What happens in the American Consulate, Perth:

Step One: Arrive at building, take elevator to fourth floor. Feel a bit confused.

Step Two: Have a guard let you through very heavy doors.

Step Three: have all your possession, and your shoes, removed and scanned to make sure you are not a terrorist. These are locked up, and you are allowed only the highly important documents to take with you.

Step Four: Be accompanied out of the security room by a guard. Said guard will ride with you in the elevator up to the 13th floor so you don't try any funny business with your passport and a few A4 sheets of paper. You are always a threat.

Step Five: Be scanned through security again. Trip over a step and take five minutes to open another heavy door.

Step Six: Take a number.

Step Seven: Wait.

Step Eight: See that it is half an hour after your scheduled appointment.

Step Nine: Keep Waiting.

Step Ten: Finally be called up to the visa counter. It takes approximately seven seconds for the counter lady to look at your documents, tell you off for forgetting your Express Post envelope, scan your fingerprints and tell you to sit down again.

Step Eleven: Keeeeeeep on waiting. Pretend everyone around you are zoo animals and work out which is most appropriate. This is a good way to keep yourself occupied.

Step Twelve: Get called up to the 'interview', which is very privately conducted in the silent room in front of all the other people staring absent-mindedly at the visa appointment window and drooling a little as they wait about two extra hours for their turn. The interviewer checks it's definitely you by scanning your thumbprint, looking in passport, saying 'no worries it all looks great' and telling you to pay $128 on your way out.

Step Thirteen: Look on sadly as you overdraw your account to pay your 4th visa-related fee.

Step Fourteen: Your personal guard accompanies you back through the heavy doors, over the trip step, down the elevator, where you are rewarded with your stuff. And the book you really should have taken up the overly-secure elevator so you had something to do rather than watch the second-hands on the seven clocks in the room.

Step Fifteen: Feel oddly naked leaving a building without your passport. And desperately hope you didn't accidentally book your flight to arrive in LA a day before your visa will actually let you.

Great things from the last week:

Isn't it weird how some weeks, absolutely nothing happens at all, and others you can barely keep track of all the crazy??

So I turned 20 exactly one week ago, and it has been a very fun adventure so far :) Well done 20, on topping the start to 19!

Seeing this one again after so long:



Hanging out with this fabulous friend:






Seeing this fabulous couple get married:




Reconnecting with these old faves:



(Trying to) Bake:



Bubbles:



Dancing away with these faves:



Finding this fitting photo of the attractive Zylstra siblings:




And now to beg for a US visa and hope for the best! Six weeks and counting until I'll have to put my snuggie to good use...

Oh Fail!

For Sale!!

Okay, I'm getting rid of all my crazy old stuff... anyone after, or know of anyone who'd be interested in adding to some crafty collection a whole bunch of beads? I have a ridiculous amount that I'm looking to sell, for maybe like $40, but willing to negotiate!! You knowwww you want to!

* Room...check!
* Scholars program...check!
* Units enrolled...check!
* Visa...ummm....not quite

Thank you, US Consulate website, for refusing to let me finish a single application. I'm sorry I have a mac. But my computer is superior. So there.

apartments...?

Finally finding some places for when I get to move here...




This place?? (although it's ridiculously not affordable. :( )





Orrr this place? (Slightly more affordable...)







Orrr, all things going to plan...



I get I room here. =D

I totally just rediscovered my very special talent of writing piles of pretentious (pardon me) wank and somehow getting away with it.

Why didn't I decide to major in English instead of Political Science?? Oh the very many HDs I threw away...


P.S. Glee, I don't know how you did it, but I now adore Lady Gaga. Listen!!! (Sorry no watching... I'm not a dedicated youtuber and can't be bothered finding the actual video...)

Okay, a mini panic. I currently no longer have a place to live in Michigan, and my units are all full already with mega long waiting lists. I haven't finished UWA exams, I haven't gone to the gym in about five thousand years, I suddenly got too many bills in one go, and I really just can't think of any way to convince anyone to let me be on Glee and never go to uni again.

*sigh*

It will be fine. Many deep breaths.

Only three law units left to complete this year....hooray!

Hens nights are fun.

People who know how to use apostrophes properly are fun.

Building a Wall-E out of blocks of cement is fun. Also pretty stupid.

Sitting on the couch with almost-family for many hours is fun.

Studying is not fun.

Cold toes are very not fun.

The end.

Emily just felt the burn of checking Facebook taking greater importance than talking to her for five seconds when her exam was crap and she hadn't seen the other person in months.

Don't worry, I get it.

Fourteen hours until exam number one.

I feel oddly calm. I'm gunning for a high, distinction (as in, upper 70s, not over 80 because, well, the UWA Law school likes to crush souls and never lets anyone get a real HD unless you're superhuman).

I give myself fifteen minutes until real freak out time.

But on the plus side... only 12 days until exams are entirely over, and I can start booking flights, working more, paying an obscene amount of money for a student visa for the US (far out guys, why do you hate Australians so much??? :( ) and getting all excited about being cold a lot! And sitting in a sports stadium for over 100 000 people. This is probably the most exciting part to me.

And hopefully getting rocking awesome uni marks in the meantime. I hope. A lot. Even though it mathematically can't happen.

Opinions?

Is it a sad sad reflection on myself, that upon receiving an email informing me and my fellow U-Michigan attender of our pending visas, that I immediately attempted to facebook stalk and google her?

Am I that terribly dependent on technology and a perverse need to know far too much about an individual before I meet them so I can work out if they're a serial killer/cooler than me?

Well. Yes, I suppose I am. It's what keeps Facebook chugging, right?

UPDATE: All I found out is she won an academic merit award in High School. Lame. I couldn't even find a photo!

Okay another update: I met her and she's awesome. No worries Google, I don't need you anymore!

Bahahaha I love it.

I know a lot of people will disagree with me, but I don't really believe in soulmates. It doesn't make any sense. There is no one person. There is no one perfect friend. I would go more in depth, but anyway, here's a cute comic I agree with. And it has funny bugs in it.

http://www.bugcomic.com/comics/soulmate/

What's your opinion on soulmates?

Is it just me, or is Facebook getting just a little carried away with the number of groups you can like? (seeing as now becoming a fan is a thing of the past.)

Everytime I log on to facebook there is lists and lists of people who've 'liked cheese and eighteen other profiles.' Come on guys.

I'll admit some of them are really funny. Or particularly true: 'University - Working hard 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, 2 weeks a year.'

Although today I saw one that struck me: 'Never allow someone to be your priority while you're just their option.'
Despite thinking its a shame this point is a facebook profile because it cheapens it a lot, it hit me how true that is. And probably how it's high time that thought gets implemented. On the other hand, I also wondered how fair that really is. Bringing in another fabulous current reference, I adore How I Met Your Mother. I recently watched an episode about being on someone's hook, making a very similar point to the above, where if you're 'on the hook' you're prioritising someone who makes you their option, and if you're the person with the hook, you're being heartless and leaving this person dangling because it makes you feel better. Famous phrases include the really popular '...right now.' Anyway, it's all about being a pathetic puppy dog and hanging around because you hope it'll work out for you.

I'm just as guilty of this as anyone and it drives me crazy. I hate seeing it in myself, because really, everyone knows they deserve better than to be walked over again and again and keep sucking it up, trying over and over just to get spat on over and over. It has to stop.

Primarily because Facebook and How I Met Your Mother say so. But also because well, everyone deserves to have some degree of self-respect. And I think that's a good a starting point as any to get some.

Epistolary Narration.

Dear quiz nights,

You are a lot of fun. I hope we can be friends more often. Maybe even exchange gifts.

Call me.

Love Emily



Dear very cheap Diva outlet store,

I really love you, but you're stealing all my money. Stop being so reasonably priced and conveniently located, so my bank account and I can restore our more healthy and probably more long-term beneficial relationship.

I'll miss you.

Emily.



Dear Filing,

I don't care about you. No one cares about you. You are the worst thing ever created. All you do is inflict pain in my life; I have more paper cuts than I care to count, I think I'm going dyslexic from excessive exposure to your ordering system, and you're boring.

Go away.

Kind Regards,

Emily.



Dear Michigan,

I'll see you oh-so-soon!

Be waiting with lots of snow.

Love
Emily



Dear all the rude, manipulative people that mope when their little fantasy world doesn't go your way,

Please learn the art of smiling even if you are unhappy. Particularly when you are unhappy about something you have absolutely no right to be unhappy about. It is incredibly annoying to be a part of the manipulation of your creation when one's role is to be excluded from the fantasy world. And it is even more annoying when one refuses to comply with your ridiculous ideas, and try to have fun, and get nasty death glares. I refuse to stoop to your level. Man up and learn that if you try to create situations, they'll only let you down.

Sincerely,

Emily




Dear everyone else,

You're awesome.

Love
Emily.

I have to say, one of my favourite things about having applied for a uni overseas (besides, you know, getting the opportunity to live overseas for a while), is waking up every morning with a new email from them because of time difference shenanigans! It makes me feel loved, and excited.

That is all.

Oh Delicious.

If I could eat this for breakfast, I know I'd be having basically the best day I possibly could.

(Maybe minus the bananas...)

oh yes.

Amen, secret poster.

Just being lame.

Ignore me. anyway, Emily being lame and reflect-y......now.

Being a girl, I tend to be pretty moody. I can go through about four thousand different emotions within the space of a day. And no matter how much I try to track what triggers the changes, I can never work it out.

And you know what makes me very sad? Often the best way to overcome these things is to just block it out; start putting up walls and being all closed-off to the world so you don't get affected by anything. It's like living life all caught up in your head where real life just looks like a dream and feels like it can't touch you.

But it's probably likely being moody and feeling those moods is way more rewarding and more of a learning experience than blocking them out will ever be.

So...just need to suck it up I guess :)