Did you miss me?

Let me catch you up with a quick synopsis of what's happened since we last spoke:

1. At the beginning of May, I handed my supervisors my first complete draft of my thesis. We're meeting next week to go over their feedback. We've got a 2 hour meeting scheduled for that one. Ugh!
2. I ran a half-marathon in mid-May!! It was really good - it was a sunshiney morning and the route went through the CBD (downtown) - under the Harbour Bridge, through The Rocks and the Botanic Gardens. Nice. I didn't train quite enough and paid for it with sore legs for a couple of days afterwards, but it was well worth it.
3. We're going back to Canada in less than 2 MONTHS!!! Can you believe it? My head is full of stuff that needs to get done before we head back (it filled in the space I keep for stress and anxiety that was left by my thesis when I handed it in earlier this month).

And in the midst of all the above, I've been eating way too much. It's my homage to Australia before we leave.

• Maggie Beer's Burnt Fig, Caramel and Honeycomb Ice Cream - check;
  
• Thick, creamy cappuccinos whenever I'm close to the campus coffee cart - check;
  
• Bacon and egg rolls at Gus' soccer games' sausage sizzle - check.
  
• And yesterday, it was an Aussie burger. An Aussie burger has: beetroot (also known as just plain beets if you live in Canada), pineapple, fried egg and bacon, plus the usual burger toppings (see above pic). The combination of sweet (beetroot and pineaple) and salty (egg, bacon, burger) is to die for. We picked some up yesterday and ate them at a park while on a little tour of Beecroft, a gum-treed, fancy-shmancy suburb in the north of Sydney.
  

Mnmmmm.

It's my duty

Happy Easter! This seems to be the only holiday that Australians get excited about. I'm not complaining. Hot cross buns at all the bakeries and grocery stores have been heavily promoted and selling like hotcakes for the past month. This is our last Easter here, which means next year I'll be deprived of easy access to all my favourite varieties of hot cross bun (traditional, fruity, choc chip, mocha - I like them all). So, I've decided that it's my duty to eat hot cross buns at every opportunity. I'm sure you'll agree that this plan is way better than my other plan to eat a maxibon every day till we leave (maxibons are an ice cream treat consisting of half ice cream bar and half ice cream sandwich - see pic above; seriously brilliant, right?...and unfortunately not available in Canada), or to tattoo 2035 on my knuckles (which is our local postcode and tattooing it on one's knuckles is de rigeur with some of the local surfies).

Rainy day

It's Saturday afternoon and it's dark and rainy. blah! It's Fall here, the days are getting shorter and the temperatures have really fallen this past week, which makes me so sad. Why can't it just stay summer until we leave?

In light of the rainy day, we went to see a movie this afternoon. We saw the completely-inappropriate-for-a-nine-year-old movie Sucker Punch. Really should have done my research on that one before going to see it. Yeesh, we had to answer questions about lobotomies on our drive home from the movie. On the plus side, we went to my favourite movie theater, the Ritz, where they make an excellent skinny latte for afternoon showings, and serve alcohol for evening showings. I can tell you based on experience that a Harry Potter movie + wine makes it just that much better.

Now, I'm off to make some carrot soup. We get a ton of carrots in our organic veggie box every week, and we can't keep up. We're just not big carrot eaters. So, every few weeks or so we end up with a massive lot of carrots in our fridge and we have to find ways to consume them all. It'll be carrot soup tonight, carrot muffins tomorrow and we may have to beg our fave cafe down the street to juice any remaining carrots for us. Any good carrot recipes? Send them on!

Here I am!

I know, I know...it's been a while. But here's the problem, lately, I've been crippled by a strange phenomenon that's been happening to me on and off since I started this bloody thesis. When I get really, really stressed about it all, I end up dropping a lot of the things I enjoy (i.e., yoga, running... and writing on this blog) for fear that it's taking up time I should be spending on my thesis. But somehow, in the midst of all this panic, I'm still able to make time for things like "Biggest Loser Australia"!? Yeah, I know, it makes no sense... I'm working on it.

There are a number of reasons for the latest bout of thesis-related anxiety:
1) A chance encounter with a former classmate of mine (he moved faculties after his first year). As PhD students tend to do, we traded stats: how many words/chapters we had written, how much longer left to go.... I told him I was hoping to submit by the end of July. And his reply: That's great, so, you must be done writing? (cause every PhD student knows that there's still plenty of work once all the writing is done - as in putting it all together, making sure there is consistency throughout and a clear story is being told) Ummm, no. I'm not finished writing. I'm close and most of my chapters are locked in (since I'm submitting as a series of publications), but still...

2) A couple of weekends ago, we went up to the Gold Coast for a long weekend. In four days, we managed to hit a couple of theme parks, rent a surfboard for a day, and go on a snorkeling/ diving trip on another day. We ate hot chips (fries) with every meal, and watched plenty of crap t.v., like Toddlers in Tiaras (horrifying and yet fascinating). It was fun but aargh! - I'm trying to finish up a thesis here!

3) I'm working on my last chapter, which involves wrapping it all up, talking about what it all means, and how the findings make a significant contribution to existing knowledge. Geez. I can't think of a better way to increase my feelings of self-doubt.

4) We finally booked our flights home. We're leaving Sydney in late July. There is now an official, written in stone, deadline that I'm trying to meet. Although, as I keep telling myself, it's ok if I need to finish it up in Canada (repeat 10x).


'Nuff about my neuroses. Here's some pics from our recent trip to the Gold Coast for my faithful readers (i.e., my parents and Vic's parents) to enjoy:

Gus on a board and Vic behind him, helping him to catch waves.


Vic, hanging ten.


Gus and I, on the snorkeling/diving trip (can you see how I was secretly rewriting sections of my thesis in my head, while on the boat trip out to the dive site?).

Gus managed to charm one of the divers, who let him ride with her on the jetski.

Neil needs a new bike!

...Well, he probably doesn't, since at last count, I think he had about 10 different bikes, one for every occasion. But Neil wants a new bike and I think we should all help him with that.

He's entered a contest by very creatively making a wire sculpture of a bike out of wheel spokes. If'you've got a minute and/or you're in procrastination mode, why don't you go vote for his bike?

Do it!

Here's how:

First, visit the Easton Cycling Facebook page and click on "Like".

This lets you see the contest entries. Next visit Neil's entry and click "Like"


THANK YOU!

More aussie than canadian

A little background: beers and gambling=two of Australia's national pasttimes.

Gus and his bestie are making big plans to meet up after high school for a gap year in Europe. They're planning to check out all the castles (hmmm, yeah - I'm sure a couple of 18-yr old boys will be keen on checking out castles).

The other day he was telling me all about his plans for his gap year, and then he stopped mid-sentence, with a look of realization on his face.

Gus: You're going to have to fly with me on the plane, because I won't be able to go on my own.

Me: Sure you will, you'll be 18 by then.

Gus: Woh! 18! Does that mean I'll get to drink beer and play the lotto?!

Me: Yep

Gus: Maaaad.


...and then the topper. We were in the car the other day, driving to Gus' art lessons, and out of nowhere:

Gus: Is there such thing as snowsuits?

Vic and I: in our heads: WTF?!; out loud: Uh, yeah.

Gus: I mean, snowsuits for kids and for adults too?

Vic and I: We need to get you back to Canada, stat.

Ottawa in the winter

Neil was kind enough to attach this photo in one of his comments. And Michelle recently posted this picture on her blog. Really, Neil and Michelle? Are you trying to make us change our minds about coming back to Canada? Surely, you could have dug up a nice photo of people skiing, children making snowmen or some such idyllic image.

Internet people: Maybe now you're a bit more sympathetic to our plight?

Last weekend, Vic and I, drinking beer and eating chips on the balcony, in March. I will miss this, dearly.


In other news, Vic and I are looking into flights home for July. The thing that is slowing us down, is that we want to spend 2 weeks or so hanging at a beach on the way back. So far, our options are:

1. Vanuatu (South Pacific Island not too far from Sydney, but then we'd have to fly back to Sydney and home from there)
2. Island TBD off of Thailand (sorta on our way home, but perhaps a bit of a hassle to get to from Bangkok, which is where we'd land.... but cheap as chips once we get there)
3. Hawaii (definitely on our way home, but expensive to stay, and maybe too americanified?)

Thoughts, anyone?