September 2014 – My trip to Southern Cross University, Lismore … I am very excited! I’m so excited to see my mum and The Besty and her man and the kids. I haven’t seen my best friend for a long time. Too long. It’s going to be a great trip. I’m taking my bottle of Moët that I got this year and a bottle of fizzy red that a friend gave me yesterday. I’ll be cracking those as soon as we are back on the GC on Saturday afternoon.
My supervisor is going and I’m looking forward to seeing him. He’s a good guy. Also my old boss will be there, may even be presenting me to the chancellor. Now there could be a problem. He is still a bit cranky about me leaving the way I did. Be interesting to see how he interacts with me … He wants me to apply for an adjunct so I think it should be ok. And lots of my old staff will be there too. I hope I don’t trip up the stairs and end up with my gown over my head!
As for the actual graduation, I am slightly excited. Honestly, that whole fraud thing creeps in and I get nervous. Maybe I’ll get on stage and someone in the audience will object. Or one of the thesis examiners will contact the chancellor on Saturday morning and expose me. I hope those possibilities don’t arise. When I’m presented to the audience, “Ladies and gentlemen I present Dr Janie Brown” maybe I’ll finally believe it and get excited. Then I’ll run fast so they can’t get the testamur back!
Anyway, all that aside, you know me, I’ll have fun. And it’ll be great to have ALL of it behind me. It’ll be a month or so short of eight years from enrolling to graduating. So much has happened that can be signed, sealed and delivered!
ust about to board. It’s 07.15 and it’s going to be a long day. I polished off a bottle of white last night and I’m paying for it this morning. Clearly losing 10kgs changes your metabolism. And I’m out of form. Haven’t consumed a whole bottle on my own for a long time.
Now I’m wedged in between the kids on a slow flight to BrisVegas. The flight path thingy says we’re more than half way. One hour fifty minutes to go. The right side of Coober Pedy. In fact, the right side of Coober Pedy is any side, as long as you’re not in it! Have you been there? What a hole. One of those places you think you have to go to. If you haven’t been, let me save you the bother. Don’t!
My hangover is slowly resolving. Just in time to get another. I hope I’m not a hangover mess for tomorrow but it’s a distinct possibility. And it’s a dead cert that I’ll be dragging my sore head around movie world in Sunday! My hand luggage is a bottle of Moët and a bottle of fizzy red for tomorrow afternoon! I’ll be dragging an empty hand luggage back! Too funny!
On the Gold Coast now, many, many hours after I started this. Not long now til I do a runner with that testamur.
14th September – Hey from Movie World
I’ll write more about our trip during the week but suffice to say I have had a hoot! Hanging with my mum, best friend and her family, it just doesn’t get better. Melting in the hot Gold Coast sun. Alcohol o’clock around the pool soon … Have a great day!
My weekend was great. Having time with my best friend was just so special. It was like we saw each other last week. We haven’t seen each other since January 2013. I met her daughter and adore her already. The Piper and The Gorgeous Niece were inseparable and miss each other heaps now. Graduation was a great experience. I’m glad I went.
We did Movie World and shopping and eating and drinking and laughing and talking and now I miss everyone. I’m being a sooky lala. I actually don’t feel sad, just missing everyone. Of course I’m back at work today. Our flight got in at midnight and we didn’t get a cab until 10 to one. So we were late home, after 1.15am. Of course we had to settle so I don’t think I got to sleep before 2am. Then I forgot to turn off the alarm so it was screaming at 05.40! Not happy! I’ve been awake since then. Needless to say, work was tricky, but I was surprisingly productive.
I watched on the plane called Tracks. It’s a true story about a woman who walked from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean with 4 camels. What a story! An inspiration. I’m going to look up the story in the national geographic magazine of the time and the subsequent book. Something’s trying to tell me I can do one of these types of trips. I think the Bering Strait is my PCT or desert crossing. Ok, I prolly won’t cross the Bering Strait but I’m going to drive around the world. Watch me!
The Solo Avocado 