Birthday Glee!

So it's that time of year again... Kim Fest!!!

[Pardon my abruptness in returning to blog land. Don't worry, I'll post again soon apologizing for the long absence (an absence that began by me saying, "I really should just post pictures of us going away for the weekend -- no need for long, descriptive text --, and then somehow grew to weeks and weeks of nothingness, to the point where I didn't even know where to begin. And then I realized what better way to get back into it than to talk about my birthday???)]

Tomorrow's my birthday, and true to form, we have been celebrating non-stop with different friend groups, shopping, and a no-homework-allowed policy for the past few days.

This weekend, though, has been evidence of many birthday miracles. First of all, in a two-week period of rain, cold weather, and overall gloominess, we had beautiful weather this weekend, just in time for the birthday picnic we had planned with my old boss (and current friend), her kids, another friend, and all of our dogs. Then today Will and I went shopping for a couple of work outfits and out of the blue I got 25% off of my purchase! And THEN, miracle of all miracles, I was taking Darcy out to go #1 and #2, when in the process I heard a great cover of "Don't Stop Believing" performed by none other than Glee (a song I have had a wonderful history with, beginning with excellent 80-band covers, peaking with an unforgettable, if not erroneous, Mexican rendition on our honeymoon, and slightly deteriorating by being faced with a certain generation gap during Summer School, when my students made it clear they had never heard of the song until Glee performed it). However, despite the pain it causes me to know that generations of kids have never heard the song "Don't Stop Believing" a la Journey, I must admit that Glee performs a pretty good cover (in my opinion, which I recognize is not a universal opinion -- but don't forget, I LOVE DUETS! AND BROADWAY MUSICALS!)

I digress.

So as I stand in the balmy evening air, watching my dog pee freely in the wind, listening to the beautiful ballad that is "Don't Stop Believing" performed by Glee, I decide that I must possess this song. So I run and run and run home, throw myself at my husband's feet and beg him to buy me this album for my birthday. He lifts my tear-stained face with his finger, and softly instructs me to look at our iTunes account and search for "Glee."

And there it was.

Knowing my weakness for duets and covers, he had already bought me the first three volumes of the Glee soundtrack, even though I've only ever watched three episodes (and yet loved every minute of them).

He knows me so well. And that is truly the best birthday miracle of them all.

Happy Easter!

I don't have chocolate eggs for you guys, but here are some pictures of what we've been up to over the past few months.

We were going to go to Singapore for Chinese New Year with our Quarantine Friends, but they ended up getting a new Westie puppy, so we went to King Valley instead and took all of the dogs along. From left to right: Tofu, Lexie (the little one), and Darcy--
the Three Muskateers of Trouble

But we still got to celebrate Chinese New Years at a fab Chinese restaurant. This is Deborah holding up her red envelope!

Everyone mixes the salad for good luck

Chicken feet. I probably would have liked it more if I hadn't somehow disengaged a toe.

Darcy celebrating the Year of the Tiger

All dressed up for Chinese New Year

Chris came to visit! This is us in Federation Square.

We drove to South Australia... of course a big reason for this was to teach me how to drive on the left side of the road before I started my job.

Beautiful countryside

Harvest time in wine country

Darcy amongst the vines. This vintage may have a slight flavor of Westie.

Tasting 100 year old port

Will talking with a kangaroo

Boo!

Lots of scone-eating in the country... at least by us

OK... lots of eating in general. We had a really nice house and got to
prepare some amazing meals.

The nights were cool so we made a fires and got a lot of reading in

Beautiful sisters

Lovely Stones in the country

Getting produce at the Adelaide market

On the beach...

I miss you, Chris!

First Week

I'm going to keep this short because the truth is, I'm tired. Last week was rough-- learning a new job (not only a job, but the entire Australian secondary and tertiary education system!), getting up earlier than usual, AND working on my first paper for my Masters which was due last Friday.

So my week basically looked something like this: wake up early; catch a train to University of Melbourne; sit all day in induction meetings where I understand about 50% of what was said; ask stupid American questions, like if New Zealand counts as a domestic market (surprising answer: it does; hello, pseudo-state!); catch a train back home; work on paper. Repeat.

Not to insinuate that I'm not loving my job--because I am. I'm looking after high-achieving secondary students within Victoria--so basically lots of smart people--and I get to plan cool events for them. What could be better? Oh, AND I'm looking after New South Wales region, which means I get a yearly trip to Sydney. Not too shabby!

But I will be glad when I've been in the role for a few months. There's nothing like that feeling of actually knowing what you're doing. Until then, though, blogging may be a little sparse as I try to juggle work and studying. I think back to a year ago and sure do envy that girl who never had to get off the couch and could just read all day long...

Alas, I'm a working woman now, and it's time for this woman to get to bed. I'll try to do some photo updates later this week of things we have been doing.

South Australia

We won't be around for a few days. Chris got in safely and we've been traipsing all over Melbourne (sometimes she has even been traipsing solo because I had class for my Masters all this weekend, but she used the opportunity to visit some old friends). This week, however, we are taking a nice long trip to South Australia. I can see you are asking, isn't Melbourne as south as you can get in Australia already? Well apparently not, because there's a whole state that the powers that be deemed worthier of the name. Due to its southern nature, we decided to visit it while the weather is still warmer, because like Melbourne it can get rather cold during the winter months.

But never fear: we shall return on Saturday with many tales and triumphs... all to be told in this very location, so check back!

Impromptu Travels

Yesterday our computer crashed. Now, most people would decide that this situation warrants one of two responses: a) spend the money to get it fixed, or b) buy a new one at a local store. Us? We look at it as impetus to blackmail a family member into visiting us in Australia.

This Wednesday a lovely 13-inch Mac Book Pro will be flying in to the Melbourne Airport. Accompanying the laptop will be my sister (who I have tried to convince countless times to start an international couriering service. She, however, thinks it sounds a little too much like drug smuggling, and has kindly passed on the obvious career trajectory.)

Lucky for us, my sister is not currently working and has the flexibility to drop everything for an impromptu trip to Melbourne. Considering I am about to start a full-time job, and Chris will most likely be entering into the labor force in the near future, I thought this would be as good a time as any for her to come hang out before we both become serious adults again. (Poor Will... we've already discussed that there is the possibility for lots of communication via animal noises and weird voices, as tends to accompany any extended periods of time spent with my sister. He says that Darcy is the only one with an excuse for that sort of behavior, but I think he has a sinking suspicion of what he's in for.)

Funny enough, Chris was the original Hearon sibling to live in Melbourne. The year before she started college she lived here for several months, so true to sibling-rivalry form, I had to move here for several years. Obviously.

So our apartment will be rather tiny for the next couple of weeks, but that's to be expected. At least we didn't have visitors this past week during the Big Bathroom Incident. Thursday night we realized that the bathtub drain was quite clogged. Several bottles of Draino later and still no results, we decided to give up, with the consolation that at least nothing smelly was going on. When we flushed the toilet, of course, we hear a blurp-blurp-blurp sound and look into the bathtub just in time to see the terrible t's--turds and toilet paper--making their way into the bathtub from the drain. And it wasn't stopping. After furiously dialing the property manager, going back and forth with several plumbers (who obviously did not want to come out for a job at 11:30 at night), and convincing everyone that potential turds on the carpet very clearly qualifies as an emergency, we finally managed to contain the problem. Whew.

But I'm sure that won't happen again. There are too many other disasters in this world for the same one to befall you twice :-).

I cannot wait to get my new computer, as I am currently using the ten-year-old dinosaur that I took to college with me. (I know, I cannot believe this thing still runs! It's a Dell, people.) And I REALLY can't wait to see my sister! We're going to have a lot of fun together. I'll keep you updated . . .

News

Hey there. Sorry for the radio silence, but things over here have been HAPPENING. Busy, busy, busy.

It seems that after hitting our one-year mark, life has suddenly decided to make like a box of chocolates and never let us know what we're gonna get. You see, at the end of last year I decided that I was going to go back to school full-time to get my Masters in Youth Health and Education Management, a degree that focuses on youth development, specifically in the educational sector. In other words, it merged perfectly with my Summer School job. It's only a year-long program, and I was only working part-time, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity. So I applied and was accepted to the program at the University of Melbourne.

Two weeks ago was my first class, and let me tell you-- it is really hard to sit in a classroom from 9 til 5 for five days straight! (Class schedules are brutal in grad school! They like to get all of the classes out of the way in one big block, which is torture on the attention span... especially for people like me who haven't spent more than a few minutes on the receiving end of a classroom in five years.) The class was Adolescent International Health, which sounded intriguing considering my interest in adolescents and international things. Of course, I hadn't considered that my other classmates would be Ghandi incarnate, fighting on the front lines of HIV, world hunger, and sex work problems in the countries of Fiji, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, etc. And then there was me, working with teenagers who are privileged enough to be able to pay $3000 for summer camp. Not to mention my lack of knowledge in all things PC; my comment about "third-world countries" drew a gasp from the entire room, until someone was polite enough to share with me that we're referring to them as "developing countries" now that the Cold War is over and everything. Apparently I missed the memo.

Anyway, one class is out of the way (besides the humongo paper I have looming on the near horizon). But in keeping with the box of chocolate metaphor, another development has arisen that will throw a wrench into the full-time Masters plan.

I GOT A JOB!!!

But didn't you have a job?

THIS IS A FULL-TIME JOB!!! AND AN AWESOME FULL-TIME JOB AT THAT!

Well as long as it's an AWESOME full-time job...

OH, IT IS. [Ahem... no need for caps lock... excitement has been appropriately conveyed] Oh, it is. I have accepted a position as a Student Recruitment Coordinator at the University of Melbourne, a senior recruiting position working specifically with Kwong Lee Dow scholars--the most high achieving students from every high school in Victoria. It will involve a lot of event planning, glad-handing, and the occasional bribe. Just kidding. Sort of. But no mind, because it's very similar to what I'm doing now, except much, much better. And I am very excited. And Will is very excited for me. In fact, the only person who is probably not so excited is Darcy, who is apparently sensing her long afternoons in the park coming to a screeching and terrifying end.

Alas, I suppose my dream to relive college as a grad student extraordinaire is not to be. (I was this close to piercing my nose again, too.) But that's ok, because I will still be a student, just on a part-time basis now.

So anyway, THIS is what has been going on over the last couple of weeks. Anyone else have any news they want to share? By all means, I don't want to hog the limelight here...

And the Award Goes To . . .

. . . Kim Stone, for successfully achieving her goal of reading 170 books in a one-year period!

Thank you, thank you all! It has been a real challenge, but I'm so proud to have reached the point in my life where I can sit on a couch for six hours at a time and read a book cover to cover! In fact, that sounds like a rocking Friday night.

I wouldn't have been able to accomplish this, however, without a few key players. First of all, I would like to thank my partner in reading, the man I can always find on the couch with me--though whether he's reading or fast asleep, one never knows. Without you by my side, I would have been just another one of those weird girls who sits at home alone reading lots of books. Thanks for validating the experience.


I'd also like to thank the little creature who's had to sacrifice countless trips to the park because her parents were being lame and reading again. Your patience has been extraordinary.


Truthfully, I would never have been able to accomplish my goal without the most ingenious invention of all time. The device that has fueled my addiction and need for instant gratification in all things. A true member of the Stone family. My Kindle. Your global wireless function melts my heart.


And of course, this task would have been beastly, inhumane, and unmanageable without the riveting stories themselves. So in an effort to highlight a few of the more enjoyable reads, I bring you the real stars of the show:

American Gods by Neil Gaiman:
A fabulous (literary) book that delves into a deep examination of American values and the power of the American spirit. Will and I both loved you.

After the Fall by Kylie Ladd:
Another literary novel (gasp!) written by an Australian author, as many good books are. This particular story focuses on the nature and repercussions of an affair, as told from the point of view of the four people involved. Extremely well-written and thoughtful, you kept me stuck in my seat at Borders (back when I was conducting my Borders scam... I don't do that anymore, thanks to affordable books on the Kindle)

And moving on to Young Adult, as we all knew it would:

Mortal Instruments Trilogy by Cassandra Clare:
Thank you City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass for catching me in your Shadowhunter grip and not letting me go. You gave me many a sleepless night, even long after I finished you.
I love you, Jace and Clary!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (and the sequel, Catching Fire):
A thrilling read about a post-apocalyptic United States in which a dictatorial regime forces a yearly reality show on the populace. The objective? America's youth must kill the other contestants, or be killed in return. I know, it sounds morbid (and it is) but it's also fascinating! (and will make you watch American Idol in a whole new light)

And the inevitable vampire mentions:

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice:
Thank you, Anne Rice, for proving that vampire novels are more than cheap thrillers! A true cornerstone of the vampire canon, this book uses the figure of vampires as an exploration of the meaning of good and evil, sin and salvation, morality and damnation. But don't worry, there's still plenty of blood sucking!

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Series by Laurell K Hamilton:
And thank you, Laurell K Hamilton, for writing vampire novels that are cheap thrillers... even though you do lose your touch around the sixth book or so. I guess seventeen books is a hard pace to keep up... although it beefed up my reading list quite a bit.

And that, as they say, is that. I'm not disillusioning myself by thinking that my reading list is ever going to creep up to this number again. In fact, a lot of circumstances had to line up in order to even make it possible, and I don't intend to allow those particular circumstances to line up again. There are simply too many new goals to try one's hand at. But in the meantime, it was fun. Maybe I'll keep tracking my reading over the course of my time in Australia. And maybe even afterward. I'd love to know how many books I've read over my entire lifetime, but I guess it's a little late for that count.

But who's to say you can't start now?