The Saga of the Dreaded Passport....

So, i finished up working at Sandy's about 2 weeks ago now, and since then, other than organising my passport for my egypt trip (that was a saga) I've been just house-sitting, riding and otherwise doing nothing. It's been great!!
ok i'm giving up on capitals cause this computer is missing a lot of keys and one of the more annoying ones is the shift key.
so, i had to get my passport for my trip to egypt in january (very excited!!!). it took 6 trips into the post office and i've just been told that i can pick it up once i prove who i am (AGAIN!). see there is this strange phenomenon where whenever i need to prove who i am something has to go wrong.
the first trip to the po -cant be bothered writing it over and over again- was to pick up the form. of all my trips thus far this was the least painful.
trip 2: i had the plan of going to cherrybrook, where i would get my photo done, then get leah to sign it as my guarantor then go to the po and do all the other crap. so i called leah and went to pick her up. she was looking for her passport which i thought she needed to do the form thing. she couldn't find it but her mum offered to do it instead, which meant i would have to get the photo, go back to their house, get her to sign it, then go back to the po for the rest of it. so we trundled off to the shops, got my photo done, went into the po to see if they needed me to make an appointment. they were closing in 5 mins but the guy would look at it. i had all my id stuff in the car so i ran to get that, while he made leah my guarantor (somethiing about being on the electoral role) ran back, turns out i'd forgotten my birth certificate. no go. fair enough, my fault.
3rd trip- had my birth certificate this time. went to the po in dural. need to make an appointment come back in an hour. thanks. came back in an hour and dude had gone to lunch instead cause i was 3 minutes late. great.
4th trip-went to richmond po this time (just felt the need to change each time) turns out that because i was born after june 86 i wasnt necessarily an australian citizen just by being born hear and needed to prove that one of my parents was an aussie when i was born. well my dad is useless so no point asking him to look for his birth certificate. mum was born in italy so needed a citizenship certificate or a passport issued after june 86. couldn't find cert so went for passport...
5th trip-same po passport doesnt count because it was issued after i was born. also there's apparently now a problem with the photo- the rim of my rim-less glasses was intersecting my eye-socket!! get real! am ready to start pulling punches at this woman, calmly say to her 'so you're telling me that if my mother didn't have a passport issued between june 86 and january 88 we have to go prove who SHE is so SHE can get a new citizenship certificate to prove who I am??" she just shrugged and nodded.
6th trip in and i was not leaving the po with my forms. they were taking it if had to threaten them with a knife!! in the previous week we had somehow managed to find the stupid certificate so i was pretty certain. went to a different po again in case stupid woman commented on my photo again. this guy ticked all the little boxes, got to the photo and paused. he wasn't sure. he called the passport office (im holding my breath) and YES that photo will count!!!! he takes my form to send it off BOUT BLOODY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so you can see why im so nervous about proving who i am to pick it up!!!!!!!!

anyway, that is the saga of the passport. GAR! the irony at the end of all this: if i had been born in china, and become an australian citizen, that certificate would have been all i would have needed. no birth certificate, drivers license, old passport, car rego, medicare card, no parents stuff, one trip only!!!

so now i have to go to consulates (sp?) to get visas for egypt and jordan. should be fun!!!

6 months later...

Hahaha apparently my last post was December 3rd last year. Not long, eh? Well I guess that's because, while Rishi, Jasha and Chris are all exploring other countries of the world, looking at ancient relics, climbing mountains etc, I am still doing the same old thing. I'm still working with horses, at Sandy's, still riding etc. Booooooring. Well, not for me, but for most.

I have another horse since I last wrote. His name is Geoffrey (crap name, but he's pretty cute!) He's only five, and didn't know much at all when I bought him in January (on my birthday actually!!) but he's going to his first competition next weekend, so that will be exciting. Speaking of that, it's in Canberra, so feel free to visit me all you in the berra can!

That's the photo of him from the ad in the Horse Deals magazine. Cute little thing that he is. :D

Foxy is still going good. We went to Melbourne Three Day event two weeks ago, which was awesome. We did a bit average, but it was fun regardless. The event was held at the National Equestrian Centre, which is across the road from the zoo (cool noises in the morning when all the animals are being fed!) and on the grounds of the Werribee Mansion, and the rose garden. It's pretty amazing to be galloping along and look over your shoulder at the mansion! It was also the last Australian qualifier for the Olympics, so the competition was pretty fierce in the 3***. All in all a pretty amazing event!

Also went to see the Phantom of the Opera last week which was AMAZING! I want to go back and see it again (only I have no money whatsoever after Melbourne) I looooove it. I loove the music, the acting, the singing... everything. And I don't even like operas or musicals usually. I even went and read the book, which only makes it better cause it turns out that it's a true story, the Opera Ghost was a real person. A musical and architectual genius with a mutated face. Very cool, I would DEFINITELY recommend it, and would recommend paying more for the A or B grade seating, if you are going to do it, it's worth paying the $10 (or whatever it is) more and doing it right!

Actually the logo from the Las Vegas production, but still!!

Then there's Anthony Warlow, the Phantom himself

Well, that's all I think. Tata!

A tourist in my own city

That's what I felt like yesterday. I went to a Missy Higgins concert on saturday night with sandy, leica and sandy's sister, Robyn. It was great by the way. Only disappointing thing was the super super uncomfortable seats. Music was just amazing. Personally I thought it couldn't be better than seeing her at the Day On The Green thing last year, but I think it was.

We stayed in the city overnight and decided to do the touristy thing and go to Taronga Zoo. I'm not really the biggest fan of zoos personally, but it ended up being quite fun.

My favourite photo from the zoo!!! Hehehe

A very 'human' look...

Was strange though, Leica and Sandy were pointing out typical things that just about everyone seems to know, but I'd never seen them before (except maybe on TV or something). The other amazing thing was trying to work out how long it's been since I've been into the city. I worked out the last time I was there was on the legal studies excursion. Only 3 years ago. I also worked out that the last time I travelled on a ferry was about the last time I went to the zoo.. which would have been when I was around 8 or something and we went there on some endlessly boring school excursion. Fun. It is a funny thing to realise though, that some of the international tourists that were at the zoo knew their way around the city better than I do, and I've lived within an hour of it my entire life.

I guess the other thing that amazed me was the shops. I'm not a huge shopper. I've become slightly more interested since I've become a government worker (hehehe) and actually had money to spend on clothes and a place to wear them every day... but I just can't see how you can spend $100+ on some top that looks like a pillow case with some sequins stuck on it. I just don't get it. I mean, whatever floats your boat, sure, but is there a point at which you think "is this worth spending my money on?"

Hmm I wonder. I'm very pondering at the moment.

For those of you who don't know me, I spend a lot of time pondering the important issues in life, politics, world issues, the stockmarket.

For those of you who do know me, that's bullshit. I ponder things to get out of work. Pure and simple (and brilliant, so when your boss comes past and asks why you haven't done somethign you can ask for their opinions on global warning)

I think that's all I have to say.

work work work work

I'm not sure I'll actually be able to publish this cause the window is all funny.
Terry I'm taking your advise and writing on my blog while at work. I have a sheet of properties I'm menat to be locating but they are all frustrating me cause I've already done all the ones I can cheat on and have left the rest till last.

I got my marks back from my practical assessment for TAFE. Full marks! WOOT! Go me! Yayayayayyayayay! hahaha some of my class are pretty bad. Actually, most of them are. One of the assessments was out of 270, I got 270, the average mark was 24. Another one was out of 70, i got 70, average mark was 2. I'm not joking. Weird, eh?

Uni plans are still going ahead. Have been looking at jobs in vet clinics and is looking promising.

Am also trying to plan a trip between christmas and new years. I'm thinking something that's very random and unplanned as far as destination goes. Something along the lines of a spontaneous road trip. i.e. drive along till I reach a place that looks interesting, stop there etc etc. When I get 3 and a half days into it i have to try and work out how to get back in the same amount of time. It's proving difficult to plan an unplanned trip. hehehe. anyone wanna come along??

I'm sooooooooo tired. I finally got home last night and had to unpack from my 4 nights at rydges, and actually speak to my mother cause I've been home one night from wednesday to tuesday.

Hahaha I've also decided what I can get chris and terry for christmas, I'm thinking a 20 cent coin and a small cardboard box. i might even throw in the empty mcflurry cups too if I'm feeling particularly generous!

Anyways I should do some work. More later (when I get bored again, which could be in the next two minutes or so!) tata!

I sold my soul to the DPI...

So, as a result of my joblessness and the fact that unfortunately if anything life is generally costing me more at the moment, I have been forced to 'sell my soul to the DPI' in order to survive. Funnily enough I actually really enjoy it. I never wanted a 'desk job', and those funny career assessment people told me that I should never do any sort of clerical work, and yet here I am, being not only a call centre person, but being promoted to the organisational/planning side of the operation. Pretty cool. I also get meals for free, double time on sundays and I earn pretty much more in one sunday than I do in a week as a groom. On the other hand it's 12 hour days (which I was doing before but without the extra 3 hours of driving per day), with 7 days on 2 off... Admittedly, it's not something I can see myself doing for the rest of my life, but the people are just great and it has helped me make a decision I've been battling with for a while.

I've decided to go to uni.

I've decided I am smart enough to get into the course I've always wanted to do, and i've decided I can cope with the job on the other side of the course.

Any guesses which course?

Need to do a year of something else before I can be considered, then will apply to all unis offering the course and see what happens. Talked to Sydney and apparently all I have to do is get a distinction in this other course and they'll consider me. Not much at all really! What's a distinction? 90% or something? hahaha too easy! Well I live in hope!

Typically I'm not actually doing the pre-course course until 2009 cause I have some other stuff I have to do next year... Not that I like to plan things early or anything! Which means that if I got in straight away after just one year in that course I would graduate from uni in.... 2015 depending on the uni... hmmm

Interesting thought though (and it's a good thing I have a year to work out this side of it) I somehow have to get a job to pay for me and my horse while I'm at uni, and still have time to ride my horse, study and sleep (probably in that order too) any suggestions?

And the bad news parade marches on...

So, on Sunday I was meant to go to Jasha's leaving thing... I didn't. I didn't even call. I'm sorry.

On Sunday morning my horse died. Darcy, the horse I had for 5 and a half years. The horse I owe everything to. He took me from pony club to one* eventing... He taught me how to fall off (many times)... he taught me how to stay on (hopefully a few more times than the former)... He was the love of my life. The first moment I saw him we 'clicked'.

He was a super talented jumper. We did a high-jump competition as the lunch-time entertainment at the world cup polo game last year and we came fourth, jumping 1.35m! He was only little but he had so much heart, and talent, and attitude.

I had him all that time, and on the morning I was told that he'd died I couldn't see him because of this equine influenza. Because I work for Sandy I couldn't go to the place where I keep him. He tested positive for EI, and it would mean I would infect all of the horses at Sandy's. If you heard the reports on the news that a horse died from it in Wilberforce, that's him. He had to go out with a bang, and he did.

I think I actually know what it means to have a broken heart... first Zeus and now this, all in the space of a week. I've never cried so much in my life and it's not getting any better. When I don't cry I'm just numb, I can't think of anything. I've been hopeless at my job because I'm just going on instinct, I don't notice things, I don't think about what I'm doing. I just can't. I just so want for this year to be over. I'm tired of bad news, and with all competitions cancelled and all horses in lock-down I don't exactly have much to look forward to.

I don't know why I'm writing this on the net for everyone to read, considering that I can't even speak to people at the moment... but I guess that's the amazing ability of blogger.

Zeus - my favourite horse

There was this horse at work, Zeus. Some idiot bought him off the track (off the racetrack...as in he was a racehorse) and sent him to us (me and Sandy) to train, so he could ride him occassionally on the weekends because he's going through a mid-life crisis and thinks this is what he wants to do or something. Now usually, buying a horse off the track means that you are buying a nutcase- these horses are taught nothing except how to run, and run fast. Most break down, end up at the knackers, if they don't a lot of them become so nervous and scared that you just can't work with them. A few will end up being great if they have the right rider, but I have NEVER seen one that is suitable for a beginner, it always ends in disaster. He bought this horse knowing nothing about them, and after working with it for a while it turns out that this is one of the sweetest most lovely horses you could find. The racing had done nothing to his brain and he was just an angel, anything you asked him to do he would just try his little heart out for you.

He didn't look like a racehorse, actually he looked more like an overgrown shetland pony. I'll post a photo of him when I have my laptop hooked up to the net (cause it's the one with the photos on it).

Sandy was in the city yesterday, and I brought Zeus and Fuji (the other horse this guy bought) up to ride them. I saddled Fuji first cause I hate riding him and use Zeus as my incentive to just get it over and done with. Zeus was trying to eat grass under the rail that we tie them to, and I told him off, cause if they hit their head they get scared and can hurt themselves. I walked two metres away and he moved forward and started eating grass again. I yelled at him and he pulled back (they run backwards and then when they realise they are tied up they pull against it, cause they don't like having their heads restrained, which is why we tie them to string so it will break and they won't hurt themselves). The string broke but he reared and his back legs slipped in the mud. He flipped over. He tried to get up but he couldn't. I thought his leg must have been broken so I was talking to him to try and get him to calm down. I walked over to him and he was still thrashing, then he stopped but there was blood pouring out of his nose. Like pouring. Like litres of it. I called the vet and then sandy who didn't answer. One of the clients drove up and came running over and she called sandy who answered this time.

He died. He had hit his head on the ground so hard that a bit of bone had gone into his brain. He was lying there for ages. The vet came and gave him a sedative and a drip and said that sometimes they bounce back from it, even though we knew he wouldn't. We had to wait till Sandy got back because she couldn't get in touch with the owner who wasn't answering his phone. The horse wasn't in any pain, he was basically unconscious, although he still sometimes reacted to us. He had to wait there for nearly 5 hours so that a guy who knew nothing about horses, and hadn't even seen his horse since it had been with us (since DECEMBER) could make a decision about whether we could put him down or not.

I feel like shit. I spent pretty much the whole day yesterday (this happened at about 11:30) crying and all of last night having dreams about it, and today I just want to cry. I want to scream and cry and get angry and have people stop telling me it's not my fault. For one they weren't there, and for another thing, nothing anyone says is going to make me believe its not my fault.

I loved that horse as much as my own horse. I used to imagine that if I ever had the money I would buy him off his stupid owner. It was my favourite horse in the whole place and I killed it because I was in a bad mood that day and overreacted to something completely stupid, just cause it was irritating me.

He was six. He'd hardly even had a life and now he's dead. It's such a stupid stupid stupid waste and I just don't know what to do. It's more than grief, and more than guilt. I just can't stop crying, and it wasn't even my own horse. People keep asking if I'm ok and I keep saying no. For once in my life I'm actually being honest about how I feel. I feel like shit. If anyone has seen that movie 'Little Miss Sunshine' - wanna run down that hill and scream and scream and scream. I want someone to get angry at me and tell me I'm a horrible person and stop feeling sorry for me. I don't deserve it. Zeus deserves peoples' pity.

Anyway that's what's happening with me. I've finally gotten back to being able to sleep normally after Sandy's fall and now this happens. At this rate I'm not going to sleep for the rest of the year. Sandy reckons that we've had our share of bad luck and it should move on to someone else now. Only this wasn't bad luck, this was stupidity.

Hate me, I deserve it.

Follow Up

Wow new blogger takes FOREVER to load!
Just reading old posts and realised that I should probably follow up on some of them... There was one where I was talking about whether to have lessons with a certain person... I actually did, we came up with a deal where I plaited his horse and he gave me a lesson... the lesson was very interesting.. I got sworn at but I learnt HEAPS... only thing is I don't have any time or money to book any more lessons.. I did actually enjoy it despite being yelled at.

Was also reading a comment to that post, and the person sounded like they listen to the shebang (morning show on triple m) and reminded me. Just for the reference I have NEVER watched dancing with the stars before this series, I think it is a silly show and I see NO point in it whatsoever, but Fifi Box from the Shebang is on it so just wanted to say that if you are in the habit of voting for people on these shows you should SMS Fifi to 191977. Hehehe GO FIFI!

I only just read the comment to my last post today. Sent an e-mail so I'll see what happens. Really though, if you get the chance go to their website cause it really does sound amazing.. and I really do want to go... either end of this year or sometime next year... mmmm...

So! Made the trek to Albury, was a fun event. They had a bareback highjump competition (where people ride their horses over a single jump which just gets higher and higher.. with the added fun of not having a saddle). A friend of ours, Rachel, was in the junior class (i think she might be 11??) and she came second.. she jumped something like 1.30m!!! (to give you an idea, that's the height of the showjumping phase of an event at the OLYMPICS and she was jumping it WITHOUT A SADDLE)... the senior class got up to 1.60m! (which is around the height of the pure showjumping at the olympics!). I didn't go in the highjump and did averagely (yes that is a word, it's my word.. feel free to use it in essays and the like) in the event over all.

Today we (my mother and I) are going to the races at Hawkesbury, should be fun, so I should go get ready. Tata!

Gee that wasn't hard at all!!!!

Well! FINALLY my computer decided to stop being a pain in the ass and not let me upgrade to the new blogger, because blogger won't let you blog until you upgrade. Grrr... its been a while since I posted, that is why. Not my fault!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Went to an event at SIEC (horsely park) and came fourth in the one*! Woo!!!! Foxy and I have hit the big time! lol! not really, but I like to believe that's the case!

Sandy went and did a bug-on-the-windscreen impersonation at Camden event on the weekend so I've been working all the horses this week (hurt her back).. I rode 7 yesterday and 6 today (only cause I didn't ride mine) I also taught two lessons this arvo. It's actually quite fun if a bit exhausting.

Now own both series of House on DVD. I tried to rebel against the show for ages, but watched two episodes and discovered I really like it, so now I'm addicted (naturally).

Have been listening to those camp eden ads on the radio and so I finally took their advice last night and looked at the website. Looks good, maybe I'll do that for a week when I finish working for Sandy. Then go overseas and work over there for 3 months, then come back here and do it myself. Mmm should be good. The future looks exciting.

Anyways, think that's all. Have a great quote from Frasier (must update my quote book sometime soon):

Frasier: So, how did it go?
Niles: Her lips said 'no', but her eyes said 'read my lips'

Hehehehehehe!

Woooo ... special!

Hahaha this is the first time in ages that my blog has actually remembered me! Woooo! lol!

Soo.. what's been happening? Well, yesterday I went to Macarthur with Sandy and a heap of her clients and we did some cross country schooling (i.e. practiced jumping the cross country jumps)... Twas good except that my horse hit his knee on one so now it's all swollen and ouchy and he's on bute (like horse panadol) and I iced it for a while.

Last night I went to Steph's murder party... twas good. I was Angela Deth ( a dentist who had discovered intergenerational root canal... hehehe)... was funny... there was one point where I thought I was the murderer. Wasn't though, it was Jasha... Hannibal... also a werewolf... only he didn't kill Neville (Nevallllllll) he killed Ashley... Madame Garlique... Hahaha anyways, good times... good alliterations... Wonder how much the people who write those things get paid? Whoever wrote the bit about the candy cane condominiums deserves a bonus.... and a company car... and...... no I think that's all.

I took all these photos yesterday at macarthur but couldnt find my camera in my bag to take it to stephs... shame, costumes looked very good.... I put all the photos on my computer - just then actually - I'm very proud, it took a while... took even longer to name them all (I hate pictures that just have numbers)... I would put them on here but I don't actually know how... Wait... I'll try ... (If I somehow delete everything I've written i will be VERY angry!)

WOW how good am I?!?!??! lol That's a horse Sandy was riding for someone.. His name is Murph.. we call him Murph the Smurf... anyway, I just thought it was pretty good picture! Will put in another one now.. hehehehe

Hummm.. which one?


...




This one is of a woman called Ruth... and her horse Digby.. only I kinda squished the photo.. There... back to normal (I think)...

yeah that's all for me. TATA!