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!