dear mexalicious,

like a



loves

give me somewhere to go, don't give me train rides

i've spent way too long lately thinking about someone i thought i outgrew years ago.

goddammit this is not supposed to happen.

how can anyone be an island on their own?

a recap of my trip to paris soon, but first some sad news. the beastie boys sent out an email today with a link to a video, in which adam yauch announced that he has cancer. you can view the video here.  yauch is one of my musical heroes, so this news has hit me for six. on the bright side he did mention that it is a very treatable form of cancer, and he seemed very positive about it.

get well soon MCA, our thoughts and well wishes are with you.

frame me, and hang me on the wall

i finally have some news worth writing about! i'm off to paris at the end of this week. my cousin [the one i house sat for at the end of 2007] is a nanny, and she's currently on holidays in france with the family she works for. we were planning on meeting up, but then i couldn't get time off work and a whole bunch of other issues so the idea was put on the back burner. on wednesday morning i was on my way into work for an early start because of the cricket, and my cousin called me. she said if i could get myself to paris, her boss would pay for all of my expenses for a couple of days, including a trip to eurodisney. how could i turn down such an offer?

the cheapest way to get directly to disney ended up being a bus from cardiff to london, and then the eurostar from st pancras directly to the disneyland resort where we are staying. i'm glad the train was cheaper than flying. as some of you might know i'm a bit of a train nerd, and catching the eurostar was on my to do list while i was in europe, so i'm glad i get to do it. i haven't booked a trip back yet because i didn't know exactly when i'd be leaving. i know it's a bit more expensive that way, but oh well. i've got time on my hands so maybe i'll try and get up to calais and catch a ferry over to dover.

then last night i got an email from my dear friend vanessa who let me know she's planning a trip to london in august. i'm so excited to see her! even better we're planning a trip to berlin to visit vanessa's old housemate kerstin who left australia in november last year. it's going to be a really fun time.

then i really can't talk about trips to europe without mentioning my european vacation with rach. every time we talk these days we plan our trip a bit more. we've booked key flights and hostels, but other than that we're trying to keep things loose, so if something takes our fancy we're able to make stops and detours at random.

i think the reason for my extended absence from this blog had to do with my work situation. i've talked about it in emails to people, but not here i don't think. so a couple weeks back i quit my call centre job. it had just completely done my head in. the calls just never stopped. and because of that there was no time to help anyone. and because of that, agents would just flat out lie to people in order to get them off the phone. it was horrible. and when you did try and help someone, you got in trouble for taking too long. i know they have way more customers than any place i've ever worked, but still, with those kinds of practices, it's no wonder they have a terrible reputation for customer service. also the conditions in the centre itself were terrible. mouses would be without mouse balls, all the chairs were all ripped and torn, the keyboards were filthy and it was just all in all grimy.

the people kept me there for as long as i stayed, but in the end i just couldn't hack it. one morning i was completely dressed and ready for work, and i had five minutes until i had to leave, and i just couldn't get off the couch. so i called in sick to give myself time to think about things. i know i sound like a sook. but i'm here on a working holiday, and that job was just causing me so much stress and making me depressed that it wasn't worth it. so i quit and immediately a weight was lifted.

luckily i was able to get a job pretty much straight away in a bar down town, thanks to a blagged up cv that lied and said i'd worked at the rsl for a couple of years. i've always done office work, and doing something that meant i was on my feet for 8 hours was a complete shock to the system. even though i was really enjoying the work, and the people i work with, my body and in turn my mind weren't coping with the physical nature of things, and it ended up that i kinda shut down. there was about a week where i didn't talk to anyone, hardly emailed, hardly twittered, didn't blog at all, and just slept and worked. i think it's only been in the last couple of days where i've had a breakthrough and have gotten myself back to normal. i think the trip away has definitely helped that. so yeah, sorry if you've been worried about me. i know my housemates have been, but i'm definitely a lot better right now.

a plus side of my mental departure over the last few weeks is that i have really wrapped myself up in music. i've gotten back to my roots and spent a lot of time listening to nada surf and crowded house. let me tell you internet, there's something magical, and that's the only word i can think to describe it, about walking down a street on a sunny day in county glamorgan, listening to world where you live and something so strong.

in non melanie news, evans have launched a range of clothes designed by beth ditto. you can view them online here. it's created lots of talk in fatshion circles. i think this is the first time the media, and in turn the general population, have actually been excited about plus size clothes. i haven't had a chance to look at them in person, i'm planning on going tomorrow, and i doubt i'll actually buy anything. but just the fact that these clothes exist makes me very happy. actually, now that i'm looking at it, i do kinda want the spotted cape. maybe i'll just get erin to make me one instead.

sorry

still here. just nothing interesting to say lately.

back when i'm doing more than working all night and sleeping all day