The Good, the Bad & the Soon-to-Be Adventurous

Hi!

Well. Yep. Am late again. This is becoming a bad habit. And just think, am going to be late again this coming weekend..... Hmmmm. Apologies. I really do like checking in Sunday afternoon, it's become a nice weekend-closing ritual of sorts. Now, if I always had 3-day weekends, this late business probably wouldn't happen because I would have the Monday to run around...... Hmmm. Never mind - here I am!

So work. Yep. Is pretty good, more or less. Thing is, all good things must eventually come to an end, no matter how groovy the gig. Yes, my contract has been renewed for the last time, due to expire on Sept. 30th, which, in light of the fact am headed away on vacation on Aug. 30th, that makes my last day the 28th of Aug. So yes, applied for one job already (outside of my whole company, yet still within the clutches of the Queensland Government - hey, they have decent enough perks) and have put the word out all over the street for folks to keep their eyes and ears peeled. Sigh. It's pretty much way out of my hands, stupid government stuff that I won't sully the waters with here. Suffice to say it's not me, it's them, it's nothing I've done (or not done), it's just stuff, contracts against permanent jobs that are nothing like what the job really is - it's all really confusing and incredibly frustrating. I asked my boss to think of options for me as I put a lot of work into, well, my work, and he sort of wrinkled his nose. Like I said it's beyond my control. Shame, I quite dug this gig. But, chin up, will look forward and who knows, with the great experience and mad skillz I now have, I could end up with something even better!? Here's hoping with fingers and toes crossed! Otherwise work is good, as always.......

And then the weekend. Friday was actually quite a quiet and dull evening in. For once I didn't fall asleep on the couch in front of a good DVD and wake up at 2am only to be awake the rest of the night thus throwing my internal clock out the window for the rest of the weekend. Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Hooray for a normal, quiet Friday evening!

Then Saturday. I had every intention under the sun of job-hunting and applying...... Didn't even turn on the computer. Instead I cleaned and washed just about everything I could think of. By the time I was done with that, well, it was time to relax, have a beer, read, and then whoops! look at the time - dinner time! Sad when chores are more fun than job hunting.

And then Sunday. What an absolutely fantastic day that was. I met my friend Kim, who I used to work with in New Zealand. She had a good christmas with her parents (in NZ), applied for a job here, came over for the interview and an Andre Rieu concert, got the job, packed her stuff, left her boyfriend of like 100 years, and here she is! So yesterday was our first time seeing each other since I left NZ, what, 4, 5 years ago. We had an absolutely fantastic day and it just shot past. She's been to Brissy before, but usually only quickly seeing stuff as a tourist. So Sunday we took our time and walked all over the show, rode the commuter ferry (part of the nickel and dime tour, plan on it when you get down here), had a lovely lunch at the pub, walked and talked some more, next thing I was waving her goodbye to her train (she lives in a 'burb, Strathpine, about 1/2 an hour north of me). It was wonderful to see her. One of the few Kiwi's that was kind to me during my whole time in NZ. Sad, but true. So that is why am late, again, in checking in. Because by the time I got home, a mean and nasty headache had set up shop in the right side of my head, so drugs were had and headache successfully banished. By that time tho, it was past dinner and time for reading and bed. But never mind - here I am! And a good weekend was had by all!

So yes. There you are. It was a really nice weekend after such a sadly stressful week. Always a bit dismayed to hear when my good gig comes to an end. I hope I can stay with where I'm at, tho perhaps a different department for necessity and variety's sake. Ahhh well.

And oh yeah! This coming weekend, hold yer horses and have a seat - am going on An Adventure! And I have to get on a plane to get there! Gasp! Shame I organized it before finding out about my gig, but there it is..... Anyways, am off to Townsville with Hasse (guy from work)! His brother, and, well, his whole family, are Danish (but moved here in the mid-80's) and every year his brother, who lives in Townsville, throws a "traditional" Danish Solstice/birthday party - marking what would be the height of lovely weather and the longest day in Denmark, so for here he throws a Solstice party marking the shortest day (us here in the Southern Hemisphere, being in the middle of winter and all) and seeing as his birthday is the 17th, well, it's just an even better excuse to have a par-tay. And I remember Hasse coming back from it last year going on and on and on about what a fantastic weekend it is, so nice to catch up with the family, eat traditional food, drink traditional schnapps, etc, so this year, as soon as he started to talk about it, I invited myself along. Happily he thought that would be fine - the more the merrier, cross-cultural education and all that. Hooray! So I leave first thing Friday morning and return mid-day Monday. I can't say Townsville was on my List of Places to Scope Out while am here, but hey, neither was Coffs Harbour at Christmas a couple years ago and that was a lovely place! But I hear Townsville is really quite nice and hopefully one of the days we can get the ferry over to Magnetic Island (called so because back in the day of Captain Cook, when he sailed past the island, he thought his compasses all behaved strangely) and have a look around - it's meant to be beautiful - 70% is national park! So will take lots of -new- photos and check in hopefully Monday evening.....?

So there you have it. The good news and the bad news. Ehhh, what can I do but start looking for a new gig and make sure my camera has batteries and enough space on its memory card! And who knows, if Townsville knocks my socks off, we'll head up there when you get down here! Hooray for New Adventures!

BYE!
J!