Off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz....

Ok, so we're not really off to see a wizard....at least I don't think so, but we are in Oz - does that count? *grin* Har dee farkin har har har, I crack myself up.

So, this week, I started my new job and it's pretty cool. I really, really like it and they like me too. Yowza! It's so nice to be liked. I've been looking high and low for this job, or at least a job just like this, for a very long time and I found it....and THEY LIKE ME! THEY REALLY LIKE ME! It was so fantastic to come home last night and tonight being happy and glad not only to have a job, but THIS job. So far so good ***fingers crossed***.

Also, tonight was our Christmas party, I was too late to get in on the secret santa, but that's ok, New Boss took us all out for dinner & drinks at a nearby pub .... and yes it was very good food... excellent steak and shrimp, the steak may have been plain & totally without seasonings (like all Aussie restaurant steaks), but it was spruced up with a nice Diane sauce, and I added a dash of salt & pepper after I got it. It was topped off with grilled prawns (shrimp) in a creamy garlic sauce, accompanied by a wonderful salad with vinaigrette dressing, and the ubiquitous, but totally tasty, not to mention beautifully presented omni present serve of chips. All washed down with a nice, refreshingly cold, glass of Riesling that looked like liquid sunshine in that sparkling bit of crystal. But, I digress. I was going to tell you about this weekend.

Ahhhhh, the weekend! It's our first anniversary....wedding anniversary to clear up any confusion. We are going to Bundaberg for the weekend and staying at Dunelm B&B while we are there. The main reason we are going to Bundy is to see the turtles nesting, which is something I've been wanting to do my whole life, and especially since I saw Finding Nemo.
Penny & Dave are the proprietors of Dunelm, a lovely English/Aussie couple that moved up north to fulfill a lifelong dream and were lucky enough to find a highly recommended B&B for sale, promptly bought it and set about making it all the more wonderful with their lovely charming presence. I look forward to seeing them again, taking a dip in the pool, and cooking something nice on the barbie.

As for other things, I also look forward to meeting a member of my yahoo group for Americans that live here in Oz....she and her aussie hubby live near Bundaberg. I am hoping we can at least arrange a lunch or something. Oh yeah! We also bought ourselves a dvd camcorder (an early Christmas present to us) so we could tape the turtles, as well as, us lolly gagging around the beach, etc....ya never know, I could find myself on Australia's Funniest Home Videos! Gawd, I hope not!

Well, anyway, I need to run or at least crawl into bed as it's nearing 1 am and I've been up since 5 am, worked all day, went to a Christmas party, came home and finished packing for tomorrow and must be up by 5 again. C~ says we MUST leave no later than 6 am what the FARKing hell is he thinking? Hrmmmm, maybe Macca's (McDonald's to the rest of the world) is having Egg McMuffins on sale....one can dream. On that note, I'm off to dreamland. See you all next week.

Hairstylists can occasionally do something wonderful

Yes, that's right, occasionally a hairstylist can do something wonderful. Like yesterday when Angie cut and coloured my hair. I actually like what she did, of course, did take a picture of what I wanted with me...and I haven't washed it and tried to style it myself yet either lmao! But, we shall see how it goes when I get ready for work a little later.

However, I am pleased with it. I have tried several stylists and colourists since I've been here and found that, for the most part, they are inexperienced, underpaid, and generally don't care, and also only want you to tell them EXACTLY what to do....as in how many foils (exactly, because they charge per foil), what exact colour, etc. It's enough to set ones teeth on edge! Sorry, but I guess that being an American I took for granted having a hairstylist that actually thinks for herself and knows what to do without having to be told every single little step. Oh, and the other thing is that she used a colour product called DeLorenzo....not the all pervasive Wella that everyone else uses here. Apparently DeLorenzo is designed to Aussie humidity and sun so it doesn't fade like Wella products do. It also didn't leave my hair feeling like straw, nor did it stain the heck out of my skin! Wella is horrible to get off facial skin...in fact it generally takes several days and hair washings to come off. Yep, can ya see it? All these aussie women walking around looking like they just came from the hairdresser's wearing a slight ring of colour aorund their faces and necks! It's totally hilarious, and no one bothers to complain about it! Like lemmings!

Okey dokey, off to breakfast and packing for the weekend.! Woohoo! It's our anniversary and we are going away to a B&B a bit north of here and gonna go watch the turtles nesting! We aren't leaving until Saturday so I still have a wee bit of time to get all packed and ready. Ta ta!!!

Miss Misery

I just wanted to introduce a new blogger that I found. She is a pretty cool teenager nicknamed Miss Misery. I hope my readers will like her :) As you know, I tend to spend most of my time reading blogs, not posting on my own...and occasionally I find something worth reading, and when I do, they stay on my list.

Wasted Daze

No, I'm not drunk lol. I'm in a daze from having wasted my day on a totally unbelievable interview. I waited a month to walk into an office and say hi, explain why I haven't gotten a job since I've been looking for 6 months, and also explain why I am not working as a dental hygienist. As if spending $4000 is a top priority at the moment when C~ graduates from Law School in a week. Ummm, I have MUCH more important things going on right now! Like finding a damn apartment or house to rent. Like going on a holiday this weekend for my first anniversary. Ok, yes it IS important that I eventually go back to work as a hygienist. But it's not THAT important to me. Money just isn't. Money is nice and all that, but honestly....it's the only reason why I would go back to it. It's a friggin boring as heck job, same shit hour after hour, day after day, with patients gettting this glazed look in their eyes when I explain the necessity of flossing. It's the same here as back in the good old US of A. Patients still don't give a damn about flossing, or even brushing all that much, for that matter...and they sure as heck don't need ME to tell them something that they've been hearing every six months for pretty much their entire lives and could not give a flying chili bean fart about me or what I have to say.

So, tell my why I would inflict that kind of pain upon myself anytime soon. Not to mention spend the afore mentioned sum of money required. Oh yes, I also have to take a written exam...which I've already taken, but failed....because when I wrote the essay portion of the exam out, I stated what an American Dental Hygienist would do to combat periodontal disease. I did not take into account that Aussie hygienists are not ALLOWED to do the things I was doing in America. So, for being honest and truthful, I was failed, since in the eyes of the test correctors I was wrong because I was not giving them the answer they wanted to hear. I apparently gave them the correct answers for what dentists are allowed to do. Ok, so tell my why I would want to practice in a place that won't let me do diddly squat? Except for the money, of course. Aussie hygienists are paid at more than double what I was making back home, even with the exchange rate. So yeah, I could make in 2 days what I make in 5 right now. There is that. I'm just so damn fed up with it right now. Yes I want to go back to it. Just not right now. But no one can see that. It's a boring job I did for 11 yrs and I'm not ready to go back to it. Oh yeah, and I don't want to spend another thousand dollars on a written exam I could possibly fail again. I don't like failing. It's not in me. I've never failed and it's done a real number on my ego. I graduated at the top of my class in high school and college. I made the second highest National Board score the year I graduated from college. I've been licensed to practice Dental Hygiene in 3 US states, 2 of them on merit alone...SC required that I take a clinical exam when I graduated, but when I moved back there a few years ago, they reinstated my license without question. But yes, after taking the written exam again, I have to wait 6 months to take a clinical exam on the other side of this country (which will take 4 days) and a return flight there, as well as 5 days accomodation, meals, and rental car.

I'm just severely annoyed at the moment. I have a job now. So far, after 1 day there, I like it. It looks promising. It's a lot of hours....38 in 4 days. 7:30 am - 6:30 pm T & TH , 1 - 8:30 pm Wed, 7:30 - 4:30 Fri, and every second Saturday from 8-12. It's a heck of a lot, and nights ugh. But everyone there seems nice enough, quite supportive and they actually want me to use my brain and my knowledge to get them up and running properly with their infection control program. Not to mention that they want me to try my hand at being a Treatment Planning Coordinator...fancy name for someone that presents treatment plan options to patients and gets a nice fat bonus for getting patients to accept the proposed treatment. I don't know how that will suit me, but we shall see. They also want me to be the Patient Coordinator, another fancy "management consulting firm name" for person that tells people where to be and when....keeping everyone rolling along all day in a smooth manner. It's a heck of a job to look forward to. Busy as heck...by the end of the next 6 months it is planned that there will be 4-5 dentists and 2 hygienists in this office. So that means a tremendous amount of support staff that I would be in charge of.

Question is....do I really want this? I don't honestly know. Do I think I can do it? I'm scared shitless that I want that kind of power. I'm scared I won't be able to deliver. I think that is what scares me most, that I may want that kind of power, that I may actually BE that ambitious and money hungry....no I don't think it's really the money, I think it's the power that is alluring, and I'm certainly not used to wanting power.