Wagga Wagga Werewolves

I urge you all to go crack open your copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and reference that part where Gilderoy Lockhart claims to have defeated the Wagga Wagga Werewolf. It brought a smile to my face!

Cheers

I'm 12 Years Old: Longest Survey of My Life

(Peeling Gum Tree on the Way to the winery. Love the smell of these after rain!)

105 (or less) Facts About You

1. EVER BEEN GIVEN AN ENGAGEMENT RING? NO,keep my fingers clear, thanks.

2. LONGEST RELATIONSHIP? A few months? No ring, hence

3. LAST GIFT YOU RECEIVED? A package from my Mom full of goodies, most importantly, Dioritos

4. EVER DROPPED A CELL PHONE? Touch wood: NO.

5. WHEN'S THE LAST TIME YOU WORKED OUT? Yesterday.

6. THING(S) YOU SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON? Tuition, Housing, Travel, Clothes, Booze, Food (notice which is first there)

7. LAST FOOD YOU ATE? A Tim Tam and cuppa Hot Milo (Yes, there was a Tim Tam slam performed)
8. FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX? Smile

9. ONE FAVORITE SONG? Changes Constantly. I think it might be "Ain't Too Proud to Bed" by the Temptations right now. Makes me want to dance around and bask in all of my American-ness.
10. WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Wagga Wagga, NSW, AUS

11. HIGH SCHOOL YOU ATTENDED: PYA. With the "hores".

12. CELL PHONE SERVICE PROVIDER? Telstra, Cingular

13. FAVORITE MALL STORE? States: Borders, Oz: Roxy

14. LONGEST JOB YOU HAD? Fox Run Vineyards...LOVE LOVE LOVE

15. DO YOU PRANK CALL PEOPLE? Yes, I'm in a war with some boys from Bathurst.

17. LAST WEDDING YOU ATTENDED? Wow. Angie?

18. FIRST PERSON YOU'D CALL IF YOU WON THE LOTTERY? JENNIE!

19. LAST TIME YOU SAW YOUR BEST FRIEND? Feb :-( And I want to see her RIGHT NOW.

20. FAVORITE FAST FOOD RESTAURANT? Wendy's.

21. BIGGEST LIE YOU HAVE EVER HEARD? I don't know?

22 . FAVORITE PIE? Peach

23. WHERE'S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT WITH FRIENDS? In house, after cooking and drinking all day!

24. CAN YOU COOK? I'm going to be a wine maker...that's like a requirement
25. Went AWOL? No?

26. BEST KISSER? This will remain secret. They know who they are

27. LAST TIME YOU CRIED? I cry about once a week. I think it's required.
28. MOST DISLIKED FOODS? BUTTER MENTHOLS. MUSKS. AUSTRALIA YOU SUCK AT HARD CANDY.

29. THING YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF? Probably my musical collection

30. THING YOU DISLIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF? I'm pigheaded and can't see outside of the box most times

32. LONGEST SHIFT YOU HAVE WORKED AT A JOB? A couple of extra hours at Ferro, making it 14-15 hrs. Some days at Fox Run were really long, too.

33. FAVORITE MOVIE? Mean Girls.

34. CAN YOU SING? Loudly and proudly, and often!

35. LAST CONCERT ATTENDED? Counting Crows and Goo Goo Dolls?
36. LAST KISS? Summertime

37. LAST MOVIE RENTED? BORAT. :-D

38. ONE THING YOU NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT? My ipod. Duh.

39. FAVORITE VACATION SPOT? AUSTRALIA.

40. FAVORITE DISNEY ANIMATED MOVIE? Nemo, The Little Mermaid

41. PLAY INSTRUMENTS? Violin
43. LAPTOP OR DESKTOP COMPUTER? Laptop. Mac. :-)

44. FAVORITE COMEDIAN? Dane Cook, by a landslide

45. DO YOU SMOKE? HELL NO

46. SLEEP WITH OR WITHOUT CLOTHES? Depending on level of intoxication...right Creekside 23?

47. WHO SLEEPS WITH YOU EVERY NIGHT? Mr. Hippo :-)

48. DO LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS WORK? Not easily

49. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN PULLED OVER BY THE POLICE? Ummm, my Mom is going to read this....

50. PANCAKES OR FRENCH TOAST? Chocolate Chip pancakes A LA Vern

51. DO YOU LIKE COFFEE? LOVE.
52 HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS? Over hard, or scrambled

53. DO YOU BELIEVE IN ASTROLOGY? Get my horoscope everyday

54. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Jennie :-)

55. LAST PERSON ON YOUR MISSED CALL LIST? Mike

56. WHAT WAS THE LAST TEXT MESSAGE YOU RECIEVED? Salami, lol
57. FAVORITE DINOSAUR? Not the Mama!

58. NUMBER OF PILLOWS? Two

59. WHAT ARE YOU WEARING RIGHT NOW? AZ tee, black pants

60. PICK A LYRIC, ANY LYRIC?

Turn up the radio
Blast your stereo
Right now
This joint is fizzling
It's sizzling
Riggggght

does that song make anyone else want to watch Pulp Fiction?

61. WHAT KIND OF JELLY DO YOU LIKE ON YOUR PB & J? Strawberry
62. CAN YOU PLAY POOL? I like to think I can

63. CAN YOU SWIM? I do often
64. FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Cake Batter

65. DO YOU LIKE MAPS? Yes::shudders:: No thanks to Rud
68. EVER ATTEND A THEME PARTY? Several. Anything But Clothes= THE BOMB

69. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? Autumn:-)

70. LAST TIME YOU LAUGHED AT SOMETHING STUPID? About 5 min ago

i deleted 71 through 74

75. NAME OF YOUR FIRST PET? Bob North, homies, he's the man
76. DO YOU THINK PIRATES ARE COOL OR OVERRATED? I have no hate for the pirates
77. WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS WEEKEND? Too far away. Studying and working my ass off

78. BIRTHDATE? July 5th, 1984. Best day of everyone's lives.

79. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE? A winemaker, sillies

85. ARE YOU ON A LAPTOP? Sure am, lovin me my mac

87. ARE YOU SMILING? Sure am. It's all the sunlight here

89. DO YOU MISS SOMEONE RIGHT NOW? Anyone located on the East Coast of the US.

90. IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WHERE WOULD YOU GO? Maryland!

92. ARE YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL? Negative
93. DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH? Yes

94. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PETS NAME? Casey Jr North. He's my #2 man, after Kev.

95. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BATHING SUIT? What do you think? PINK

97. DID YOU GO ON VACATION LAST MONTH? I've been on vacation for a month or so now.

98. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON A CRUISE? No.

99. DO YOU HAVE A SISTER? Several

100. ARE YOU UPSTAIRS? Up a hill.

101. ARE YOU IN LOVE? Always

102. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN THE HOSPITAL? Several times

103. DO YOU WISH YOU COULD SEE ANYONE PARTICULAR RIGHT NOW? Jennie!

104. WHAT JEWELRY ARE YOU WEARING? Rings, earrings, necklace. I hear jewelry.

105. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO AFTER THIS SURVEY? continue studying.

Back to Photosynthesis.

Happy Little Vegemites

Proof that I really am in a nutbush:



Picture that as a commercial, filled with jars of vegemite and happy children. They can't put the advert on here because it's copyrighted, I guess.

and one that's a little more true:


And I just heard that Vegemite was banned in the US because of folate. Haha, good, because it kinda tastes like crappy fermentation. Anyone know if this is actually true?

I have tried Vegemite, it was okay. Salty. Enough to raise your blood pressure. But, you should try it if you can, just for the experience. I'll bring a jar home, get at me if you want some the next time I'm home. :-)

Cheers

Where are Nicole and Keith?

I helped crush Shiraz today. I pulled shiraz skins out of my hair when I got home and got in the shower. Only in an Australian winery.

Which reminds me. I've been in Australia for more than a month now and I have not:

1) Met Keith Urban
2) Met Nicole Kidman
3) remembered that Keith was in rehab until right now
4) seen a real live wild wombat
5) held a koala
6) managed to get any color on my legs
7) Met Keith Urban

But, I helped crush Shiraz. And it rocked.

Cheers

Chardonnay=POO

Since this is my blog, and I think about wine a lot, I'm going to share with all of you some of my recent thoughts regarding white wine. Lucky, lucky people.

If you know me and have tasted with me, it should be no secret to you that I strongly DISLIKE the vast majority of chardonnays. I don't like them aged in stainless steel, and I also don't like them with too much oak or malolactic fermentation. If I wanted to chew on a barrel or lick the floor of a milking parlor, I would do so. Chardonnay is going to be impossible to avoid in my future, and I hope I can approach it with dignity and poise like my pal Peter Bell. He makes tasty, food friendly chardonnay. The cool climate thing helps a lot, but, there's only one chard I will drink, and that's his. I hope mine come out something like that someday!

My room mate Jer Bear and I were talking about Semillon, and he suggested that it was often just a stand in for Chardonnay. I confessed to him that big, fatty, oil, over-oaked wines were NOT my thing. Wines that taste like crappy Thai duck from DC are NOT my thing(worse, greasiest duck of my life!!!). He looked at me and said, "We're Australia. That's what we do."

My initial reaction was "Oh no!" because I stink very much at tasting these wines. Later, I thought more about it. I'm in a warm climate, which, I probably won't work in if I can avoid it, the wines are GOING to be different. It's a good thing. I'm in classes full of Australians, who are used to drinking this wine. I offer a different perspective, I like my white wines light, jazzy, aromatic, and *gasp* maybe even a little bit fruity! (...Well, comparatively...) So, if I just start using my senses, I'll expand my horizons!

That's the whole reason I'm here, right?! Time to step up and taste the area! Bring it on, warm climate grape growing crazies!

Time to go write some letters to the fabulous people who have been writing me :-D :-D


Cheers

Grey Day Australia

Today was the greyest day I've seen in Australia. I snapped this picture off of my porch. It was rainy and yuck. The sun didn't peak through a single time. It was a grey day, I was feeling off and not happy. Grey days happen. Even in Oz.

Then, at the close of the day, things can turn around. Our fire alarm tripped and the 385 family, who had gone to bed, immerged from their rooms to figure out what had tripped the alarm. Niel, my favorite security guard, came up and turned off the alarm, and then we were relieved, but all VERY awake. A toasted sandwich maker, several slices of cheese and bread, and a good lot of butter later, we were all hanging out in the common room talking over some important social issues.

By some chance of fate and a few toasted sandwiches, we were thrown together and got to know one another a little bit better. And I got taught the Nutbush dance. :-)

Some days are grey, some days get greyer, but some days get lighter when you least expect it.

Cheers

Nutbush City Limits

Okay, so, I grabbed a ride into town with my flatmate Steph and her mate. We were tooling along, picking on GWB, and this song came on. I didn't recognize the song, but I knew it was Tina Turner. The next few moments went something like this:

Me: Guys, what is this song?
Steph: You don't know this song? You're from Turner-land.
Me: Yea, I know it's Tina Turner, but what's it called?
Steph: You're not kidding. You don't know this song.
Me: Nope, never heard it.
Steph: It's Nutbush. Every Australian knows this song. It's what we dance to while we're pissed at the bar. Spastically.
Me: Why?
Steph: They teach it to us in primary school.

Then she and her mate promptly hopped out of the ute (AKA truck) and started doing the Nutbush dance that they learned ages ago. In the parking lot. Of the Sturt Mall.

And I thought to myself, I'm in the middle of a nutbush.


But seriously, check out the lyrics to "Nutbush City Limits" and tell me if you think they're a good idea for small children. Here they are.

Anyway, I found this video a while ago on youtube, but when I just re-viewed it, I got a twinge of Australian lovingness. So, I'll post it here instead of my daily picture. Enjoy this QANTAS commercial. :-)

Cheers

There is Life on This Planet!

Today is my one month anniversary in Australia. I've been here a calendar month. Can you all believe that? I know I can't. I just have to keep saying to myself "You've come a long way, baby!"

Anywho--

One of my favorite things about wine is the way that it brings people together and opens up the lines of communication. As I've said before, if you like wine or hate wine, you have an opinion about it and you're likely to share it if given the opportunity. Wine is social and has remained social, hence holding it's place as a cornerstone of societies, modern and pre-historical. Things fade from history and people's minds; wine is NOT one of those eliminated items.

So, tonight was the most anticipated first meeting of the CSU wine tasting club. (I know, triple tier tastings every fortnight of different wines from different regions...be very jealous.) Tonight was Semillon from the Hunter Valley (N of Sydney), and I will say, Semillon is a good wine general, it's cheaper versions (that I tasted) are relatively food friendly. The more expensive tiers were excellent stand alone wines, as most expensive wines are. It's not Riesling, my love love love!, but, it will do over a Chardonnay.

So, anyway, I discovered tonight just how much I loved talking wine with people. I should say, RE-discovered. I've noticed that whenever I'm in a Wine Science Lecture, I really don't think about anything else. For those 4 hours every week, I think about nothing but wine and grapevines and pests and flavors and senses and fruit. I'll emerge from the lecture hall and realize that time has passed and that my pages are filled with notes and handwriting. All the while, I'm not worrying, I'm not missing anyone, I'm not having evil jealous thoughts come into my head, and I'm not remembering that I'm in a foreign country a BAZILLION miles from home with no friends. It's a welcome change and relief.

But, tonight at wine club, I got to talk to some of the people in my program, relax with them, find out about them, and I discovered that there was life on this planet! I know Aussies are nice and polite and helpful, but, they can be friends. Maybe I'm not so foreign after all. Mel put it well this fall, she said: "In Australia, you're friend until proven otherwise." I countered with, "In the States, you're otherwise until proven friend." I think I'll put Mel's theory to the test.

Well, this is a little bit of babble because I'm a bit "boozed", as Meghan (the South African-turned-Kiwi-room mate) puts it. Ha.

Cheers!

PS- Pick stolen from University of Adelaide Oenology program website! :-D

No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem

So, I spent Saturday poking around Wagga. I got sunburned (BIG surprise) and found Wagga Beach and other assorted sites. But, there was something that I noticed that I am dying to share with all of you. Here goes.

Last year, during one of the many marathon nights in the GIS lab, Sammie Linton was recalling Australia, as she studied abroad here, and she said that she was shocked that people actually went into the supermarket, among other stores, with no shoes or shirts on. I remembered this when I got here, and when I arrived in Wagga, I remember thinking, "Well, it must be only crazy Queenslanders that do that sort of thing." I had never remembered Mel going sans shoes into Wegmans and the people in NSW all seemed to be donning footwear in public places.

Well, I made the mistake of going into town on the week days. On the weekend, all bets are off. People are hitting the beach, the shops, the streets. I was walking down Baylis Street minding my own, and BAM. There went my first gentlemen sans footwear. I smiled at him, and he smiled back at me and said something totally kodak: "G'Day!" I walked away with a smile on my face. Not 30 seconds later, there was a whole family without shoes. So, this was on the street. I wondered if these people just magically produced thongs to go into the grocery store with. The answer to that query is: NO. I saw Mr. G'Day later that day at Woolworth's, and he stopped me and chatted as if we were old friends...all without his shoes.

The sign that hangs on the door of every American business is "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service". In contrast to that, Sammie was right. These people are crazy and don't wear shoes to go grocery shopping. I'm not going to be jumping on that bandwagon anytime soon, but, I will say this: I love it. It's relaxed, it's carefree. It's an excellent reflection of the attitude of the continent, as I've observed it so far. They're your feet, do with them as you wish. No one should be picking anything up off of the floor and selling it in a food store anyway. Who cares? As Kenny Chesney said, "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem!" No worries, mate!

In related news, this explorer and her ipod are going to Tasmania over the Easter holidays. This decision was influenced and finally made thanks to a panel of experts and my keen decision making skills (ha!). So, more details on that are forthcoming, I'm planning and scheming like a maniac! Loving it!

And I just realized this weekend that I, Catrina Nicole North, packed all of my shit in three bags, took off to AUSTRALIA and am now living here, studying to pursue a dream. How fucking cool is that! I typically wouldn't say this, but: I fucking rock! Who does that?! Geez, life has changed in the last month!

Cheers

Mozzarella Sticks

These people do NOT have mozzarella sticks. What am I going to do!? Three years without Mozz sticks? I'll go batty. That's the real fat kid talking, here!

Anyway, Mom sent me a package with my work shoes and prescriptions in it, and there were a bunch of food stuffs in it. Cut right down on my shopping. She sent normal stuff, pop tarts, Doritos, home baked choco chip cookies. She did include a box of wheat thins, as well. Well, after I came back from a swim, I decided to pop open the Wheat thins and offer them to the room mates and myself as a snack. One or two of them took my offer, and I discovered something odd. None of them had ever had wheat thins. Nor a mozzarella stick. Where the hell am I, Mars? No Wheat thins? For some reason, I just couldn't get over this. I still can't.

Well, I'm out of ideas. And tired. All of this culture shock in one day. No mozz sticks.

Lamingtons

Mel, my room mate: I have a surprise for you guys tonight.
Me: I hate surprises.
Mel: I'm not telling you, you'll have to wait.

Well, my surprise was a cool one. Do any of you US'ers know what a Lamington is? Well, neither did I. It's basically a sponge cake covered in dark chocolate and coconut flakes. Yes, it is as heavenly as it sounds. Mel and I had gone to the food market about a week early, and as usual, she had had a good laugh at my stupidity regarding Lamingtons, among many other foreign food items. (They have these huge tubes, like tubes of out Bob Evans sausage, only larger, of dog and cat meat. I'm talking friggin' HUGE tubes. Who does that?)

Well, Mel had gotten the whole 8 of us a package of Lamingtons. We were all hanging out in the "family room", as we call it, and she appeared with dessert. Jer-Bear, my fellow wine science-er, came up with some ice cream. We dished it up. Distributed it, and all sat and watched TV. I looked around the room while everyone was sitting there, mostly in awe. A month ago, I was just leaving my home. Since then, I've covered a few miles, shed a few tears, and seen a lot of things. And there I was, surrounded by people who I already consider friends and care for, but never envisioned. I felt very fortunate.

It's remarkable how quickly things move sometimes. Sometimes it takes a quiet night of TV, a foriegn dessert, and some perspective to realize just how lucky you are.

Oh, side note. Wine people. Did you know that Phylloxera originated from North America? They think it probably rode over on a boat and then did some major damage in Europe. This funny vision of a note going something like this popped into my head:

Dear World,

We're writing to apologize for the phylloxera thing. We didn't mean to cause any sobriety. We hope you still love us.

Yours,

North America




I couldn't help but think that all of the Australians in the room were looking at me as if I were the vessel that brought them to Australian vineyards. :-P

Cheers

"How Important Are We to the Americans?"

My friend Stan, the bus driver, asked me how important I thought the Australians as a people were to the Americans. He asked if we thought as much about them as they do about us.

I grimaced and shifted in my seat uncomfortably, not wanting to ruin my friendship with my new friend, and said, "No, Americans don't think of anyone but themselves. Maybe, we'll think of Europe or the Middle East, but not Australia."

He looked at me excitedly and said, "Well, I've told all of my friends that, but they never believe me. Now I know. "

I laughed. He smiled, it was all good.

So, I needed some empirical evidence. Just how important was the David Hicks case in the States. David Hicks was suspected of terrorism and is being held at Guantanamo Bay, and he's been there since he was captured in 2002. He's on the Australian news EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. I mean, he's usually in between stories about weather or grapes, right up there at the front. He's were GWB would be in our news reels. It's completely WILD.

I found my empirical evidence when I pulled a Bill Bryson (Author of "A Walk in The Woods" or "In a Sun-Burned Country") and searched the NY Times for the last 5 years. About 140 articles came up, 50 of which were unrelated to Oz's David Hicks.

I then searched "The Australian", a major newspaper over here. It only let's me search for a week, but just in the past 7 days, there had been 7 articles on him. 7! One per day! So, let's look at the math. Say they published for 50 weeks a year, for five years, at one article per day. That's 1750 articles! Another news site returned 238 articles in the past 30 days. Compared to our 90 or so. Suck on that!

So, Stan, I think you are right. But rest assured, Australia means a lot to some Americans, and they're the ones you really need to worry about. Who cares about GWB? I'm cool, and I'm at your end of the globe, so, no worries.

Cheers

When I Grow Up

It's settled, then. I'm going to be just like the little dude in the picture above when I grow up. No stress, no worries. I would only have to be awake about 4 hours a day. Good times. I took that pic at the Sydney Wildlife Zoo, and these koalas were considered "active". They were trying to get them to eat. I can't blame them for being lazy...it was too hot! :-)

Now that I'm over being pissed and disappointed, I have serious consideration ahead. Studying by distance isn't really an option for a variety of reasons, the biggest of which being $. I would technically be only half time, so I would have to start paying my student loans off. So, that's probably not going to happen. I've decided it wouldn't be the worst idea to go to Adelaide, but I'm not going to make an decisions until I see the place in April. And, if I like it and deem it's something I can do WITHOUT a car (or "ute", in Australian), then I'll consider it. I don't want to leave this program without giving it a fighting chance or for the wrong reasons.

I came here with pure intentions, and I want to leave only for the right reasons.

Now continues the exercise in patience.

Cheers

When It All Falls Apart

I really like surprises. But, I'm a conditional surprise lover. I like surprises if they're good surprises. Aren't we all that way? Well, as you can probably surmise from my last post, I was frustrated by the fact that two of my classes were via tutorial mode. Teaching myself Biochem and Sensory Science...yea, I'm still totally pumped. NOT.

Anyway, this got me thinking. Are my future classes going to be like this? Is this a common thing, or is it just this year. Australians describe themselves as in a "wine glut", so enrollment in their wine science and viticulture has seen a decrease. I wondered...is this temporary, or will my course at CSU continue in the pattern of "tutorial" learning. Good question, right? Should I continue paying all of this money to teach myself things? Or, is someone professional going to head my studies?

I'm sure this method of self-education works for some people, but I am not one of them. Now, I am going to try it this semester, and we'll see how it goes, but, I'm having a sneaking suspicion that it will not go well. But, I'm trying really hard not to have a bad attitude about it.

Anyway, my room mate, Jeremy, is a third year wine science student. So, I was chatting with him. He is currently taking 8 subjects(!) and 7 (!) of them are via "tutorial", AKA distance only internally, mode. He said to me, "The higher up you get, the worse it gets." Oh AWEEEEESOME. Then, I stopped in to talk to my course coordinator and he said that the majority of third year courses were offered in tutorial mode. You can imagine, that's exactly what I didn't want to hear.

So, I wondered...why hadn't I noticed this? Did I skip this page on the glossy book they sent me? I don't really recall ever knowing anything of this. So, from what I understand, this phenomena is relatively new at CSU, and it's occurring because the majority of students are studying at CSU via distance education. They are already working in the wine industry and getting their degrees online. They come to Sturt twice a year for "residential schools", which is where they perform all practical exercises that come with the course.

So, now I have to decide. Even though very few of my courses are going to involve actual lectures and traditional schooling, do I want to stay here and finish the degree I've just begun? Or do I want to look at other options. Do I want to look into the University of Adelaide? Do I want to come back to the states and go someplace in CA or WA?

My major malfunction is that I don't really know what I want to do just yet, nor do I feel like I've been here long enough to make a call on anything. However, I don't really have much time to waste. I need to make a decision relatively soon.

Geez, everything looked all set, and then it all goes and falls apart. So, yea, there's a little look at my past week.

Cheers

PS- I did have a copy of a pic of the opera house to use, but, I friggin' hate easyshare and it's inability to relate to macs. So, I had to borrow this one. Thanks, dude. :-)