Okay, so when put like that it doesn’t seem quite AS feasible as in my head when I see myself diligently working away and achieving heaps (like a superstar student) but still…  I can and will finish this thing.  AND SOON.

Why so soon, you ask?  Because I am tired of being a broke student.  I need a job.  A full-time high paying job for a person who is highly qualified.  I even feel confident that there is a job out there, waiting for me, and I will be compensated in more than peanuts (hello, student loans) and I will finally no longer be the destitute student.

Honestly, I feel my friends transitioning into this strange world of adulthood.  Yet here I am in the time warp of “student”.  I am pretty sure my parents would love for me to be a true adult (aka: financially independent, possibly even with some assets, like a house).  So that is why my goal for submitting my thesis is my 30th birthday.  It can’t possibly be respectable to be a student still into one’s 30s.  ; )

Not that life is a race or anything, but if it was, grad school puts you behind.  Way, way, waaayyyyy behind.  Haha, the things we only learn/realize long after we are committed grad students.  While your friends are out there living their lives, owning houses (buying assets), developing careers (not just jobs, mind you, full fledged careers.  This means money.  401k.  I bet your friends are even thinking about their retirements!  You’re thinking about next week’s rent…), and having kids (and saving for their colleges)… 

You’re writing a thesis…  and pretty much just behaving like you are still a student (except now you have a greater repertoire of recipes to cook, and you like nicer things).

It’s kind of amazing that your friends are still friends with you.  You have not actually achieved any of the things you were “supposed to.”  [ when you think about it, you're actually this close to being a complete failure, in that standard life achievement terms] In a word, Grad School messes with your life!! 

(As an aside: It’s not just me that thinks this.  Honestly ask nearly anyone who has done a PhD and they will tell you the same).

Now, this is not a “woe is Becca” post.  It is true, I am a poor, practically impoverished student.  But I have some letters after my name.  And an expensive piece of paper.  And a big thick book with my name in gold lettering.  And soon I will have all of that again (plus the photos of me in the funny hat, lets not forget those!).  Oh, and I also have a “wealth of experiences”.  Or at least, that is what I keep reassuring myself with.

But it probably means I won’t be able to (afford to) have kids until I’m like 35.  And marriage?  Can we say Courthouse or elopement (I mean, what is a marriage license, like 50 bucks or something vs. an actual wedding coming in at 28k?!  Haha.)?  Yeah, if life was a race, I’d barely be off the blocks or outta the gate.  Thank God life isn’t a race, because I have some catching up to do.

Let’s start off by reviewing some of the goals I set at this time last year.  They mainly focused around 3 main themes:  Fitness/health, crafts/hobbies and tramping/travel:

• Fitness:  I’ve stuck with yoga all year (on average attending 1 class per week)!  I absolutely love it and believe I will continue to practice for the rest of my life.  I have been and will continue to encourage other people to try yoga as well (like, my parents.  It would be SO GOOD for them.  Especially Dad.  Not quite sure how to encourage them though..  Any suggestions?).  Sure, I might be a godless heathen and all (ssssh!  it’s our little secret), but I think yoga fills a bit of a spiritual “void” – as well as being amazing for the body.

• Tramping:  I’m in the process of joining the OTMC tramping club.  I’ve done 3 tramps this year – the Catlins River Walk, the Rees-Dart and Casey’s Saddle/Casey’s hut.  Okay, no I didn’t make my goal of the Hollyford, Heaphy, Gillespie Pass or Rakiura, but those will all keep.
• Reading: as for classics, I read Rebecca, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and I’m about 30% through The Count of Monte Cristo and 50% through The Thorn Birds.  I did do a LOT of reading this year – but mostly it was trashy historical romance/vampire books (as you might remember).  Yes perhaps they did rot my brain a little but we’ve already established that I read for entertainment.
• Crafting:  I managed to make curtains for one bedroom of now ex-BF’s house.  My grand plans for my etsy shop clearly fell by the wayside when I became addicted to books.  I still have 2 major crafting undertakings left (finishing the curtains for ex-BF’s 2nd bedroom and barbie clothes for my youngest niece – preferably before she outgrows barbies!)
• Health:  I did manage to lose 3 kg in about Sept of this year, after I broke up with BF and could eat whatever I wanted (woo hoo!) e.g. a low carb diet (albeit, not for $50 a week – which was the food budget I was forced to stick to with ex-BF.  Hence a lot of carbs because they are cheap.  and nasty).  I have since probably put .5 kg on with the arrival of the holiday season in the past couple of weeks.  : (
• Travel:  I had 4 awesome trips this year (yes I’m spoiled).  The long tramping trip in Feb, a weekend in Auckland in Mar, a week in Melbourne in May, and 3 weeks in MN in July/August to (surprise) visit the fam and my friends.  MN was obviously the highlight – honestly I had such a fun time with my awesome family and friends!  Good food, good times.  Just plain awesome.  Oh, I also did some shopping.

But 2011 was crazy in other ways.  There was the terrible Christchurch earthquake which affected everyone in NZ – but caused great delays specifically to my PhD.  There was the arrival of my gorgeous sweet kitten FeaLion.  Then there was the break-up with ex-BF, moving out of his house, leaving FeaLion behind…  There were the 7 intense and very fun weeks of the Rugby World Cup, which the All Blacks won.  And now there is a new car and a new man on the scene.  Yes 2011 has been a pretty full-on year.

* * * * *

So what’s in store for 2012?  I have some new goals!

• 1.  Pay of my credit card and start saving (for godsake!).  LOL at this time last year I was nearly debt free.  Haha.  However, Another set of plane tickets to the USA booked, a lot of post-break-up therapy shopping and a car equates: a credit card balance that needs to be paid off.  Ugh!  But on the flipside – I may be poor, but at least I’m happy.  Sure when I was with ex-BF I had no debt – but I was kinda miserable.  We spent so little money – we were super boring and did nothing fun (we did however watch many seasons of select TV shows, many movies, and I read a lot of books).  However, that isn’t how I want to live.  I’m more of a do-er, really.  Maybe I need to try harder to stick to my budget…
• 2.  Maintain healthy, low-carb eating.  Especially over the holidays.  I need to watch the sweets (and not just watch them go into my mouth!)!
• 3.  Be SUPER productive on my PhD.  This is year number three people!
• 4.  Apply for PR.  I know this sounds scary to my MN readers, but it will be beneficial for me to have residency here in NZ.   I just need to suck it up (Hello, it will cost me something like 3k) and do it.
• 5.  Read more classics!  There are about 8 from last year that I said I wanted to read and still haven’t!
• 6.  Do the Greenstone-Caples, and the Routeburn (possibly in winter) tracks.  Join the OTMC tramping club and try to do 1 trip/month.
• 7.  Survive the end-of-the-world/apocalypse, should it occur.  I have my doubts about the world ending in 2012.  Shit hitting the fan financially, environmentally, politically?  Yes, that could happen.  But the world actually ending?  Skeptical.

Yes, I think that about sums it up in terms of goals for 2012.   Did you achieve your goals you set for 2011?  Have you thought about your goals yet for 2012?

My wee car!

So finally here is the photo of my new wee car.  You’ve probably already seen it on facebook, but I did promise to post a photo – so here it is!  Anyways, it is really fabulous having a car again.  It makes me feel slightly less impoverished!  LOL.

Recently I was considering the effects of “living abroad”.  Or in my case – extended period of living abroad.  And how it changes a person.  But then, it probably isn’t just living abroad, I think it’s more along the lines of “life experiences” change us.  So in reality, we change as we get older.  I suppose this is a bit “Duh!  Captain obvious!” but I think it’s a bit fascinating.

For example, my perception of vehicles has definitely changed.  Everyone at home in MN is probably laughing at my new car (it IS a 1995 1300cc 2 door toyota “super windy” after all!).  But for me, right now, it is actually the perfect car!  It’s small (fuel efficient), it was a very good price but still in good condition, and most importantly – it’s an automatic transmission (as I still don’t know how to drive a manual or stick – which makes up about 95% of cars here).  I still walk to the university and work most days (parking is a bit of a pain, walking IS good for me, good for the environment, and good for my budget after all), but a car is a lifesaver on weekends and evenings when the buses actually run for crap.  It’s also probably cheaper than the bus (seriously.  after the initial car purchase, it is cheaper to buy gas, even at $2/litre, than taking the bus!). So a car, for me, has really just become a practical object to get me (and my stuff) around!