Happy New Year!

Hi!

Well, what can I say, it was a fantastic week - with NO work! Ooooooh I do so envy trust fund kids (well, with the exception of maybe Paris Hilton, shudder)! Either way, it was a fun and busy week. Ran errands, made some jewellery, took naps, read my books, watched movies, even threw a party! And now here it is, my week of fun is at an end and it's New Year's Eve. This year I've decided to stay in. I know, how sad and old lady of me. It's no way to spend a first New Year in a new country but am not in the mood this year whatsoever, as exciting a prospect it may be. So I have my movies and wine and that'll be that. Next year I'll go out and paint the town red or go to a party (or host my own), but this year, nahhhh. So to anyone going out to partypartyparty this year - have one for me!!!!!!

Oh yeeeeeaaahh, a sparkle in my nice little week of fun - went and test-drove a scooter - first time ever to ride one on my own. Very exciting. Loved it. Want one. Have put big deposit down on one, now just need to sort out the rest of it. Bank, here I come! It's a little, brand new, "retro" Yamaha, 50cc, so not so fast I'll hurt myself toooooo badly. We'll see though, still have to get over the banks hurdles. Ooooooh, but I can see myself now, running errands all over town in half the time it takes to simply wait for the bus to arrive! And bus fare?! Heck, that becomes gas money for the week alone!!!!! Hills? HA! Oooooooooh. So fingers crossed the bank sees things my way! Will keep you posted!!!

So yeah, in last week's episode I suppose I mentioned I have a new job with the school? Different department and campus (hence scooter idea) and no scrubby students or 3 Stooges. So yeah, as far as I know I still start that on the 15th. But gee, knowing how these people operate, who knows? So I guess I'll double-check Tuesday when we go back to work (sigh). In addition, will keep looking, you just just never know. What's the Lotto motto? 'You can't win if you don't play'? Something like that. Will definitely keep the resume out there. And hey, side note, we went into a Lotto pool at work because I guess on the 30th of Dec every year Queensland (or maybe all of Australia, not sure) has a massive lotto draw, so we all threw $4 bucks into it. All I gotta say is I'm gonna quit throwing my spare change away.

Otherwise, all's well down here! Weather has been absolutely lovely. Just a couple more months of really scary heat and humidity to get past before it's back to more perfect weather. I was told the gross stuff should be happening now, but it hasn't. YET. Ugh, I dread it when it does come tho. Sounds like March or April when it settles back down. But so far so good. Whew!

Oh yeah, and bonus to movie nights now - hee hee, am such a dork about this stuff, always figuring it out later than everyone else, but I just bought an adaptor for the little laptop to be able to watch movies on tv - so, essentially, for $9.50 the little laptop becomes a dvd player. EXcellent! Why it took me so long to figure out which part I needed, I'm not sure. Wrong info from minimum-wage register jockeys in shops I guess. Am getting more modern everyday!!!!

So again, I hope you all are well up there! Sorry for the lack of emails, but that doesn't mean I don't often wonder how everyone is. I hope everyone had a nice Xmas, or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa or nothing! And I hope you all have a groovy and lively New Year, no matter what you do or don't do!!!!! And good luck with those resolutions! Hey, I know one for you - come here and visit!

BYE!
J!

Holiday Cheers!

Hi!

Well, how about that, the week absolutely flew by! Hooray! With the added bonus of a half-day Friday!!!!!!!!!!! Even if I don't really "do" Xmas, hooray for it causing half-days!!!!!! ANNNNNNDDD - a week off of work! HOOOOO-RAY! HOORAY! HOORAY! HOORAY! A week with no work!!!!!!!!!! Mainly paid days off (minus those funny couple of days towards the end of the week, but hey, I can deal with a coupla days with no pay if it means a coupla days to play!!!!!!!)! It all adds up to one very happy and relaxed gal down here.

The weather is beautiful, though I hear tomorrow (Xmas itself) is due to top out around 90 degrees, with hopefully low humidity. Shudder. Ahhh well, can't have a barbeque without a lovely warm day! Am due to be Patricia's Xmas Orphan tomorrow and fish is her preferred dish of the season. Yum. They do hams and turkeys and stuff like that, but my god, when it's 90 degrees out, I can't even think about buying eggnog, let alone sit down and eat a massive turkey dinner with all the trimmings!!!!!!! So fish on the bbq sounds excellent to me. Really, what they mainly do for their Xmas dinner is, don't laugh, shrimp on the bbq. They were running ads in early November for you to get your shrimp now before the prices go up. And $$$ they did. But geez, it's the flipside of what the weather is up there, 90 degrees-plus, so really, could you consider sitting down to a massive meaty feast???? Ugh. And hey, no offense to little ol' NZ, but the weather here far exceeds all the Xmas' I spent there. I'm not saying cold and wet is bad, it's quite apt for Xmas, but hey, when in Rome..... or Brisbane, middle of summer, bright sunny beach weather suits me fine for Xmas!

Ok, enough rambling about the weather. Moving on!

Hey, guess what???!!! For those of you following along at home - I've just got a new job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hooo-RAY!!!!!!! Well, it's still working for the school, but my god not helping scrubby little students and working with the 3 Stooges anymore. And get this - I cinched it the other day when I'd stayed home with an upset stomach (though I felt fine enough to take myself for a little swim in the pool). I got this gig just over the phone, lounging around in my swimsuit having a rootbeer float!!!!! How groovy is that? It'll be working at a different campus (Morningside), which means a little bit of a commute and no more lovely stroll through the Southbank Parklands, but hey, if it means not dealing with the 3 Stooges anymore, I'd work almost anywhere!!!! It's working in the printing and graphic arts faculty, I think. I'm apparently going to just be a bit of an admin/HR/finance helper. That's ok, something new to learn, new people to play with, a new space to be in (that I hear is actually kinda nice, lots of trees). Eh, same pay, but again, no Stooges. Well, there're Stooges everywhere you look, I know, but not the same ones who've been making my working life a fun-house. So there you go - when I get back nextnext week (2nd Jan) it'll be 2 weeks left there and then it's off to new pastures!!!!! Hooray!!!!!

Otherwise, it's the same ol stuff and routine. Cleaned the house, played with the cat, slept, the usual. Oh yeah, I'll be hosting a little board games party in my little apartment on Thursday, for some of the (really cool) people I work with, which should be kinda neat and fun. Some of these guys have board games that they love playing, we wanted to break up the week and do something social and fun, and well, I'll be the hostess with the space! I want to put on a few Mexican nibbles, but most Australians are scared of Mexican food. They think it's either hothothot or really bad for you. Hmmm. Ok, so most of the stuff on the Albertos or Los Betos menu would fall into that category, but not how I make it. Either way, I hear someone is bringing fruit........ So it shoud be fun and interesting!!!

And that's about it! I hope everyone up there has a nice Xmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, or nothing at all, and a very lively New Years!!!!!!!!!

BYE!

J!

Kickstart to Xmas

Hi!

Well. That was a busy week. Kick-started by finding out I didn't get my own job. Again. Apparently I "...interviewed extremely well, but then, so did a lot of other people". Uhhhh, ok. "But, we would like to keep you on to help train the 4 new people and help us through the peak enrollment time, so we'd like you to stay until the end of February". Uhhhh, ok. I'm not good enough to get my own job, that I've been doing nearly a year, but I'm good enough to keep to help train the newbies and work the busy peak enrollment time. Uhhhhh, ok. Dur. So yeah. Actually, when she told me, I was relieved. It's the kick in the backside that I needed to get out once and for all.

Then Paul and Catherine (good friends from NZ) made a brief visit. They were staying down at the Gold Coast and popped up here for a few hours. Ahhhhh, was excellent to see them! And it was so brief and fun-filled that I totally forgot my camera. Oops. But it was a great visit, so nice to see them. Catherine's just finished law school so they were here to unwind. Congrats Catherine!!!!! Now I must get myself over there, see their cats Fud and Sam and check out what Auckland's been up to.

Jan (Kona's fairy godmother, the deliverer of logs and hay bales) left work permanently. They didn't renew her contract because she's part-time. Gee, maybe it was because she did a better job than they could ever dream of. Ahhhhh, but I digress. Simply said - another one bites the dust. A guy at work (safely ensconced in another department, the lucky devil) calls the Client Service Centre (where I'm doing my time) the Departure Lounge. And for obvious reasons. Annnnnnyways, so to celebrate Jan's leaving, The Girls (Patricia, Cindy (brown shirt), me and Jan (black shirt)) all went out to dinner at this reallyreally cool Nepalese restaurant. Excellent food. I ate goat! Yum! I'll just say they love their cilantro/coriander. And goat. Mmmmmm.

And then the week thankfully came to an end. But I have to say, the few xmas card and bits are going to be a little late getting in the post. I was all prepared to get stuff out at the middle of November, but I'm just now getting the time to actually do anything. And tomorrow is the 18th. Oh dear. Hey, better late than never!

So this weekend was spent cleaning the house, ordering pizza (because I couldn't drag myself the few blocks to the grocery store and back. I say, some weekends I just can't bear the thought of going to the store. I don't know why, I just hate it sometimes) and making a few bits of jewellry. Again, I know I have a few little xmas things to pick up, but c'mon, could you bear the crowds in the Queen Street mall this last weekend before xmas? NO way Jose. You couldn't have paid me to go down there and try to shop this weekend.

And that's about it. One more week of work and then we have the whole week off. Excellent. I've got lots I want to do, well, including finding a new job! Jewellry to make, things to ship, sleep to catch up on, a screenplay to start writing, ahhhhhh, lots to do. I can't wait! Hooray!

So there it is. I hope you're all well up there! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Uncle Bret!!!!

Bye!
J!

Dingoes & Crocs & Koalas - Oh Crikey!

Hi!

Well. What a nice, fun weekend that was! Not only did I have a lovely 3-day weekend (if only I could always work 4-day weeks yet get paid for 5. Sigh.....), but Sheldon and Scarlett came down for those three days (just left to fly back to Tucson today). They were here in Australia for their delayed honeymoon. Even though it was a short visit, we had a very busy and nice time. Friday we went to Australia Zoo (crikey!). We lucked out in that the weather was overcast and rainy at times, perfect for a day out at the zoo, especially as it's summer down here and I can not imagine covering the zoo like we did (we hit every single thing on that map) in 95 degree heat with 95% humidity. So it was great. He's (Steve Irwin) done a reallyreally nice job with the place. You get the idea where he wanted it to grow and expand. And the strange thing I noticed was, the place didn't smell, well, like a zoo. Only over at the elephants. Otherwise, well, I guess crocodile poo doesn't stink up an entire zoo! It was really good. Took loads and loads of pictures. Walked a lot. They have a little tram like at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, but we couldn't be bothered. How else do you exercise???? But we covered every inch of the place. Something like 75 acres..... I really liked it. So if anyone comes down this way for a visit, we're soooo going there!

Then on Saturday we just ran typical last-day-in-the-country tourist errands. Boomerangs and magnets were purchased (not to mention a very beautiful opal ring for Scarlett), as well as all the other little last-minute touristy things. Had a late lunch in a pub in the Southbank parklands. Was pretty nice except for the cover band butchering Bob Dylan and Otis Redding and others who have no business being covered by a coupla rag-tag cover-twits. Bad cover bands who butcher great classics should get an electric shock for every chord they ruin. Or chewed up by a crocodile.

And today they're on their way home! So it was a very busy but lovely visit. And get this - they didn't mind the sofa bed! The one big complaint was that the sun comes up at 4am. Yeah, I noticed that too when I first arrived here. You get used to it though. I hope they had a good time. Next!

Soooo what else..... Oh yeah. Well, Monday I had my interview for my job, again. I'm not even going to think about speculating how I did. If I thought I did well the first time and I didn't get it, who knows which way the wind will blow with this current effort. I find out sometime towards the end of this week. The bank certainly has its fingers crossed for me to get it.

Otherwise, that's about it. Was busy at work. Busy at home getting the place ready for visitors. Poor Kona. For the first 2 days Sheldon and Scarlett were here he hid under my bed and didn't come out at all. Which worked out well for Sheldon's allergies. He finally came out and socialized last night. I guess he figured these strange people weren't there to take him back to the pound.

And that's that! So there you go. Hope you're all well up there. And hey, a successful visit was had by all! Now for the next visitor - c'mon down!!!!!

BYE!

J!

Spotless Boomerangs

Hi!

Well, that's another week gone. Whew! This coming week will be busy though. Interesting and fun. For starters I have my interview for my job - again - tomorrow first thing (that's work there, that 2nd photo). I think I've mentioned it once or twice or three or four times, but if I don't get my job (so hard to get my head around such a goofy rule), I'll be unemployed come the 22nd of this month. Sigh. I know it's not my career or even close to looking like a dream job, but the bank likes it when the money comes in. My stomach too. Soooooo, fingers crossed! But once that bit of fun is out of the way, Thursday night Sheldon and Scarlett arrive for a couple of days. So that'll be nice to see friendly faces and run around. Not sure what we'll do... Australia Zoo could be in the plans. Hmmmmm.....!?

Sooooo... the weekend was quiet. Was tired. Busy week at work. Stressful. What else is new there. So cleaned all weekend. Now don't get me wrong, I keep a darn spotless house, but you know how it is when you have people coming to stay, magically everything in the house looks dirty and out-of-place (ok, at least that's how it seems to me). And to think, I'm not quite finished! There are still the grubby cat-paw-prints on the windows to wipe off, balconies to sweep, a sofa bed to open up and make sure there're no 2, 4, 6 or 8-legged surprises living in there... Oh all kinds of stuff I could tidy up still.

What else...... Rained today. Very monsoon-like. Hot and very muggy all day and then come sunset the sky just opened up. Cooled it all down a bit though. Lovely. Smells nice. You know what I noticed early in the mornings? Even though I'm stuck right in the city, early in the morning it kind of smells, well, nice and fresh, but with a little bit of eucalyptus. It's kind of neat. Sure smells better than Brooklyn!

So, am sorry. Very dull this weekend. Was almost not worth writing about, but now it's become such a habit that I just know I'd go to bed knowing there was something I forgot to do this weekend! So even though it was dull as mud, well, just thought I'd keep you posted!

Oh yeah, and if anyone has any suggestions for Xmas prezzies that they'd like from the Aussie Santa, get your orders in asap!!!! Boomerangs, Aboriginal art, stuff....????

So there it is. Hope you're all well up there!!!!!!!!

BYE!
J!