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!