Well, we are past the halfway mark, and I’m thrilled to be able to recount all the wonderful things that have happened in my life. And while some things are not so nice, the fact that I have so many lovely things to write about counts me as one of the lucky ones. Heres part three…. just one day to go!
I think I am about 2 years old here, at Mt Hotham.
17. My first job
At 14 years and 9 months old, I was keen as mustard to get my first job. I’d helped mum out at monthly craft markets for years and was more than ready to have my independence. A job ad in the daily bulletin at school for a local cafe saw me heading down to Croydon Main Street for my first job interview. My best friend was due to have her interview immediately after mine – would we like to be interviewed together? Of course we jumped at the chance, we were both nervous and needed the moral support. And then I opened my mouth and my friend couldn’t get a word in edgeways. I was given the job, working two nights a week after school, and Saturdays, making coffee and sandwiches for $7 an hour. I worked at the Stockmans Rest Café for the next five years and made great friends with the women I worked with. It was the perfect first job.
18. First time I got so drunk I was sick
Everyone has a story about the first time they got so drunk, they swore they’d never drink again, and I am no different. I was 18, and trying to impress a boy. Of course at 30, I am smart enough to know drunk girls don’t impress any boys, but at the time, but at the time I was young and stupid. A large quantity of vodka, a ‘trip’ down some stairs and very little food was all it took and I was vomiting in the carpark while the sober boy in question held my hair back. The following day was the most horrific hangover I’ve had in my life – I never made that mistake again.
19. Moving in with Breece
From the age of 23 to 28, I lived alone, and I loved it. I like things done a certain way, everything has its place and those who have lived with me before have felt my wrath when things are not up to my standards. When Breece suggested we move in together after a few months of dating, everything felt more than right, but I was concerned about living with someone again – let alone a boy. Two years on and while I find myself picking up glasses he hasn’t actually finished drinking from next to the couch (much to his bemusement), I think we do okay to live in domestic harmony. Even if we have moved house twice.
20. The first clothing I ever bought with my own money
I’ve bought a lot of clothes in my time. Like, think of a lot, then add 10%. And it’s probably more than that. But I remember the first thing I ever bought, with money I earned. It was from a shop in Croydon Main Street that sold cheap and cheerful pieces, presumably imported from China for next to nothing. The navy blue three quarter sleeve shell top saw me through sixteenth birthday parties, cooler days at work and free dress days at school. The black platform strappy sandals from the Shoobiz outlet at Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre lasted just as long. If I could write a whole post about my 30 most influential outfits, these would be on it.
21. Getting my drivers license
My dad taught me to drive at the Industrial Estate on Dorset Road in Croydon on a Sunday afternoon, in a Toyota Corona we bought from the side of the road for $1600. It had no air conditioning and no power steering, but it was mine. After telling everyone who’d listen they should teach their kids how to drive a manual car, my Dad taught me auto transmission – still to this day I can’t drive a manual. My licence test was super easy (the instructor joked that the tester must have needed to go to the bathroom it was so quick) and just like that, I was given a licence. The first time I drove by myself, I was so scared I drove in silence.
22. My first job in the city
For a girl from Mooroolbark, the city was a scary place. We never had the ‘city experience’ kids have at school now, and the only times we’d ever been to the city was the occasional Sunday family day out. Getting a job in the CBD was terrifying – I’d have to get trains and potentially go to meetings on other streets! For the first six months of working the New York end of Collins street, I didn’t dare walk further than a block for fear of getting lost. Five years later, I could find my way around the CBD with my eyes closed. It makes me laugh to think back to that time and remember how silly I was!
23. Laser Eye Surgery
My first pair of glasses was prescribed at 16. I was struggling to read the blackboard and so I painstakingly picked out my first pair of frames – Mambo ones that I thought were really cool. The first time I wore them at school, a friend joked that they made me look like a nerd and given that I already had braces and fairly plain looks, I was shattered. As soon as I possibly could, I was fitted for contact lenses and spent the next ten years sticking my fingers in my eyes twice a day. The day I took out my lenses for the last time and headed in for laser eye surgery, I thought I would feel like a part of me was missing, but a week later, when I could wake up and see the clock and not worry about forgetting to take out my lenses before bed, I found it was the best decision I could have made.
24. High school bullying
Bullying comes in all shapes and sizes and my experience was no different. In the earliest years of high school, I was dedicated and studious, which doesn’t always sit well with kids who just want to be cool. Their declaration that I was just that ‘bit different’ than the girls I thought were my friends was like a punch in the stomach, and my self confidence plummeted. I threw myself into my studies and made friends the old fashioned way – slowly but surely. At 30, I realise that friendships are complex but I have more than enough wonderful people in my life to make up for the stupidity of a few teenagers way back when we were 13.
