With Fronds Like These, Who Needs Anemones?

So I'm at work yesterday, in the kitchen, and I see a plate of chips on the table, and there's this guy who has just opened a bottle of beer (as is kosher on Fridays) and our conversation goes as follows:

me: want some chips?
him: is a frog's bottom water tight?
me: what?
him: is a frog's bottom water tight?
me: hah.. um... (slowly walking away...)
him: that means yes.
me: oh, okay.
him: i should think that, yes, a frog's bottom is water tight.
me: right. true. cool.

I love my job. It's at Cutting Edge Post (www.cutttingedge.com.au). They are a film and TV commercial editing company and they are at the top in their field. Some of their feature film work includes the latest Superman, and the commercials that they edit range from Hyundai to McDonalds to Kelloggs to Vodafone (the leading cellphone service provider here). They're really high quality and it's been really cool to see how they work. I've been living the 9-5 life from Tuesdays through Fridays. big kid stuff.

I was really dumped into it head-on, and the first few days were way overwhelming. I'm currently working with the facilities co-ordinator, who basically runs the entire office, making sure everything is happening that needs to happen, scheduling editing sessions, making up work orders, tracking finished products and making sure they are being sent off to the right destinations. It's a LOT to be looking after, and I have total respect for my supervisor, Rosie, who swears like a truckdriver but who might be the most adorable, friendliest woman I've ever met. It's been two weeks, though, and I've finally gotten enough of a hang of it to fill in for Rosie for two days; she was on holiday Thurs and Friday of last week and I covered some of her responsibilities. It was cool.

I'm REALLY pumped because next week kicks off my swap over to the creative side of editing. I'll be able to watch how the editors do some of their stuff, like color grading and making the film look extra sharp, and transferring mediums between film and tape stock. I'm really so excited about it, probably because I'm a huge film nerd. But I'm also going over to Australian Idol with one of our IT guys because we supply Australian Idol with all of their editing needs. (Australian Idol is HUGE here right now, much like American Idol was in its first couple seasons)

The IT guy, Rob, is probably one of my favorite people at the company. Him and Luke, who's a younger editor who works mostly with basic color grading stuff. They are the coolest and enjoyable to talk to. Rob made me a mochaccino the other day and it was heaven.

Oh! We have a cappuccino machine, which is the most AMAZING thing ever. I mean it makes way more than that, obviously, because it's the exact machine you'd find in any quality coffee shop, but it's a beautiful thing. I have been learning how to make fancy coffees and espressos and cappuccinos. They don't make me make coffees or anything on a regular basis.. but they wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing just incase we had a client come in and our client services people were too busy to make a coffee for him or her. They want me to be able to do it if I need it, and it's cool. I really wanted to learn how to steam the milk and all that, so I'm totally happy. Plus, I make myself the most amazing cappuccinos every day.. for free! It's a win-win.

On a side note, the coffee in Australia is far superior to coffee in the states. Everyone on the program agrees.. and even Australians I've talked to have said that they went to the states and couldn't find tasty coffee anywhere. I never thought the US had that bad of coffee.. but maybe I'll go back and agree, who knows. In any case, I'm on my way to becoming a barista.

I went to the Sydney Opera House with 10 friends or so last night to celebrate Ashley (one of said friends)'s birthday. It was so much fun, we all dressed up and went out and looked so swanky. And after the show we went to the swanky Opera Bar and had overpriced drinks and it was a good time.

We saw a short play called "The Hospital." I didn't know what to expect because someone else had bought the tickets, but... how do I explain it.. It was entirely in German. But I don't even think it was German. I think it was a made-up language that sounded German or Russian but actually didn't mean anything at all. I'm pretty sure whoever wrote it wanted to make sure that NO ONE, no matter what language they spoke, could understand the words. In that sense, it was cool because you had to understand what was going on based on intonation of speech and, of course, body language. But it was so strange. Within the first ten minutes, I hated it. It was basically about three nurses in a dirty old hospital who were so bored because they didn't have patients. So they would hurt each other and then fix each other up... and then there was a mutiny against the head nurse who was massochistic and sexually dominant toward the other nurses... and then there would be moments where they would turn on the hospital music and they would all dance mechanically until the lights would dim on all but one nurse... and as the music became increasingly chaotic and distorted, her movements would follow suit.

I think Ashley got a kick out of it. There were definitely moments when the nurses were funny... in an extremely cynical way. I thought it was the most horrifying, terrible, obnoxious excuse for "art" that I'd ever seen, but that's me. I do have to say that the acting was amazing -they really did get their points across without understandable dialogue, and the way that they were all in touch with their bodies enough to express so much physically was impressive. But man, I hated that show.

Either way, life has been great. I can't complain. I feel like I'm living the life I've always wanted to live, doing the things I've always wanted to do. I'm starting to realize, though, that school is really in session back at BU. It feels like the early part of Summer here so I forget that it's Fall back home, and I forget that life is moving on without me. It's a little unnerving when I realize it, and I find that I often wish I could be in two places at once. I miss friends back home, but I know I'll see most of them next semester. I'm sure it will be really weird, though, getting back and realizing I had missed out on a huge chunk of life at BU. But it will be an amazing semester, as it will be the last, and we'll go out with a bang. I'm really looking forward to it, as much as I don't really want to leave Australia. I'm torn between wanting to stay and wanting to see people that I miss.

Oh, forgot to mention... went to Cairns last weekend and saw the Rainforest, swam in a rainforest lagoon, and then swam the Great Barrier Reef and totally saw Nemo AND his dad.. in an ANEMONE. It was awesome. I also saw Dori, and some other cool looking fish who I cannot recall ever starring a disney movie.

Did you know the Great Barrier Reef is the only living thing that you can see from space? TRIVIA!