I realize that, try as I might, I can't possibly keep up with the blogs of everyone I know, regardless of how interesting they probably are. So that means I either have to write some fascinating stuff or just be okay with the fact that most of my friends won't have time to diligently follow mine either.
So I'm still in Minnesota....is it okay for me to be blogging already? Don't answer that. I'm getting nervous. After literally like...a year of knowing I'd be across the world by this time next week, it's FINALLY (and I mean super recently) sinking in. And I wish it would have sunk in a while ago because now time is running out and I'm frantically going over my packing list in my head and all I can think about is "bring all your underwear and bring bugspray". There has GOT to be other things I need...
My Visa got approved! This was quite a big deal for me, because although I was supposed to get it done before December 31st, I experienced one of the biggest blond moments of my lifetime and forgot about it until...4 days ago? Thank you God, it went through relatively fast and we're good to go.
I also forgot about getting a computer until last night. It should be here by Wednesday, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm getting a Macbook! We'll cover how extremely excited I am about that later, no time now.
(asidhfkj4#$%#$taosieh MACBOOK!!!!)
Really, the purpose of this blog post is to share some cool trivia about Australia that I learned not too long ago, by an author who actually inspired the title of this blog, Bill Bryson. He's great, read one of his books!
Here goes:
"[Australia] is the home of the largrest living thing on the earth, the Great Barrier Reef, and of the largest monolith, Ayers Rock. It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Of the world's ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian. Five of its creatures - the funnel web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis tick, and stonefish - are the most lethal of their type in the world. This is a country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars can lay you out with a toxic nip, where seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you. Pick up an innocuous cone shell from a Queensland beach, as innocent tourists are all too wont to do, and you will discover that the little fellow inside is not just astoundingly swift and testy but exceedingly venemous. If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistible currents, or left to stagger to an unhappy death in the baking outback. It's a tough place"
(..heh heh....forget bugspray, do they sell Lethal Creature Spray?)
Sorry for all the reading material, but here's one more cool fact that I quite enjoyed:
"Each time you fly from North America to Australia, and without anyone asking how you feel about it, a day is taken away from you when you cross the international date line. I left Los Angeles on January 3 and arrivved in Sydney fourteen hours later on January 5. For me there was no January 4. None at all. Where it went exactly I couldn't tell you. All I know is that for one twenty-four-hour period in the history of the earht, it appears I had no being."
( ^ I'm gonna be in one of those soon! EEEeeeee!!)
SO COOL. Can't wait. That's all for now. Stay tuned!
-Manders
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