Have you heard? I'm a college graduate.

Town of 1770, Queensland

Australia

G’Day mates! It’s me, your American correspondent on the Australian East Coast writing you again. So, let’s just get into it: today I went to work. That’s right, after 3 months in retirement I came back like Jordan, baby! Ok, now to be fair, it was only a one-day gig and I didn’t get paid, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

In my hostel there was a sign requesting one day of work in exchange for a free trip to Lady Musgrave Island. Now I had looked into this tour and it’s like an $150 tour. $150 in one day is kinda a lot; like that could get me and everyone in my dorm drunk for like 3 days. Ok, it’s expensive, so I was enticed. I signed up and was promptly picked up at 7:30 this morning to go to work.

My job was to cross out 3 lines that were no longer applicable, from the Lady Musgrave Cruises brochure. I went through about 700 brochures crossing these three lines out.

Now a straightforward assignment, sure. But oh my god the dullest job I’ve ever had. My high school teachers and college professors used to stand up in front of the class preaching that, “we were intellectuals, destine to do greater things with our minds. To serve in occupations that utilized this intellect.” And before today I always thought that was a little snobbish and frankly untrue. I swiped cards and folded towels at a gym for a year and a half, and I had a great time. Nothing was beneath me; I cleaned toilets and beat the dead skin cells off of the Martial Arts mats – True. Also, to avoid a wicked case of pink eye, WEAR GLOVES when cleaning said Martial Arts mats.

So when I snagged a job crossing out a few lines on a brochure I thought “Sweet!” Next thing you know they’ll be paying me to just sit here and breathe. But how wrong I was. Doing this from 8 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, not sweet. Almost sour.

As I sat there flipping each brochure open and close I couldn’t help but think, “I’m a college graduate…” UCD 2009 and I’m crossing print out of brochures… I mean come on, I have a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, and I am essentially the ANTICOMMUNICATION blacking out what was once communication. What would my Communication teachers say? Would they add to the irony and be speechless? It was a low point and about half way through my nine-hour day. At one point I was so board I thought my brain was going to fall out of my head in utter disuse.

On the upside, I was aloud to keep my iPod in while working. So I reminisced with some of my favorite music from my high school career. If I may be so bold, I would like to make a music suggestion. Now I don’t really know your guys taste in music, but Matchbox Twenty’s third album “More Than You Think You Are” - well, Andrea knows what I'm talking about.

not so subtle product placement

A little dark at times, but if you can get past that and give it a few listens, I really enjoy the album in its entirety. The lyrics and the sound....

Anyways, I realized, I am destine for greater things. Who knows, next it could be posters!

Ok, dull work but worth it but for a free tour. I wish that that was an option for all my tours. Actually, that would be ideal. You know, “oh it’s $300 for the Fraser Island tour? Ok, I’ll just work for three days on Fraser and then tour.” But no, instead it’s a purging of money accompanied by a desperate hope that they’ll be a job waiting for me when I take a break from traveling. It’s a risk, but right now it’s worth it. Even if it comes down to it and I can’t get a job and have to come home, at least I will have had an adventure.

So I am currently in the Town of 1770. I know. Seriously? But I love it! As I’m going north I find that the cities are much smaller, and I really enjoying that. I get to know the city so much better and I like recognizing people in town. It’s comforting and familiar when not much is ever familiar.

BUT, guess which residents of 1770 just LOVE lil ol' me??? The bugs! Mosquitoes, ants (did you know the ants bite here?), you name it, they love me! Just can’t get enough. I went and bought bug spray today and what started as a gentle mist of bug spray manifested itself into an oxygen sucking, vindictive cloud of bug spray that I found myself choking on. At one point I actually fled the dorm leaving my seven roommates under the attack of the bug spray cloud. As you can imagine, they were pleased.

So now, in the aftermath of Bug Spray Cloud ‘09, I’m laying in my bunk. The fumes have made me somewhat drowsy so I’m going to bed at 9:03 PM. True.