, and considering I got two comments in the past few hours, I think that's false.
I have absolutely no idea how many people are reading this blog. I hope some people are, and that they're enjoying it in some way shape or form.

Foyle's War

Nothing to do with anything? But, Foyle's War is having a new series out, where it's set after the war! :D I'm so excited. Foyle's war is fantastic, it's about an older policeman in the Second World War (Christopher Foyle), his crippled sergeant (Paul Milner), and his driver, a young woman who gets really into the policing world (Sam Stewart), and the murder mysteries they solve. And it's just very cute, and all the murder mysteries are rivetting, and the settings are fantastic, and so many of the murders and plots are tied into wartime life.
This will be brilliant!
It fits in sort of here in this blog, because my friend and I were watching it a bit obsessively for months. We've now moved on to Jeeves and Wooster.

Sausage Sizzle

Ah, the good old Aussie Sausage Sizzle Fundraiser!

For those of you who are not Australian, you may not know what this is.

A definition from Urban Dictionary (scarily, number 4 on the list, after stuff about having too many guys in a room... obviously the contributors to Urban Dictionary are not Australian, as we'd know straight away which definition we meant!)

4)A bbq, usually for fundraising purposes, at which cheap sausages are cooked and sold in bread for around $1.50

Barbecue, people. Barbecue. Or Barbie. Not bbq. blah.

Anyway! They're really popular at universities. Students always want cheap sausages. Delicious when starving between lectures! When a group of people did it for a club fundraiser I was at, they got quite a few hundred dollars profit in only a few hours.

And some of my other friends last night offered to help me sell sausages at a sausage sizzle for my English Friend.

It'll have to wait until next year, when I'm a student again, and uni's open, but... aw, how nice! And it could be a nice little boost for funds! Especially if I do it a few times! Plus, it's not much effort.
And maybe I could have a donations box, or sell some other things too at the same time. Or would that just piss people off?

So Tired

I'm so tired right now! So tired I forgot to blog the other day. Whoops.
The reason why I'm so tired is because I've been deliberately staying up really late, so that I can socialise with my friend... and then still having to get up in the morning.
It's so tiring, as well as stressful and upsetting, having a friend leave. You want to spend every moment with them.
Naptime I think.

Woo!

Well, I showed my friend this blog.
And though at first I was like "On a scale of 1-10 how much would he want to kill me", he didn't want to kill me. :P

The Donation Button

You may be looking at that donation button thinking "Oh but she needs a whole lot of money, and I'm practically broke!"
That may be the case. But if you did want to help... really, two dollars does help. Don't believe me? How about those people who stand around with tins at Christmas time. You give them a few cents each, and they eventually have hundreds. You never think 'oh but I won't be able to help at all!'
Well you could think that, but then everyone would think that and the donations would never happen.

One Sold!

The Flying Spaghetti Monster Sold!
It would have been nice if there'd been a bidding war though. Hmn.

I've also put Jeeves and Wooster back up.

The minimum bid is AU$40, which is a very good deal. I've been selling it for US$40 on Etsy.

Last Five

11. Watch the Sunset Over Uluru

Another one I haven't done. I doubt I'll be going up there anytime soon either. Maybe one day. It's not really my ideal holiday destination, but I've heard it's quite pretty in the Stark sort of way.

12.
Trek and Tour the Kimberley

Never been in that state even. But have a look at some of the pictures- it looks pretty! ... I'm not a 'trek' sort of person though. Eh.

13. Pet The Wild Crocodiles in Kakadu

... you what now?

14. Swim with Dolphins and Monkey Mia

That would be nice!
Did you know that in Adelaide, in the Port River, there are dolphins? They live there all year round. My friend and I tried to go and see them ages back but we didn't have a very good day in Dolphin terms.

15.

Cradle Mountain, Tasmania

It's pretty spectacular. We did lots of walking. :D


So, where would you say are your top places to go to in Australia?

Things to See in Australia -Part 2

6. Wine Tour Through the Hunter Valley
Yeah, it's a really nice area. :)

... if you like wine. I prefer to just drive around in it. And if you wanted to do winery stuff in South Australia, go to the Barossa Valley. The wine we make here is served in the best restaurants around the world.

7. Climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
On a personal note- Hell No. My brother wanted to climb it last time we went to Sydney and none of us would do it with him. I'm getting vertigo just thinking about it. It's the world's largest curved bridge apparently. And though I do believe that they haven't lost anyone on the trip... not my cup of tea. :P But if you're up for that sort of thing, go for it! I prefer to just walk on the road part of the bridge.

8. Brave the Waves and Bondi Beach

I suppose going to Bondi is one of those 'Do It So You Can Say You've Done It' things. Personally I don't find it an impressive beach. I'm also not a surfer, so I may not know what I'm talking about.

9.

Climb Mt Kosciusko

I'm really starting to suspect that the title of this article was very sadly misnamed.
Anyway, it's the largest mountain in Australia. I have no idea how 'hard' the walk is.

10.
Ride the Ghan Train

oo ooo! I've been on this one! Again when I was 5. :P
And not the whole way.

15 Things You Can't Miss in Australia - though we have

My friend never left Adelaide. I've been around Australia a bit. I thought that this could be interesting for some of you though - There's a lot to see in Australia.

I got the list of 15 Things You Can't Miss in Australia from This Link.

1. Daintree Rainforest (Queensland)
I've been there. It really was spectacular. Unfortunately I was also about 5 years old, so it's all mixed up in my head. I *think* it was the one that we were in a caravan park in, and Mum woke us up at dawn and we went down to the beach where there were hundreds of blue butterflies.
However, I may be wrong about where those butterflies were. It gets very confusing remembering stuff from when you're 5. But if you can somehow see the butterflies- do so. And the rainforest. Part of the 'problem' (or joy!) of Australia is that it's huge, so there's so much to see and do, and if you did lots of it when you were little, sometimes you just can't go back again for a very long time.

2. Helicopter Ride over Great Ocean Road.

Sounds like fun! ... ... if you can afford a Helicopter ride. :(
I've driven along the Great Ocean Road however. If you didn't know, it's how you get between Adelaide and Melbourne. The slower, but prettier way. I don't know why this guide is saying that a helicopter ride is the can't miss part though. I'd say it's a "Would be great to do, if you could afford it". There are some fantastic rock formations and scenery.

3. Charter a yacht from Cairns.

... Okay, has this been written for millionaires? Because "Can't miss" implies that you should try to do all of them.

If you're in Cairnes however, I do suggest you go on a boat trip of some sort.

4. Burn a Hole in Your Pocket, Crown Casino, Melbourne.

I've been there a few times- I never gambled, I'm not a gambling type except when it comes to life choices. What I *would* do however, is go and have a meal at their all you can eat buffet. Get a seat at the window if you can, or, on the hour, get out of your seat and go to the window. And on the hour, every hour, is a fantastic display of fireballs coming from the big pillars in front of the casino. Also I think there are some free shows in the foyer. Just wandering around in there is fun!

5. Swim at Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island

When I was there last, they weren't letting people swim. Apparently the sunscreen that people have been wearing into the water has damaged things, so they were giving the lake a few years to rest from the busloads of tourists. However! DO go. If you can, get one of the four wheel drive bus tours. They're a lot of fun. Driving over endless stretches of beaches- the driver called it a Highway, and it really feels like that. The dingoes! The absolutely pristine creeks! I didn't swim, but I sure paddled. You could drink that water it was that clean. There's also a lake there that we went to that is slightly acidic, and 'they' say that if you swim in it, you become more beautiful. Your hands sure become smoother! Also the tour had really nice food, some lovely walks, and some great wildlife. If you're going without a tour, DO make sure you have a four wheel drive. And phones don't work over there, so be careful. On the boat on the way over, we saw lots of dolphins as well. It was a great day out.

I'll be back with my comments on the other 10 later!

Thanks!

A big thank you to the people over on Livejournal, who have listened to me try and find jobs for my friend, and several have emailed me potential jobs. You're awesome. As are all the people who are telling me it's not impossible, and that I'm not entirely crazy.

Of course if anyone has any more ideas for jobs, just comment!

And if anyone has any thoughts about the sorts of things they'd be interested seeing me talk about here, or some fundraising ideas, please, tell me. :) Anonymous comments are fine.

5 Hours To Go

Five hours to go for both of the auctions! So if you want a flying spaghetti monster ornament, go fight over it! It's quite cutely awesome, plus all money from it will go to Bringing Him Back.
If the Jeeves and Wooster figurine doesn't get a bid, I'll put it back up later on.

Bloggerang

Again in the Bloglist, you'll find another link. This one is to a guy who came to Australia for a few months. He blogged almost every day, and I find it interesting to read an American's perspective on Australia. Plus, he likes some of my favourite shows!

Flying Spaghetti Monster

The other thing I put up on Ebay was one of my two flying spaghetti monster ornaments. The tie is a narrow strip of leather. And it's great for Christmas!


May you be touched by his noodley appendage!

Go and bid, the auction's almost over, and it's going for AU$10, which is hugely cheap.

Hire Michael

In my bloglist, you'll see a blog called "Hire Michael". I thought that since it was a similar sort of theme to mine, that I would link it. Go, check it out! :)

Part Time Job

I'm a penniless student. I didn't get a job all through highschool or uni, because my mother encouraged me to study instead. I get stressed easily. The deal was that when I took a break from uni this year, before going back next year, I would get a part time job. It didn't happen. I applied for a few. I had a few ideas. Temping for example.
I know I'm spoilt. But after 18 years in school, I really needed a break. I needed to think about what I wanted to do. I needed to have a *life*. I had some great friends in highschool. I had good times. I also had some horrible friends and some really crappy things that messed me up. My good friends from highschool stuck by me in Uni. I didn't make more friends in uni. I made acquaintances, usually a few weeks before the end of semester. Some of them were really nice, but real friendships just didn't seem to happen. This year and a half, I actually got a 'real life'. A real social life. Not boozing and guys, which is what lots of people consider to be a 'life', but a life where I was actually making more friends. While being geeky. And I started sorting myself out. It's all down to meeting this friend of mine. If I hadn't met him at the time I did, I have no doubt that I would have just been sitting home alone dying of boredom, and I'd have gotten the part time job.
I'd have gone to work, come home, sat around, and every few weeks, seen my friends.
Instead, I got Dreams. I'm working my way out of the rut, and I don't ever want to go back again. He helps me out of it. That's what I do for my friend too- help him out of his rut. Somehow we just 'work' like that.

I just got upset- my Dad said that he was going out. "Oh! I needed some money for dancing lessons!" I said. (Dancing was one of the things that my friend and I started up together). Dad got angry at me for not telling him sooner, as he had no money on him, and told me that I should have asked him before. "I did, on Friday". Little argument ensued, ending with him saying that he'll see what he can do.
This dancing is important to me- it's a big part of my social life, and there's a limited amount of time that I can spend dancing now, with my friend, and it won't be the same with out him. The other people are nice, but I've always been a bit shy and there's no way I want to miss out on this dancing lesson because I couldn't find $12. He came back from the bank with a $20 note.
Left it on the table and walked out saying "I think it's time you found a job".

Yeah Dad. I know.

But I think finding a life was a little more important.

Why Jeeves and Wooster?

The first thing is of course, I love Jeeves and Wooster. I started making figurines of them ages back, I made one for a friend. And then I realised that people would actually want to buy them- I know a lot of Jeeves and Wooster fans. I accidentally underpriced for a few of the figurines though. Each one is made with polymer clay, (it's like plasticine that you bake and it goes hard) and so far, has taken about three hours each.

I'm perfectly capable of making other sorts of figurines, but I really love Jeeves and Wooster. Also, my friend and I really enjoy watching it together, so it's an 'in' reference there. And it's British. And about two people who help each other out. And, possibly best of all, its in the public domain- the stories are, not the tv series. So that's why my figurines aren't supposed to be Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry.

Why are they faceless? I like them that way. I think people can imagine the expressions onto their faces better than I could actually create them myself.
Plus, if you look at the opening credits of Jeeves and Wooster- they're all faceless!

Ebay

One of the many things I intend to do to help the situation, is to sell things on Ebay. If people will spend $10,000 on a picture drawn in Paint of a 7 legged spider, or however many thousands on a piece of toast that looks like the Virgin Mary, or some.. what were they, trading cards, taken from some children who shoplifted them and opened them so the Mum paid for them and then sold them? Surely I'm in with a chance. Plus, my things are way less crap. Though maybe it's the crappiness that makes people want it. "Oh, I have a little piece of crazy internet history!" Yeah, you think that when you enjoy your ghost in a bottle...

I'm not expecting thousands for my items. (Though if you want to bid that much... I sure won't stop you!)

My first thing I put up is this, a little figurine (2 inches) of Jeeves and Wooster. I'll come back and explain who Jeeves and Wooster are later on. It took about 3 hours to make, and if you don't mind me saying so, I think it's rather cute. And yes, my hands are tiny.

Bids so far: 0.

How Much Money

I might as well jump straight into what the problem is.
Money. That's the problem right now. Isn't it the problem for millions of people?
Unless my friend gets a job, he can't get a visa. But a visa option is a student visa- he'd love to do a PHD. Here, of course. But the student fees are hugely expensive for international students. It was something like AU$35,000 a year. Plus living expenses. He is not from a rich family. And because he was here on a tourist visa for a year now, he's pretty much broke.
We aim to raise that amount of money.
Impossible! You say. No, it's not impossible. Every dollar counts. Difficult, yes. Impossible, no. But of course, we're going to need help.

So far, I've raised $100.

Commenting

I've decided that for this blog, I pretty much don't believe in the edit button. :P The more posts the better is what I'm thinking.
Right now, I'd love to encourage you to comment! Anonymous people are welcome.

And to 'stumble' if you can. Pass on the link. It could be an interesting project/read.
Currently I'm trying to figure out if there's any 'gadgets' that would allow me to put in a number, to make a graph of how much money I/we've managed to raise so far. If anyone knows of any, tell me!
And if you're here via project wonderful, welcome!

Paypal

I've just added a Paypal donation button to the sidebar. Every dollar (of any variety!) or pound counts.

I Hate Immigration Rules

So, I have this fantastic friend. We've had some downs as well as our ups, but for the most part, he's fantastic. The only problem is, he's English. He really loves Adelaide, South Australia, and he loves his friends he's made here.

And now he has to go home. I don't want to lose my best friend. He doesn't want to lose me or any of the new life he's created either. And that's the predicament.

This blog will be talking about what I/we intend to do about that. A lot of it will be about how I/we intend to raise money to get him back here on a Student Visa, or about trying to get him a job (He's in Software Development, if anyone wants to offer him a job!), and about me trying to get to the UK, and also some stuff about Adelaide, Immigration, Friendship, and us.

I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you want to help out.