Washer-woman with wine and cheese!

Hi!

Well. Sunday evening, got mah groovy jazz tunes on the radio, got mah cool glass of wine (an unwooded chardonnay of some sort, meh, it's just ok), not very many twittering birds out there this evening for some reason... Not sure why, the weather is lovely and warm, there's a very pretty sunset, teeny little breeze, gee, if I were a bird this would be perfect chattering weather! Never mind, I'm sure they're out there doing quiet pre-evening bird things......... propping up the branch, fluffing the straw........ But here we are!

So work. Yep. First day tomorrow. Pretty exciting, sort of..... I mean, it's still work, not like I'll wake up tomorrow at dawn and am off to Disneyland. But still excited nonetheless. Always have mixed ideas about starting new gigs. This one is different I guess because so much is riding on it (plus it's like totally bitchin', like, fer sure cool) and it's technically permanent, the kinda gig I haven't had in years and years and years...... So, I have nearly everything I own washed and ironed, got my clothes picked out for tomorrow, got my work bag nearly packed, gonna buy lunch in town until I figure out the lunch break shift and which fridge will be safe to stash my lunch......... Yep, all ready - bring it on, new gig! Waaahhooooooooo! Will keep you posted how it all goes!!!!!!!!

Otherwise, my last week/day at Health was fine. Wound down nicely, leaving me absolutely nothing to do all day Friday. Plus, there was hardly anyone there, they all had the day off. It was excellent. Oh, and Tuesday was Melbourne Cup day, "the race that stops the nation", and it stopped work from about 12.30-4pm, that was also pretty excellent, and bonus - I won $4 bucks! See, one thing I've learned living down here in the Southern Hemisphere all these years is that you don't have to be remotely sporty to feign interest in the big sporting events at work, all you have to do is channel your inner Helen Mirren (performing on Broadway), look enthusiastic (or if you're into method acting, you could buy a raft of different sports' team jerseys to wear on the appropriate day - free day to wear jeans if you wear a team jersey on game day!), smile and say "Go -insert sporting team name here-!" and you're in! Like, I remember when the America's Cup yacht race was on while I was in New Zealand. To me, I couldn't give a rat's furry pink backside, but as long as I pretended to, I got to fluff around all day at work eating snacks and drinking wine - now what's not excellent about that?! Just have to play along and not only do you get to skive on work, you get to eat and drink on work time, and everyone thinks you're the Ultimate Team Player!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So yes, my last week at work was pretty good, wine and cheese and all. "I'd like to thank the Academy, my parents..............."

And then there was the weekend. Started off really pretty cool Friday evening with, surprise, drinks with a few folks after work to celebrate my last day of work with them! That was nice and we could actually hear each other over the din (we sat downstairs away from the riff raff and the blaring speakers this time). Tho we didn't stay long as one guy had to boogie off for his Salsa dancing event in town and I had to rush off to meet Dom and a couple of his friends to go see Robin Williams! We got tickets last minute as they'd finally dropped the price nearly a hundred bucks. So off we went (tho we sat at the back of the arena.......)! The Umbilical Brothers opened for him - they were totally awesome. If they ever tour up there in the US I highly recommend going to see them. Or next best, look for some of their acts on YouTube. So creative, talented and funnyfunnyfunny. Then ol' Mork came on and didn't stop for a good 2 hours. He was funny, yes, that's a given, but he wasn't breathless funny like he is on David Letterman, or in his shows up there..... It could've been the jet lag (Brisbane were his first couple of gigs), it could've been the cultural and political references that were kind of lost on the locals, I don't know, but he was sure crude, I guess maybe someone told him Australians like that sort of humor..... It would've been misguided advice, yes, but there it was. Ultimately, it was still a way cool show, glad I went, but if I ever get the chance to see him again in the US, I'm going!

And then there was the real weekend. I swear I felt like a washer-woman all day Saturday (and today come to think of it). Washing, ironing... I don't even have that many clothes! Small washer. Many loads. Much ironing. But come evening, I was invited to Jason and Clare's for cards and Mexican food (tee hee)! Usually it's pizza and Carcassonne, but they shook it all up this time and it was so much fun. We always have such a good laugh when we get together (hope we didn't wake the kids this time, tho I didn't hear any crying......).

And then today, more hand-washing, more ironing, tidied up my sorry little weak fingernails, and read my book. Must be nervous energy for tomorrow. No nap at all this weekend either. Weird. But yes, a good and very productive weekend was had! Hooray!

So there you have it. Will keep you posted how the new gig goes. Fingers crossed it's a keeper (and for that matter, that I'm a keeper!)! I see that the Aussie dollar is kicking the US dollar's backside, so I suppose I won't recommend you come down here for a visit any time soon..... Even if the weather is gorgeous and perfect, but don't worry, summer will be here in no time, so you won't be missing anything! Maybe by next June you can come visit........? Anyways, hope you're all well up there! Drop a line sometime and just say Hi!

BYE!
J!