august 07, 2002
i'm going to miss everyone,
i'm going to miss everyone, but i'm going to miss my little brother so much.
mum, dad, nicky, alex, ed, nick, sarah, aliese, jess, amanda, lue, pete, chris et al...
i love you all. look after yourselves.
pipstar @ 04:01 AM | link | Comments: *
august 07, 2002
journey to anywhere (pippa finds her way)
wow. it's 2.05am.
in 10 hours i'll be at adelaide airport just about to get on a plane for melbournesingaporelondonmadrid and seven months away.
i've just scanned in my travel documents and i'm still in the process of entering in my tax return.
i'm packed apart from waiting for a pair of jeans to dry. (and yes, i know that jeans aren't the best travel gear as they take forever to dry... but you can also wear them for a month without desperately needing to wash them.)
:::...
i've been finding it difficult to describe how i'm feeling about leaving. for six months i've been planning this in my head and suddenly my day of departure has snuck up.
i'm definitely nervous. i'm definitely excited. but i'm finding it hard to untangle those feelings. they're mixed up with a premonition of how much i'm going to miss the things i know and how much fun i'm going to have in new situations.
the thing which specifically freaks me out is customs. the whole process acts as a symbol of entering a new country. the irrational bits of me keep on thinking "what happens if they decide they don't want a pippa in spain, turkey, croatia etc?!" and they decide to send me back because i'm not brave or mature enough to spend 7 months travelling by myself.
but i know that i am.
i feel like singing "I Have Confidence" from the Sound of Music, but then, i often feel like singing bits of the Sound of Music, so i don't know whether this current urge means anything.
:::...
anyway, i suppose that i should summarise the purpose and the kinda plan.
i'm going because i've been bored with study and work, i keep on reading about places rather than seeing them, i'm getting itchy feet, i've saved up enough money and the boy i fancy happens to be in europe. oh, i also feel brave enough to travel by myself at this point in my life.
i'm going by myself because i think i'd end up fighting with anyone i travelled with for a long time, and i'll meet more people by myself, i can be more flexible about my plans and there was no one with enough money or the flexibility to travel with me for so long.
i've never been away from adelaide for more than a fortnight, and i've never been in a town where i knew noone. if travel makes you grow and change, i figure 7 months by myself will make me into something very grown and very different.
the core of me will remain the same though. but i suppose that that is why it is called the core.
i'm not giving up on society completely. i will be meeting up with friends along the way and travelling with them for a couple of weeks at a time.
in about 24 hours i'll finally be in madrid. i'm going to spend a month around spain and then i'm going to make my way up to london for a flight to istanbul on september 12 (a scary date? it was either september 11 or friday the 13th). i'll travel around turkey for a month and then go through greece to croatia to meet a friend.
after that i don't really know what i'll do. i might go back to turkey via bulgaria and romania but i'll make my way through eastern europe eventually. the boy i fancy will be in paris until january, so i figure i'll be spending a significant amount of time in france.
i don't know where i'm going to work or what i'm going to do, but i'll eventually need to get a job.
my only specific limit is that i'm booked to fly back through bangkok from london in january and i have to be back in time for uni next year.
i feel footloose and fancyfree.
:::...
i'm not going to send out group emails unless something really important or exciting happens. but i will be updating my website regularly and replying to any emails that are sent to me.
love, regards and greetings (depending on how well i know you)
from pippa
pipstar @ 03:57 AM | link | Comments:
august 06, 2002
time management
i'd like to wake up by 10. however, i don't think that there's a chance.
even though i have to re-henna my hair (and pack my hairdye brush thing (you know the type... with the spiky bit for parting hair?))
and ring up about a bank account for some tax return details.
and pick up some stuff from my aunt so that i can update her webpage before i go.
and clean up my car. (ewww!)
and return some library books and withdraw from uni and pick up some new covers for the immobiliser keyring bits and dry and pack clothes which i haven't washed yet because i'm still wearing them and try to work out what things to not take.
and have cups of tea with my mum in between her being at work and my grandma's 95th birthday and meeting other people for drinks and possibly a movie after min's birthday tea.
and then i suppose i should sleep. last night in my own bed and all.
i don't suppose that i will. except for an unrestful two hours before a cup of tea, vegemite on toast, toothbrush packing etc.
pipstar @ 04:07 AM | link | Comments: *
august 06, 2002
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.... blast off.
two more sleeps. i really can't believe it.
and i can't believe that i (yes the girl with the anal retentive packing list) is still doing very major stuff a day and a bit before leaving the country for over half a year.
- i will still be working on my tax return tomorrow. and even then i'll be handing it on to my dad so that he can put in more information for me.
not half an hour ago i was sorting through bits of paper looking for one of my group certificates. thankfully, i found it.
- i still haven't cleaned out my car. you may think that that is alright, that my car doesn't really need to be cleaned.
well think again. once there was a piece of cheese in my car for over three months! i knew the cheese was there, but i didn't throw it out. even when i picked it up while looking for a very important piece of paper. (note: i seem to file using my car and bedroom floors. with no particular filing system).
the fact that i haven't cleaned up my car yet is made even more disgusting by the slimy stuff sitting in the compartment between the two front seats. after much consideration, karah decided that it might have once been a piece of fruit.
oh. did i mention that my dad is going to [attempt to] sell my car while i'm away? - i haven't put my resume in order yet and i haven't withdrawn from uni for this semester. one could prevent me from making money, and the other could prevent me from saving money.
tomorrow... tomorrow... - this afternoon i was busy buying three of the most important possessions for a young backpacker. long johns, a money belt and flip flops to wear in the shower (to prevent vile foot conditions).
yikes!
pipstar @ 01:42 AM | link | Comments:
august 05, 2002
scoobydo [where are you?]
no, i haven't been to see the film. even if sarah michelle is in it, i refuse to pay to go and see a live-action film about an animated dog.
though i must admit, animal films don't normally turn me off. i almost went to see cats and dogs [a film with real looking animals speaking] because the little puppy was cute.
but scooby? he be ugly.
:::...
lue has been feeling seedy. i'll be glad that i can read her ramblings while i'm away. and i'd be happy about amanda's live journal, except that she never updates.
pipstar @ 06:08 PM | link | Comments: *
august 03, 2002
freshcore extremism
i'm always running late.
yesterday i woke up for my 10.45 hairdresser's appointment at 10.10 (and i take a long time to get ready). surprisingly i made it.
and today i woke up at 12.30 when i was meant to be meeting chris w at 12.30. i eventually arrived at the orange lane markets at 1.10. which is pretty good for me.
and now it's 9pm and i have to be at the swingcat club for rock city at 9.30. yikes.
i bought mum and ed their birthday presents and ate lunch with chris and bought my flying for 24 hours and need a book that will last book. it's foucault's pendulum by umberto eco. i've already read it before and loved it, but it took me ages and i never completely understood it, so i figure that it would be a good reread.
at a later point in the trip i'm going to get white teeth by zadie smith, based on gemma and sarah's recommendations.
and earlier this evening i went to my aunt's exhibition opening at the festival centre.
The Immigrant’s Garden at the Festival Centre Artspace
by India Flint & Stephanie Radok
3 August - 7 September 2002
and now i must rush to get ready for rock city.
pipstar @ 10:08 PM | link | Comments:
august 02, 2002
there may be others
[sophie ellis bextor rocks]
i picked up prints from two rolls of mystery film. you know the rolls, they sit around in a drawer and eventually you forget what they are of?
there was a roll from halfway through last year, half of my stuff and half of ed's photos, and the other surprise roll was from my grandma's 90th birthday party.
she turns 95 on tuesday.
this roll of film was so old. there were photos of the last undecided gig (including a picture of the undecided cookies that diana baked), my brother and cousin looked like little kids and not like teenagers and my hair was short, but a very pale strawberry blonde.
the newer photos suprised me. i know that my hair is bright red, but i didn't realise how bright. i think i must have dyed it that morning.
which reminds me. haircut at 10.45 tomorrow. it's 4am now and tomorrow i also need to get a bank cheque, buy a travelex card and meet aliese.
i'm going to be pooped.
pipstar @ 05:05 AM | link | Comments:
august 02, 2002
sigh sigh sigh
i didn't do any photography. no screen-printing. and my attempt at zining with gemma was well-meaning, but we ended up doing nothing but eating, talking and looking at other people's zines.
i didn't go out and see as many movies by myself as i'd have liked to. but i did see some movies.
i read a lot of books and blogged a lot.
i managed to scam a credit and two distinctions for uni, which was a surprise to everyone, especially myself, as i did the barest minimum of work to get by. (this proves my theory that studying for exams at the last minute can be successful. at least if you're me.)
i've pretty much forgotten everything now. i kinda panicked last night. i was looking at a listing of I.T. jobs in London and i realised i can't really remember anything i've studied over the last four years. how on earth could i get a job?
i calmed myself down. if someone said "code a calendar program in php which accesses typeX database" i'd be able to do it. trying to remember everything doesn't work, but remembering specific topics is much easier.
:::...
i know that i can do this. but i think that part of doing this is recognising that i am taking a risk and making a change in my life.
i'm stepping out of my comfort zone of television and a washing machine and mum cooking dinner and a city where people know me.
i can easily get a job in this city, people recognise my references as being worth something. but how will they holdup in another country?
apart from my job at the sleep lab and about 3 months at John Martin's when i was 17, all of my jobs have been through word of mouth and people recommending me. i don't really know how to apply for jobs, and i've never actually urgently needed to get a job.
i haven't been overseas once as a conscious adult. when i was a baby i went to bali a few times and at the end of year 11 i went to norfolk island (which doesn't really count and it was a school trip) but i was suffering from glandular fever and i was only semi-conscious.
i have no idea of what to do going through customs. i know that it's easy, but it still freaks me out.
in year 8, i used to get stomach aches in the final two classes of the day because i'd be worried that my buses home wouldn't meet up. can you imagine how i feel about 5 plane rides within 24 hours?
i've got 5 days until i go and already my stomach is feeling weird. earlier this year i managed to miss a flight home from melbourne.
and i have to get my family organised to take me there, with all my stuff and with my superoptimistic adelaide belief that it only takes 20 minutes to get anywhere in the city at any time.
i'm afraid that when i come back i'll be like the people that karah and i were talking about earlier tonight. people who spend a week in a city and then decide that they know everything about it. "oh yeah, i've done that".
that i won't be able to empathise when someone i know is going away for the first time.
i know that after a week i'm going to completely love travelling. i'm already working out my next couple of trips: new zealand (with frequent flyer points), more of south-east asia, turkey (again) and maybe overland from there to india.
i'm going to apply for volunteer camps and ausaid youth ambassador scolarships just so other people get something out of my travelling too.
and i also know that in about two months i'll feel really homesick. and that i'll be over it a couple of days afterwards.
that's why i booked for 7 months, if i booked for less i'd want to stay as long as possible anyway (i have to come back by march for the start of uni).
but my realistic optimism does not change the fact that i feel nervous now.
i wish that certain persons (you know who you are!) could empathise and ask me how i'm feeling about this!
pipstar @ 04:37 AM | link | Comments: **
august 02, 2002
i still cry (for baby jesus)
i'm attempting to put as many minutes of music on to as few cds as possible (though i think i'll end up taking about 40). which has led me to make some interesting choices.
such as: the last half of the bends by radiohead, all of kid a, and then sophie ellis bextor - murder on the dancefloor.
pipstar @ 03:29 AM | link | Comments:
august 02, 2002
about a boy
i went to see about a boy with karah, karen and mum tonight. it was lovely, very funny in parts and then moments when i felt like i was back at school and that i didn't fit in.
goodgoodgood and i want to buy the soundtrack. but i will wait. i might find it secondhand one day!
pipstar @ 03:05 AM | link | Comments:
august 01, 2002
[satisfaction]
i've just spent four hours cleaning up my blogs and fixing bugs in the travel design.
i was able to fix up the netscape 4 image problem and i've setup a specific travel contact form with the same design.
sweet!
i'm going to write up a new about spiel as i'm sick to death of the current one. i will archive the old versions though.
i think that dailyish will go on hiatus while i'm away. any dailyish-like entries will just go straight into the travel section.
anyway, i'm going to go over to my aunt's to educate her in the ways of web maintenance. hopefully movable type will reduce the stresses connected with trying to teach someone what ftp is and stylesheets.
oh. i made another risotto last night. bacon, red wine and leeks. yum.
pipstar @ 05:36 PM | link | Comments:
august 01, 2002
hairless snowboarder
i've just been having a look at a site called tana's habitat and even though i don't remove the hair on my legs or snowboard, i've found some links which are inspiring me to become smooth and a boarder.
make your own "sugaring" waxing mixture
another interesting story from tana's habitat is about some architecture students who've used recycled waxed corrugated cardboard waste as a building material.
you can visit their website - corrugated cardboard.
pipstar @ 02:06 PM | link | Comments:
august 01, 2002
bookmarks
shit. not only did i not backup my email folder, but i also forgot to save my most recent bookmarks file.
i exported the links, but i stupidly forgot to put them into the backup directory.
[how on earth am i meant to organise myself if i'm acting like this?]
i've also discovered that netscape 4.0 is creating major havoc with my map image in the travel section.
oh dear. i should really go to bed so i can wake up for yoga tomorrow.
but i want to write about how i'm feeling about finally going away. tomorrow. i'll have to write it tomorrow.
© 2002 - 2007 Pippa Buchanan