Cat-Shaped Starfish & Champagne

Hi!

Well. Whew. What a week that was. Busy. Quiet. Stressful, in an I-put-myself-in-this-mess kinda way. But otherwise, another fine week for the history books!

Work. Yeah. It's still good. Perhaps the less said (good or bad), the better for my work karma....... Suffice to say I still like it (bonus!), the people are all still really nice, I'm finished proof-reading the entire manual and highlighting key words for the digital search engine, and next week is compiling said keywords into a massive list, meetings with the Project Manager (also very nice) and additional assorted managers, wow, I'll feel somewhat important, for a few minutes anyways!

So the week, tee hee. Monday, fine, innocent enough. Didn't scoot in because "they" threatened rain (yeah, I know the new groovy scooter jacket is waterproof, but think of all that gunk that splashes onto your windshield while following cars in the rain, now picture all that gunk on you and your little scooter with no windshield, on a busy road.... yeah, on second thought, you wouldn't be so hot to try out that waterproof jacket either).

Monday night I get home from work to find a note slipped under my door from the building manager, Geoff (also a very nice guy) that it's that time of year - time to physically inspect and test allllllll the fire/heat/smoke alarms in every apartment. Oooooh, I've been waiting for this day for a year. Ever since adopting Kona, the illegal cat-roommate. Oh dear. So had to tidy and de-cat the house. Tuesday morning, hung around to wait for the inspector guys to show up... stuffed Kona in his box, into the closet (kicking and scratching the whole time)..... So the inspector-guy is standing in my bedroom explaining to me how, because I'm an odd-numbered apartment, on an odd-numbered year, (meanwhile I can hear Kona scratching at his box. I cough to try to hide it and steer the guy to the living room) I get the dubious honor of having them return later that day to physically test the actual heat and smoke sensors/alarms in my apartment. Oh dear. I'd already taken the morning off of work to keep an eye on the events, now I'd have to hang around all day. Maaaan. So fine. I hang around and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. Finally, it happens all at once, I hear the guy coming up the stairs, I grab Kona to stuff him into his box, well, that cat is now wise to this and refuses by becoming a starfish. The guy has the key to my place and I can hear it in the lock. My cell phone rings, it's Glen, and I really need to talk to him but I can't answer it because I have to catch the cat to stuff him back in his box. The door opens just as Kona shoots under the bed. I say "hello!" to the inspector guy, as cool as I thought I sounded as I ducked into my room to throw the cat carrier into the closet and quickly shut the closet door as he comes in. Meanwhile, I'm looking around the apt for a streak of grey. Finally, the guy is finished, but what's this - the loud speaker in my living room doesn't work (what I hear the alarm bells from, just in case I can't hear the deafening ones outside)..... Oh dear, a return visit at a later date....???? Noooo, "That's it!" the guy says happily. "Really?" I ask, totally not believing him. "Yep! See you next year! Thanks!" and poof! - he's gone. So I don't get the deafening alarm bells blaring into my apartment every time some moron leaves toast in their toaster too long, that's perfect by me as they unnecessarily scare the hell out of me anyways. Yeah, I know it's their job, but they all wake me up perfectly sufficiently from outside. And trust me when I say that damn fire alarm goes off at least twice a month. It works fine and I know exactly how it sounds. In fact, just this afternoon it went off. Turns out some guys stove really did catch fire and the fire department actually had to put it out - with a little extinguisher. Smoke and everything. That happened a couple weeks ago too in another apartment near mine - stove on fire. Note to self - make sure stove is off at all times, may even flip the main power if it's that's prone to spontaneous combustion...........

Geez Louise.

So that was Tuesday. Wednesday, well, had to meet Natasha and some friends of hers over at a pub on Caxton Street.... her friends were going to the big rugby game - Queensland vs. New South Wales. Happens every year. It's a big deal apparently. Kinda like when the Mets play the Yankees I guess. So, 50,000 people and only 7 arrests that night. I find that really hard to believe, but that's what they said. Caxton Street and all it's pubs, is only a block long. Teeny tiny. So you can imagine the amount of people. It was crazy. And Caxton St. is only like 2 blocks from the stadium I might add. Crazy crowds. But once the game got under way, it was a ghost town. We hung out for a little bit at the pub, got something to eat, watched a little of the game on the big screen tvs and then I had to call it a night. School night after all.

Thursday, scooted into work. On my way in that a.m., well, long story short - the Merc that decided I wasn't going fast enough for him, passed me and missed me by that much.... the Porsche that decided no one was going fast enough for him yet nearly caused us all to crash, well, the Porsche hit the Merc. I laughed for days after scooting past that. There is justice in the karma world after all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then the rest of the week was fine and quiet and uneventful.Saturday I got shanghaied into going to (don't laugh) a Tupperware party. I only went because Cindy begged me to. That, and the usual suspects were shanghaied too. Aside from the Tupperware thing (didn't buy a single thing! Am very proud), the rest of the night was lovely. Chance to catch up with the gals, gossip, drink champagne and eat pate, ahhhhh it was nice. Cindy, Patricia and I have half-drunkenly threatened to go on a mini-road trip together down to Byron Bay one of these weekends. It's only like 2 hours away. Me and my not-so-good Australian geography and travel times, I thought it was like 8 hours away....... I hope we go, would be a good time.

And today, groceries, organizing the beads, fire alarm, and that was about it.

WHEW!

Next week "they've" threatened rain, so stories to come, I'm sure, from commuting on public transport......!

So I hope you're all well up there, happy with no fire alarms or gunk! C'mon down! You can stay with me! My place is certified fire alarm compliant and functional!!!!!!!!!

BYE!
J!









(New!) Weekly Movie Quote.....

"I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request."
"What?"
"Means no!"

Geoffrey Rush, Pirates of the Caribbean (1)

Ex-cellent!