Thin Adventures..... Fat Lot of Spare Time!

Hi!

Well. Here we are. Little bit of a delay, yes I spotted that too. Same ol story there though – sparing you the tedium of the boredom that is the status quo here at the moment. But here I am! Let’s catch up (gee, this’ll be quick…..!)!

So. Work. I know, somewhere, out there, there’s a job for me. And trust me, I’ve been applying for as many as am qualified for, including some I just know I’m over- and under-qualified for – gotta cover allllllll those bases! Am just happy there’re even jobs out there to apply for. Did I mention one response I got (a “no thanks”, but that’s beside the point), they mentioned that they had over 180 applicants? Yeah. And that was just for a run-of-the-mill office monkey/marketing assistant. Over 180 applicants. That’s what I’m up against. I shudder to think the numbers of applicants good gigs attract. I wish I could attach a $50 to each application, just to improve my chances……. I’m not above bribery. So the hunt continues. Fingers crossed a good one comes up, and soon. And how!

Otherwise, again, on the Adventure side of things it’s been pretty quiet. Tho last weekend was really nice – went up to the ‘hood of Strathpine and stayed at Kim’s (oh what I’d give to live in a modern, normal apartment/villa/townhouse/anything), and then Sunday we took a tiki-tour up the Sunshine Coast, first to Maroochydore (eh, little, beach is just ok), then right next door (harharhar) to that we stopped in to Mooloolaba (our favorite, hands down. Steve Irwin & family live here, well, family anyways), where we instantly regretted not bringing along bathing suits or hats or sunscreen (oh hi Mr. Sunburn!), but we happily wiggled our toes in the lovely warm sea anyways. Then we stopped for lunch along the modern and busy main drag, er, excuse me, the Esplanade; unfortunately we ate at Coffee Club, it’s a big chain of café’s here and not a very good one, as we always seem to forget; this time we made a solemn vow to never, ever return to any Coffee Club ever again, threat of starvation or not. They have the worst service, the weakest coffee and the most boring food, plus it’s all way overpriced. It seemed like a good idea at the time, plus the aspect was lovely, right on the esplanade with the sounds of a busking saxophonist. Then, after another quick toe in the sea we headed back south, stopping very briefly in Caloundra (small, crowded, slightly run-down and way over-rated) towards Brisbane, stopping first into Redcliffe for an afternoon glass of wine. Ahhhhhhh, made it home in the evening very sunburned (note to self – next time bring beach kit and, oh yeah, CAMERA), very sandy and very happy. I love the beach; wish I’d go more often. With sunscreen.

And really, that’s been it for Adventures. Sad, yes, but not much to be done at the moment! Like I mentioned before, if you want me to go on Adventures, make a donation!

But on the other side of the boring coin, it’s all given me an opportunity to develop little business ideas….. My latest Biz Idea is menu design for local and whoever else restaurants. It would be a neat little niche market, I can build on my skillz without stressing myself out too much or having to go back to get another degree, and if it gets off the ground (highly likely as I have an IT friend keen to help me with a website!), it’ll be some spare change in the bank – hooray! So am building that slowly but surely. This little menu lark is easier to get my head around than my great big desktop publishing/remote office support idea (which I still want to do but as my IT friend explained, gotta crawl before walk – and he would know, just had his 3^rd child).

So there. A bit boring, but that’s the way it is for now. Total bummer like fer sure, but, like, y’know? Like wow............ Oh hey, hang on, I can't believe I nearly forgot - don't laugh, well, yeah, go ahead, it's pretty funny............ I won 2 tickets to the (embarrassing drum-roll please........) Whitney Houston concert on the 22nd of February (plus 2 of her cd's)! How funny is that??! Seeing as I "work from home" I listen to a fairly boring radio station (harmless 'office' background noise) and they started giving away these concert tickets. I tried about 3 times just for the sport of it, and got through yesterday afternoon! Imagine my surprise (and slight dumbfoundedness)???? So I quickly called Kim, who also listens to this station, plus I know she actually really likes W.H., and told her what I'd done. Well, turns out she tried to get tickets in November but they'd sold out instantly, both shows, seats going for like $200+ a pop, and she didn't get one, I thought she had, so she's ever so excited to be going! Hooray! I mean, I don't mind, it should be interesting if nothing besides FREE! And really, after all poor ol Whitney's been through, I hope this tour helps get her back on track and sort herself out. So it should be good and way interesting! How funny. Well, now I'll know if any of my comrades read this! Hahahahahaa!

So hope you’re all well up there! Drop a line if there’s anybody out there. But then again, I don’t blame anyone for not reading this. Adventures will happen again. It’s just kind of like the Great Depression of ’09-’10 around here lately, minus the dustbowl and soup kitchen……. So far! But never fear, good things are to come, just around the corner!

BYE!
J!

Phoenix the Little Laptop Returns - Again!

Hi!

Well, here I am! After all this computer stuff I swear am gonna go get a job in IT...... Was unable to check in last week like I'd promised due to the sad fact I had to euthanize my little computer. After restoring it the first time, it kinda went downhill with the Internet misbehaving and then it all just started to seize up again. So there was only one thing for it - putting it down the most humane way possible. After that, it was back to the start again, thankfully it even started up again (like a little Frankenlaptop, minus the bolts and lightning....). So it's been a sort of chasing my tail kinda thing where I do one thing then realize one thing won't work because it hasn't been installed, discovering vanished files, etc etc etc. Am tired of this. Thankfully I have backup drives. If it weren't for them I'd be writing this from an Internet cafe next to some scary dread-locked, sweaty tourists. Come to think of it, with the heat and the humidity, this little apartment is kinda like an Internet cafe, minus the tourists... Come to think of it, I am a tourist........... Hrm. Anyways, we're back and up and running merrily along! Hooray!

So work. Yeah. No. Stupid holidays. Curse these Australians for being given 4 weeks vacation a year [angrily shakes Commie fist in air]! Still putting in the applications, had some phone calls telling me to wait until next year. Well, tomorrow is apparently the day when they all finally drag their butts back to the office. Now c'mon, get moving you HR people and hire me! I mean, I know the end is neigh, I love not working and not having to deal with all that office crap. But whhoooowweeeee, life is boring without a paycheck! Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Unless you happen to be the guy here who just before Xmas won $40 million - only one to win the whole thing. About my age too. I try not to dwell and hope that the next job I get won't make me want to quit come lunchtime. So chin up, hopefully things start to fall into place starting tomorrow. I mean, the fact I got the little computer up and running not once but twice, has to be an omen of good fortune!?

Otherwise, where did we leave off last.... Ahhh, just before xmas...... So I was invited to my xmas foster home again this year. My old nice boss and his family. It was lovely. Fantastic. Excellent food. Hee hee, after lunch we watched the new Star Trek movie. It was just nice to see them and catch up. His son and his fiance are getting married this year and are going to the US for their honeymoon. Awwwww, so I gave them some ideas of where to go; they've been before but want to do some road-trips this time. Cool man! So yes, tho quiet, xmas was nice. Sad too tho, Mom sent a package that has yet to arrive........ The postal workers here got pretty cranky the week of xmas and decided to go on strike. So I have a feeling my little package has gone to the Dead Package Office. Or perhaps to some happy postal workers home. At least I had a couple cards to open for xmas.......!

And then there was New Years. Well that turned out fine. I was invited over to a friend's to play the board game we play and eat his fantastic homemade pizza (note to self: when gainfully employed, must buy mini-pizza oven) and even got to meet the brand new third addition to their family! Oh such a cute big little baby boy! But boy were they all tired. Hats off to them for barely making it to 11.30pm when she couldn't take it anymore. So we all said our goodbyes and happy new years and headed for home. Where I just had time to get a glass of wine and turn the tv on to see the fireworks around Sydney harbor! Bye bye 2009! Hooray!

So that brings us to today. Ooooooh it's been pretty darn quiet on the adventure side of things. Lots of the folks I was running around with went out of town.... Am out of monies...... Makes for pretty dull adventures. But now that folks are back from vacation, hopefully one will hire me and the adventures can begin again! Tho I must say I did manage to get out once and see "Avatar". Hmmm. James Cameron must've had quite a tough time with those hallucinations he sustained while hiking in the Amazon with his buddies.... well, that's my theory anyways. It wasn't as corny as I expected, but why oh why did it have to be Americans tearing up this lovely little planet? Why not someone else? We get enough bad rap for reals! And now he's making a part two! Sigh. So, to help out the entertainment world, because yes I really can do better than that, I've started work on a brand new tv sitcom. Yeah, it's a sell-out, but where else does the money from? I think it could be quite cute in a sort of "Fraiser" kinda way. Stay tuned, am only just nutting out the finer points.....!

So there you are. Computer is up and running again, HR folks finally come back to work this week, the temperature, well, it's still pretty hot and way gross, but I have hope! Hooray for the new year! Hope you've all had good holidays up there (sorry about the East Coast.... tee hee). Drop a line sometime and let me know that there's at least one person out there who's read this!?

BYE!
J!