Worst case of the Mondays

This morning, I thought today was going to be great. Woke up at 7, saw the sunrise, got productive, wrote a list of what I wanted to do, and all that jazz. But I'm pretty sure today turned out to be one of my least productive days yet. I barely did anything on my list, I couldn't concentrate in class, my points for the debate coming up on Thursday were all really lame, and worst of all, it took me a good 15 minutes to convince myself that, when a and b positive integers, the intersection of ( y > a + b ) and ( y > a ) is just the former. As a math major, this is really bad. Really, really bad.

Obviously, today just wasn't my day. I am looking forward to the 4 day weekend and fall break after that. I can't believe we're already a month into uni! But let's talk about nicer things.

I have a new camera, a bridge-style Canon, and I figure I should learn how to take a decent picture before my world tour. So, I joined the Photography club and tagged along for a "model shoot" at the Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens As it turns out, the models all quit- one even had the audacity and unmitigated nerve to post that she "had found a better job." Pfft. Who needs them? Not us, apparently. We just took pictures of each other. It started off awkward- the first idea was to take pictures of a fake proposal- but by the end of the day we were all just mucking around and getting dirty.

The original assignment was to take magazine
model poses, describe them to the model (without
showing them!) and then trying to re-create the shoot.
It didn't turn out well....

Things I learned from Sunday:

1. If models are posing, it would be nice to get their entire body in the frame. My main problem was that with spot metering (that's what we were using) and such a dark background (it was pretty cloudy), I felt like it was necessary to put the spot on people's faces so that they didn't turn into ghosts. And so everyone seemed to be foot-less- the photos are more portraits than anything. But there should be a way around that- just have to find it.
2. I'm very new and bad at photography. There were some guys with the sickest setups, and the craziest part was that they new everything about each part. I just stared at them. That's got to be the product of a lot of time and effort!
3. I should be a model! Or at least that's what they all said. I think it's because I show terror on my face really readily, and they all thought it was great. So there you go, agencies, come at me.

And we all breathe a sigh of relief

The fever that has been Adelaide's heat wave has finally broken! Temperatures aren't supposed to get back in the 90s (or 30s) until next Wednesday...if they even do. Fingers crossed that they don't, though- I'm loving these 77 degree days! I can't wait to see how running feels without having to worry about the heat :)

Of course, this technically hasn't even been a heat wave. In Adelaide, a heat wave needs to have 5 consecutive days over 95 (or 35). I think it's stayed around 94, 93 most of the time here. But semantics aside, it has been HOT. It's currently the hottest March that Adelaide's had in a long time.

The lovely architects that designed the house I've been living in decided that it would be a good idea to carpet the entire house.So with no air conditioning and 16 hours of sun a day, the house has been quite the sauna. I remember not using the air conditioning before, but that was in our house back in Grosse Pointe where 80 is considered a hot day. After these past weeks, I have a whole new level of respect for cold showers and people who live without AC. Why anyone would want to move to this country without cooling escapes me.

Fussy

As an international student, I should know by now, but to all you who don't know:


Dealing with money as an international student is awful. No company actually believes you are studying in a different country- they'll automatically flag any online purchases and then make you go through 5 or 7 or 7637! different hoops just to transfer rent. Or buy a book. Or a computer. Even if it's completely evident from your past purchases that yes, this is how things have been going for a while, your banks will completely forget each time and flip out.


Ugh. I'm just fussy.

Fun and not-so-fun facts!

1. Australia is the only Western democratic country that does not have a Bill of Rights. There are only human rights bills in only two states/territories: Victoria and the ACT. That's why the police can search you at any time (apparently, the police like to get frisky with strangers at King's Cross in Sydney) and discriminatory stuff like this is totally commonplace:

I kid you not, these are everywhere.
Sometimes they're not even in English to make sure
that the preferred ethnicity gets the job.

 Call me crazy, but I'm not too keen on this. I know this sort of stuff happens everywhere (even places with a Bill of Rights- it's often just more implicit), but the fact that it's allowed here in such an explicit mannor is not cool.

2. Invasive species are really annoying! Furthermore, they all seem to have thorns. I went on my first CVA trip to the Adelaide Hills the other day and we focused on killing gorse and dog roses. It was raining pretty hard, so we weren't out for too long, but wow were those plants brutal. Gorse have lots and lots of thorns that are all really thin, so they go everywhere. They even got through my leather gloves, and I had to spend quite some time making sure I was de-prickled afterwards. I wish the plants conceded more to being killed, but that's probably against that whole "survival mechanism" stuff...

3. You can't turn left on red here! Of course, I have been, but technically it's illegal. I only found out about that a few days ago. Oh well. I guess I should change that habit.

4. I finally found someone who will willingly watch Lemonade Joe with me! He's a Czech exchange student, and he thought it was ridiculous that I liked the movie. I think it's ridiculous that it took me 4 years to find a non-GSE-er who actually wants to watch the movie.

5. I have to pay $200 for a German book that is not very well recieved by critics. $200! And of course it has to be for the latest edition because German has changed so much in the past 3 years. Blurgh. I hate textbook-buying season.

6. The new international students are really cool. Plus, they seem to be super enthusiastic, which is great as an American because we're often dismissed as being too keen on things. We had a get-together the other day planned for around 9, and a good number of people were already there by 9:15. What is this timeliness?

7. I can hear the Clipsal 500 from outside my house. It feels like May back in Concord. I really want to go see it- it's a grand prix next to a few of my friends' house, so hopefully I can watch for free!