$11.60

Ever wandered what AU$11.60 looks like in a collection of 50c, 20c, 10c and 5c pieces? Well the photo below shows you.

$11.60

There is in 2x50c, 19x20c, 47x10c and 42x5c for a grand total of 110 coins.

You say, please tell Helen what does $11.60 buy you these days?

I respond by pulling out a 3 zone 10 trip concession bus ticket. The key to traveling across town and back four to five times weekly to go to uni.

For a number of reasons (impulse purchases and to keep my wallet thin), I only like to keep a couple $1, $2 and 50c coins in my wallet and maybe a $5 note. Everything else goes into a jar in my room and when the jar starts to get full I take it down to the bank and they have fun counting it all.

The other day though I needed to get a new bus ticket and you can only really pay cash for the tickets, I decided to see how much money I had in my jar, I had about$12 in coins, Bonza!!! The right amount to get a bus ticket. I bundled it all up in a piece of cloth and made my way to the shop to get a ticket. To put it simply the guy at the shop was not as enthused as I was about my pile of coins 🙂

taking a break

I am so tired of writing and researching, but only a little while now till the holidays. I want to find the pause button so I can take a break. The parcel man came to my house today and delivered me a present 🙂 it was my threadless shirts from the $10 sale. I’m wearing one to uni today 🙂

On Sunday, I just needed a break from sitting at the computer (which is something I find quite hard) and we were out of whole milk so I took a walk in the lovely May weather we are enjoying and went up to the local Aldi and picked up some milk 🙂 As I walked home I took a moment to let my camera know that I do love it and that my neglect will not last forever. Here is to having one essay to edit, one to write, a presentation and five exams left for the semester! All of which will bring me one step closer to graduation.

These three photos are little snippets from thet “Streets of your(mine) Town”, the pot plants that have sat on this fence for as long as I can remember always glaringly white in the sun, the Bowls Club where Karl used to work and one of the bus stop signs on the street to our street. They recently changed all the bus stop signs, they used to be yellow and I like the old ones better.
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[audio:The Go-Betweens – Streets Of Your Town.mp3]

The Go-Betweens, a band from my town that recently became no more, when Grant McLennan died in his sleep. Streets of Your Town is one of their few songs that I know quite well and it always makes me think of this here town, Brisbane.

Streets of Your Town

Chorus
Round and round, up and down
Everyday I make my way
Through the streets of your town

Don’t the sun look good today?
But the rain is on its way
Watch the butcher shine his knives
And this town is full of battered wives.

Chorus

I ride your river under the bridge
I take your boat out to the reach
Cos I love that engine roar
but I still don’t hnow what I’m here for.

Chorus

they shut it down
they closed it down
they shut it down
they pulled it down.

Chorus

helen in red

I was unable to play on (inter)national scrapbooking day over the weekend due to that thing called Uni, actually I have not been able to play much at all recently due to Uni. It is now Tuesday of Week 10, two essays and a presentation left until Exams start after Week 13. When I came home yesterday after a day at uni and handing in an essay. I decided to make a paper layout as I just a had a total ball of fun making the tag for EK (success) the other week.

When I learnt that there was a St Helens in Tasmania, it became like number 3 on the places I had to visit.

When I placed the photos down on the paper, the song, Lady in Red came into my mind which influenced my title 🙂
These photos are actually all from the same day so it isn’t much of a coincidence that I am in red a red shirt in the photos and the jumper I took on the trip was red as well (I only own two jumpers, I live in Brisbane! – one is red and one is orange :))

helen in red in tasmania

Threadless in Suburbia

threadless in suburbia I have known threadless rocks for the last couple of years now but only in the last month or so have I started to look at it more often and then actually made the jump and ordered two shirts. They arrived yesterday 🙂

Here I am in shirt #1 – Suburbia. I just love how the letters are formed in the map of the roads 🙂 Mum took this photo of me, standing in the middle of suburban Brisbane, which just happens to be on our street 🙂

Shirt #2 will be photographed sometime in the near future when I can arrange styling I want for it 🙂

One thing I love about the shirts is that they are a) relatively long because frankly I don’t want to show you my stomach and b) they have a nice neck. I hate t-shirts that have tight necks because I always feel like they are choking me.
There is a sale coming up soon so I plan on picking up a *few* more (I know Mum, you think I have enough shirts but it is not like I am spending money on sex, drugs or rock & roll, ok so maybe I do spend it on rock & roll but that is not the point).

For the next four weeks I have one essay due each week, so much *fun*!!! Back to essay writing now.

five days in one post

I have not done anything really exciting since my last post which is why I am always at odds if I should post or no. In saying that, here are my adventures from the last couple of days. Tonight brings to a close the Easter break from uni, which means that in the morning I start the uni routine again

Wednesday and Friday
I worked for Fiskars at the Stitches and Craft Show running make and takes through-out the day, making cards/tags to hang up on the wall and of course showing people how to properly use a Fiskars Shapecutter. Every couple of minutes or so, we would get a person walk up to us and say in these exact words, “I bought one of those things and I just can’t get it to work properly”. We would then sit them down and walk through the main areas in which people make mistakes and after a couple of minutes with us, they would be pros with the Shapecutter. Yeah!

Out of all the pretty stands at the show and all the pretty goods I walked away with two reels of 32 gauge wire and one reel of 28 gauge to crochet with. There were all these pretty things but I couldn’t justify buying things for which I had no planned use.
Thursday and Sunday
I was dreaming of doing uni work all day but yeah do you think that happened? I have though decided on the topics for the four essays I have left to do and done my readings for classes this week. In the time that I was not doing uni work (which was most of the time): I got rid of some more clothes in my wardrobe and rearranged what I had on hangers and what was in drawers, made “my best ever biscuits� with peanuts instead of hazelnut meal and some cinnamon as well mmm.

Saturday
I went to work as I usually do but in my lunch break I nipped down to my old Girl Guide hut where Chermside Guides were celebrating their fiftieth anniversary. Unfortunately in the time I was there none of the girls from my “vintage� where there which was a bummer as I would have liked to have caught up with them instead I caught up with some of the leaders and some of the girls who were in Brownies when I was a Ranger Guide Helper.

yeehaw!

No, I am not thinking of running off with a cowboy (eww!) but the mark I received on the essay I handed in last week. Are you ready?

90 out of 100! High Distinction baby! :):):):) I don’t ever recall ever getting a mark that high before so big thanks to my Mum for helping me proof-read it. I was very unsure of the mark I would receive I was expecting perhaps mid to high 70’s but no way was I expecting a 90. The lecturer for this subject knows Chinese politics etc probably better than the CPC themselves do so I am extremely happy with my mark 🙂

I have now completed the initial applications for two graduate programs only 500 more to go.

On Saturday night Andrea who is one of my bestest friends celebrated her 21st birthday and her graduation all in one night. It was one hell of a night, lots of laughs lots of fantastic food. Dude, a rice buffet with black bean beef, curries and butter chicken (I love the butter chicken) and mmm sesame prawns or spring rolls can never say no to more spring rolls. Fantastic night 🙂
Twenty-One Million!!!Andrea and HelenYummy yummy mud cake20060408_815320060408_8111