Ok, I've joined MySpace. Don't know how long that affair will last for seeing as the two of us don't seem to be meshing well...
So much to tell and not enough time! I start back at the insurance company tomorrow, yay -money! They offered me a 6 month contract to work out whether I'm still planning on going to uni or not, at this point in time I am.
Have also been looking at cars to buy as that is up the top of my things to purchase list.
Have only really caught up with Lozz as everyone else is up in Wodonga or at work and I'll be doing all that stuff tomorrow!
Anyway better go, I've lots of things to do and yesterday was a very unproductive day, I went into the city and Rach waxed my eyebrows, arms and underarms - if someone says to me that underarms don't hurt to be waxed then all I can think is go to hell with that thought, talk about friggin pain. And now when I get goosebumps I actually look like a goose on my ams. Feels nice though!
You can now find me at www.myspace.com/yekooh
I think...

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

Well I arrived home yesterday. Went through customs (shitting myself due to all the cigarettes I was carrying and didn't delcare) and got out of that experience to find mum and dad not there! They thought it would take longer so arrived about 20 minutes later. But it was great to see them. I had terrible swelling in my legs which I ended up having to take a fluid tablet for and they finally went down last night when I was sleeping, seeing me having to get up and go to the bathroom about 3 or 4 times. But I was pretty out of it. By last night I couldn't concentrate on anything, was like a fish. Had a great dinner though. Oh! And I can't sleep up in my room, the a/c has stopped working and we can't get it fixed until the 27th. Lucky me! So I'm not going to be able to do much unpacking. I did a bit this morning but at the same time I have to clean everything out because I have so much stuff here already, way more than I thought I had...
Anyway, will go, am going to check out myspace to maybe get a blog going there. So much to do!!!
P.S. was going to attach vacation pics but i can't work out where the bloody things are saved on the comp...

finishing the circle i started a year ago

well, today is the day that i will fly home. i have received some lovely
emails, so thank you for sending them (if you did!).
i remember leaving my family at the airport and being so messed up
that i thought i would never be able to get over what i've done. 
well nowit seems i have that exact sinking feeling in my stomach 
about leaving here.
it has been the best time of my whole life. funnily enough, the day i 
am leaving i literally have not a penny to my name, i am broke. 
having to borrow some money off chany for me to pay for the 
extra baggage fee. dire situation. but you know, as stressful 
as it is i don't regret it. it's just another experience to add to the list.
i've had such a ball and san francisco was definitely the best place 
possible for it all to end, so breathtaking, it's been a great 
time to relax. 
i don't think this will be the end to the blog just yet, so stayed
tuned for more updates because i haven't organised another
blog. i'm too self indulgent!!!
have fun. take care. and i'll speak to you on the other side...

What we did Monday!

Yesterday we went to Alcatraz, you know I didn't realise it was used during the Cival War or that it was the stage for a large protest in the late 60's for American Indian's. Was very interesting. We had breathtakingly fantastic views of San Fran from "The Rock" and enjoyed walking up the hills that were an average of 13 levels up. And there was a gum tree there!!! I was so excited about that. I was walking up the hill and looking at the tree thinking that looks out of place, I haven't seen one of them for a long time then I looked at the leaves and realised it was a gum, I was so excited. But Chany and I had lost each other at this point so I was alone in my excitement... But I must admit, I went up and smelt it. Weird I know. Anyway, it started to rain at this point as well so I went into the cell house to begin the audio tour and found Chany.
The rain finally let up on the ferry back to the pier so we walked to Fisherman's Wharf and had some expensive, crappy lunch. Then we went to the Visitors Centre where the lady liked us so much she gave us a free shot glass each!!! As we were watching a performer it started to rain giant rain drops so we had to run under cover and put our ponchos back on, lucky I bought the one with me from Disney, Chany forgot hers so had to buy on Alcatraz.
We kept shopping though, getting wet, my shoes aren't waterproof... And as we were looking for the bathroom I could hear seals (Chantelle thought it was a seagull for some reason...) and there they were, just down from the wharf on those makeshift dock things that can no longer be used because the seals have claimed them as their own. Chantelle decided to speak to them and the funny thing was it sounded like one of them replied!!!! Then some people came up behind her while she was still speaking seal and I was quite embarrassed to be with the seal talking freak!!!
We had pizza for dinner, I had a bad headache earlier so was dying for pizza by the time the meds kicked in. Then we had a super early night bed time wise and I now can't sleep past 7am.
We're doing cable cars and Golden Gate today.
I am ringing Pat and the kids today also and can't believe I fly out tomorrow!!!

great day!!!

Today Chany and I had a spectacular day.
There was a flea market going on down in Chinatown (like a block away) so we spent hours wandering there and spending WAY too much money. An amount I can't tell you because it was too much. But I did get gifts for my family finally and feel better about that. We had great Chinese for lunch too and just had the leftovers for dinner.
I'm now about to head up for a shower and probably bed because at the moment my body clock still hasn't adjusted.
Tomorrow we're off to Alcatraz!!!

San Francisco

We flew into San Fran last night after only managing to check out the 
Martin Luther King Jr. Museum and running out of time to see the 
orhcid exhibition.
These computers suck. They're free. But they suck. So if this 
looks weird or anything it's because of the computer I'm using.
Anyway, the hostel is pretty good, lots of stuff going on. It's 
situated amongst a few strip clubs, which is very interesting!!! 
Today we're going to walk down to the China Town (Chany doesn't 
know that plan yet), then down to the cable cars and to the 
visitors centre.
Am now going through one of those highly emotional times when 
I think about Pat and the kids, Am slightly regretting my decision 
to leave. I don't resent anyone for it and I knew it had happen in 
regards to Rach's health and missing my family but I wish there 
was another way. It's probably harder now because Penelope 
is there now and they're no longer my family.
Anyway, chin up. We're off to Little Italy for dinner tonight, 
can't wait!!! We'll do Chinatown tomorrow night probably. What with all the delicious food and the walking up and down hills I 
should be in tip top shape by the time I return (yeah right!!!).

Going now!

my ear is still numb. it's been 48 hours now. if it gets to monday and it's still like it i'm taking myself off to the doctor. on top of that i have a flu, sore throat, swollen glands, blocked nose. and i don't want a repeat of what happened to me from the plane going to orlando (my ears were painfully blocked and wouldn't unblock, was terrible).
so yesterday we didn't get to the martin luther king jr museum. it was so god damn cold and we were waiting for this bus that never seemed to come. probably did as we soon as we went down into the train station. so we're doing that this morning, no doubt we're going to run out of time, but what's new huh?? oh the puppet show! we did go see that, oh man was that some sadistic, gory stuff. it was the tales of edgar allen poe, very dark. but the sound affects were awesome, chany even thinks i may have enjoyed it more than her, and that kind of stuff usually bores the crap out of me!!!
i woke up at some ungodly hour this morning, freezing cold but unable to get out of bed to check the heater, which was definitely on, because of how stiff i was from being tensed. chany woke up, rolled over and realised the doors to the verandah were wide open, they must've blown open through the night, and the all cold was coming into our room.
anyway, not much else to report on. somehow we have to fit in mlk jr museum and the orchid and glass exhibition for me. i think chany will go the jewish history museum instead.
have a good weekend!

oh and i forgot to mention, my ear is numb. it's flippin weird. all pins and needly. has been like it since yesterday. i tried sleeping without my earring in, i've flicked it, put it under hot water, rubbed it and the bloody thing is still numb. any ideas what it could be?? it was swollen yesterday too but that's gone down. i thought maybe an allergic reaction but i haven't had any other symptoms.

THANK GOD I'M ALIVE

Oh my god. Honest to god getting to Atlanta was a nightmare. The bloody Greyhound terminal in Orlando was not in the greatest of areas, full of weirdos, pimps, even a transvestite (she/he complimented me on my great handbag, was quite chuffed) and general riff raff. I'm sorry to sound hoity toity but oh god it was horrible. Let me paint the picture of what occured, Aaaron at the hostel got us a cheap ride, that was nice. We get to the terminal and there's a line out the door because they're security checking everyone, once we finally get through and go to the ticketing counter I hold out my Illinois license for them to check that it's me and for some reason I drop it. It falls down a bloody crack into the depths of the desk. The lady working was not amused and started saying that the little monsters were going to eat it when I looked upset, I didn't hear her say that, I thought I heard her say it's gone forever. I want it so I can scrapbook it! Once they FINALLY found it the time was 10:40 and we still hadn't heard the boarding call for the Atlanta bus (which was to depart at 10:45) so we go over to the door and I was going to take a picture of the bus and getting all ready for that when I noticed the bus was full of people, and the driver was closing the door, and then the bloody thing was pulling out!!! Chany ran over to ask and it turns out they called for boarding, which we never even heard, and it was full anyway. They didn't even tell us this when we were checking in but made a big fuss about the supervisor coming right then and there because we had to board our bus. So we were stuck there until 1:40am. I went to the counter to confirm all this and made the comment that I was going to cry and the lady said, don't do that cause all those weirdo's will see you're weak. That freaked me out. We made friend's with some people though, played I Spy and some other games and the time ended up going to quicker. We were the first ones on the bus though. It was so uncomfortable. I hate Greyhound. I will never travel on a bus again. We picked up some people who'd just gotten out of jail along the way, after breakfast we had this freak girl on the bus start talking and not stop until we hit Hapeville, about 10 mins from our final stop in downtown Atlanta, so she spoke for a good 4 and a half hours of killing people, hitting people, having sex just general too much info stuff. Then when we stopped the bus dropped us off in the street as if that's normal because there was some major police arrest going on ahead of us. Yes, I can now say I've experienced something completely outside of my comfort zone.
But now we're in Atlanta and our hostel's internet kiosk is broken so we're at the library. We've got a massive two days planned (we lost yesterday arvo because we were sleeping) and still not enough time to see everything. First stop is Coca Cola World though because I've been dying to go there!!!
I won't post until I get to San Fran so stay tuned. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Sizzler was crap, really not that good. But Chany liked it which was good. We had steak which was delicious on account of not eatting red meat for a little while. We're doing so well on saving money on food though.
Today we have to check out, then we're leaving our stuff here and catching the bus to the Orlando outlets for Chany to try and find a suitcase that is small enough to be carry on size. Then we're going to eat left over food for dinner and head to the bus station.
Oh last night was good, after Sizzler we came back and hung out talking to the guys for a while, they're funny, plus Chany and I were a bit hyped up.
Anyway, that's all for today, I'm really enjoying my vacation!

So today we've done nothing. We slept until 10:45am, had a leisurely breakfast, did some laundry, sat around and cleaned up our stuff, it has been all very nice. The weather is nice, very sunny today. Tomorrow it's going to get warmer and we've decided to check out the shopping and sunbake for a while as it seems it's going to be the only chance as it's raining in Altanta and San Fran, lucky us, and cold too. We're no longer going to go to the Kennedy Space Centre on account of the extra cost that we didn't know about (it's $49 to get there and back, a bit too much and no other option apparently). Plus we did so much at Disney that whilst we're sad about missing out we can't justify $100 for the day.
Oh and while I remember, I told my parents the actual date of my arrival, it was turning into a mini nightmare with Rachel having to try and get away from camp early so I figured to save myself and anyone else any drama and tell them. Mum was very happy, told me if I'd done that then I'd have ruined all of the surprises she has for me. Oh and another thing, I am going to bite the bullet and take home 3 pieces of luggage, it'll cost me $92 but there's no other way to do it because it'll cost me more on postage. For the rest of the time here Chany is going to check it in as her luggage which is going to help me. So me plus 150+ pounds will be arriving in Australia in 10 days!!!
We're going to check out the souvenier shops this arvo and have an early dinner of Sizzler (buffet, mmmmmm).
Love Kel

24+ hours of Disney...

So I can now say I've been to every park, except the water park. We did three today, started at Animal Kingdom, went to MGM and then onto Epcot. We went on the Aerosmith's Rock n' Rollin coaster 3 times!!! The first time I was so scared I couldn't speak, Chantelle thought I'd passed out. But then I wanted to go again and again. The Tower of Terror scared the shit out of me to the point that I jumped at everything. I like the whole dropping sensation but the scare factor was a bit too much for me, I'm not one for ghosts... We also went on Mission: Space at Epcot and it was a simulated ride with this incredible G-Force, was really good also. And Soarin' at Epcot was amazing, I could've fallen asleep on it!! You're in this simulated ride where you fly over major spots on the Western Coast and there are scents let out as you fly over the water, orange groves etc etc. Was great.
Tomorrow Chany and I are having a sleep in, don't know if we'll be able to walk... We're planning on doing a buffet or something for lunch/dinner and checking out the souvenier (sp?) shops.
So far things are going well. The people at the hostel are so nice, not just the workers but people staying. Pretty cool place.

Have a Magical Day

I went to Disney World today!!! It was so unbelievable. We scored super cheap tickets, $30, instead of the $132 we would've paid for two days. We're getting $30 tickets tomorrow too!!! At the hostel there's a sign from a guy who is an employee and has very entrances so he makes money on the side, which is fine because $60 for two days is less than one for one day. I even got sunburnt even though I spent most of the day in my jumper, my head hurts. We went on all these rides, got photos with the characters such as Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Cinderalla, Snow White, Belle, Chicken Little and Abby, Pluto and Chip n' Dale. As the day wore on my face in the pictures was getting redder but I didn't notice until I had a good look at them. We got soaking wet on Splash Mountain, rode Space Mountain twice, I got scared shitless in the Haunted House and we walked, a lot. What was surprising was how cheap the food was. I spent just over $13, including tax, on my lunch (hotdog, chips and coke), an ice cream for while we watched the parade and a bucket of popcorn for the hell of it later on. I was pleasantly surprised by it. Plus the merchandise was cheap, but be proud, I hardly spent a thing.
Anyway, I can't even form sentences to speak so that'll be all for today. This is a great hostel though, apparently the only one in Orlando, I strongly recommend it. The people are nice, the rooms are alright (beds uncomfy though) but there's heaps of information available and there's a pool and beach (not that I have my swimmers).
Love me.

I'm back in Florida!!!

This morning I left freezing cold Gurnee. But it wasn't very easy, saying goodbye to Pat, Matthew and Em was terrible (Alex had gone to grandma's for the night and I'd said goodbye to her the night before). It was so upsetting to think I wouldn't be back for a very long time, probably made worse by me saying "Goodbye Gas Station", "Goodbye 4-way Stop", I didn't make it very easy on myself. And then Pat gave me the most lovely goodbye letter which I read at the airport so that upset me again.
But we got down to Orlando tonight, I love Florida. I would love to live in Florida.
We're off to Disney World tomorrow, meeting up with Mona, which should be super exciting!!! We're hoping to get some cheap tickets through a guy who works there so that'd make finances a bit looser, thank god because we've just found out that the transport to the Kennedy Space Centre is going to cost us $49.
Better go as I now need to text Mona and get a really good nights rest, finally.

Things just aren't getting any better...

I can't say I've had the best last week. Even a good last week. I did get my replacement bank cards and dad did transfer the money into my account that they're lending me and Chantelle did arrive last night but I'm just not into it. As horrible as that sounds. I gave her my cell number, the one I always carry with me as I consider it my work phone, and the fucking thing died today. Like literally stopped working. That phone holds all my contact numbers for my friends. Am pissed. On top of that Emily is in a bitch of a mood, Alex was home from school yesterday and she is just unpleasant, all lovely to me when other people are around and then suddenly turns nasty when I have to become authoritative. Matthew's home today, who is easier because at least I know I won't get attitude from him, Emily's mood has worsened. I realised that having my pack weighing 50 pounds was great, except I couldn't lift the damn thing off the ground to swing onto my shoulders, so completely useless. Got rid of another piece of clothing. Packed up one box to go via airmail home (it has one of my scrapbooks) and packed up a larger one to go by seamail which'll probably take 3 months. As well as all of that I haven't heard from Chantelle, don't actually have any way to contact her as she's staying downtown but I'm going to assume that she's decided to see the sights, which I'm happy about. Plus it's quite a pleasant day. I'm hoping she's ok. Oh and the best news??? I get an email from my nana, I'll just put it on here:

"Now kell, i am very concerned that your Mum is going to be very angry about the big surprise, she is so much looking forward to seeing you that she and your dad have both taken a flex day on the 19th to go and pick you up from the airport. I thought maybe you should tell her that you are coming a couple of days earlier, because you really don't want to get in her bad books from day one of being home. She is very uptight at the moment with Rachels health so I know she will blow a fuse very quickly."

So now I've no flippin idea what to do, and Rachel has been no bloody help because she can't text me because it costs so much but won't email me. I'm in a filthy mood right now. I understand my nana's concern but I was so excited to surprise them. I've been planning the bloody day for months. Now I'm like, oh they'll probably be bummed that they won't be able to meet me at the airport/she won't have the house cleaned to her standards so she might get herself in a tizz. But then when I think I know she's then going to have cram the next two weekends with cleaning. I'm torn.

I'm sure I just making mountains out of mole hills but at the moment it's all I seem to be able to do. I'm so friggin wound up that it's not funny.

Going now. I've a shitload of ironing to do.