Smoking Busses & New Sofas

Hi!

Well. That first week of the new year went by nice and fast - hooray for New Year's and a four-day week! But oh, this week is going to be with both barrels - all the 3 Stooges are back from their holiday break and it'll be all systems go, with a whole 5 days having to work. Am tired already. But, the bank tells me how happy it is that I have a job and who am I to argue?! Another sunny side, this will be my last week with the 3 Stooges and the scrubby students - HOORAY! On to greener, or at least different, pastures. Change - yippie!! Although, I was told my paperwork hadn't been turned in to my new department yet, which can affect my pay in that, well, I won't get any. But, I was told, don't panic, it'll come out of the old department's budget and I should be fine. Oh dear. I asked 'who do I talk to about the paperwork' and she kinda looked at me and asked "What is it you'll be doing over there?" I said, "HR, admin, some finance stuff" She kinda smiled and said "I imagine that'll be you sorting your own paperwork out". Oh dear. I'm rotten with HR paperwork. Especially this Gov't crap. Oh dear. But hey, if that's all I do, with no scrubby students to interrupt, I should be fiiiiine! Here's hoping!!!!?.

Otherwise the week was easy. Just sooooo happy the holidays have passed and life can go back to normal. I'm thinking of finding a cheaper apartment when the lease runs out on this one in 4 weeks. Not having a lot of luck and most of the apartment showings are right smack in the middle of the day. I can't figure it out - what, are these people who are looking for new apartments to rent all homeless and unemployed???? Must be nice to swan out of work for however long you want to run personal errands. I wish. If they count how many minutes I'm in the toilet, they're certain to notice when I don't come back for an hour and a half..... So there are a couple of apartments that look ok but I can't go look. Curse this work stuff!!!! What's wrong with Saturday showings like the rest of the world???! Will keep looking tho and if no luck, well, it won't kill me to stay here, which is what I'd really rather do, expensive or not. The thought of mooooving..... waaaaaah.... Although, today I went furniture shopping with Natasha (Kiwi gal I work with) and it's so cheap and easy, well, the 'buy now, no interest, pay next year' kinda stuff. There's some nice furniture I wouldn't mind having. Be nice to have a normal bed. I liked set one so much I took a picture. I asked my landlord if I could get rid of the furniture my apartment comes furnished with and he said no. Bummer. So yeah, it'd be nice to have a cheaper unfurnished apartment so I could put my own stuff in it........... So we'll see. I guess it all kinda comes down to this job stuff.......

Speaking of job stuff, I applied for this little loan with a bank that's not mine. Yes I know, notoriously hard to do at the best of times with all your little ducks in a row. So after allllll that paperwork and certified copies of this and sighting the original of that, and the painful waiting...... they said no. Because of my Government work status of 'casual'. Gotta love the gov't. They have 3 types of employment status - permanent (which is incredibly hard to attain), temporary (95% gov't employees are temp - means they're on a seemingly never-ending contract that gets renewed every year) and casual (the one where they could suddenly decide you don't need to come back tomorrow, ever); and your status is written on your payslips - the ones I had to turn in to the bank. Even tho I've been turned back into a temp, it still says casual on the little slips. Bank Guy still wasn't happy. So, long story short, I didn't get the loan for the little scooter with that bank. Shame I don't have the will or the way to save for it like normal people. Shame I can't get a dumb little personal loan like normal people. Still, I have a couple more options. Am determined this little scooter will be mine. Oh yes. It will be mine. So join us next week for our next episode of J's Scooter Saga with - "Did She Pass Her Queensland Drivers License Test??"

What else............... So yeah, today, went with Natasha to a new suburb I've never been - Carindale. Nice enough, but a bloody long bus ride. Nice mall though, if there is such a thing about indoor shopping malls. Not very crowded at all for a Sunday afternoon. Brought the camera this time and totally forgot to take pictures of it. It even had carpeting throughout the whole place. Weird. But nice. Made it seem not so loud and cavernous. Bummer to have to vacuum and clean it all the time I imagine. But same old shops that are everywhere. We were very good in that we didn't really buy anything. No money can have that effect on a trip to the mall. We were just there to buy her a new "lounge suite". Groovy little 2 2-seater, one with a little sofa bed in it that doesn't pull and pop out, it rolls out in sections. Very hard to explain but it was kinda cool and clever. Comfy too. And the footrest is one of those that you can stash stuff in. Cool. But heehee, on our way back into town, the bus we got on, well, it smelled like the driver had been chain-smoking in it for hours and hours, and it was warm, no a/c kinda warm and stuffy. So, oh well, ok, off we go. As we go a few stops we notice that the smoke smell is getting stronger and a bit tough to breathe. So Natasha and I decide to get off at this random stop and wait for the next bus. And a couple other people do too. We get out and look at the back of the bus and there's brown smoke billowing out. I wandered as far away as I could just in case and then the bus driver got out to have a look. Scratched his head and called it in to his depot. So Natasha and I and half a busload of folks are told to head up and around the corner to wait for the next bus that he'll call and tell to come get us. Geez. I bought Natasha and me some ice creams and we actually didn't have to wait very long. I tell you, almost every time I go on a little adventure it's never straightforward. But if I had a scooter...........

And that's about it. Just settling back into the post holiday routine again. Lots to worry about in the next week or two, so hopefully all goes smoothly.......!!!?

I hope you're all well and relaxed up there! And hey, I noticed Qantas is having a sale on airfares to places, say, down to Australia...... I'm just sayin'...........!

BYE!
J!