Apartments with Birthdays

Hi!

Well. That was a nice, busy week. Having a birthday to kick-start it helped!

So, yeah! Birthday was very nice! Am getting pretty good at entertaining myself on the day when there's no one else around. Geez, anymore, I wouldn't know what to do with people to help entertain me on the day!? Anyways, took myself to Favorite Cafe #2 (#1 was closed, sheesh), wandered a little through the botanical gardens, then took myself to The Mall to see the new Harry Potter movie in Gold Class! Maaaaaaaaaaan. If cinemas over in the States have something similar, I highly recommend it. It's basically like flying Business Class - you have your own entrance that leads to a very plush sort of living room area - complete with bar and nicely dressed wait staff! Because I bought my ticket ahead of time, all I had to do now was buy treats for during the film. You can order real food and nibbles and booze and desserts and all kinds of stuff, including everything at the regular snack bar. And the very best part of all of this is, besides the really comfy lazyboy chairs and tiny cinema with a perfectly sized screen and excellent sound - they bring it to you in your chair during the film at a time you tell them to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "And when would you like your champagne and chocolate cake taken out to you? Half an hour after the film starts?" "No, please, make it about 45 minutes after it's started." "Very well, we'll bring that to you then! Will there be anything else?" "Oh, yes, please. One more glass of champagne (it is my birthday after all) and a small popcorn." "And when would you like this?" "Oh, say, 10 minutes after the film's started?" "Excellent." Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! But I kinda had to feel for them - they have to totter around holding a little tray full of drinks and food, in the half-dark, up and down stairs, and yet try their best not to lean over into your view too much, or, well, spill it all over you. I swear, the movie may not have been all that great, but with warm chocolate cake and champagne delivered to me when I say just made it Oscar-worthy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was bloody brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then, well, how do you top that really, besides, maybe roller coaster rides? So I went and got my nails done (had to do at least one really girly thing) and then onto the bus home to get ready to meet the gals for dinner at the swish Australian food restaurant "Tukka". I ate emu (niiiice, light), kangaroo (couldn't tell because it was smoked or salami-fied, but nice, tasty), and crocodile - by far my favorite. No wonder Steve Irwin liked them so much (ooooooh, just kidding)! It was lovely, little chewy, but not nearly as chewy as squid, light, not fishy (or chickeny), it was just really excellent, and they let the flavor do it's thing by not drowning it in any kind of sauce, it was just lightly grilled. Man, it was just good. The restaurant itself and the service, eh, not nearly as good as the crocodile. May go again sometime and give it another chance. If one of you guys wants to come down here for a visit we'll go. Bring a small chunk of dough though, it wasn't cheap. But hey, I'm not going out to catch crocodile or kangaroo for dinner, so I guess it's danger-pay added to the bill. And that was my 37th year on this little planet celebrated! Nice.

And then there was the real week to come back to. Which was fine. Work is most excellent, I think I did maybe 3 hours' worth of work all week - see? It's picking up! I had to sign off on the proofs from the printing house for that big manual I was working on earlier - it's a scary moment signing off almost $80,000 worth of work to be distributed across the entire state (and Queensland is a big bloody state) - I really hope I caught all the mistakes. Egads. But, it's gone, and that's what they hired me to do. Excellent! Still working on another manual which is getting close to leaving my hands. I think. There's about 10 other unknown/unseen people involved so, yeah, I'm just a cog. I don't mind. It still beats screaming little students or "scholars" screaming at me to wash their dishes. Yes. Most excellent indeed.

But the real trick to the week was the fact I got a place to move to on the 9th of August (when my lease runs out and the rent goes up for this place I'm in now). I'd been hunting everyday for a couple months. So yeah. It's a dump, if I do say so myself. But it's a cheap dump that comes with an old fridge, an old microwave and electricity to run it all (but nothing else - hello, I'm 18 again furnishing my own digs. Eeek). All for $180 a week (trust me, that's cheap). Which is why it's a dark, chilly, small first floor place. But, it's in Paddington (where I can now walk to go get cat food!), the grocery store, post office, cafes, etc is a 5 minute walk away, and it's cheap. I'll save loads of dough. Pay off the bills and save up to get the hell outta Dodge on the weekends. I'm signed up for six months, so fingers crossed I can do it. I have to, so the bank says. I tell ya, I'm gonna miss this apartment though. Lots. But I'll like the money to go on trips even more, so there's the trade-off. Oh well. I really need to start checking off my list 'things to do in Oz', enough messin' around!

And, really, that's about it. The weather is warming up - getting up to the high-70's and next week is supposed to hit 80. So much for winter! But in gearing up for the warmer weather and the fact that they've had a pretty bone dry winter, the fire department has been doing lots of controlled burns on the hills just outside of town. And where does the smoke and ash go to? Town. Ugh. It's like having 24 hour, free incense! Nice sunsets. But I can't help but worry about all those poor animals. I hope they had some sort of advance notice so they could find new digs. Ahhhhh well, better than brush fires outta control taking out homes and people. It's why we have thumbs I guess.

So that's that! I hope you're all well up there!

BYE!
J!

Emu's, Harry Potter & Crocodiles

Hi!

Well. It's really kind of amazing how fast the week can go when you just put your head down and don't think of how long a week can be. And then next thing you know, poof! it's Saturday! But then, just as quick, it's Monday morning, and the fun starts all over again. Whew!

But hey, work is good. It's also amazing how I can fill an entire week, 8 hours a day, by doing pretty much nothing. It's this project I'm working on - there're so many other people working on it, and I've come in pretty late in its game, that there really isn't a heck of a lot for me to be doing. For the time being. Hopefully by Friday I'll have something more to be doing besides merely looking busy! But, honest, I'm not complainin'!!!!

And then there's the weekend. So, big dork that I am, I was up with the sun and standing in line at Borders with all the other hundred-plus other Harry Potter folks. The last book came out yesterday morning so I thought I'd make a little bit of an effort. It was kinda interesting. I'm really not such a dork after all because I learned that there are faaaaaaaaaaaar bigger dorks out there. Lots of kids came in different Harry Potter characters' costumes, some with makeup, and all of them had wands. So yeah. I'm not such a goofball. Book's pretty good so far!!! And then after that (got my book at 9.15am!), I wandered over to Southbank and where I used to work, some of the gals were doing a little over-time so I thought I'd drop in and say hi and check out their new building. Ahhhhhhhhh, I'm still SO happy that I don't work there anymore!!!!!!!!!! But nice to see the couple of gals and check the place out. Then we all went out to lunch at the pub down the road - The Plough Inn, and man they have nice food. Little pricey for pub food, but it's gooood.

And here we are at Sunday. Cleaned the house..... Did some laundry.... "Uncle Buck" is on tv at the moment, love this movie. Such a shame John Candy checked out so soon. One more reason not to eat bacon on a regular basis! And that's about it! Nice weekend. Weather is still pretty chilly, especially at night. It's been around the mid-30's - cold! But sunny and dry so that makes it bearable.

And that's that! Takin' the day off from work tomorrow. I have this little rule that, unless I'm gonna be fired, I take the day off on my birthday. So. Am sleeping in (rule #2), taking myself to breakfast at this nice little cafe right on the river, then not sure, might take the ferry from one end of the river to the other (one of my favorite things to do). Then I'm taking myself to go see the new Harry Potter movie (dork) but am going "Gold Class"! I've never been but it's apparently pretty swish - tiny little cinema, big, comfy, reclining chairs, little table where they bring you food and drinks! So yeah, even if I've heard some not-so-great reviews of the movie, ahhhhhhh, it can't be that bad from a comfy chair and table service!!! And then home to change and then I'm meeting the gals for dinner at Tukka, it's this fancy pants Australian cuisine restaurant; they have stuff like crocodile, kangaroo, emu, etc on the menu. Should be pretty interesting!!!!

So there it is! I hope you're all well up there!!!!!!!

BYE!
J!

Racing Through the Weekend

Hi!

Well. Another quiet week gone. Geez, for not doing much, the week goes pretty fast. And the weekend even faster.

So work. Yep. Very quiet. I honestly didn't do a heck of a lot at all this week because, well, there just isn't that much for me to be doing right now. Which is good, but can be kinda bad. I hope I don't get in trouble for surfing the net for recipes. It seems to be one of the few websites that aren't blocked for one random reason or another. Now the trick will be to actually cook all this stuff I'm finding interesting recipes for!!!!! But yeah, work is very good, just a little quiet at the moment. It'll pick up.

And then here we are again at the weekend! I actually did something Saturday! Gasp! Shock! I actually went outta town, kinda. Natasha and a few of her friends, every year they go to the Esk Races - it's a teeny little town about an hour and a half west and slightly north of Brisbane. And what happens is different businesses and regular people pay around $45 bucks to get a bus ride there and back, including the entry fee; it's a fund raising thing of sorts, I think. Anyways, really, it's just a day out to drink and socialise with, well, people from the city. You see locals wandering around (they're the ones not wearing stiletto heels or a Superman costume) watching all the silly, drunken city-folk. So yeah, we got there around 10.30am or so and earlier, when I got to where we met the buses at 9am, most people had already started drinking. I tell ya, from what I've seen, Aussies only need the flimsiest of excuses to make it an occasion to drink. So the day passed much the same. We got there and met up with some friends of Natasha's who had a tent (and they dressed up in red and white shirts that said "Where's Wally?" (Waldo) on the back, and one of the guys dressed up like Waldo, then they'd occasionally walk around in a group and people would point and laugh and shout "Where's Wally?!", then see the guy and shout "There he is!!!" Sooo silly!) So we pulled up a couple of chairs, ate some food (part of the fun is that you make all your own food and bring your own booze and then share with everyone). And we just sat and talked and watched the people. It was actually a really fun day. Oh, and there were horses that raced too. We saw one race. But heard the others (the thunder as they ran past). It's not so much about the actual race I learned. It's all about a massive group of people getting together to socialize and drink. I heard they were expecting 6,000 people! And some people dress up fancy (there's some sort of fashion parade on the track at some point) and some people got really decked out and rented costumes and makeup and the whole nine yards (there was a costume competition too). Everyone was really nice and well-behaved. It was fun. Dusty. Dry. Fun. And then everyone stumbles back to the buses around 5pm and that was that! Fun!

And then today was nice and quiet, relaxing, chore day. Went by fast tho. Oh well. Am just so happy to have a job that I don't waste Sunday dreading Monday.

And that's that! The weather's been lovely but pretty chilly at night (averaging mid-40's!!). But during the day it's nice and sunny and dry (dry is bad, we need rain, but I like dry over humid any day, even tho that's bad; I need to be a good Aussie and hope for rain like everyone else.... but if they'd lived in NZ for 4 years, they'd be pretty sick of rain too... I'm just sayin'). And yeah, things are fine otherwise. Kona is fine, big. He loves lettuce. I tell you, he eats better than me some days - his dry, Science Diet food and a little plate on the side with lettuce and tuna. I make his little dinner up and look at it and wonder why I can't eat just tuna and lettuce and be happy. I love pizza tho, it's my one little splurge every other weekend or so. I eat really good otherwise! Well, more or less....... But yeah, things are fine. Work - good, cat - good. Apartment - good, for now. Time is ticking and I suspended the hunt for new digs because I got too sad and frustrated. The hunt will resume tomorrow. I have to have something to do at work! Hopefully a nice, happy, cheap place will materialize and things will be good - let the saving$ begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yeah, hope you're all well up there! Come on down! Or at least drop a line and let me know what you think of my dull little blog - suggestions, complaints, compliments.....???! Let 'em fly!!!

BYE!
J!

Dull as Mud

Hi!

Well. Yep. Here we are again. Another week, another weekend.

So work. Yep. Good. Finished the big manual I was working on. Gave it to the printer Friday. So it's officially gone! Whew! Am very proud of it and myself. Now on to another one. This one won't be nearly as much work as the last one, as there are lots of people to do what was just me was doing everything on the last one. So, as far as stress levels go, uhhhhh, I'm pretty sure it'll be a lot like the last one, only a lot less. So yeah, in other words, I think I'll have time to update the resume, write some of these neglected emails and bust out some screenplays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the weekend... yeah. Quiet. Really, I know it sounds reallyreally dull and mind-numbingly boring of me, but either I'm getting old, or because I own a cat, or maybe because I like to read, I don't know, but I like quiet weekends. Don't get me wrong, an exciting weekend now and then can be great fun, but for now, I like doing not much on the weekends. Like this weekend, much like most weekends, I did the usual errands, cleaning, reading, etc. I did shake it up a little and went out with Natasha to her favorite Chinese restaurant for Yum Char. It's pretty darn good, I will admit and it's the kinda meal that lasts all day. For me, anyways. The staff are friendly and quick with the steamed dumplings. Yum. Then we went for a wander around Milton - yet another 'hood I'm considering moving to. It's not bad. Has more going for it than Bardon (jazz bar, cafes, train, close to Cindy and Natasha's houses ('stumbling distance' as Cindy puts it). Lots of apartments going in that 'hood..... We'll see!

So yeah, the hunt is on for new digs. I'm not looking forward to moving. Which is precisely why I've stayed in this place so long. It's about $100 more a week than most normal people pay (which explains why I'm broke all the time), so finding new digs is imperative if I want to save the dough to see the sights. I like to think that cheaper digs will free up the weekends a bit more and adventures will be had. Geez, 4 weeks and I'll be officially homeless. Eeeeeek. Wish I hadn't realized that....... Ahhh well, on to the next little adventure, in a way!

And that's really about it. Things will liven up soon, honest! I hope you're all well up there!

Bye!
J!

Busy and Yet, Lazy....

Hi!

Well. That was another week. Much like the rest of them really. And the weekend, ahhhhh, excellent, if not dull. But a nice easy week.

So yeah, work. Yep. Nice. Dead easy. I got a stay of execution! Hooray! They decided to keep me on to help finish another manual. So that'll take me til the end of September. And then after that's done, I have two more I'm supposed to work on as well, and those could take me into next year! Fingers crossed with those, but for now, I have a job until the end of September! HOORAY! But, sadly, the last of the two little office gals have hit the bricks for brighter cubicles. Their contracts weren't renewed so off they had to go. They kept me up to date with what's hip in the world (one was only 18 and the other was 24, how cute). But they're gone and now I'm left with old, fuddy-duddy domesticated office folk. Yawn. But, they're still working at the same place, just a different section. So maybe we'll catch up over lunch. Friday we allllll went across the road to the pub to celebrate their last day. That was pretty nice. And I could drink wine! Everyone else was, so when in Rome! 'Course, I knew, as always happens at these events, that the minute I got back to my little corner, all motivation to do much of anything was still sitting at the pub. So it was all I could do to look busy for the rest of the afternoon. Thank heavens it was only an hour. What a nice end to the week though!

And the weekend. Yep. Busy, and yet quiet. Saturday, cleaned like a gal possessed and read my book (finished "Dr. No", James Bond, excellent stuff, I highly recommend them). Then today, went to the grocery store early this morning and even took the little scooter out for a run around to check out a neighborhood, Bardon, that I've had my eye on to maybe move to when the time comes. And to pick up some more food for the little beast. And the rest of the afternoon, well, am almost ashamed to admit it but I had to have a nap around 11.30am! Gasp! Hey, I was up early. But that's how lovely and chilled out the weekend's been. Read more of another book "Room with a View", very nice, well-written; talked on the phone to David; and now here I am. Getting ready to make a pizza, maybe read some more. Sad. I know I should be out there running around checking stuff out around town, keeping my finger on the pulse that is buzzy Brizzy! But man, for some reason, nope. Not this weekend. I know, I can hear you saying "But you do nothing every weekend!" Ahhhhh, yes, very true wise grasshopper, but I am trying my not-so-very-best to save to live large on my birthday and I know that every time I so much as step one little toe out of my front door I spend money. So doing nothing, for now, is for my own good. Well, the bank account's good anyways.

So yeah. That's that. Same ol, same ol. Trust me, if anything interesting happens, you'll hear about it. But for now, all's quiet on this Eastern front, down in the Southern Hemisphere!

BYE!

J!