SE Asia coming up!!

Well, we are heading off next Friday for our trip to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. I am so excited and nervous all at once. Kim will return 12 days earlier than me - I'll be going solo in Vietnam (and Singapore on the way home). Hope to visit Ko Phi Phi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh and the coast of Vietnam, including Halong Bay!!
Lots of organising and packing and working out moulah, etc. Have finished up at kids clothing store (phew) and have also taken some time off work at WORZ. They have been awesome and I am learning to be a Slumber Safari guide there at the moment as well as the teaching side of things. Loving both to bits.
Kim is busy working full time, now we have both graduated. Got 87 for Honours - so got first class which is so exciting and feels great to have achieved that. Waiting for the paper to come out now... fingers crossed it is accepted.
As for swing dancing, looks like Kim and I will be teaching together next year out at Ringwood. My co-teacher moved to Sydney for 12 months at least, so we'll be running our own venue!!!
Got some piccies of me and the animals I work with at WORZ. Keep your eyes on this page and we'll hopefully update you with our travel adventures!!!

WORZ, CCF, Melb Museum and more!

Hey all....
Been ultra busy (funny considering I was meant to be having the break time right now) - but when life throws a few fun things in the mix, of course I am going to say 'ooh! yes please!' (much in the style of ye olde Peter Combe, childhood hero).
But enough blabbing on about nothing-

Working occasional days at Werribee Zoo: loving it!!!!!!! Got some photos of cool animals at both Melb and Werribee Zoos (courtesy of fellow casual relief teacher whose camera is much more impressive than mine)... Induction day at Melbourne Zoo meant that I got to pat and feed one of the newer elephants (so adorable!). Work is going great guns there, lots of holiday program stuff coming up soon too. I got signed off on the animal handling which means I can handle the class animals without supervision - including our lovely boas, blue-tongues, tree frogs, sugar glider and possums!! Hopefully I will be able to post a cute photo of some of our class animal heroes.

Collingwood Childrens Farm: my other new workplace - also loving it!!!!! VERY different style of animals; am increasing my muscle mass in the forearms through manual cow milking; one goat just had kids (yes, the original 'kids') who are adorable; Hugh the lamb follows us all around the farm; lots of cleaning, sweeping, making feeds, feeding animals and taking rugrats around the property and hopefully, being able to educate them about farming and agricultural animals. Love it.

Melbourne Museum: also going to start volunteering each month at Melbourne Museum in Carlton - doing all sorts of stuff. My intro/orientation is coming up soon and then full steam ahead into all of that - so will hopefully learn a huge stack of other interesting museum-related facts!!!

Australian Jitterbug Championships: this weekend - am going in showcase with my co-teacher from Ringwood. Should be an interesting night. Had our last official rehearsal today - went a bit crappy so the real thing should technically be awesome (bad rehearsal = great gig I hope!). Will inform of outcome at a later stage.

GENERAL BLA BLA: Kim has less than a week to finish his Masters then he is free. In the meantime, a general lack of sleep and heightened level of nervous energy is at the forefront of our home. He'll do awesomely. I'm terribly proud of how he's worked all the time I've known him.
Have had to get orthotics for my feet.... long story involving dancing related injury from January. Am getting used to them. Bit weird and feeling a little taller than normal. Won't be fitting in my high heels somehow......
Am working on producing a paper out of my thesis - got unofficial results but cannot release them til I get the official piece of paper.... leave you all in suspense (Hint: I'm VERY excited by the results). Have been in and out of uni still, doing more statistics and tests with Richard in prep for the journal.
Not sure what I'll do next year in terms of study - possibly PhD, possibly Master of Teaching, possibly rolling into a ball and hiding in a dark corner until someone makes up my mind for me. That brings me to today.

new job!!!

Melbourne Swing Festival Rugcutter Performance, March 2007



I handed in my thesis just less than a month ago - got my oral defence this Friday so am starting to raise the stress levels again..... but hopefully all will go well. I have learnt lots about Lyrebirds and as a fellow friend and PhD student told me "You are likely to know more about your own project than anybody else". Fingers crossed I get a reasonable result after all this work.
On the next stage - lots of people are asking "What will you do now?".... I'm still assessing all the options but currently I have become quite interested in working in Education Sections of wildlife parks/zoos.... ideally in years to come, I would love to be teaching people about conservation and wildlife whether it be at a zoo, in a documentary or on a program like Totally Wild (Ch 10). The next Ranger Stacey or something.....


The first step has begun as I applied for a casual relief teaching position at Melbourne and Werribee Zoos and have been accepted for training at Werribee. This will mean occasional work and filling in for people, teaching kids from kindergarten through to tertiary level and generally handling some pretty cool animals in Victoria's premier open range zoo!!!!! I am so stoked and thrilled to be doing this, as it finally feels I have a bit of direction. I am still looking at PhDs and Postgrad Diplomas but so far, the Diploma of Education is looking like it will be the most useful to me at the moment.

As for future dreams and plans - overseas travel (Europe, Asia and Sth America) and conservation volunteering (Africa, Borneo, Sth America, wherever it takes me!)..... hopefully with Kim (yes, all still going well on that front).

Picture of me at Melbourne Swing Festival Disco Party.... and performing in the Disco section of the Melbourne Lindy Battle.....



As for my social life: swing still dominates. Currently teaching three delightful classes at Ringwood on a Monday night. Working on a showcase routine for the Australian Jitterbug Championships. Performed at a Jazz jam afternoon yesterday. Got the big Beginner's Ball on May 19th, where I'll be looking after my Beginner students and performing too! Social dancing every other Thursday at CBD and currently learning how to be a lead at Kim's classes in Northcote on Tuesdays. So fairly busy in that regard. Still passionate, three years in. Got some great friends and have danced with some amazing international teachers.... so cannot complain there!
Love living in Fitzroy - love the area, the places to go, proximity to the city
even more so.... love living with Kim. So much fun.
That's all from me. Hope all are well. xx

folks' new addition to the family

This is my parents' new puppy, Dodger. A little cocker spaniel male who is adorable and getting along remarkably well with our older female labrador, Yuki. Both are a similar colour. Dodger has taken to sleeping near Yuki and generally idolising her. He bounds about, leaping like a rabbit rather than running. His ears tend to hang in his water bowl and pick up whatever fluff is on the ground. He likes to sleep with his toy dog and one of my old ugg boots, apparently. He is completely adorable and I am so excited to be able to visit him back home.










As for other news, I have two days left before I hand in my thesis. Most of the hard work is done. Somebody else is starting a PhD on the topic and there's a bit of territorial behaviour being shown in the university departments with researchers staking claims on certain avenues of research..... interesting behaviour in itself - who needs wild animals and birds to be able to study territoriality? - its so prevalent in academic circles!!

Have been teaching at Ringwood for a couple of weeks - all going alright so far apart from a cold/cough I've been holding at bay for a week now. Learning an awesomely intense routine at Scat Pack as well which keeps my head spinning. Got to teach beginner's class at Swing Patrol Geelong's Social Night last Friday with Kimmoi which was cool too. So much happening still. Not sure what I'll do next... so many goals and things I want to achieve and I still want to be in Melbourne for a little while longer.
Anywho.... enough chit chat... back to last minute fix-ups and proof-reads!!
xx

MSF

Melbourne Swing Festival has been fun, as per usual..... I din't partake in workshops this year due to time commitments - the thesis due in les than 3 weeks and all! However, I attended social events, performed as part of Moomba and competed at the Melbourne Lindy Battle in teams event and the disco dance jam (no relation to swing whatsoever but a lot of fun!)....

Here are some pics of the last weekend...
I am also going to start teaching at Ringwood Swing Patrol (well, I started last night) - teaching Levels 1 to 3.... big step and hella scary but should be a good learning curve. Everyone's been real encouraging so far. Back to the word processing and word counting - have to eliminate 500 words somewhere and my supervisor now wants another statistical test inserted!!! Life is pretty good in amongst all the stress.

tis the season to be jolly

well, another silly season wrapped up.... what have i been up to??
above and directly below are pics from NYE where we performed 5 routines during the evening in full 40s get-up....

below is a picture from the Swing Patrol chrissy party, where we had to go as something starting with 'M'... can you guess what I went as??? (Hint: small, black, large ears, ridiculously cute.....) I was one of about ten who came as the same character, interpreted in many ways. The divine girl next to me made her own dress out of McDonald's wrappers (her handbag was a takeaway bag).... she looked awesome and was so close to winning the best costume (beaten by a mantelpiece). Lotsa fun. VERY VERY hot night (early Dec).


The last pic is of a gig we did that same night as the M party.... at Rod Laver Arena - 20s theme.... not one of my best gigs but a good one nevertheless. This next summer is full of Honours work, Scat Pack (which Kim and I have been promoted to - the top performance troupe at Swing patrol - dancing with teachers now!!!), dancing at the zoo twilights, working on a routine for Melbourne Lindy battle (part of Melbourne Swing Festival in March), trying to stay cool in amongst the stress and heat and trying to get fitter also..... no, not a new years resolution, an old years resolution unfortunately....
hope all is well across the globe xx btw- go see Happy Feet - LOVED IT!!!!

in a month of stress....

I happened upon another person's blog called "Three Beautiful Things" and it is somebody in England who writes three things each day that bring something happy into her life. I liked the concept and in a month that has been extremely stressful, I have been trying to do this as well.... even if I don't physically write them down

1. The smell of a gingerbread house that Kim and I put together and decorated, in our new apartment

2. The sound of the Ashes on the television reminds me that some things in summer never change - sunny days and dulcet tones of cricket commentary

3. Having rafters in our apartment upon which to hang things - I've forever had lanterns and mobiles and now I'm spoilt for choice as to their new locations!