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Post by RocDoc on Jun 1, 2004 16:54:59 GMT -5
...and thanks for the 'ups', maarts BTW.
One thing I'm conscious of, the longer that I'm on a board where I seem to be interacting with a steady group of people, is 'OK, who did I tell this story to before?'...whether it's a travel experience, whether it's to express my '*YAWN*' over another mention of the almighty Clash...or some 'new' political argument
It's weird it's as tho my 'personality's' been established and I really don't seem to have lots and lots of new detail to add....
Travel experiences tho, god, I LOVE talking about those big(to me)experiences because they made such an impression....since I'd been NOWHERE outside of the states a scant 7 years ago, and I love to think that the world now CAN belong to me...that to be versed even superficially, in Rome, Paris, Copenhagen, Eastern Europe is just too cool to me....
~
I'm also looking into getting dual citizenship BTW...in addition to the US's. I truly love Lithuania, from years of it being bred into me by my displaced parents, first of all.....but then having been there, seeing it, feeling the unavoidable pull to Europe.
Of course the nearly uniform excellence of character which I seem to see in the Lithuanian patients which I have coming to my office here every day also adds to my fondness for the place....
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Post by dolly on Jun 2, 2004 4:42:53 GMT -5
Hi Katodoodle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've had to skip a shedload of pages - so I'm completely outta the loop. Just wanted to pop in to say hi to the Aussies before Jllm kidnaps me off again to the land of Brum.
Hola
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Post by ScottsyII on Jun 2, 2004 4:57:30 GMT -5
Hiya Dolly! How's things.... it would seem you and JLLM are getting quite cosy together, am i not right??!  Good to see ya 'round! |
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Post by maarts on Jun 2, 2004 7:26:42 GMT -5
Isn't that the truth! Even though I love the place here and still want to travel through the wonders that make this country so great, there will always this part of me belonging to the Netherlands. I guess that's in the back of my mind when I want to become a citizen here...an almost distant betrayal of my fatherland, an intangible desire to still support Dutch athletes/teams over Aussie ones, the strange foods we have over there I have also in my fridge (no vegemite for me, give me 'appelstroop' anyday!). The fragrances that so often trigger some memory in Holland, like recently, silly enough, the smell of wet rubber shoes which reminded me of the wellies I used to wear as a kid, playing in the muddles at the back, knowing how much I can enjoy a good bout of rain...I don't know. I'm getting old.
And travelling- God, yes, how wonderful it was to live in a country that is bordered by so many other interesting countries on an old continent, vastly rich in history, tradition and so many fascinating inhabitants, who all seem to be so different, cultured in the spirit of their own people....
And it doesn't matter how often you tell those stories, they will still be interesting, RocDoc. I'm glad in a sense we're here for you to be able to tell them without having to spend time to respond to spamming/bombing dickheads!
Kats- I haven't been actively writing for some time now and I duly regret that. I should've made a little portfolio or stay active somewhere- in Penrith I wanted to join up with one of the local radiostations but it was quite a hike for me, without having a car and all. I should basically be looking for something more directly involved with record companies and the like, but they are all reorganising and are letting more and more people go. they, of course, are all swallowing up the small number of vacancies left...it's almost an incestuous industry.
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Post by kats on Jun 2, 2004 9:54:25 GMT -5
good thing you didn't get into penrith radio. trust me, once you're in locally, you're never out. people just go into local papers and what not and stick there. it's sad, depressing and soon enough they're writing columns about the youth of today, their motorcycles and terrorism and such. the fonz, pottsy, the whole gang of hoodlems. i know this might be entirely obvious, and i realise that you've done a journalism degree and are a hundred and one times more qualified than i am (and no doubt in the talent arena, too) but i would go for indy media stuff. net stuff goes down well, if you can show them an active role, even if its as a volunteer. that means your geography isn't going to matter at all. because it would be hard, trying to get into the industry where you are geographically. the record industry is a bitch. but i would honestly recommend sending stuff into the herald, giving them a call, or sending them emails or whatnot...within the next month and a half is the time to do it. they can only say no. send contributions into drum, maybe? i don't know. it's a bitch of a field to get into, as its so narrow and specialist and who you know crap. one of my lecturers writes for metro, they have her employed as a freelance regular, contradiction in terms...but anyway...they send her along to all different gigs and all that jazzz...and once they find someone, they're fairly loyal in such a godawful fickle industry. thank god i was trained in pr, we all know how that isn't fickle at all  its not too late to work on a portfolio. that's all they're gonna care about here, because chances are you're not going to be headhunted by a major paper, because only the family players are. |
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Post by kats on Jun 2, 2004 9:56:45 GMT -5
and i only want to get dual citizenship so i can go annoy the piss of dolly and jesus. chase them around like postman pat, i would.
or consequently i would just be stuck listening to my aunt talking about her new dress, and the time she may or may not have seen th queen when she was shopping in harrods...before that whole hoo hah, mind you. once the royal stamp of approval was taken off, my dear...she wouldn't be seen dead in such a foriegn place!! and if they were to take the royal seal of approval off hp sauce, i think she may implode.
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Post by kats on Jun 2, 2004 10:01:45 GMT -5
and rnr, i go to uni five minutes from sydney cbd )have to take a photo of the view we have...extraordinary) and spend most of my time in the city's centre...but i live about 55 kilometres out of the city in the blue mountains. which are beautiful and all that jazz. unfortunately, my geography dictates that in order to go from idyllic paradise to urban sydney, i have to travel through bumstown. i went to high school there. known affectionately as penriff, because no-one there can prnounce their th's. so that song i posted was about beautiful penrith. my lovely parents left me to walk through the 'poor' part of my suburb the other night at ten o clock int he freezing cold, i got followed by a car.
this is two days after a stabbing on one of the streets, and i had to walk past a memorial where a kid was bashed yo death by two kids who went to my primary school.
top place, really.
then in my end, we have arty pretentious types who pay 3way too much for houses, cement render everything and talk about peace and quiet and blah blah.
end rant.
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Post by RocDoc on Jun 2, 2004 12:25:31 GMT -5
Aah, so a tamer, more picturesquely hilly version of Chicago...I live about 10 miles due west from the lake itself(and from downtown since it's perched on the water)in one of the old, long-established 'inner-ring' of suburbs...and if you choose to take the arterial side streets into the city, rather the expressway(if it's a traffic-clogged rush hour), you're gonna go through some major crime-ridden, violent areas...the west-side of Chicago's on a par with Detroit, D.C., NYC, easily...and because we live what's considered to be quite 'close-in', there's even a spillover of that crazy shit where we live.... The idiotic gang crime, where it's kids killing kids is really the saddest....then when the little miniature bad-ass Al Capones rolling around in their wheelchairs after a shot paralyzes them. Maybe before they had their little pathetic crack/reefer-selling 'territories' to protect and get angry about, but where's all that anger now? Paraplegia has a calming effect...  We're seeing so many here lately.... ...and well, I still consider it a 'top place'. The shit's going to happen regardless. Many friends have moved their families to the outer-outer-ring suburbs(sort like your Blue Mt region, 40-50-60 miles away from the 'dangerous' city), not realizing that 'THOSE' people have moved out that way too, bringing many of their same problems with them...entire high-crime high density towns have sprung up out there, the inner city in miniature! ~ I guess it's like anywhere in the world that's deemed 'dangerous'...you deal with it, keep your eyes open and try not expose yourself foolishly....like when my wife and I flew into NYC for the Thanksgiving Day weekend a few years back....we actually flew into Newark New Jersey to save a coupla hundred bucks, then took a shuttle bus into Manhattan's Port Authority bus depot, then walked up 8th Avenue for a good mile and a ½, past the shittiest looking bums, winos and junkies yelling at us at 11:30 on a Wednesday night as we dragged our suitcases to Penn Station, underneath Madison Square Garden. It's my first time in NYC, and my wife is racing ahead of me(I'm loaded down with suitcases)and I'm yelling to her to slow down as my head's spinning 360º constantly to make sure no-one comes up behind us.... But the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade we witnessed on Broadway the next day made it all worth it! ...aah the stories of rampant crime/pickpockets in Rome and Paris, others trying to describe it as 'so horrible'...BFD. We saw people get arrested in front of us, yeah...but it was no worse than being at home in Chicago...anyplace you go, IF you're simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, or maaaaybe say the wrong thing, that's when it'll affect you. And we've of course been luckier than fuck, nearly always being treated well...just lucky. That's a fact. ~ Maarts: And travelling- God, yes, how wonderful it was to live in a country that is bordered by so many other interesting countries on an old continent, vastly rich in history, tradition and so many fascinating inhabitants, who all seem to be so different, cultured in the spirit of their own people....
That's one thing that's truly mind-boggling about Europe, that you can go France to Italy to Belgium within a comfortable weekend and experience this HUGE variety of cultural change each time you cross a border. We just watched 'Bend It Like Beckham' last night and when that Jess-character decides to lie to her parents and to just 'jump over' to Germany for a quick tournament, it was as though any of us here took a day to go up to Wisconsin....with pretty much zero cultural change. There, it's like 'Look we're in a different system and language here'.... ~ ...and I'm as glad as anyone, probably MORE glad, that I'm not 'having to spend time to respond to spamming/bombing dickheads!'...thanks, Maarts! |
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Post by mellie on Jun 2, 2004 16:52:27 GMT -5
wisconsins boring, 'nough said... lol
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Post by mellie on Jun 2, 2004 16:55:25 GMT -5
Boy, I really wish I could be here when everyone else is. This sucks!!!
I lack the time nor the patience to talk to myself in long posts....
Maarts, when you applied for your Visa to OZ, did you do it yourself or go through a lawyer and have them help you. Im thinking of finding someone, ie. immigration specialist, lawyer whatever, to help me out as Im kind of at a loss as to even where to start. I mean I know I could just fill out the paperwork and send it in, when the time comes.. but somehow having someone telling me exactly when to do what makes it seem a bit less stressful. And I might get there faster, which is always a good thing. Starting all thats a few months off though, we are in the thought process. One step at a time I say!!!
I get this feeling Scott's really going to like that post. :-)
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Post by mellie on Jun 2, 2004 16:55:53 GMT -5
And there... now I dont have to be a Junior Member anymore. I was feeling in adequate. lol
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Post by maarts on Jun 2, 2004 17:47:17 GMT -5
I had the help on an immigration agency. I felt that I needed that because of the nature of my visum. I'm here on an independent visum, which means that I have to prove to Immigration that once I get to this country I will be able to find a job very quickly and be able to support myself. Reason is that in the first two years of getting to this country I don't receive welfare or any social-based income, so I have to be self-sufficient.
The independent visa is being awarded according to a points scheme. you get points in four categories: Age (30 points for people migrating between 20 and 30 years old), your ability to speak and understand English (25 points, had the max in that), general health and your work/study background, which was measured up to a scale in which Australia needed skilled migrants the most. Maximum points you could score was 120 and you at least had to have 105. I had 110 and was eligible.
To prove all that I had to acquire a lot of paperwork. I had to do an English test, have my school-documents and diplomas translated into English, get a general certificate of health and prepare all that into a folder which would be presented to the Australian Embassy in The Hague. It took about a year before I got the good news. This agency helped compile the necessary documents and arranged the translation- they weren't cheap though, but thorough.
For your visum, I suggest you would check out what kind you need (is it for school or work purposes only, then you can get a temporary visum? If Scott will agree to be your sponsor and be financially responsible for you, it will help enormously in getting the thing) and what kind of paperwork is involved. If it's a lot or if you have to provide some simple documents to prove your employability, you probably won't need an expensive agency to prepare your dossier.
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Post by maarts on Jun 2, 2004 17:54:53 GMT -5
I forgot- so where to start?
Get in touch with the Australian Embassy or seek out one of the agencies that specialize in migration to Australia. Some of them offer a (free) assessment of you whether you are eligible to migrate to down under. They can also advise you for which type of visa to apply if you are eligible. From that point on, you would be given a list of all the documents you need to forward for your application. It's mostly stuff like diplomas, work history and birth certificates, pretty sure you'd also have to do a health check but that should be no problem.
Good luck, Aussie-to-be!
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Post by kats on Jun 4, 2004 5:18:45 GMT -5
my first chatper is written...and the next three are planned out.
wahoo!
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Post by Howenstein on Jun 4, 2004 6:56:25 GMT -5
When can we read it? |
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