I am too distractable sometimes

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I have a three hour break from my last class until ds106 which one would think would leave plenty of time to read three articles for class tonight and then blog about them.

But today I was distracted. First it was a surprise skype chat from my friend in Australia (it’s Australia day: Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie, Oy, Oy, Oy!) who is rarely on the internet (she didn’t even have a computer when she met me, the horror!) and then the first article was EVEN MORE distracting!

“Web 2.0 Storytelling: Emergence of A New Genre” by Bryan Alexander and Alan Levine has a host of different and cool links that they talk about in their article. So what do I do? I click them of course and spend over an hour looking at all these things I have never seen before!

I’m obsessed with this site right now. Also this is funny and reminds me of “The Digital Story of Nativity”

So while I managed to finish the first article, the other two have fallen by the wayside for now. I will post later tonight my thoughts on all three. And now to class!

I didn’t get to Zumba, but I got toast!

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Today was a sad day.

I went to my car in the parking deck so I could go to my Zumba class I do at the YMCA, only to find to find my car was dead. D:

I had to call the UMW police to come and jump it and by the time they did that, it was fifteen minutes into my Zumba class and I needed to drive my car around for 20 minutes or more to make sure the battery would stay charged. Yep, definitely was not going to make it to Zumba. (I’m obsessed with Zumba and had missed my Saturday class so missing another one was extremely frustrating) >.<

To top it all off, my built in navigation system had locked itself and I needed to find the access code (that I had no idea where it could be)  if I ever wanted to navigate/ listen to music ever again. So I spent twenty or so minutes driving around random places in Fredvegas wondering where I would find the access code, feeling envious of all the people who were Zumba-ing right now and also thinking about the mountains of homework I had left to do.

Eventually I managed to find the access code (after a million years of searching) and now my car is up and running like normal. I’m still a little bitter of how much of a pain in the ass it was (grrrrrr) but at least I know what to do if this ever happens again.

To end this post on a happy note though, I made toast people today! Toast people you might ask? My friend posted this on her Facebook and I’ve become obsessed with taking pictures of people and making them into toast.

He's cool enough for toast

Eddie Mabo Toast

Pretty cool, huh?

Check out more of my toast people on my flickr, or click here if you would like to make your own toast people!

ideas from Gardner Campbell

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Since I read Gardner Campbell’s essay and watched the youtube clip, I’ve been trying to decide how to best incorporate what I’ve learned. I know some people have written tradition blog posts, or poems, or songs, but I’ve decided to do something different.
I’ve created this Wordle with the words and phrases that stuck out in my mind the most from what I’ve heard from Campbell.

Engl314 & Dr. Whalen prepared me for this class

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So I would like to thank my Engl314- Literary Magazine class and Dr. Whalen for helping prepare me for DS106!

For the entire last semester, I was working on a online literary magazine, Times Zones Lit Review, devoted to traveling and adventuring. As a result of this, I learned how to add many of the widgets that I needed to have on my blog here.  I wasn’t the main person responsible for putting everything on the magazine website, (shoutout to Andrew who’s also in this class), but I learned through association. Not to name drop or anything, but Dr. Claudia Emerson and Jim Groom also helped out with this project, as did my other teammates (shoutout to Colleen who is in this class, surprise, surrprise!) and if you are interested at all in traveling, check it out and/or submit to the next volume!

What also has helped me in creating my blog is the few classes I have taken with Dr. Whalen which has taught me various internet skills and also lead to the creation of: Pluto Strikes Back (also made with several teammates including the same Colleen as above.)

They got you

The only app I had a problem with at first on this website was the one I am using for youtube, but that was solved once I actually read the directions [see I can be very smart (: ]

Also, thanks to the person (his/her name is escaping me now) who posted about how to get a gravatar!

Harry Potter Puppet Pals are inspiring

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Ever since I  re-discovered the Harry Potter Puppet Pals: The Mysterious Ticking Noise ” this past weekend I can’t stop thinking about it/ singing the song.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4

But, this is productive as I have an idea for creating a video starring my own puppets. I won’t say more now, but be on the lookout in the future for “Sarah’s Puppet Pals”

Muhahahaha.

I’m Like So Blonde: The Origin Story

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A 30 second story (give or take)

It all started when I called my best friend Aitak to ask her  what should be the name of my website.

Me: Aitak, I need a name for my website I’m creating for my computer class.

Aitak: Okay….

Me: I was thinking of doing something like my username for the class.: “Cali4beach” But no one is going to want to type “4” so it would be like “califorbeach” which might look a little weird.

Aitak: Yeah its sounds like you are a blonde who can’t spell “California” right.

Me: **laughs** Hey! I’m not THAT blonde!

Aitak: Yes, you are Sweetie. You are so blonde, accept it.

Me: **in my best valley girl accent** Yeah, I’m like so blonde. Like totally, for realz!

Aitak: **laughs** That should be your website name: I’m Like So Blonde.com. Hey, it even rhymes!

Thus, the name for my website was created. Best thirty* second conversation ever

(*the laughter probably caused it to last longer, but we’ll forget about that)

So you want to sound like an Ozzie, yeah?

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Then try this lingo!

Petrol= instead of Gasoline because “Cars don’t run on Gas!”

AirCon= Air Conditioning

Bogen= for trashy, loud people aka rednecks

Singlet= Tank Top

Thongs= Flip Flops

Budgie Smuggler =Male Speedo

    • The Budgie Smuggler is way HOt

Rangers =Red Haired people- short for orangutan. Calling them this can be a joke or an insult

Spotto= When you see a red head and punch someone -like punch buggy

Ute= short for a sports utility vehicle

Hey and Eh= like the Canadians

Roo Bar= Bar on Car to prevent Kangaroos from busting through the window when they get run over

Bloke= Guys

Fair Enough=Okay, Good

True= similar to Fair Enough above

Heaps = A lot, really: i.e. my hair is heaps wet

Chips= French Fries

Derro =Short for Derelict – is those wannabe gangstas, the hobos

Gimp = Someone (Guy) with a limp

Rubbish Bin= Trash Can

Adidas= said like Add-e-das than A-did-das

Brekky=breakfast

Hungry Jack= Burger King (why they changed the name is a mystery)

H = pronounced like hach

Z = pronounce like zed. So its a Zeb-bra and not a Zee-bra.

Push bike or treadly = bicycle

Stingers= jelly fish

Mozzies= Mosquitoes

Good on you= great job!

Op shop= opportunity/secondhand shop

Full on= intense/ hardcore    i.e. “This class is going to be FULL ON!”

Footy Show= Australian Football show/ comedy show.

Grey Nomads= Older people who come over to OZ and travel around the country.

Hen/ Buck Nights= Bachelorette/ Bachelor party

Fairy Bread= for little kids  parties. White bread with butter on both sides and covered in Sprinkles.

Chemist = Pharmacy

Off their trolley= completely drunk

Sunnies= Sunglasses

“How you going?” more popular than G’day among the younger generations. Is their version of “What’s up/ How’s it going?”

Megan is pronounced like (Mee-gan not, Meg-gan) and they would never shorten that name to “Meg”

Shire Skank= A loose woman from the Shire, a Suburb of Sydney, well known throughout Australia.

 

And just in case you wanted to know some Kiwi lingo:

Say “Shape” if you want to talk about Sheep.

Sheep Shagger= someone who has sex with sheep.

Choice Bro= good idea.

Sweet As= Sweet as anything or sounds great!

Reflections on OZ part 2

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5) Whenever I tell people I am from the US, more specifically from Washington D.C., whether these people be Kiwis, Aussies, Canucks etc, they always refer to as me being from Washington. However, whenever they say that I think of Washington state not D.C. So I ask them why they always say that and apparently it’s just how they know it. Well if it works for them and if they know roughly where it’s located that’s okay.

I myself never knew Canberra was the capital of OZ until a few weeks after I got here, but now that I know I can definitely put it on a map!


6) People driving on the other side of the road- When I first got to NZ and stepped out the airport and looked at how the cars were set up, the first thing I thought was “Weird”. But after 18 days in New Zealand I got pretty used to it. Still, there are times when I’m walking in a parking lot, for example, and a car is coming towards me so I instinctively move to the right because I think they will also go the right. However, they are going to the left so I just end up in their way. The same also happens when walking on a path with people coming in the opposite direction. Hopefully, I will adjust to staying on the left side soon!

It’s ironic how long it took me to get used to the left side and just when I did, I had to come back to the right. The right side of the road threw me off for a bit and seemed strange, but now it’s almost back to normal (I wrote more but it got deleted THREE times, so if you want to hear more about this, just ask me!)

7) People’s view on Americans. I met a lot of Canadians and Aussies on my NZ  tour and many of the them told me something along the lines of being “one of the good Americans” aka not the Loud and Stereotypical Americans they have met/ expected. Also on my tour was a girl from NY who had a loud voice, smacked her gum incessantly and was generally an obnoxious party girl. Clearly, I was a much more appealing American than her (except for the manwhore guys on my trip who just looooved her!)

The opinion about Americans still varies drastically depending on who you talk to. I’ve had people tell me to my face that “Everybody in the whole world doesn’t like Americans because they think you are stupid. True Fact.” and that “You are a typical American… loud, self centered, only cares about herself.”

Now I obviously don’t hold much value in these judgments given that the first was from a drunk Norwegian Uni Student who is ridiculously pompous and I hadn’t met a single person who knew him and didn’t recognize that. The second was my roommate who was angry because I didn’t want to go out with him.

I heard some nice things about us, including from a very sweet South Korean High School boy I met on my plane back from LA who told me that “I think… American girls are…. a lot prettier than Korean girls” as he looked over at me from behind his thick framed glasses. Overall, its all about who you talk to and how absorbed they are in themselves and their culture.

Reflections on OZ

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I was meaning to post this while in Australia but apparently forgot about it. These are from the early days in OZ with my new thoughts in BOLD

1) The Money looks like Monopoly money. The notes are smaller than American bills and for some reason the 50 and 100 dollar bills, even though they are different colors than the 5,10, and 20 notes are longer.

Also, the coins are really strange. There’s a 50 cent coin that is huge, and is dodecahedronal (12 sided) and this is so much bigger than the 1 dollar coin and the 2 dollar coin. I really don’t understand why the 2 dollar coin is smaller than both the 50 cent coin and and 1 dollar coin, because I would assume it would be bigger because it’s worth more. Although, I suppose size doesn’t always reflect worth.

OZ coins (notes the first two coins displayed are no longer in circulation)

I have to say that after returning to America, it took me a few days to get used to the money. I believe I have mentioned this before in a post, but I couldn’t believe how small are coins are to the OZ ones. Even their 20 cent coin is bigger than our 25 cent! Now I am used to it, but wanting our money to become more colorful! Psh green. Oh and Pennies which I once claimed were awesome: no they are just a pain. I am now for abolishing pennies in favor or rounding to the closest 5 cents.

2) The toilets, both here and in NZ have a 2 button flush system. The first is a half flush, just for pee and the second button is a full flush for poop. This makes a lot of sense to change the water pressure based on what you are flushing and I wonder if America will pick it up one day. It certainly conserves water!

3) Vegemite: Half of the Aussies I’ve talked to love it, the other half hate it. I have yet to try it (hopefully will try it sometime this week) but most Aussies agree that I will hate it.

I tried Vegemite and it was a mistake! So disgusting. The thought of it now makes me gag. Whatever you do, if you ever try this nasty product, do not try it on a sailboat you will remain on for over 24 hours. You will regret this moment if you do.

4) During my first couple of days in Australia, I had two different people tell me they thought I was Irish because I have an “Irish Accent”. No idea where this is coming from, except when I was talking to these people I had a bit of a cold so my voice sounded off. But Irish? I think not.

I also towards the end started getting a lot of people thinking I was from Canada instead of US, which I encouraged because its fun to pretend you are from another country!

Home

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Finally back in VA after 5 1/2 months of traveling and studying and I have to say that these experiences have been some of the best I’ve had.

I met some really awesome people, saw amazing things, did things I have never done before and overall really enjoyed everything!

Still getting used to the time zone changes but it was so nice to drive my car today, though I did NOT miss DC traffic!!

I will attempt to update some more about my trip as the time fits. So much to do here before school starts again!