It's Curtains!

Hi!

Well. That week went by pretty fast and thankfully uneventful. Well, after the last couple of weeks with being sick and whatnot, it was good to just have a normal week and for it to move quickly. Whew!

So the week at work was fine. Starting to pick up a little, got stuff to do. Excellent. The manual that I was first hired on to fix up, organise and get out has hit the streets of Queensland. 3,500 copies have been scattered across this massive, sunny state. Ended up costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $90,000. shudder. So hopefully the little fire folks like it! I still like my job helping to keep their training manuals up to date! They're starting to plan their Xmas party. No one seemed to be able to think of anything they hadn't done before so I threw in croquet. And amazingly, they went for it! The whole office of 30-some folks are going to a croquet club a couple 'burbs away - on my idea! Wow, cool! Gee, I hope they like it and have a good time..... I'm not even sure if I'll be around to attend, but I sure hope so. Heck, it'd be great not only to go play at their Xmas day out, but to have a job to come back to in the New Year!? Fingers crossed!

And the weekend, well, not bad. I've gotten kinda lazy about not bringing my camera out. That's a bad habit. I'll start dragging it around more. Friday night I met Natasha and a few of her friends for after work drinks at The Fox hotel in South Brisbane. Eh. Even tho the new owners of the pub have thrown millions into making it look cool (and it does, tho I never saw what it looked like before), I just can't stand the place. Not sure why. Could be the staff. Could be the way too yuppie crowd. Could be the over-loud music. Could be the over-priced drinks. Dunno, but I hopefully won't be going again anytime soon. But, it's always nice to get out and see Natasha and her friends. They're a good group.

Saturday I went with Cindy and her man Miles over to her friend Jeannette's house for an Aussie Rules Grand Final party. It's basically rugby but I'm not supposed to call it that, it's Aussie Rules! It's different! I can't tell, but ok). It was a very lovely afternoon, met some neat people and came home at a respectable hour. The weather is really starting to warm up. And get muggy. Ahhhhhh, summer in the sub-tropics. Mmmmm. Like Florida.

And today I went with Natasha into town for pancakes and curtains. I have an inspection of my little apartment on Wednesday and I've been pretty ashamed of my bits of fabric for "curtains", so I got real ones. They're pretty nice. Cheap, even better. And they look pretty darn good if I say so myself. And because it was hot and muggy, that was about all the energy we had and came home. I put up the curtains (they fit!) and had a nap. Man. I haven't even done my chores yet. Guess I'll do them after work tomorrow. Gotta vacuum and tidy the place up, even tho the dude doing the inspection won't be able to tell the difference, I'm sure. They feel the need to inspect these little piles of plaster every four months, "for the owners peace of mind". Hmm. Yeah. Ok. So I have to take half the day off of work to escort this real estate monkey through my place. They usually do these when you're not home. And most people are pretty cool with that. Not me: A)The Illegal Roommate and B)Trust issues with having strangers wandering around unsupervised through my digs. So I have to be here to babysit. I hope the dude comes on time (9am is when we agreed I'd let him in) and that it takes the five minutes I figure it will. What a pain. I just moved in! Anyways...... The joys of renting.

And that's that. No adventures on the cards just yet. Tho there's a gal at work, Maree, who's threatened to take me down to Byron Bay one weekend. Cooooool. Will keep you posted. Otherwise, I really need to knuckle down and saaaaaaaave!

So there! Hope you're all well up there! Drop a line sometime because you may know what I'm up to, but I have no idea what you're up to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BYE!
J!

Weekly: One Good Thing About Little Apartment, #8:
Bars on two of the windows (the kitchen and bedroom) - keeps the breeze coming in and the murderers out!

Back to Normal, with a Bed!

Hi!

Well. What a week. Short though. Stayed home Monday and Tuesday to recover from being sick and the wine weekend. Man. I hate being sick. Bank hates it even more!

So yeah, the week was short. Fairly busy at work, but with this project am just a little helper, so I'm not all that busy, which is good until I get back up to full steam. Otherwise, work is good! Still so happy to be employed in a nice gig with nice folks!

And the weekend, well, kinda the usual, only at a slightly slower speed - still trying to get past this tonsilitus/sinuitus/etc...... But Saturday was typical chores and relaxing.... Am reading Gregory Peck's biography - really interesting! He's from La Jolla (in San Diego)! I knew he had lots to do with the La Jolla Playhouse (theatre) but didn't realize he spent a good chunk of his life there in the 20's and 30's. Neat. Interesting life, rotten childhood, but then I guess they all kinda did. Then went to Cindy's for dinner with her two friends Emmy and Jeannette. Always a good and interesting evening. They left early because Emmy has rotten allergies, so Cindy and I stayed up and tried to solve the problems of the world - everything from how crap Ikea furniture really is, to vacation spots, to Circus shows on TV. Hmmm. And today was nice - I finally got a bed! Now I'm like a normal person!!!! Zoey and her husband Michael brought it around this morning. It's been raining a lot up their way so he was scared to bring the bed in in case it rained, the mattress would be ruined. But, they missed the rain, caught lovely nice weather and here it is! Hooray! Good thing too as the airbed had a slow leak. Excellent!!!!!!!! Am getting to be like a normal person slowly but surely!

What else.......................... Not a lot really. Just trying to settle into this new place I guess and recover from being hammered by viruses. Gotta start saving for stuff like little bits of furniture and to pay off the little scooter and to ultimately go on trips! Must win lotto!!!!

So there. Back to normal down here. Hope you're all well up there!

BYE!
J!

Weekly: One Good Thing About Little Apartment, #7:
Every window is frosted glass - weirdos can't look in!

Swinging from Vines!

Hi!

Well. That was a fun and nice weekend for a change! An adventure was had! Wine was drunk! Wildlife was spotted! Hooray!



So the week started off with work, as weeks do for us workin' folk. Then Tuesday I got hit by one nasty cold and a soresore throat. Made it through the entire week somehow until Friday when a gal I work with practically forced me into her car to take me to the doctor. Well, am glad I did because in the end it turns out I have tonsillitis. Fantastic. So Doc put me on penicillin (my absolute favorite next to Advil) and told me to rest. Not a chance with a weekend winery tour on the cards! I had to go, it was too late to duck out. I suppose in retrospect I should have, which is why I'm writing this on Monday and not Sunday - I had to stay home from work today as I just couldn't find strength to so much as get out of bed. Am considering taking tomorrow off too as after a day of watching movies on the little laptop (old tv doesn't like my modern gadgets, it throws a vertical hold tantrum), I still don't feel much different from this morning. Hmm. I hate being sick. And I was doing so well through this year's nasty flu season........ Well, I don't have the flu so I guess I still win! Coughcough.

Anyways, Saturday, Zoey (gal I work with) and I met the group "Wanderin' Winos" (a group organised by another gal I work with, consisting of her husband, her son and numerous friends) down at Roma Street Transit Centre (about 10 minutes from my house - it's one of the main train stations in town and a pretty trusty meeting spot for tour groups) and we were off down to Stanthorpe, which is about 3 hours south and east of Brisbane, in the "Granite Belt". It's apparently one of the top wine regions in Queensland. Anyways, potentially long and highly-detailed story short, tonsillitis, laryngitis, sinusitis and any other -itis aside, it was a fantastic weekend! I'd never been on a proper winery tour, especially one that covered two entire days and 7 wineries! I learned a lot and spent a fair bit (came home with 11 bottles of top shelf vino!!!). The diversity between some of the wineries was really interesting in their delivery and approach to tastings and tours and food and all of it. Some were a lot better at it than others. And it was neat to see how different wineries really can't do certain wines where others can. It was a lot to take in for a weekend (and I don't just mean the wine tastings!)


I think my favorite wineries were Ballandean - 4th generation Italian, excellent little tour, lots of info and history and a superb little lunch of meats, cheeses, olives, etc. It was excellent. And my other favorite was Bald Mountain - we had that wine tasting at 9am Sunday morning! It sounded terrible, especially for those that overdid it the day before, but it was surprising how easy it was to just sit back in those little plastic lawn chairs, in the warm sun, with a nice breeze and sip away. Mmmmm! It was just a lovely place with the coolest lady running it (husband was probably still hiding in bed). I tell you, out of those 7 wineries, this was the only one where people had to use hand carts to get all of their boxes of wine to the bus!!!! We practically cleaned the gal out! And I think the thing I liked the most was that you knew precisely where your money was going. I love to support the locals, and even more so when wine is involved!


Ahhhhhh, it was just an excellent weekend away. So nice to get out of town and breathe fresh air (even if I couldn't smell it) and see green hills. Even saw two wallabies (like smaller kangaroos) and a joey!!!!!


So yeah. It was most excellent. I have lots of photos. Will try to cram as many in as I can stand to wait for the phone line to download!

And that's pretty much that! Work is still good and busy, even if I have to take two days off (eek), I have got to kick whatever this alien virus is that's trying to kill me.


So, if anyone wants to come down, I have fancypants boutique wines to entertain you with! Hooray!

BYE!
J!









Weekly: One Nice Thing About Little Apartment, #6:
It's cooler for its plaster walls and bushy palms in front - bonus for when summer comes.

Cheap and Cheerful

Hi!

Well. Another week, another weekend. Man. All I gotta say is – I may live in a dump, but I have money to spend on food! This living like normal people is pretty good!

So yeah. The week was good. Busy. Getting to the end of the project am working on at work. Oh yeah! I got extended til December! Hooray! Employment for another 3 months! And even then I could probably go for longer as they keep thinking of training manuals they need my help on. Hooray! And I got a raise! Even more hooray! But "…only because we have to," said the gal at the temp agency. Apparently, because every few months or so the government gives their worker bees a minimal wage increment, the temp agencies have to keep up (if you happen to be contracted out to a gov’t gig for longer than 3 months, or some stuff like that). God forbid I get rewarded for doing a good job or anything. But hey, hooray, more dough for the bank!

And that brings the weekend. Eh, not much. Went to a new mall on Saturday with Natasha – Indooroopilly (say that fast three times). Hmmm. Same shops, different ‘hood. Big damn mall though. I only bought normal stuff – cat toys, shiny necklaces and earrings (am part magpie), a couple tank tops for summer, etc. But otherwise, good to get out and see how the other suburbs live. Eh, just like everyone else really. Wasn’t carpeted like the other mall tho, so not photo-worthy.

And, sadly, that’s really it. The weekend was basically errands and chores, and today (Sunday) saw another mini-sesh at the Plough Inn, over at Southbank, with Natasha, her brother and his roommates and friends. Was very short and sweet. They’re a good group those guys. A few from last weekend. They just make me laugh the whole time. But happy to come home at a respectable, school-the-next-day-hour!

And here we are. Sunday evening, watching "Runaway Jury"; I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this but couldn’t tell you what happens..... Hmmmm, must rent one day...... Or ask my friend, Catherine, the new lawyer!

So that’s that! Next weekend will hopefully be much more exciting – am supposed to be going with a couple gals from work on a winery tour! Will keep you posted, with photos!

Hope you’re all well up there!

BYE!
J!

P.S. Weekly - "One Nice Thing About Cheap Apartment":

Very close to the grocery store - 5 minute walk.

Saving Fireworks with Ukuleles

Hi!

Well. Apologies for not writing yesterday. I kinda lost track of the time (it takes a fair bit of time to upload all these photos, not to mention writing and editing, so one little entry can take up to 3 hours + to do.... Not that I'm complaining! I have the 'net and a phone at home now!) and by the time I thought about getting to it, I had a headache, which hung around all night and blossomed into full-blown pounding by this morning. So I've taken the day off work to dose myself up on Advil (hooray!) and chill out. And write this little blog!

So, yeah, the week went by fast. Was a good, productive week. Work is good. I worked a whole five days in a row! I haven't done that in weeks! Hooray says the bank! Actually got a bit of work done too. Tho I still feel a little bit behind on this project. Oh well. A few people are sick all around me (at work). Makes me nervous. One gal was out for a week. Apparently even did some time in the hospital. There's a bad flu making the rounds and I don't want it. And I'm usually the very last one to get these things. Have my fingers crossed. It even took out one guy and he's healthy as an ox! Hiked all over Nepal! So yeah. Am trying. I like to think vitamins and red wine will see me through. Otherwise, things are sailing along, still really like it, tho no hope yet that they'll put me on their books. I still wish they would so I could earn paid days off, sick time and vacation time like a normal person.... Oh well. Happy to have a job I like!!!!

And the weekend. Yep. Was busy. Could be one more reason why I was so shattered this morning with the headache. Friday was Natasha's birthday so a whole mess of people met her at the Normanby pub. Was a good night but Cindy and I left early. Natasha and her friends had been drinking for the better part of the day and were well on their way by the time evening rolled around. So we left around 8 something. Was a good evening while we were there! Got to catch up with a few folks I used to work with at the school. Ahhhhhhhhhh, still so happy not to be there anymore!!!!

And Saturday Cindy and I walked into Southbank to meet some friends of hers to watch the Riverfire fireworks show. Riverfire is this festival that they put on each year to celebrate the river and its relationship with the city and all that stuff. They finish it off with a massive fireworks show. I went last year. Anyways, she has a friend who's a member of the Maritime Museum and they were allowed to invite so many to watch the fireworks right there on the river. Well that was pretty cool. Only bummer to being right there was that the gun powder rained down on top of everyone. We were right next to the bridge tho, so we'd duck under that when things get really heavy. Pretty neat to be that close tho. Then we just hung around there for a little bit to drink our wine and watch the action on the river. Was really nice.

And Sunday I met Natasha and more of her friends for a post-birthday lunch up at the Paddo tavern, for all those folks that couldn't make Friday it night. Was a really good afternoon and met some nice folks. Her friends are all pretty cool.

And then here I am with a headache hangover (I didn't drink that much yesterday, honest!) playing hooky from work! Ahhh, see, I knew I wouldn't be able to work full weeks for long! Which is strange because I like my job. Ahhh well, I've had good reasons for taking days off these last few weeks. Will toughen up, buckle down and start saving!

So yeah. All's well down here. Kona the furry little criminal is fine. The apartment, is, well........ ok. Here's what I've decided to do - swap psychology and add a new little thing to the little blog that I like to call "26 Things I Like About My New Apartment", back-dating to the first weekend, the 12th of Aug....... One positive attribute about this place each week.

12th Aug - Cheap rent.
19th Aug - No ambulances racing past with sirens blaring.
26th Aug - No street/traffic noise - I can hear birds now.
2nd Sept - I don't have to be nearly as a big a clean freak (compared to the last place), as you can't tell one way or the other.

So there it is. One good thing mentioned each week, until the lease runs out. I can do this.

So, I hope you're all well up there! Come for a visit!!! I've found a groovy little cafe that makes a good breakfast! (I had the ricotta pancakes - interesting, but way yummy!)

BYE!
J!

P.S. Savings plan aside, did I mention I bought a ukulele? It was cheap. Looks like an avacado with glitter. Heh heh heh. Don Ho look out! Comes with a groovy instruction dvd and everything. I love it. Fingers hurt tho. Will keep you posted as to how the practicing goes. This week is learning chords and chord progressions and different strumming techniques. Excellent!