I'm over it... MEH!!

Location: Santa Monica, CA, USA

So, I'm over the whole thing. It's really sad how it all turned out, but I'm pretty confident that the big dude knows what he's doing and has something better in store. Just hope he let's me in on the plan sometime soon.

In the mean time, I've applied for a couple part-time writing positions for various travel blogs/journals/magazines all over, and so hopefully, one of those will turn into something of value. Until then, I'm just going to keep traveling and keep working and see what turns up!

Thanks so much for all the support and love and prayers and please stick around and keep reading the blog!! I would love to gain a bigger and more global following, so if you like what you read, pass it on and hopefully we can get something real started :)

Alright... on to planning this Flogging Molly Chicago trip!! Any ideas?

XOXO

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Now playing: Flogging Molly - Between A Man And A Woman
via FoxyTunes

Dreaming with a broken heart...

Location: Las Vegas, NV, USA

Well... things have taken a turn for the worse. I'll finish up weekend narration and then I'll tell you the horrible news.

After lunch at BLT Burger yesterday, we were pretty spent. So Jennifer and Emily went back to the room to take a nap before we all headed to Stripper 101 at Planet Hollywood. Basically what it is, is a class/show you pay for and you go into this cute little dance studio with poles and chairs and you learn how to dance... exotically. It's a short class, they don't go into much detail, but it's all girls, everyone's drinking and the ex-stripper chicks are awesome. So we spin our stuff and wear ourselves out even more before heading back to change for dinner at koi which was AMAZING. Wonderful sushi, great lychee martinis and wonderful company (duh). After this, we headed back to the Mirage and spent the next 4 hours or so playing blackjack (and rocking, might I add). I ended the weekend up about $200, and I think Emily and Niffer both did much better than me.

Went to bed last night, woke up early, dropped off the girls at the airport and headed home. Unfortunately, I was pretty tired, and had to stop not once, not twice, but 3 TIMES to take a nap on the way home. The 3rd time wasn't entirely necessary but if I hadn't stopped, I just would have been stuck in traffic, and I figured that sleeping was a more efficient use of my time.

So... about the mess. So I get an e-mail yesterday at lunch telling me that my video application has been reveiwed and that it is too long and that I have to resubmit it. So, in a panic, I call Angie and force her to fix it so it's shorter by a half a second (took it to :59 on my player, figured that was safe) and she pulled through amazingly and had the file sent to me within like 5 minutes of me calling her. I ran upstairs, submitted the file, got multiple error messages but after much persistence and much panicking, I finally got it in.

Or so I thought.

I got an e-mail on today on the drive home (after all my naps) saying that due to some sort of technical difficulty, my video had been "removed" from their server and I needed to resubmit it (once again). The catch? It has to be done by midnight UTC. So I call the mom frantically asking what the F kind of time zone is UTC which come to find out... it was 12:08 AM UTC at that very moment. Literally just passed the time I had to have it re-re-submitted by.

So at this point, I'm pretty livid. I've cried for a couple hours, sent a couple hate mails, cried some more, yelled at the mom. You know.

I'm just a little heartbroken. I feel like I never got my chance. I had this. It was mine. But they'll never see it now.

:(

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Now playing: John Mayer - Dreaming With A Broken Heart
via FoxyTunes

Now the competition REALLY begins...

Location: Santa Monica, CA, USA

Not a lot of time to chit chat or Jennifer will wring my neck. I spent all day yesterday filming (yay sunny day!) and then all night thinking that with Kyle and Alex's help, editing would be a breeze. But unfortunately, that was the understatement of the year. How come no one told me ahead of time that iMovie on iLife 08 does NOT have the little turtle/rabbit button? Literally, my life was ruined. I tried recording myself in a goto meeting, with screenfreez software. Finally... you want to know what I ended up doing to speed up the frames? I manually moused over them at a fast pace, while I literally recorded my computer screen with my video camera.

Absolute nightmare.

Anyway... the video is up! The application is SENT and accepted!! I am so excited and SO relieved to have this all taken care of. And now, I am off to schmooze the boss a little more before I head out of town for Las Vegas for Jennifer's b-day!!

Don't worry, there will be plenty of updates on all of the wonderfulness :)

XOXO

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Now playing: Johann Sebastian Bach - Hallelujah
via FoxyTunes

Oh the rain, keeps on comin' down

Location: Santa Monica, CA, USA

Fate, is just not working with me this week. I bought the camera. It's beautiful. However... it's useless because...

IT'S RAINING!!

And who is going to want to come chit chat with me about some stupid trip to Australia in the pouring rain. Who even goes to the promenade/pier when it's raining? No one!

So... yet again... we're putting this off for another day.

XOXO

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Now playing: Cross Canadian Ragweed - Sick and Tired
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And.... ACTION... wait... wait... no not yet

Location: Santa Monica, CA, USA

Well, I was SUPPOSED to start filming today. But... I am not. Reasons? Well... I have lost all three of my potential cameras. First one was lost to a job (I mean, c'mon... money? Sell-out). The second was lost to the forces of nature (now, I know camera's are not waterproof... didn't you learn that lesson as well?). And my final camera was lost to Africa... ok fine, that one is valid. So what do I do now?

Well.. I have an idea. I'm just going to buy one!! I mean... I have to do this video, right? and it's not going to happen easily, as I have found out. So I am just going to go to best buy this afternoon and buy a camera.

Plus, they have a 14 day return policy on electronics.

XOXO

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Now playing: Eagles - Life in the Fast Lane
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Flawless, Absolutely Flawless

Location: San Diego, CA, USA

Unfortunately, I did not get any filming done this weekend. The original plan was to drag my sturdy cameraman down to San Diego with me and hit the beach on Saturday. Do some scouting, some flier passing outing. But then I sort of forgot that my company is merging with another... umm... TODAY. And as an IT professional, that requires QUITE a bit of internal support junk. So, I've been a tad more than busy. As a result, my website is still blank (though I did buy the domain redirect and the new e-mail! www.abbeyinoz.com and me@abbeyinoz.com). Fliers and posters are unmade. Outfits are unplanned. It's all just... stalled.

BUT!! I still went to San Diego, duh. So I got off work Friday night SUPER late (actually working in my new office!! Eeks!) ran home as quickly as I could to change and pack and then left for San Diego about 8 PM. Luke's show was at 9, so I knew I was going to miss it, but I promised Lo to call when I was close so she could give me directions to wherever they were. I sped to SD in my purple sequiney dress and called to check in: "We'll be home in like 10 minutes! Call you when we're there to give you directions!" So... naturally... I went to in-n-out to grab a DP and some fries and chill out while I waited.

And waited...

At about 11:30 (yes... approx. 1.5 hours after arriving at in-n-out) I finally get directions and head to the rockin' party. And oh, was it rockin'... I ran into some great old-friendly faces (aka Jeff and Lauren) and drank some amazing home brewed beer named something like "Laurel's B-day beer." There was a disco ball, beer pong, loud music, conversations about curling irons, lots of new friends, tons of sparkle (we gave a new meaning to jewel tones) and naturally, lots of birthday debauchery. At about 5 AM when the partying had absolutely no end in sight, I knew I was in for it. I started sobering up, left SD around 7 (having not slept) and arrived in my bed, nearly fully clothed around 9 AM, only to sleep for the rest of the day and night. Definitely a success in my books :)

So the plan now is to make a plan. Make those undone application necessities not be undone before we leave for Mammoth on Friday so I can do some filming from up there. Yikes... wish me luck!

XOXO

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Now playing: Lady GaGa & Colby O'Donis - Just Dance
via FoxyTunes

I've got it!!!

Location: Santa Monica, CA, USA

Yes... it really is 4 AM. BUT I figured out what I'm going to do for my application video!!! I'm so excited now that I can't sleep. I'm not really sure how or why all the pieces came together; I'd pitched similar ideas to the creative team (aka the Mom and Soren - who's going to help me film/edit). But I'm telling you, I was laying in bed, practically crying because I couldn't fall asleep and I have a HUGE day ahead of me tomorrow... and then it was just there!! I texted the mom and dad and Soren... Soren actually called me back and sort of thinks its a good idea, but he was also asleep (I think) so I'll let it slide...

So you wanna know?

Ok, so here's what I'm thinking... So this whole job is really just one big marketing campaign, right? Everyone is suffering from the bad economy especially tourism. So these brilliant Aussie's decide to spice things up a bit by offering something that sounds incredible to us, but really doesn't cost them much in the long run... So, in order to prove that I'm serious about this job and don't just think it's going to be 6 months of lounging around, I'm going to do something that aligns perfectly with the motives of the original promotion. I am going to give away a trip (or two, or three) to come visit me if... I mean WHEN I get the job.

How, you might ask? Well... with my newfound near double in salary... I'll be making more than I would back home and with practically no living expenses. I'll have plenty of extra cash to fly a couple people 1/2 way around the world (especially if fares stay as cheap as they have been for the past couple weeks).

Why, you might ask? Well... what I'll do, is get people to sign up for the contest by "pledging" that they will visit the blog/website once I get the job. Basically, I'm creating my audience before I get there. Showing the panel that I can not only captivate people with my brilliant writing skills (*ahem*) but that I also have the resources to launch a major campaign on my own.

So... I'm off to the pier, the promenade, maybe even a couple other cities (I'm going to San Diego Friday and Mammoth next weekend, so maybe I can take this show on the road!) and I'm going to set up shop w/ a clipboard and sign people up! I'm thinking if I can get at least 1000 or so names, that will be convincing enough. And get some good footage of my mingling, chatting and indirectly selling myself to Australian government :)

Now the plan is to print up flyers, make a poster that I can put at the front of a table, get a table to tape said poster to, convince Soren that this idea ROCKS so he'll shoot it, and get this website/blog up to date before submittal date!

Not so much work in... about 3 weeks :)

Oh and by the way... that picture at the top of the post is the house I found on google maps that I believe to be my new residence... or at least similar :)

XOXO

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Now playing: Robert Earl Keen - What I really mean
via FoxyTunes

Abbey In Oz?

Location: Santa Monica, CA, USA

So the next journey begins. Yesterday, the mom calls with some very exciting news. See, as she tells it, she was watching Regis and Kelly and KELLY was talking about this job that just sounds FABULOUS. So, I'll go ahead and tell you that my mother suggests that I apply for a fun crazy job, about every.... NEVER! Yes, the mom is definitely always the sensible one encouraging me to keep my good paying steady big kid job. So, that's what I'm doing, or... rather... that's what I WAS doing. Now, I figure, since this was the mom's idea... and she's the LAST person to want me to do something crazy adventurous, this one must be fate. So here goes nothing!

I'm applying for the much coveted www.islandreefjob.com job. The basic summary is that it's a marketing/PR job working for the department of tourism in Queensland to promote tourism in the Great Barrier Reef. Ya, duh... that was enough for me too, but then they throw in cool stuff. Nice salary, amazing 3 bedroom house on Hamilton Island, GOLF CART!!! Plus I get to travel, for a living. I get to write every day, video blog every couple days and just convince people that they want to be where I am. I generally think I'm pretty good at that ;)

So, in an attempt to organize myself for this incredibly tedious application process, I'm moving all of my previous travel blogs and combining them into one massively amazing collection of my travels and experiences. Unfortunately, this is already taking me a long time, so I'm putting this post in as a placeholder until I can catch up to real time.

And yes, of course, I'll keep you updated on the application process as well. So far, I have nothing. The first phase weeds the pool down to 50 (right now I think they're at 5000 uploaded videos and there's over a month left... EEEK!!). So, I am enlisting ideas for the video!! C'mon, be creative!!

Oh, and don't you dare think about applying against me...

XOXO

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Now playing: Tantric - Live Your Life (Down)
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