Dracula Near The Sea

Hi!

Well, have survived yet another busybusy week - whew! Was pretty tired Saturday (went out for work-drinks after work on Friday until way past my bedtime) so didn't do much more than the usual chores. Well, didn't have any energy to do much at all actually, was pretty hot out, nearly 90 degrees, which made doing anything pretty hard. Ugh. Not humid, which was great, but hot.

But today, you all will be pleased to know - I took myself on a little adventure. A couple of friends from New Zealand (Rebecca and Pete and Bex's Mom) are here vacationing for the week down on the Gold Coast (just a quick summary of the Gold Coast - it's about 45mins south of Brisbane on a very pretty stretch of ocean. It's where all the theme parks are, including Warner Brothers Studios (like Universial studios in L.A.), and Sea World, and lots of cabaret-type dinner shows like Dracula's and Outback Spectacular, etc; it's also the place where big sporting events happen, like their Grand Prix motor racing, numerous surfing competitions (the Surf Lifesavers are a pretty proud group in Australia and for good reason, in fact, their surf clubs often have little restaurants (basic diner-type food with beer) and all the money you spend there goes to support them, because the Government sure doesn't), and triathlons; and it's also the home of more apartment buildings and hotels in one small space than I've ever seen outside of Aneheim. It's a busy, fun-oriented place). So I took myself down there to meet them, for the day, on the train. Pretty easy when the train goes direct, I imagine. I picked this weekend when Queensland Rail decided to do track maintenance on about 1/3 of that particular line between here and the Gold Coast. So, it's usually supposed to take just under an hour to get there from here, but with the track fun, it took an hour & 45. It also involved buses. But in saying how much of a pain it seemed, all in all, for a Sunday, it went reallyreally smoothly. The buses were there when we showed up, we didn't sit around, we left right away and when we got to the next train station (about half an hour away), we didn't wait more than 5-10 minutes for the train to appear. So, pain as it was, it was pretty efficient for a Sunday. So that in itself was it's own little adventure.

And once there, well, it was like we'd seen each other last week, not almost 2 years ago. It was really nice. The weather was a little overcast and cool, but lovely compared to Saturday here in Brissy. We had a wander through this little market (Sunday is usually market day for most towns), then some lunch, went for a windy walk along the beach, walked to this massive mall, walked back to their rental car and drove back to their little apartment (nice view of the sea and surrounding apartment buildings, which makes up most of the ocean-front Gold Coast) and had a glass of wine, chatted and basically spaced-out in front of the tv for a little bit while we recharged our batteries. They only arrived Saturday and are still on NZ time (3 hours ahead). Then, it was time for me to start my 2 hour trip home.... Went so quick! But was so great to see them. Now I have to really plan to go visit NZ at some point in the new year.....

And that was that! Am home now, obviously, just in time for the ARIA Awards - the Aussie version of the Grammy's. It's interesting because these bands are huge in many parts of the world, and I hear these songs on the radio all the time here, and here's this nice ceremony for it, that's not nearly as garish as the Grammy's. It's a bigbig deal here. I tell ya, Australia is happily doing their own thing down here and every now and then they pop up on the radar in the US, but really, it's pretty cool what they're up to and they seem pretty content, more or less, to keep it here, they don't seem to care if the rest of the world takes notice or not. But they sure like it when the world does notice!

Ok, now I'm rambling. Means I'm tired. So off I go to space out and watch the ARIA's, and man, compared to the Grammy's, it moves pretty fast - no long-winded, fake speeches, no hosts who think they're stand-up comedians, no goofy performance/dance/video interludes, or cheesy historical moments or silly interviews. It hits the ground running and doesn't mess around along the way. And the best part of it is - I don't know any of these bands (they have rap!)! Am learning new things!!!! Hooray! Right, rambling again.

Hope you all have a good week and here's to more adventures!!!?

BYE!
J!

Geckos n' Pillows

Hi!

Well, quiet weekend this weekend. I gave myself the weekend off from the stress and panic of looking for a new job. I've had a tension headache for the last 5 days so I decided to take this weekend to do nothing, except for buy a new pillow. I like to hope it's my old pillow giving me headaches and not work. I mean, I'd like a new job, but honestly, things aren't that bad. Not bad enough to have a tension headache for 5 days. And of course, once I sat around doing nothing but the usual (cleaning, groceries, etc) over the weekend, headache gone. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Otherwise, busy week at work. We're down another person. I'm not kidding when I say it's one a week. And they're not being replaced. Yet. Not sure what they're waiting for. No staff, maybe.

Adventures? Weeeeell, don't think this really qualifies, but I took myself to see that "Amazing Human Body" exhibit. That's the one with the real bodies, preserved through a plastination process and opened up so you could see inside. It sounds really gross and most people that I asked if they wanted to come along all squished up their faces and said "Oh yeah, that's the exhibit with the real dead people, only preserved, right? Oh, maybe another time.". So I went on my onesies. Well. It was very........... Interesting, in a plastic-beef jerky-smelling kinda way. They were real. And sliced and diced almost a hundred different ways. Not for those with weak stomachs, I'll say that. All in all it was extremely interesting. Basically showed what we look like with no skin and sliced up like sandwich meat (still on the bone). And let me just tell you, the place was crowded. It was the next-to-last day of the exhibit, Saturday, at around 11am, and there were people everywhere. And all kinds of people, including kids. Like, I expected it to be full of weirdos and teenagers screaming "Gross!" the whole time, but no. There were more families there than anything. Lots of students and doctor-types. Interesting. And educational! So yeah, kind of an adventure. Definitely out of the normal clean the house and laundry type of a weekend.

Ummmmm what else.....? Oh, heehee, along the riverside they have a big-ish section of freeway and overpasses and all that. Well. They found a hairline crack in one of the fly-overs so they had to shut the entire thing down for 3 days (Wed, Thurs, and Fri - of course). And wouldn't you know it, the city center became a parking lot from 4-7pm (that first night anyways). News helicopters all over the place. I spoke to one gal in a coffee shop and she said her friend, who lives in Paddington (where cat food and rugby comes from), she drives to work in Spring Hill (where I and the pub come from), and normally it takes her five minutes to drive (why would you, I ask myself), but nooooo, the first night that freeway was closed, it took her, ohmygawd, over an hour to get home! I tried not to laugh and tell her her friend was an idiot in the first place. C'mon, I can walk to Paddington in like twenty minutes. Driving it? So they're pretty lazy here (for the most part). In fact, a story on the news last night talked all about how the Queen Street Mall shops lost millions in revenue because of the freeway closure. Simply because people would rather have their hands and feet cut off than be without their cars and have to take -gasp- public transportation. All I'll say is, buses drop off directly underneath the Queen Street Mall and people still couldn't be bothered. I think it's funny. Most of the freeway is open now. Sorry, MOTORway! So that's my little tirade. Vive le pedestrians and foot commuting!!!

And that's really about all I have this week. Bo-ring, I know. But rest assured, the weather is turning nicer (if not hotter and more humid - ugh), it's light for longer, therefore I've cracked open the Lonely Planet and I'm plotting my own little mini-adventures. The trick is saving the few pennies (i.e. less time in pub) and getting a willing cat-sitter (no suggestions from the peanut gallery, thankyouverymuch). So hopefully, a mini-adventure coming up soon!?

BYE!
Jennifer!

Homework

Hi!

Well, unfortunately, I have to say up front that no adventures were had this week. Not unless you count going out to dinner, discussing how best to write a very lengthy job application, until past bedtime on a school night, an adventure, then maybe a little one was had. Otherwise, nothing. Nada. Nyet.

Here's the thing, I have to get a new job. And in order to do that, I have to look in my spare time, as I can't at work. And the only time I can really look and write applications is on the weekends. Yes, I know you've heard all this before, but let me explain. If it's a government job worth applying for, then you have to answer selection criteria statements. It's crazy. You absolutely cannot apply for a government gig (which includes everything from the health sector, to Parliament, to the police, to education) without answering this stuff. Some can be 1 or 2, or in the case of the one I've been writing all week, 8 statements long. And you can't just state the obvious, like cutting and pasting from your resume and repeating yourself or answer it nicely in one sentence. No. They want at least 1/2 a page for each one. Put it this way, the application I was finally able to put together came to a total of twelve pages. Twelve. That's cover letter, selection criteria and resume.

It sucks.

And it's incredibly stressful. Which is the number one reason most people in government jobs never leave, because they can't bear the thought of answering selection criterias. Some questions look innocent enough - "Highly developed administrative and project coordination skills", and some don't - "Ability to undertake cost benefit analyses in relation to to proposals to enhance registry wedding services and to provide reports to senior management about proposals" (that was one I had to answer, somehow, and I was just applying to be a monkey marrying people at City Hall!). Yeah. Each one has to be broken down by word, and each word answered with an example of how you did whatever. It's worse than writing an essay or report for school. Much worse. I've not been able to apply for jobs that not only do I have a degree in, but practical experience in, because I couldn't answer their selection criteria. And if you try to apply without it (I've tried), they throw your application away without batting an eyelash. You could be Bill Gates applying for an IT helpdesk gig for the government and if he didn't answer the selection criteria, he wouldn't even get a phone call to tell him his "...application was unsuccessful at this time...". He'd get a form-rejection email. They miss out on a lot of good people because of this stuff. And, it's really only Queensland and some tiny pockets of Australia, nowhere else in the world (my luck). But, I've recently noticed that more and more government jobs are doing away with it because they've finally noticed that people have other people write their selection criteria for them and when it comes to interview time, the people can't answer the questions because they don't know what they said on paper. Dur. So the govt has finally seen the light that, gee, maybe if we just went by people's resumes and interviews, we might get decent people after all. It's so dumb. But, right now, if you want a decent job, that pays pretty good, you have to put in the hard yards (as the locals say).

So. Like I said last time, until I get a job, no adventures. Well, no really exciting ones anyways.

I know, I know. This isn't what I came all this way to do. But without money in the bank, adventures will be thin on the ground. Veryvery sad but true. Like I asked before, if there's anyone trying to get ahold of me about a lottery payout or an inheritance, I'm right here!!!!!!



Sorry about the tirade. But that's what I've been up to this week.

Otherwise, all is well. The weather is starting to warm up (I'll say!). It's supposed to get up to the mid-80's today. Eeeeek. Such a good thing I'm on the top floor - get great breezes all day! Kona is fine, tho he did knock another one of his ping pong balls off the balcony onto the bottom floor patio, next door to the other patio with the previous wayward ball. Hee hee. I'd take a picture if I thought the neighbors wouldn't have me arrested.

And that's about it! Hope you guys are all well up there! And if anyone wants to come visit, better do it before it gets hot and gross down here!!!!

Bye! J!

P.S. The eggs here come with smiley faces. I have no idea why.

Fe Fi Fo Geese!

Hi!

Well, that was a busy week. Busy at work as we're losing a person a week, so that leaves very few of us to do twice the work. Nice. (Oh dear, Kona just kicked one of his ping pong balls right off the balcony..... Oooh the neighbors below will be so pleased to discover a multi-colored ping pong ball on their patio). So yeah. Work. Busy. New subject!

I bought new clothes to look nice at work (kind of a change of subject). They're nice, but boring. Corporate gear. Just what I wanted. I look nice though. Everyone thought I had a job interview to go to. Not any time soon, sadly. Just got sick of the same 4 outfits that came with the suitcase I brought. Always nice to have new clothes. Reminds me of the first day/week of school. So after work on Tuesday Jan was kind enough to take me to this outlet mall (out by the airport) where the clothes are the same fancy-pants stuff in the shops and boutiques in town, just 50% off. Cool. She's so nice. She's the one that brought a little bit of her farm (barley hay and little logs) for Kona to get in touch with his inner farm cat.

Friday night I met Mave and Roger (and some of the people he works with) for dinner/drinks after work at Zen Bar (in the middle of town). Corporate hang-out only with bamboo trees (I guess that's what makes it Zen - bamboo trees). He's doing this really big triathlon up in Noosa at the end of this month with a couple of these guys from his work (they're old pros at this stuff, this is Roger's first bigbig one). So they spent half the evening talking about their previous times, workout hints and tips and how old songs from the 60's and 70's have been remixed to sound new (like Elvis' "Little Less Conversation", etc). I was so damn tired I had to be rude and stumble home at the dark hour of 9pm.

What else... See? I'm trying to think of interesting things, but I'm afraid you're bored stupid..... I'll keep going.....

Saturday, Mave, her neighbor Angela (works with Roger, up from Melbourne temporarily to work on a project), and I went to go see "The Devil Wears Prada". Excellent! Well, if you've ever worked in an office for dragons. I have. Mave suffered through pretty much the same thing (as in the movie) only for a majorly self-important hairdresser (picture Jose Eber, only Lebanese with a big thing for rainbows and pink speedboats). So she really loved and identified with it. Meryl Streep was amazing. The gal who played 'Emily' the first assistant was hilarious. Great lines. Really good little movie. Then we wandered back to the pub to wish Daryl, the Manager, bon voyage as he leaves the pub to move down to Coffs Harbour (about 6 hours or so south of Brisbane, right on the coast. Nice spot. Very pretty bay. Or so the guidebooks make it out to look). We'll miss Daryl as he was a font of interesting and funny stories. Good luck to him down there!

And today - mini-adventure! The usual suspects and I went up to the Glasshouse Mountains for a little nature walk. Very nice. Hell, always nice to get out of town, even if for just a couple of hours. The GHM's are just over an hour north from Brisbane, in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, about 10km (miles?? Math??!) from the Australia Zoo (crikey!). In fact, the main road to get to the GHM's, Glass House Mountains Road (pretty creative), is going to be officially renamed the Steve Irwin Way. That's nice of ol Peter Beattie (Queensland Premier, like our governor), considering Steve Irwin singlehandedly put this nice little corner of Queensland on the map. Lovely little drive. Anyways, so after our walk, we stopped in at this cute little cafe with a lovely view of the mountains. Get this - they had guard geese under the stairs. Hilarious. Big suckers too. Loud. Had to be quick up the stairs if you wanted all your toes and ankles.

Heehee, every time we go on these little mini-adventures, as we go down the freeway (sorry, motorway) I spend most of the ride staring out the window looking for koalas in the eucalyptus trees, because, well, that's where they live. I haven't seen one yet (Mave spotted one tho, well done, it's hard to do). I'm always afraid that seeing as some of these trees hang over the road a bit, am terrified one will drop out and land on/in the windshield. Hey, sometimes it happens, the little critters fall out of their trees. Not often, but it happens. And I'm just afraid it'll happen while we're rocketing down the motorway doing 85mph. Eeek. I look out for kangaroos too. Same worry, minus the trees. They like to bounce out in front of speeding cars at dusk. So the general rule is you shouldn't drive after 4pm until dark. Most of the trucks (big and little) have "'roo bars" in the front to prevent the ugly event killing anyone else besides the poor little (well, not some of them) 'roos. I have yet to see any kangaroos either. Maybe they're smart about the motorway. Or maybe I need to get out of town more. Or maybe they really do like country living as opposed to living in the suburbs. I'd love to see a koala in a tree outside my office in town, or a kangaroo hopping down the Queen Street Mall.

So there you go! A little bit of adventure was had. A nice little colorful week. Am tired tonight though. We felt the temperature creeping into summer during our walk. Hot and humid. Ugh. Still nice at night though. The bats have come back again (seasonal I guess). These guys are massive. I'll try to get or find a photo of one. But they're really neat. The geckos have come back too, chattering and clicking during the night. The crows have shut up for the time being while they build their nests. The trees are blooming and turning greener. It really is a lovely city. Come visit!!!!!

Bye!

J!

BBQ's & Housewarmings

Hi!

Well, here I am. Survived another ______-filled week. Whew! And yet, magically, there's another week waiting in the wings. Ahhh, gotta love Sundays in my house. The whirr of the vacuum, the splash of cleaning in the bathroom, the shudder of the washing machine, and the bliss of knowing I have a cat who can clean while I type..... Just another Sunday, trying to liven it all up.

So, for starters, we had forced fun at work Wednesday morning in the shape of a barbeque. Yeah, I was a little horrified too at the thought of bbq'd anything at 8 in the morning. But no, it was bacon, eggs, sausages, tomatoes (shudder), bread rolls, fruit (well, not bbq'd), etc. It was all actually really good. There are free gas bbq's in all the parks around Brisbane. They're reallyreally cool and people are really nice to them, meaning they tidy up when they're finished, there aren't wierd things left behind and the parks service actually keep them in normal working order. And they're usually situated in a nice spot under a tree with a nice little view of the park. So ours was in the Southbank Parklands (not far from work, of course) with a view of the river. It was pretty nice and people came and had a decent time and got to chat, something we rarely get to do during a working day as we're all too busy to have a normal conversation. It's wierd and a shame, but that's our work.

So some of the pictures are of the nice folks I suffer through the day with. Really nice people who help immensely with the retention of sanity and sense of humor. So hats off to Ella (r) and Denise (l) and Jan (r, blue top)!




What else did I accomplish...... oh, last night Mave and Roger and I were invited to a little (literally) house warming party for this nice couple Ed (blue tshirt) and Moricha (pink sweater; she's from Portugal and he's from NZ) over in Paddington (where the cat food comes from). Cute little worker's cottage (another term for 'lovely old Queenslander' style of house, only pint-sized) spitting distance from the Suncorp Stadium (where the rugby games and bigbig concerts come from). It was a very cute little place and we all had a moment of envy at their proximity to the stadium. As residents of the immediate area, they get first dibs on tickets to major concerts at said stadium because when it was originally built (2003), they weren't supposed to have concerts, but seeing as it seats 52,500, they thought they'd be crazy not to let the Rolling Stones ever come play. So to appease the locals they give them first crack at cheap to free tickets. So anyways, there's this singer guy who's MASSIVE down in this part of the world, Robbie Williams, and people will sell body parts and family members to get tickets to his gigs. Well, wouldn't you know it, Ed and Moricha were offered FREE tickets to his upcoming gig in December and they turned them down because they're going out of town the day before the show. Once word got out to their friends, a small riot was held and houses were threatened to be broken into just to look at the outer walls of the stadium and hear the show. I'm not sure the verdict of the decision to let folks stand on their verandah while they're out of town, but it was pretty funny to watch these people get so bent out of shape about some concert. But like I said, Robbie Williams is bigger than sliced bread in these parts.

Anyways, the evening was nice. Met some nice people that Roger and Ed play football (soccer) with and Moricha and I had an interesting discussion about the woeful state of early childhood education in Australia (she educates childcare centers how to educate the teachers and the kids. Did you know, you don't even have to be a qualified teacher to teach 0-5 year olds in Australia? Scary). And that was it. Oh, hee hee, in the cab on our way back to our 'hood, we watched a gal outside a pub not quite, but very nearly, throw up on herself and her friends while she held on for dear life to the lamp post. Ha, it was funny. Poor thing can't be feeling so hot this morning. Anyways, turned out our cab driver was from just outside Colorado Springs! He told me "there're lots of us around the place", so that's interesting to know. Did I ever mention there's a barman at the pub next door who's from Boston? Andrew. Young guy. First time away from home (how cute). Studying IT. Nice guy. So yeah, I guess there are a few of us hiding in the corners.

Otherwise, I'm afraid I didn't quite achieve my adventure quotient for the week like I promised I would. Let's face it - I need to find a new job and until I do, like I said last week, the fun will have to suffer. Sorry, hard fact of life. Still, I'll keep trying in whatever small way I can!

BYE!
J!