Acquiring a Scooter and Other Points of Minor Interest

I finally have my scooter!
It has taken a little while, but now she (he?) sits outside in all her glorious oldness. It's been two weeks since I got her, and already we've had a fair few firsts. First ride to work, first (and second) time I couldn't get her started, first collision with an inanimate object, first bruise, first spluttering death on the side of the road, first fill up ($3.77 for a tank! So much cheaper than the train/bus!), first long line of people stuck behind us...

My Dad has been especially wonderful in helping me with the whole getting it moving thing. Not only has he charged up the battery, affixed the licence plates/rego (which cost me almost as much as the scooter itself) and sorted out some new mirrors and spark plugs for me, but he's also come out to help me not once, not twice, but three times, when I've found myself unable to get the thing going. Not to mention a few extra trips as a tow service, and to get a few other things.

So yes, the scooter is now fully (well, as much as it's going to get) functional, and I'm learning all sorts of little things about her, like how the fuel gauge is a filthy liar (hopefully vaguely fixed now, again thanks to Dad), how to get her started properly, and the general basics behind not crashing into things while driving about. Still keep leaving my indicators on, though.


In other news, I've delayed America once again (surprise, surprise), for what I very much hope will be the absolute last time. I've now finished the entire online application (numero... three?) aside from two photos I need to include, which shall be taken within the next week. Then application (and a very apologetic email) will be sent off and things will get moving again!

There are two reasons for this extra delay. The first being that I am very much hoping to go back to Walsh for my third year, and fly some more planes. I sent off the application a little late, but am hopeful that I'll manage to make the cut.

The second reason is something that is even more exciting than the prospect of two weeks flying planes, and still just a possibility, but something that will hopefully eventuate in large amounts of hilarity. My dear friend, and fellow Harold, Stephler, from way over in New Mexico, USA is going to be in Tasmania for her studies next year, and the hope is, that she'll be able to come a few weeks early and we shall roadtrip across the country, seeing sights far and wide and documenting all our various mishaps through the medium of photography and whatever else we might come across.
In case you cannot tell, I am hugely excited about this prospect!


So life goes on, things go fairly well, and I am looking forward to a great deal of things, including a ball (to which I shall wear a DRESS!) this weekend, my favourite folk festival next weekend, and many exciting things a little further away.
If only I had time for a little sleep now and then...

Written a good three weeks ago and never finished or posted...

Hmmm… The plan was to update this every week or so, wasn’t it? I’m looking at the date on the last thing I wrote and feeling like very much of a slacker. Ah well, I hide behind the feeble excuse of being forever busy.

A fair amount has happened in the past little while. I had my month in Island Bay, then sat on another house in Johnsonville for the rest of July, and up until yesterday, and this weekend I have moved (a little more permanently) into a flat in Newtown, which is rather exciting.

America is still in the same state as it has been for quite some time. Yes, I am going. I’ve given them over a thousand dollars, I’m damn well going. It’s a question of when, not if, and I promise I will let people know as soon as I get my act together and get things organised. When I know where I’m going, or when I’m going, or anything else, I’ll put something up on facebook, or here, or both. I’m not just going to vanish off overseas without warning. Currently I’m planning on November. Knowing me, that will morph into December, but I should be gone by the end of the year.

I’ve found living alone to be a very interesting experience. It was something I enjoyed a lot of the time, but certainly not something I think I could do long term. At least not while spending most of my working time alone as well. I think that was one of the things I found a little difficult at times; having several days in a row without any real conversation. Much as I love talking with the kids at work, the conversation is not always especially thrilling, and I did get a tad lonely at times, especially now that the younger boy has started school, meaning I get nearly six hours of being completely alone at work.

In Johnsonville I was pretty much doing the same thing as Island Bay. Feeding a cat and bringing in the mail. Although I was a lot closer to work, I actually had to leave earlier (Yay for leaving the house at 6:30!), as I had no car, so was walking twenty minutes to the train station every morning. I didn’t seem to mind it too much, though. Once you’re out of bed and awake, it’s rather nice to be up and outside before many other people. It’s just the getting out of bed part that I’m not so fond of. Ah well, to get to work from the flat I’ll have to leave even earlier.

I’ve also turned into a crazy lady who continuously talks about her cats and her kids. It’s actually scary how much I do it. I have resolved to change this, and am working on talking less about both, and finding other things to do with my time besides looking after kids and cats. I suspect that living with actual human beings and no cats will be helpful in this endeavour. I am, however, most delighted that my drugs to keep the kitty allergies at bay are working effectively. They certainly make work a lot easier.

I’m going to be living in Newtown for about three months. I’ve committed until the 24th of November, at which point I will leave, as one of the flats is being dropped, things are being rearranged, and there will no longer be room for me. At that point I should be not too far off America, so I’ll go back home for a few weeks until I leave.

I’m also going to buy a scooter. I’d like a car, but they’re fairly expensive to run, so I’m settling for a little scooter that will get me as far as work and back, and perhaps a few other places that I might choose to go. Looking at Trademe I reckon I can get a fairly decent one for about a grand, maybe a bit less, if I’m lucky. All I really need is a cheap little thing that will get me where I need to go for a few months, then I’ll probably put it straight back up on Trademe when I leave, thus hopefully saving a fair amount of money on transport, as those things run pretty cheaply. It also means I won’t have to be getting up quite so early for work, which is certainly a bonus.

In Which Jaime Sits on a House

Lookie!

I'm actually updating this thing already!

Amazing, no?

It probably won't last, but hey, I'll revel in it while I'm writing new things twice in the space of a week.


Anywho, enough of that. What I'm actually writing about is house sitting. Me house sitting, that is. For that is what I shall be doing in a few weeks time.

Tis for a month, 9th of June to 9th of July, and I'm pretty much feeding the cat and collecting the mail. They're also very kindly letting me use their car, so I can get to and from work without getting up at five or something awful like that.

I could've sworn there was more I was going to say about that, but I can't remember what, so I'll stop typing about there and contemplate getting some sleep instead.

An Update on Life and Such

Right. Now comes the time where I actually attempt to use this thing for good, rather than procrastination. Or something of the like.

I've spent the afternoon catching up on a large portion of the important emails and such that I've been meaning to send to people. I've got a few more still to write, so if I owe you an email, hopefully one shall be on its way soon! Feel free to prod me for things, though. We know how I am with the forgetting. So now is the time for writing here, so's people who are interested (if anyone is) in what I've been up to and what's happening with America and all that can get a bit of an update, without me writing the same thing twenty times (because we know how badly that would end..) or spamming people. I'd better apologise in advance for how incredibly garbled this is probably going to become. My thoughts often go too fast for my typing, and I can get distracted mid-sentence, so this will probably be filled with long sentences that don't really follow and extra-long paragraphs. I'm sorry. My brain is a bit strange at times. Hopefully everyone can still at least vaguely understand what I'm on about.

So, Jaime's life at the moment. Where to start? I guess most of you are aware that I'm taking a bit of time off study, which I'm finding really lovely. I always find it really interesting to learn new things, and find about different ideas and everything. I love to know how things work, what happened in the past, what makes people tick, random interesting facts, and all that sort of cool stuff. It really fascinates me, and I'm sure I would've got a lot of it if I'd gone straight to uni, but at the same time, I often find that all the cool and interesting things of the world lose a lot of their intrigue as soon as you have to study them, and remember the details. I'm possibly a bit strange in that aspect, but I've always loved being able to learn interesting things without the pressure of having to over-analyse them later on, or write up all the little details and make sure I've remembered everything. I'm sure this means I don't remember a lot more of the cool stuff I come across, but hey, at least it stays interesting for me.

Anywho, yes, not studying at the moment. Instead I'm working full-time. That started four and a bit weeks ago, and I've been mostly enjoying it. I'm working as a nanny, for two boys, aged nine and four. I do forty hours a week with them, 7:15-5:15, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Wednesdays as my day off. While I'm finding that the ten hour days are often quite long, I do very much like having the whole day to myself in the middle, which breaks it up a bit. And I figure that if I was doing the standard eight hour days, five days a week, I'd actually lose a lot more time, as realistically I'd probably just spend the extra two hours a day sleeping in, instead of getting up at 6:30am.
The job certainly has its good points, and the not so good points. As I'm sure I've mentioned to several people, I find myself craving good conversation and human contact. The kids are great, and I really enjoy spending time with them, but most days they're all I've got to talk to (besides the cats) for ten hours, which can start to get to me.
On the other hand, I also get paid to make cookies and build forts, so it goes both ways.

As far as America goes; yes, I am still going, no, I'm not sure where yet, and I think I'll probably end up leaving around August.
For those of you who don't know about my plans for America, and have no idea what I'm on about, here's the basics. I'm going over to the States with an Au Pair program. It's a year long thing, and I first applied back in September last year (Spetember? Maybe even August?). Basically I'll go over there, and spend a year living with a family and looking after their kids for forty hours a week. I also get a couple of weeks off at some point throughout the year where I'll be able to travel around a bit, and hopefully go and visit a few of my friends who live over there. After I'm done with my year with the family I'll probably do a little travelling. I can extend my visa for a month of travelling around the States, if I want to, and after that they'll either pay to fly me back home, or on to London. The amount of travelling I do will probably depend on how much I can afford, among other things like how much I miss home, and if I have travel buddies. I'd quite like to go to London for a bit though, travel around England and see a few people, such as my grandparents, and our dear Anastasia. Not sure how long I'd stay over there if I make it over, but I do have a British passport, so I could, conceivably, get a job and work for a bit, if I felt like it. Again, it depends on a lot of things, and I doubt I'll have anything near a decision on that part for quite some time yet.
My progress towards actually getting to America has been fairly minimal over the past few months. This has been for a few reasons, but mostly because of my own incompetence and procrastination. But I'm fairly happy with staying behind for a bit longer. I'm almost finished with part two of the application to families (this comes after applying to the New Zealand service, and then the American one), I've just got to talk nicely to a few people and gather up a bunch of photos of me and some of the kids I've spent time with, and sort out the last of those evil childcare hours.
After that's sorted (hopefully in the next week or so), I'll just have to do a teensy bit more paperwork and I'll be hopefully talking to prospective families!

Plans after I get back home are still a little vague, and knowing me I'll probably change my mind several more times before then, but for the past five months I've been set on training as an air traffic controller. That idea came about in January, after I attended my second Walsh (that flying school thing), and I've thought through it a fair bit. The program involves about a year of study, six months at a training centre in Christchurch, and then four to nine months training at a tower somewhere in the country. I can't start training until I'm twenty, as you can't hold an air traffic controller's licence until you're 21, so it also gives me another excuse for the gap year, and a good reason for delaying the whole America thing for a while. Because, if I can't start until I'm twenty anyway, I think it's probably better for me to have that extra time at this end, rather than after I've been overseas. There's a number of reasons there, but for starters, it's probably cheaper, as I may well not chose to live at home (where I get a nice bed, good food, internet, warmness, use of a car, and such, for $70pw) once I get back, and right now I'm also working, so I have money coming in to pay for travel and savings and things.

Phew. That was a fairly long ramble. I do believe I've covered the main stuff, so I'll stop writing for now. The plan is to update this thing fairly regularly, with updates on how the America stuff is progressing, and any other changes in my life, and then attempt to write in it daily once I make it to America.

We'll see how that goes...

Tester, I Suppose

I must really be procrastinating now, seeing as I've gone and created myself another blog for pretty much no reason. I think I might use this as my America one, though, instead of the rarely used LJ account. So I have some small amount of excuse.

For now, I am going to stop writing, and return to cleaning out my room and choking on about six years worth of dust.

Jaime