Christmas is in the air! I'm going down to Katie-wa's for christmas. Handed in my leave form today. Can't wait. High five!
One of my best friends in primary school Mandy is on facebook now and it's very nice because I haven't spoken to her since I was in Taiwan.
Speaking of Asia, Maryann who I studied with at Tunghai is going to be in Shanghai when I'm there, and is going to come to Shaolin temple with me! Yay! Unfortunately I'll be 'ronery' in Beijing as long as I'm staying the same hostel as I did last time, I'll be fucking sweet. This time, it'll be new hutongs, new bars, new dumpling restaurants, new cultural relics in the form of Qing dynasty coins sold at markets to devour at my leisure, until I head up to Harbin. My language exchange partner Rongrong is going to come withme, (she has also invited me back to her hometown) which should be wonderful too. In her hometown, Baoding, there is a restaurant that serves the dished that were only allowed to be eaten by the governor of Beijing province (back in the imperial days) and forbidden to the common people. Should be good. If I fly down to Lhasa I will only have 5-6 days there which is not enough to explore the rest of Tibet, so I don't know if it will be worth the expense, and if I should wait till I can spend much more time there. Last time I went, I had absolutely no plan, but this time, because I'm arranging to meet everyone I know, I've had to lock in certain dates and I'm worried that I'm always going to be under pressure to follow my itinerary and catch the pre-booked trains etc. Ah well, should be good. When I finish my degree, I'm going to go on THE trip. Maybe the trans-Siberian, or a more southern route through India and the middle east. Rajasthan looks fucking awesome.  ¶ 19:33 0 Comments

  In the news today - the temporary police powers awarded after the Cronulla riots are going to be made permanent. Police will be able to eavesdrop on people without a warrent.

Also in the news, people's Lonely Planet books have been confiscated at certain border areas of China because the map in the front of the book shows Taiwan as a separate country. Mine, the 8th edition I bought in 2004, has intentionally, I suspect, covered up Taiwan with a label pointing to one of China's highlights, so they have been able to avoid the matter entirely. It's funny how none of these issues have changed since my Taiwan jaunt. The issues are still the same, people are still arguing the same things. Bloody maps mate. I'm thinking of doing a Chinese Studies masters in Taiwan one day, but what they hell are they going to teach? I brought back a historical relic from Taiwan. It's a book on 'Chinese History', but after 1949, it focuses entirely on the GMD in Taiwan, and pretends the mainland doesn't exist - nothing about China under the commies - cultural revolution... Mao... Great Leap Forward... the China that we know. I wonder if that book will be a collector's item one day, for it's absurdity, in our eyes. In fact, doing that masters could in fact be a research project in itself. Will have to think about that further. And then there was the guy at the Chinese consulate making a point of my Taiwanese visas - I feel like I'm revisiting my own past. I have been home for three years now and hardly think of my time there, or what I spent time thinking and talking about while I was there. I feel like when I left Taiwan, I left all those thoughts behind.
Actually it's all been a bit weird this week- last night I had dinner with people from highschool as a kind of reunion. When people metioned the names of people I couldn't actually remember, I realised how long it's been since I was 17 and finishing highschool, cooking up the dreams that would shape the years to come. This year I've been so focused on driving forward that I never think of the past in any of the detail it deserves, but this week I'm assessing my experiences, and if or how I've changed, how Taiwan changed me, how the most unexpected things have happened, the friends I've made, what I've learnt about the real world, and my first serious relationship. I did the living overseas dream and I'm desperately trying to get excited about a new destination, but nothing will ever feel the same as it did sitting on the plane to Vietnam in 2003 knowing I was finally fucking off for a year for the first time. Like your first E I suppose - it will never be as good as the first. When your dreams become a reality you have reached a certain goal, and you then need new ones to try for, but have already done all that you thought you wanted to do.

In other news, I'm going on a 'business trip' to Adelaide on Tuesday for one night. My boss, the national sales manager, didn't want to go, so I suggested as a joke that I go instead, and as it turns out, it is no longer a joke. I'm going Qantas too. It's for the SA launch party of our new brochure. Then on Wednesday night straight after work, I'm going to the Sydney launch party at the zoo. So, Tuesday, go to work for one hour, fly to Adelaide, maybe squeeze in a few churches, go to launch party, fly back to Sydney on Wednesday morning and go straight to the office, work, then go to Sydney launch party. My! What a high-flyer I am!  ¶ 13:56 0 Comments

  Applied for my visa today. It was only going to be 30 bucks so I decided to upgrade to a six month double entry to keep my options open. The guy at the counter flicked through my passport and was delighted to find 3-4 Taiwanese visas stuck inside. He called his supervisor over to get a squiz as well. I really hope they don't decide to reject me, because I've already frickin bought the ticket. Maybe I could sue.
Then I called the tax office to ask why I just got this huge bill. They explained it and I politely asked them if they could transfer me to the debts department so I could arrange a payment plan. 13.75% interest ain't too bad. The amount's not that huge. I would pay it now if I wasn't going to China. But then again, if the Chinese consulate decided I'm a spy for the Taiwanese, and refuse to give me a visa, I'll be able to make the ATO's day.
OK so it's already 11am, I've got 13 hours left to study for this exam. Luckily I polished off the hardest topic last night, so I've only got relatively easy stuff to learn now. Notice I don't use the word revise, because that would be wrong. I'm looking at all this shit for the first time.
OK what else can I do to procrastinate now? Can't eat - no food. Can't have a coffee - already had one. Can't go for a walk along King St - I would never forgive myself. Fuck, I may just have to start studying right now.  ¶ 11:15 0 Comments

  After a hectic two weeks at work I have come to the realisation that I absolutely must become my own boss, sooner rather than later.

So today, while I have been studying for an exam for the degree that will help me get my business loan one day (degrees are only good for joining a big company, and that!), I have been trying to think of something I could do. After running that whole Asian gift basket project from start to finish, I reckon I could sustain myself by doing that as my own little business. Something that needs minimal, small-scale start up capital like a few grand. For the first few years I would live off the same income I'm on now, but once I start collecting professional services firms as clients, the sky's the frickin limit.

Ok so here's the plan:
Work in an existing company for 6 months to learn how this little industry works. Then leave and become the happiest woman alive knowing that I'll never again be spending 40 hours a week doing typing and data entry and other boring crap on a crappy wage so that the general manager can sit around merely telling everyone else what to do all while earning 750% of my salary. Early in the peace I realised I was not the office type; the last two weeks have really drummed it in. I'm not interested in the pecking order. I believe if you have half a brain, you fucking deserve to go straight to the top and skip all the shit before it. Because I didn't go to an exclusive private school and don't have the right connections, this will never happen. So, the only way to be THE boss, is to be the only person in the goddam company.

Other ideas:

• Full-time satirical cartoonist: will need to work on that
• Buy cool shit overseas and sell it at Paddington markets for inflated yet still wonderfully competitive prices
• Come up with a new self-help philsophy and make millions -unlikely - heavily saturated market

Once I'm fucking huge, I will hire someone with no brain to be my lackey, slave, and unquestioning orders-taker/follower. He/she will preferably have an eye for aesthetics, so that I can trust them to arrange my lovely gift baskets or whatever when I'm on holiday in Mallorca.

Sound good?

  ¶ 18:15 0 Comments

  I had the most amazing China clothes buying session.
1. Bright pink corduroy pants, on sale
2. Long sleeved black top from Vinnies (with pink Chinese characters on it - to go with the pants)
3. A turtle-necked woollen (50%) jumper from Vinnies. Not only does it fit properly, but later when I got home I discovered it was Elle brand. Noice.
4. A 35% wool grey and black jumper, also on sale.
5. A 100% lambswool cardigan, Charlie Brown, which will neatly go over both jumpers when I'm in Harbin, because it's a size 14. From where else but Vinnies.
6. A wool dress that can go over jeans for when I'm strutting my stuff along the Bund where it's a lot warmer than Harbin
7. And finally, a plain pink t-shirt, to add to my collection of t-shirts which I will wear underneath all the woollen stuff which I can't wash because they all require handwashing.

I'm a genius. Just need socks, one more pair of woollen tights for Harbin, and travel diary, and bob's your frickin Uncle. Or Aunty. I had coffee with Kate and Shane at the airport today and we saw a tranny shouting at the lady at the check-in desk. What we gathered was that they wouldn't let him fly because he didn't have a visa, and he wouldn't tell them his return date. He was going on about how he doesn't have to tell them, and said something about how he's an 'at risk' person. Not sure what that means. Anyway, security came, explained to him who was boss, and as he stormed off, shouted "child molestation!" indignantly. So I'm thinking they must have asked him if he was a child molester or something. I theorised that he was on his way to meet his Bangkok tranny boyfriend/girlfriend and didn't plan on coming back. Maybe he was going to start up his own tranny/child brothel (Bangkok Special) and shit would go down if he didn't get there on time. Who knows.  ¶ 17:19 0 Comments

  Procrastination
By Jessica Jujubes

Purple is the colour I turn when I think of cost benefit analysis
Really freaked out by a deja vu I had at work today. Haven't had one in years.
Oh fuck my reign of glory at work is officially over as the emails pile up and I remain helpless.
Cunt should not be a swear word.
Roast dinners are few and far between especially because luke-warm ones are $10 in food courts.
All my clothes are on my floor.
Silly me had to pick a course with compulsory finance subjects in it.
To tell you the truth, I actually don't mind it. It all makes sense, but there's alot of shit to remember.
I will probably have to take a full day off before the accounting exam.
Need to pluck my eyebrows. Think I'll do that now.
Am going to have a shower next and get into my pj's.
T again? I'm so over T right now.
I has also made a come back. Welcome back I.
Oh my god I'm so out of the Summer Heights High loop.
Nearly December. Then it will be January... then three weeks till I fuck off for a whole month!  ¶ 19:36 0 Comments