Wednesday, December 24, 2008

New member to my family

Introducing Jettison (Jet) Finn Barker. My early Christmas present from Cler. It's a Siamese Fighter fish and from my research I think it is a crown-tail breed (or possibly delta). It has beautiful colours and it is very difficult to take a picture of him. But here are my poor attempts anyways:

He's blue and red... and has a sometimes shiny silver colour.

Keep still I'm trying to take a photo!!!

Oooo nice silhouette.

From Car-O-Line

Sunday, December 21, 2008

lets go fly a kite

Yesterday on the 20/12 I went to Newport Beach with the young adults from church. We had a fun day of making sand castles, flying kites and swimming. The kite flying was an awesome idea (thanks to me). It's a wonder how something so simple and cheap can give so much enjoyment and fun. And all you do is hold a string and look up into the sky. Anyways... I'm on a photo-taking roll so here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

The sand castle that we made together. I made the awesome footbridge first... then we decided to turn it into a moat... so then it was only natural for us to build the castle in the middle.

Look at the kite!!! I was fortunate enough to get this image with the kite flyer and the kite in the same photo... afterwards the kite was so high that they couldn't fit both flyer and kite in the same picture.

It was a lovely day for kite flying. Lots of wind and a lovely blue sky.

From Car-O-Line

Thursday, December 18, 2008

garlic goodness

Just had to upload another photo. It tastes gooooooooood!


From Car-O-Line

promised photos

Hooray! Here are the promised photos of my lemon cakes:


And the promised photos of the Christmas cards I made:




Today I made "Garlic Lover's Bread." It was cool roasting the garlic, making the paste, kneading the dough and watching it rise.

This is the start of the second rise


Slowly rising :)



Ready for the oven now!!! :D



Hooray!!! Fresh home cooked bread!!! MMMMMMmmmmmm!!!!

Cooking is fun.

From Car-O-Line

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

suGAH! :O

Today I made lemon cupcakes with lemon icing and hundreds'o'thousands. They were quite tasty. I made them because some of the arts girls (and their friends) from CBS went to the chaplaincy to hang out, eat and make Christmas cards... I made 5-6 cards I think. It was fun. What am I going to do with them? (Especially considering the last post I wrote). I gave the nicest looking one to my parents and they liked it.

I took photos of the cupcakes and I'll take photos of the cards but at the moment my camera batteries are getting recharged. So the photos will come up in another post.

Last night I was reading back on some of my old posts... and quite a lot I've written something like "I'll write about last week in another post later" and then I never post about that event. How sad for you all. My deepest apologies.

From
Car-O-Line

P.S.: I ate way too much sugary foods today and now my head feels like it's about to explode.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Christmas cards...

What are they for? Who do YOU send them to?

I find that Christmas cards are a waste of paper. In the past I sent Christmas cards to everyone... people I saw everyday. But now I'm starting to think that they are more for sending to people who you don't see often and want to wish them a merry Christmas. So what is the purpose of a Christmas card?

And what do you write on a Christmas card? Do you write a long spiel? Or do you just write a simple greeting. Or do you write a special Christmas letter update from your year with your card? I guess it depends on how many cards you are going to send.

And will you get offended if you don't get a Christmas card? I'm sure there are people who send me Christmas cards because I sent them one last year. Will you be offended if I don't reply with one?

Is there a history to Christmas cards? When was the first Christmas card sent? Why did they send it? What country do Christmas cards originate from?

Do you not send Christmas cards? Why don't you send Christmas cards? How did you decide that you weren't going to send them? Do you do something in place of sending Christmas cards?

What do you do with your Christmas cards after Christmas? Do you recycle them straight away? Do you keep them for a few years before you recycle them? Do you keep them forever and put them in a scrap book?

Is it ok to give a really good friend a Christmas present without a card attached?

Could you give someone a gospel of Luke instead of a Christmas card? Would it be the same as giving a Christmas card?

This year I'm giving hugs and smiles instead of cards... although I'll send some cards. I'm pretty lazy and usually feel compelled to write long messages in cards (yet I'm never sure of what to write) so it's easier to not write cards.

From
Car-O-Line

Saturday, December 13, 2008

SPRTE and a sewing machine


This blog is dedicated to Elsie... my most faithful blog follower.

SPRTE Canberra!!!
WOO! SPRTE (South Pacific Training Event) was very awesome. Because it was of the South Pacific... there were people from Vanuatu, PNG, NZ and Fiji (I hope I didn't forget a nation). Every night one group gave a presentation on student work in their country. They all sang and danced for us and it was very good. Aussies were totally put to shame for our lack of cultural song/dance... and also because of the cost (or lack of) we are willing to pay for the spread of the gospel. All the islanders told us stories of how they had been so affected by the cross of Christ that they were willing to go through sufferings (to the point of death) for the proclamation of the gospel... and we complain that we don't get funding from our student unions. So yes... they were all very encouraging. I also went to a Fijian sing-a-long where they taught us how to sing a song in Fijian and it sounded so beautiful.
Other highlights:
-taking a walk with the desire to get lost so that I could work my way back. I walked to Lake Burley Griffin by myself... no map or anything. I got there in speedy time... and made it back to uni via a different route. It's fun to go on walks without maps and just to wander around.
-Me, Kathy and Christine had a party in my room on the last night where we talked and painted our nails wacky colours. Ellen would of come but she had to sleep because she had to drive the next day.
-Strand group was hard... I was doing Strand 5. It was hard work. We were looking at Titus and planning a sermon series on it. Kudos to all the pastors out there who do it every week! We spent the first 4 days looking at the themes, theology, ethics and flow of the book, thinking about how to split the book up along the way. On the last day we sorta started to write a plan on one talk... but didn't really finish anything. So that was kinda sad because there wasn't any closure. But I've now got a framework for planning a sermon series. I can see that it's gonna take a lot more than a week to plan a series (let alone write the talks for that series!).
-The talks were awesome too. In the mornings we looked at sin, wrath and the cross... then in the evening we looked at Jesus' approach to the cross. It was really helpful spending time thinking about sin and wrath in order to realise how important the cross is and how great God's love is for us. Listen to them if you can get a chance.

SPRTE misssion THE LAKES!!!
Mission was so good and it was great to head back to the Lakes church to see how they are going. We did heaps more leafletting, doorknocking and contact with the community. We did a BBQ one day to tell people about stuff happening at the Lakes... and it was the hottest day which sucked majorly. But besides that... it was cool to see people from the church like the ministers and families that I had met last year. And the fellowship with the team from UNSW was really cool too. It was a very fun (and funny) team.

Sewing Machine!!!
A while back I bought an Amy Butler pattern for a dress... and the other day I went and bought fabric to make it. So I made it!!! It's the first dress I've made and I'm really proud of it. But it wasn't all easy... there were the usual dramas (like sewing the wrong thing and having to unpick everything) but there was an even bigger drama...
I had been sewing all day and was giving the sewing machine a break. Then I heard this bang... like something had rolled off the table. So I went to see what it was... and I saw all this yellow smoke pouring out of my sewing machine!!! So I quickly removed all the plugs. I was freaking out because it smelt really bad... and I didn't want the house to catch on fire. I was so close to calling the fire brigade. And I couldn't put the machine outside because it was raining. Luckily there was no fire... but the smell was bad... and I was mid project. So I was very sad that my sewing machine blew up (it was 20 years old... and I think it was its time). Thankfully I got to borrow a sewing machine from a church aunty... and I finished my dress!

(Apologies for the super posed photo)

Gosh this was long... I must blog more frequently. It's the least I could do for Elsie.

From
Car-O-Line

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

swim swim :)

Ok... so today turned out to be very cold and very rainy... but I still got to go for a swim because it's an indoor heated pool. I swam 1.5km... which is really awesome because last time I only swam 1km (and it was not a particularly easy 1km). Everyone should take up swimming and if you want a swimming buddy let me know!

I started doing regular quiet times again. I'm reading through Psalms, and I have a devotion book on Psalms too. I chose Psalms because people always rave about it, and Rob is doing it at his youth group and he's always talking about it, but I don't know that much about it (at least I don't think I do). The first chapter was quite appropriate... because one of the challenges of that chapter was to delight in the law and to meditate on it day and night.

This evening I went back to choir. I've rejoined it to be in the Christmas concert. The songs we are singing are quite lovely... a lot of them are lullabies. We were singing them all so beautifully that it was making me feel a little drowsy! Tomorrow I'll be back in uni again for a handbells practice.

From Car-O-Line

Monday, October 27, 2008

remember remember the 5th of movember

Movember - Sponsor Me

donate!!!

In other news... I've finished uni! No more assignments or exams or anything. It's all done. It hasn't really sunk in yet. Plus I'll still be able to go to uni because I have choir rehearsals and handbell rehearsals. But I wont be able to see everyone all the time now which is kinda sad.

The weather has been really uncomfortably hot. I hope I'll be able to go swimming tomorrow... do some laps of the pool. Swimming has got to be the most fun and enjoyable exercise ever. I really like it.

At church we've been doing a series on Matthew 24-25 called "Are you ready?" I never realised how jam packed the second half of Matthew 24 is. It's been really awesome. It's also been cool to see that my youth group girls have been challenged by the sermons, they ask me questions and talk about it at youth group on Fridays. I've been really enjoying leading them this year and seeing them grow.

Someone lent me the book "Faithful Women and their Extraordinary God" and said it was a really good book... but I haven't found it that great. It was also on the Equip book list. I feel like the language is a bit strange and it doesn't flow well. And I haven't seemed to have reached the point where it talks about how God is extraordinary (which I thought I would have got to by now). Maybe I just have to keep on reading.

I just finished reading "Guidance and the voice of God" and thought it was awesome. Biblical, easy to understand and challenging. Read it!

From Car-O-Line

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Happy 216th post!!!

I just been to Doug's blog and noticed that he is celebrating his 200th post (congratulations)... so I thought I'd check out where I was up to... turns out I missed celebrating my 200th post... but oh well. His blog also reminded me about something I've been trying to come to a decision about on Hillsong music.

Should evangelical churches use Hillsong music? The main argument I've heard, saying that we shouldn't is:
-By playing Hillsong music in our churches, we are supporting an organisation that preaches a false gospel.

But then I was thinking:
-how does this apply to secular music? music which has worldly views instead of heavenly views.

So... is using Hillsong music the same as buying an AC/DC cd?

I'm further confused by this topic because at Women's Katoomba Convention we sang a Hillsong song... and I have great respect for WKC (and KCC as a whole) and their Bible teaching.

From Car-O-Line

P.S.: WKC was really good... will post about it another time.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Caroline's looks

A few people have commented to me that I give them looks... but they don't know what the look means. So they say to me "You gave me this look but I wasn't sure what it meant... what does it mean?" And I say "Really? You didn't understand what that look meant. Gosh!"

So it has come to my attention that I do tend to give looks... and that there are many different looks that I give which makes it hard for people to interpret my looks. I think I should write an illustrated book about the different looks that I give and their meanings. But for now... I will merely list some of the looks I give:
  1. The "Are you ready to leave now" look
  2. The "Let's move onto the next question in Bible study" look
  3. The "I don't want to intimidate our study group members to answer questions so I'm looking at you" look
  4. The "Answer the question... I know you know the answer" look
  5. The "Get back to work" look (in the classroom)
  6. The "I know that you know you are doing the wrong thing" look (in the classroom)
  7. The "You should be proud of yourself but I'm not going to say it publicly because you'll get a big head" look
  8. The "I'm disappointed" look
  9. The "I don't know... why are you looking at me" look
  10. The "I'm not sure" look
  11. The "meh" look
  12. The "I'm nervous" look
  13. The "I'm not nervous but you are looking at me like I am nervous which is starting to make me nervous" look
  14. The "Excited" look
  15. The "I'm sick but I'm trying to look well" look
Those are just 15 looks... but I can think of a few more. So next time I give you a look... consider the above looks.

From Car-O-Line

Test: What look is this??? Comment your answers!!!

Friday, July 11, 2008

*big sigh of relief!!!*

I passed everything in my uni results!!! In fact I did quite well overall!!! I'm so happy! I'm on the home stretch to graduating now.

The subject I was most worried about was "stress and anxiety." It was the subject I was most stressed about. And I got a high credit for it. All praise must go to God for that one... I was seriously worried that I might have failed and would have to stay back at uni for another semester. Now that I think about it... I'm not quite sure how I did so well in that course... I must have done really well in the multiple choice final exam.

Gifted and Talented students was a bit of a disappointment... but I did super well in Special Ed - HD. I think Special Ed was one of my favourite subjects ever... I wonder if I should do further study in it. I also did well in Ethics (where I did a focus on Music Education in Special Education) but wasn't as high as I hoped... I think my essay let me down a little bit.

Essays suck... they always seem to bring my marks down... but hip hip hooray... I don't have any more essays to write!!! (Unless I do a masters or honours... which I think I'd like to do for Music Ed in Special Ed). At least there will be no more essays for the rest of this year.

In other news... I'm in my third relapse of the flu which really sucks. I'm keeping myself inside so that I can recover quickly. I have MYC next week with Rob and wanna be well for that.

Also... I've officially left PizzaCutters. I have to say it's been an alright 1.5 years there... lots of interesting things and conversations. It'll be sad to not have those deep conversations about religion any more. I sorta wish I made more of an effort to talk about that stuff now. Maybe it'll be easier to talk to them when I visit about them, now that I'm out of the "work" context. I must say that I wont miss all the washing up and mopping the floor every night. My trackie pants will be much better off without the bleach splashing on them.

I'm so happy! I feel much freer now that I know my uni results. Next term I go on my 7-week block teaching practicum. So I may be out of it for a while.

From Car-O-Line

Saturday, June 21, 2008

wordle!!!

Wordle is a thing that takes your text and picks out the most used words to make a word cloud. It's great fun! Here are some that I did (click to enlarge):

wordle of this blog

wordle of my ethics essay about music education for the hearing impaired

wordle of the special education lecture notes

wordle of a talk a did on contentment

From Car-O-Line

Sunday, June 15, 2008

arpdayette

I haven't blogged in a while... I miss blogging.

Yesterday I went to a sci-fi/fantasy 21st party. Me and Rob dressed as star trek people. I may have photos eventually. It's fun to dress up.

I've been sick for the past week. Had a killer throat for a few days... then I lost my voice. I'm slowly getting my voice back.

The other day I was thinking about blogging something interesting... but I've forgotten what that was now.

Cler made me sign up to this thing called twitter. My twitter site is www.twitter.com/carolinebarker

I'm organising the Women's Katoomba Convention group from my church and it's proving to be a challenging task. But it's not that stressful... I think switch camp organising was more stressful.

Next semester I'll be on prac. I've basically finished my university education which is sorta sad. I didn't really realise it when I finished last session that I wouldn't really see a lot of my uni friends any time soon. Must do things in the holidays. I'll be back at uni in September.

Tonight, Battle of the Choirs is on. I'm excited about it :) I've been really into choral music lately. There is a song called The Boxer which I reckon would be good for a boys choir. I've also been feeling like orchestration. What I really should be doing is studying for my exams.

This has been a quick and mediocre update
From Car-O-Line

Friday, April 04, 2008

on a blog roll

If you actually visit my blog site, you'll notice that the whole layout/background/style has changed. I'm glad I did computer studies in high school and did that website design general education course at uni because now I'm quite familiar with html stuff... and even though I may not know the exact codes needed, I know how to organise tags which blogger provides and put them in the right places. One thing that's been baffling me though is getting the title of each blog post become a link to the permament site of the post. I looked at the codes needed and included these in... but it hasn't been working. If anyone knows what I should do... please send me a message.

Tonight at youth group we had a girls night (while the boys did manly things). One thing us girls did was do facials. I had this lovely cucumber and yoghurt mask... and it felt really good. I felt so awake after it... if you are tired I recommend you try it.

Cucumber and Yoghurt facial recipe:
blend 1/2 a cumcumber with 2 tablespoons of plain yoghurt. Then put it on your face.

Very simple! A good website with very easy facial recipes is http://www.wittyliving.com/recipes/facial-mask-recipes.html

Tomorrow I have two 21st birthday parties. The first one that I'm going to has a 'bogan' theme, and the second party has a 'chic' theme. I have two different costumes for both, just gotta try and work out when I'm going to change. It's going to be a little tight travelling between the parties.

I finished another uni assignment today which was good. Now just got to do a lot of reading. I also need to try and neaten up my lecture notes so that they are understandable.

From Car-O-Line

Thursday, April 03, 2008

blog redesign

Decided to change the layout of my blog. It's pretty simple... I think it's alright.

The hecticness of uni has officially started now... I've already handed in my first assignment, and got one due today (which I've already done thankfully). I'll have to be working constantly from now on. Although it is nice to be able to take a break and blog and surf the internet... something I've learned from my "stress and anxiety" course (as long as I don't blog/surf for too long).

URGENT things to do:
-get C's 21st speech on paper
-write birthday cards
-read the 6 journal articles on 'music for the hearing impaired' that I downloaded
-skim read the 3 books that I borrowed from the library on 'music for the hearing impaired'
-write my proposal for the ethics assignment
-compose the bibliography for ethics

not so urgent things to do:
-go fabric shopping
-learn advanced origami from youtube
-embroider a cushion
-read frankie magazine
-surf myspace for indie music
-crochet a soft toy

From Car-O-Line

p.s: I've been looking at myspace music sites and have found some pretty cool artists... so in a future blog I'm going to give my list of musicians you should check out (much like my last blog on craft websites)

Sunday, March 16, 2008

procrastination list

I saw Chris T on the train the other day... hadn't seen her since my birthday party. We got chatting about what we did in our holidays and I told her about how I learned how to do a lot of craft stuff from the internet. So I sent her (and Haze) some links to some of my favourite sites. And I got thinking today... why don't I share them with the world? So here is my Top 12 list for sites to procrastinate with...

1
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=9639 - cute crochet patterns to buy

2
http://www.amigurumipatterns.blogspot.com/ - the blog of the above person... sometimes there are FREE patterns :)

3
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mypapercrane/sets/749058/ - really cute plush... maybe a place to find some inspiration

4
http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTfetching.html - a long term craft goal for me

5
http://www.mintd.com/ - aussie version of etsy... cool indie designs

6
http://pinkchalkstudio.com/blog/2006/07/10/whiplash-challenge-water-bottle-carrier/ - cute water bottle carrier tutorial

7
http://u-handbag.typepad.com/uhandblog/how_to_make_this_pursebag/index.html - where I learned how to make bags. I subscribe to this blog because it's so good and she updates it with free tutorials very frequently

8
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5347491 - super cute amigurumi dolls!!!

9
http://www.forestprints.com/ - lots of cute designs, bags, clothes, toys, etc

10
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5071142 - lino print art

11
http://www.madeit.com.au/ - awesome handmade craft shop online

12
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=19929 - I like this person's boxy pouches

From Car-O-Line

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

notes on the 'other' part of Australia

well... i've been to tasmania now. took quite a few photos. the scenery was very beautiful... and the weather wasn't too bad... just freezing cold!

it was nice to go on bush walks and smell the trees. the air is so fresh there.

it sucked not being able to drive at all though (my parents drove... i wasn't allowed because of the hire car insurance). which meant i had to persevere through the very slow, and often scary driving of my parents. it also meant that i had to do the directions... which i was happy to do as i feel very comfortable reading a map... but it's difficult when they don't listen to you... meaning you end up somewhere you weren't supposed to... and i got the blame...????

so general thoughts on tasmania
-it smells really really good
-the road signs are too small
-what's with all the one way streets? confusing!
-they have nice wood crafts there
-it's cold cold cold

From Car-O-Line

Thursday, January 17, 2008

a new project (and a short blog)

well... so much has been going on recently. I've been enjoying myself... that is all you need to know. (also... I can't be bothered to write everything that's been happening... and I can't really remember either).
so... yesterday I went to Ikea and bought one of those artist's dummies (because it was cheap, and I've always thought they were pretty cool). so here is my new project...
change the pose of the dummy (which will now be referred to as bertie - because it was the first thing that came into my head when I was thinking of names) highly frequently (hopefully daily, but I doubt that), take a picture and post it on my blog. if all goes well... I may even set up a new blog dedicated to bertie and his many postures.

the first pose!!!

From Car-O-Line

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Chritstmas and New Years fun

I haven't been home much since Christmas, so I haven't really been able to blog about it yet... but now I'm home and bored so I can blog about it!

Christmas eve:
Went to the Chong's for their annual Christmas eve dinner which was lovely as usual. I ended up arriving 45mins early because I wasn't sure what time it started, so I assumed it would start at 6pm (a regular dinner time)... I arrived at 6:15... I was rushing too because I thought I was late. When infact it started at 7pm. LOL.
After that I went to Rob's church for their 11pm service. It was a pretty good service. Good talk. It was very refreshing to hear about the real meaning of Christmas and to be reminded about God's love, amidst all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season.

Christmas day:
Went to church in the morning for another good Christmas service. Then came home, and my whole family had a nap over lunch (seeing that we weren't having a Christmas lunch this year). I slept for about 4 hours. It was a good rest. Then me and mum started prepping for Christmas dinner. We decided to go easy on ourselves and have a BBQ, so me and mum just had to make salads and chop fruit. We had about 10 people over which was nice. Good to catch up with family and see little Rhys growing up and eating tasty food. Poor Rob was sick as a dog and slept most of the evening. When he did get up and come out... he was like a zombie. LOL.

Boxing day:
Went up to Muswellbrook to see dad's side of the family. Stayed the night there. Didn't do much there. The weather was warm but I forgot to take my swimmers so that was a bit of a bummer watching the kids swim in the pool and not being able to. I almost jumped in with my clothes on... it was so tempting. We drove around the country a bit. I did a lot of driving up and down.

A few days after that:
Me and Cler were supposed to go out shopping and movie-ing, but I was really sick. Couldn't stand up for long periods of time and feverish. So Cler came over instead and we watched "The Little Mermaid" and just caught up and stuff which was nice. She brought gifts from Hong Kong, including these cute stylus' for my DS. Unfortunately I had to go to work that night which probably wasn't the best idea, but everyone else was on holidays so I had to go in. By 7pm I was feeling so crook that I asked if I could go home soon, so the boss let me go. Lucky the nice boss was working.

30th of December 07:
Rob came and picked me up, and then we went and picked Erin up, and we set off on our road trip!!! We drove through Wollongong to Jervis Bay where we picked up Sarah M. We had lunch there which was really good after sitting down in the car for so long. And then we set off again to the Bega Valley (yes... Bega... as in Bega cheese). It was a pretty long drive, and it was hot. And we didn't really stop much because Rob just wanted to get there as quickly as possible. We were staying at Dan W's house which is in Bemboka, a little bit out of Bega. It was a really nice place and the family were very hospitable. Had a nice dinner and then got settled in for bed.

New Years Eve:
Started the day by getting a tour of the farm. Steve drove us in the ute while Rob and Dan stood in the tray. It was the full country experience, we had to stop and move trees which had fallen across the fire trail. After lunch, we drove to Warren's house. Then we all went to Merimbula beach for a swim. It was freezing! And I probably shouldn't have because I was still a little sick. We had pizza for dinner (and I criticised it as a pizzacutter does) and then went to the fun world there. We did lazer zone (for an amazing $8 only!)... it was my first time. It was fun. I came second last though (no teams). I'd do it again though. We did other games too. Dan and Steve did DDR and it was kinda freaky watching the twins doing the same moves... they are so alike and so cute together!!! There were fireworks on Merimbula beach which were really good (better than Sydney because there is no smog) and then we just chilled on the beach for a bit... doing acrobatics and normal stuff like that. Then we went back to Warren's hosue to count down the new year. Watched the Sydney fireworks on tv.

New Years morning:
After Warren's we came back to Dan's and saw a wombat in his driveway... we were chasing it with the car... it ran pretty fast... and then it went into the bushes. It was very cute. Then we all just sat around the dining table chatting and stuff. Then we went to bed.

Later that day:
We decided to start the New Year by going across the boarder - to Victoria. We also decided that 2008 would be "the year of the dance" so we did a few moves in the lounge room. So we drove to Pembula on a very empty tank, Rob probably had about 1.4L left in his car... so got petrol there (after passing two petrol stations that were closed... it was getting desperate). Went to Eden for lunch, fish and chips overlooking the sea. When we got to the boarder we stopped by the side of the road to take pictures. Sarah celebrated her first time in Victoria by moonwalking across the boarder. After all that fun, we decided to drive on further into Victoria, only to find that Warrren's car wasn't starting. And we had no phone reception. Luckily Rob's car was working still, so we drove to the nearest town... about 15kms away, and Warren called his Dad... his Dad knew what was wrong because it had happened before so we went back and fixed the car. So we head off again. Rob let me drive his car! It was only the second time that I had ever driven a manual. And I crunched it pretty hard at one stage... but once I made it into 5th gear I was sweet. It was funny... everytime we approached a town, I freaked out because it meant that I would have to change gears. I drove to Boydtown (not Boytown) where we stopped to check out the beach and had coffee, then drove back to Bega. We picked up some videos, then Rob drove back to Bemboka. That evening we watched "Hoodwinked."

2/1/08:
Drove Dan to work at the Bega cheese factory, and had a look around as well. Then the rest of us went to Tathra where we ate lunch, and then went for a swim in the lagoon. The water was really nice this time, but as it got deeper it was cold... but that was alright. Erin, Sarah, Steve and I were the only ones to go in and we had fun talking about open and closed ears, and other random things. Went back to Warren's for dinner, then picked up Dan when he finished work. Watched "Dodgeball" back at Bemboka (because Dan had never seen it) and also "The Bourne Ultimatum" which was a good movie (considering I haven't seen the first 2 Bourne's).

3/1/08:
Our last full day in Bega. We hung around the house a bit, then went to the cheese factory to meet Steve there and we got milkshakes. Then we moved onto Warren's house and watched his family home movies. By that time, Dan had finished work, so we went to Merimbula and saw "I am Legend." I'm not sure if I liked it. It was very freaky and it was done in a weird way, the story was a bit empty too. It was alright though. To counteract the freaky/scariness of the movie, we watched "Zoolander" back at Dan's house.

4/1/08:
Left Bega at 12:30 and took Steve with us. It was a nicer drive back because the weather wasn't as hot. Stopped at Goulburn for lunch and then dropped Steve off at the bus stop. Got back to Sydney for dinner, it was a little sad leaving Bega, but still quite nice to be home.

5/1-now:
Home is boring, we had a very fun time at Bega. I've been so bored I've had to resort to ebay and westfield. I've also been back at work which has been very quiet. I did get these new sandals though with the Christmas money mum gave me (which was specifically for sandals). This friday I'm starting a gen-ed at uni on the Silk Roads. Found out on Sunday that there is a reader that I should have finished reading before the course starts... which sucks because I don't like reading. I used to pick subjects based on if there was a reader or not... but I didn't realise this course had a reader. Oh well... I bought it from the uni bookshop and had it sent to me... and it came very quickly! The day after I ordered it :) So I been reading that. Some parts are interesting and some are really boring. I wonder what the lectures will be like... it is a short course, so the lectures go from 10am - 6pm! Yikes!
Tomorrow I'm going to see the filming of "Gladiators" in Sydney Olympic park. I got free tickets off a friend. I'm excited about it. It should be really cool. I remember watching "Gladiators" on tv when I was younger.

From Car-O-Line

P.S.: kudos to whoever has made it this far... sorry for the very loooooong blog. I will blog more frequently from now on.