Changing and changing and changing

Now that my ’12 months’ in Australia is over (and was actually officially over on November 3rd), I thought I’d modify this blog to fit in my extended stay here.

This blog was only meant to document my year-long working holiday here. It started out due to a request from friends of mine so they can stalk me shamelessly, even when I’m on a different continent.

So I obliged.

But I haven’t been too good at keeping them in the loop, especially over the last 2-3 months. Yes I am terrible. If I was being paid, lord knows I’d spew some babble onto my blog for the sake of meeting a deadline. But I was over that stuff, having left the world of publishing prior to coming out here.

Since I wasn’t being paid and basically had no obligation to deliver on a frequent or regular basis, I just blogged when the mood suited me. Which came in bursts and spurts, judging by the archives.

I wish I’d blogged more. I like reading through older posts and remembering what I was doing, where I was, who with, the mood I was in, etc. You know, that kinda shiznit. Still, I’m amazed I was able to do it at all, knowing how lazy I can get. Plus, I believe I am an expert at procrastination, something I’m hoping I will manage to shed or at least tone down in the coming months (for Uni).

Anyways, I have been beating around the bush a bit (another bad habit). I have decided that this blog will be terminated here, and a new one with stories of everyday life will take its place.

Life, whether I’m in the land of Oz, or Malaysia, or Germany, or wherever. When I’m working, or studying. I kinda just want to have a more ‘general’ blog that I can write about anything and everything.

Which means I’ll probably not be updating my other blog, ’156′, much either. Unless lengthy poetry spills out of my head and I worry about boring the readers of the ‘regular’ blog (or just myself, really).

So this is it. THE last post to this blog. This misadventure.

Thanks for reading! It sure has been fun.

Cobwebs aplenty!

Yup, this blog hasn’t been seeing much action lately (insert joke about how the writer is in a similar predicament).

But, I’ve been busy!*

* Lazy. Which I believe is the true origin of all sin. Laziness. But I digress.

So what HAVE I been up to that’s made me so busy? In a nutshell:

* Travelling
I went to Melbourne to visit Ayman, and Ash joined us there which was nice. Went to the NGV, went to the ACMI at Federation Square to see the amazing Tim Burton exhibition that words couldn’t possibly describe and do it justice… it was just mind-blowing

Also went to KL for 8 days because my Working Holiday Visa expired on Nov 3rd. So I am back in Australia on a tourist visa at the moment. Mum went on and on about how 8 days wasn’t enough and guilt-tripped me about not spending enough time with her. I didn’t even spend that much time with my friends, to be honest. I had to FFK some friends that I promised I’d meet up with, to keep her happy.

Jason and I went on a week-long trip up to Monkey Mia and Coral Bay which was beautiful and rendered me speechless at times. I saw dugongs, fed a dolphin, swam with manta rays, snorkelled with turtles and dived with sharks (and corals, nudibranches, fish of all kinds, eels… and the dreaded triggerfish. Which, upon noticing me trying not to notice IT, raised its little dorsal spine, the signal for “I’ma bite you if you don’t get away from me!” Thus I flapped my fins wildly to escape being attacked by the surly triggerfish).

In case you just don’t understand my fear of triggerfish, here’s a photo of the ugly, surly little devil:

…aaaand, a description of their bad temper, plus what a bite from these seemingly ‘tiny’ fish looks like:

Some triggerfish species can be quite aggressive when guarding their eggs. Both the picasso (Rhinecanthus aculeatus) and titan triggerfish (Balistoides viridescens) viciously defend their nests against intruders, including scuba divers and snorkelers. Their territory extends in a cone from the nest toward the surface, so swimming upwards can put a diver further into the fishes’ territory; a horizontal swim away from the nest site is best when confronted by an angry triggerfish. Unlike the relatively small picasso triggerfish, the titan triggerfish poses a serious threat to inattentive divers due to its large size and powerful teeth.

Anyway, on with the list.

* Deciding what to do with myself / future plans
As my 12 month ‘holiday’ here drew to a close, I’m sure those of you who actually read my blog noticed an increase in anxiety in the tone. Yes, because I was really loving life here, and because I wasn’t sure what the next step would/should be. I just don’t see myself going back to KL if I can help it. If push came to shove and I had no choice, but NO choice… of course, I would.

But I’d like to think I have a choice, at the moment. I tried applying to English teaching jobs in Korea. NO, they only want people who come from ‘native speaking countries’ like Canada, USA, Australia, NZ, the UK and South Africa! Hah. Imagine that… here I am, fully qualified, a published writer, and I can’t get a job teaching English in Korea. I suppose if I wasn’t too picky I could teach in China or Vietnam… but I don’t want to… right now. Not right now.

Soooo… then I started researching the option of doing a Master’s or MBA. Not my cup of tea. First of all I really don’t think a Master’s in Media/Mass Comm/Journalism is really worth it/useful. Just my humble opinion. Second, I am SO not interested in an MBA it’d be a total waste of time and money doing it because I probably won’t apply myself and I’ll just get mediocre results or whatever. I just ain’t that into Economics, Accounting and Business stuff right now. Economics, maybe. The other stuff? YAWN!

I arrived at another decision that would allow me to extend my stay here in Australia, as well as increase my chances of getting a PR, and thus, applying for English-teaching jobs wherever I damn well please. I decided to apply for the Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education! After talking to friends, family, Uni staff and migration agents, this is the decision I’ve arrived at. It isn’t all smooth-sailing, though. There are hitches involved that I will save for another post.

* Being clumsy / hurting myself / getting hurt
It isn’t enough that I got hit by a car and fractured my spine, I had to go and scald myself on the thigh with boiling hot water during said camping trip up north with Jason. Well, I went to the doctor 4 days later (when I was back in civilisation), and he said the most important words I needed him to say: “Will not scar.” THANK FUCK! It was superficial, but it hurt like shit, and now the skin’s still red and itches like king hell. And I can’t wear my short-shorts anymore, my so-called Daisy Dukes because it looks like I have a big ugly birthmark! Hahaha. Padan muka, siapa suruh aku ni gelabah sangat??

On the topic of getting hurt, I also was involved in a couple of short-lived romantic liaisons which ended well before I was prepared for them to, leaving my heart crumpled like a wilted rose. Haha. Emonyer! Well, I’m alright now, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t at least learn a thing or two from those encounters. They’ve taught me so much more about myself, what I want, and what I will most certainly NOT settle for. It’s ok to want something more, Naya. It’s ok to say to yourself, hmm, this one doesn’t seem right. And move on from there instead of sticking around for the sake of being nice or giving people the benefit of the doubt… and then, ending up a right mess. We’re entitled to change our minds, to decide we want more, to realise that perhaps the gut feeling telling you that there’s not much in common… was right all along.

So that, my friends, is what has kept me from posting here for so bloody long.

Oh yeah, and I’m changing this blog a bit so it can accommodate more than just the 12 months of my working holiday adventures