Beans, Barbies & Babies!

Hi!

Well. Here we are, Monday evening.... Sorry to check in late... it was a busy weekend. A bit of baking, bean dip and much running around. But am here now! Those birds (mainly crows with a few lorikeets) are out there squawking away amongst themselves, probably about how nice the weather's been over the last week or so, no rain for the first time since Sept, so I'd be talking with all my other tree-mates about it too! And yes, the evening is lovely and warm but not killing me with the humidity. Got a cool glass of Jacobs Creek Semillion Sav Blanc Viognier..... eh, it's ok, not bad, kinda sweet, eh, will keep shopping around...... Anyways, a little late but here we are!

So work. Yep. Is good, tho very, very quiet. Every day that goes by I get more and more nervous waiting for the call or the meeting where I suddenly get a ton of work thrown at me... I don't mind but I wish I knew what was coming and when! Otherwise, all's well. I guess it's kinda quiet because lots of folks are still off on vacation (must be nice).... Australia Day is on Wednesday, so that'll be a nice mid-week day off. So I guess it's just wait and see..... Otherwise all's well. Quite like it so far. Ultimately, it's Hooray for gainful employment!

And then there was the weekend. Saturday was busy collecting all the stuff I needed for the 2 child events I had to attend on Sunday. So the rest of the day was wrapping little presents (literally, hooray for small people), baking Mexican Wedding Cookies and making a 3 layer bean, guacamole, sour cream dip thing... a new dip I'm test driving. Seems to be a hit, but then, of course it would, my guacamole rocks! And then I had to clean up the mess from that fun. Plus some laundry. And then that was pretty much Saturday. Amazing how much time it all takes, especially in my teeny kitchen with only a toaster oven and no counter-space!

And Sunday. Was a big, long, busy-ish day. I only know two people with kids and they both had to have their parties on the same day! The first was for Clare and Jason's daughter Sienna, it was her 3rd birthday. That was actually kind of fun. I mean, they're such nice people as it is (in the photo there on the left is Clare holding Reece, the birthday girl, Sienna, is behind the Barbie cake, and hungrily admiring that Barbie cake is her big brother Jack), so it was neat to meet their family and friends (and to see their house during daylight instead of at night which is the time we're usually there for games and pizza!)! But I have to say, kids' birthday cakes have come a LONG way..... that's a real life Barbie doll jammed into that cake, and once the cake is gone, she becomes a gal's "First Barbie". A strange way to do it, but there it is. Must be an Australian thing. And then I had to dash off to a gal from work's place - she was having a baby shower for the little It due in March. That was nice. She got a lot of nice presents and thankfully we didn't have to play any of the retarded games or stunts that these types of parties have declined into. We just sat around, drank, ate nibbles, watched her open neat baby presents, ate and drank a little more and that was that. If I have to go to a baby shower, that's the kind I like to deal with. Thankfully I don't know anyone else in that situation. But yes, by the time I got home from all of that I was way too tired and muddled to write anything. It was all I could do to stay awake for just one episode of that "True Blood" series I'm trying very hard to get through. All I can say is I'm into the 2nd season and it's becoming a struggle. Not sure if I can make it to the 3rd season. And yet somehow, somewhere it's won an award....... Hmmmm.... not for anything I've seen yet...... So if anyone has any suggestions of another show I can get hooked on, please pass it on! And I tried "Rome"....... might still give it one more go, but otherwise, suggestions???

And so there it is. Not so exciting, but that's ok. I don't make New Year's Resolutions as a strict rule, but I had a kind of guideline set for myself this year - that I would try to do at least one cool thing a month. And seeing as in January I spent a ton of money on, well, contents insurance (paid for the whole year in one go. Ouch.) and concert tickets for Feb and March, those sort of took up any fun January would've had. And seeing as January is just about gone, fun is hopefully soon on it's way. One concert coming up, or rather the symphony, actually I'm going to see the Johann Strauss Ensemble with my friend Jan, that's at the end of February. And March's fun will be to go see Chris Isaak (yes, again) at Riverstage (my favorite venue, as you well know) with my friend Kim. So there's some slight excitement coming, though not of the Adventure category. Will work on that. Promise not to look at concert calendars anymore.

So there! I hope you're all well up there! Drop a line, say Howdy, suggest new TV series' I can glue myself to, tell me your news, or heck, even just come on down..........!

BYE!
J!

Flooded Ol' City...... Again

Hi!

Well. Sunday evening is here. That seems pretty quick. Warm too, tho thankfully not as horrible as it usually is, thank you La Nina! Am a bit early even for the bizarre show tunes radio program and even mah glass of wine. There are a few twittering birds out there, although I think the lorikeets have followed the food elsewhere because they're not out there hollering away non-stop! Still, it's turning into a lovely evening, preceded by lovely sunny day, for the most part. Hey, it least it didn't rain, like usual. Life is good!

So work. Well, it's good....... The only thing is we haven't been able to go back since Tuesday afternoon when we got booted out because of the rain and impending floods. So there was a huge mass exodus from the city at around 1pm. It was one of the stranger things I've seen. And from then it was just wait and see. And see we did. Wednesday morning my neighbor and I went for a good long walk around the Brisbane Riverside-ish to scope out what was happening and to get an idea of what was gonna get worse. (That photo on the left is Southbank, right in front of the theatres... a couple hours after we were there it was completely flooded, right to the side doors of the theatres). All I can say is we were amazed, neither of us having been through anything like this before besides earthquakes and lively storms. A flood is different and scary. And this is the third big one on record for poor Brisbane - 1893 and again in 1974..... Thankfully we here in our part of Paddington (that photo on the right of palace with the rusted roof thankfully hiding behind the abundant palms, is our place) weren't affected. But others didn't fare so well, as I'm sure you've seen on TV. The two neighborhoods closest to me, Milton and Rosalie, were badly flooded. Even Suncorp Stadium, where I just saw the U2 concert a mere month ago, flooded. Which is a little surreal because they're all within a 5-15 minute walk from me (down a really steep hill I might add). But Paddington is built mainly on big hills, so we were always going to be fine. So yes, that meant no work for the rest of the week. Which was good and bad. Bad because all you could really do was sit and watch TV as the flood crept up and in. Most of the roads were closed. The city center was for the most part a ghost town - no power meant nothing could open and businesses closest to the river flooded. It was crazy. But of course not being able to go anywhere was kinda good in that we didn't, couldn't go to work all week! Waahhoooo! But the building escaped any harm so we're back in tomorrow. It had to happen eventually.

And then there was the weekend. It was a good and somewhat productive in that most of the shops in my 'hood reopened so I was able to stock up on eggs and lettuce, tho no milk, the panicked locusts cleaned that right out. Got the chores done. Read. Friday evening was nice, went over to Jason and Clare's with the usual 2 other suspects for pizza and games. Everyone was thankfully well clear of any flood business. It was just nice to be able to get out of the house and spend an evening not thinking about flood stuff. It's always a good evening with those folks!

And, well, that's actually about it. No work, no errands, no roads, no shops, etc meant things stayed pretty quiet, with the exception of our mini-Adventure on Wednesday. I must say, nice as it was to be away from work for a bit of time, I never want to be away from work, or anything for that matter, under those circumstances ever again. Too scary, too creepy and way too stressful. And I didn't get flooded, imagine the poor folks that did, or died. Sad. Bloody Mother Nature..... don't piss her off!

So there you are. Sorry for the short and bit of a downer check-in, but that's the news from here in pretty much a nutshell! Hopefully life will get back to normal over the coming week. I would extend a hearty invitation to come on down and visit but they say cyclone season is kicking off about now, so you might want to hold off until we're well clear of all this weather business. Say around, March, April and then through to October should be good! So hope you're all well up there! Feel free to drop a line!

BYE!
J!

Cabin-Fever in the Rain........

Hi!

Well. Here we are, Sunday evening, rain rain rain. A few die-hard birds are muttering away out there with soaked feathers trying to get the best of whatever food hasn't been turned into soup...... gee, can birds even eat soup, I wonder..... Anyways, I digress. At least the evening, rather the last 4+ months, has been cool if not really, really damp. Got the bizarre show-tunes radio show on - tonight includes music from Bernard Herrmann (he of Hitchcock films' music), the Sound of Music and the Godfather soundtracks.... Hmmmmmmmm. Got the glass of cool red wine (can't drink the stuff at room temperature here in Brisbane no matter how cool the evening appears to be - the wine is always way too warm to actually drink, so, law against it all - it's ice cubes). But never mind, here we are!

So work. Yep, it's good. Although last week, the first week back for some of us, was dead quiet. I've seen more action in graveyards. But, I'm not complaining. I have an idea of what's coming my way so have treasured every quiet hour. I mean, nice as it is to have the odd quiet time, it is nice to have something with which to pass the 8 hours....... So, am gearing up for the busy time, whenever that may come. Am scared it's going to come out of the blue (no pun intended).... Oh well, as long as I've got something constructive to do - bring it!

And then there was the weekend. Yawn yawn yawn. Was Dullsville, Queensland. Got some chores done Saturday. Got some editing done today (job for a friend). Gave mahself a manicure. And that's about it. Oh, watched "Hot Tub Time Machine" with John Cusack. I have to say I didn't expect much at all. It was hilarious. I laughed 3/4 of the way through it, and that's really saying something. That, or it's been that long since I've seen a good comedy....... I mean, it wasn't a deep and meaningful film, but it was pretty funny. C'mon, be brave, give it a watch! And this evening's entertainment is going to be the new "Sherlock Holmes"..... I have high-ish hopes.

And so, sadly, that's about it. I honestly can't think of anything more exciting (or not) to add. Oh, well, not so much exciting as news worthy, in case any of you have seen stories on the news about the floods here in Queensland, we here in Brisbane (in South East Queensland) are fine and not much affected. Only when we get lots and lots and lots of rain in one go are low-lying streets and folks living near big creeks affected. Otherwise, the worst of it all has been up a few hours north of us, and that's because the land and rivers up that way have been inundated with rain further upstream, swelling the rivers downstream. It's terrible and really sad as lots of those folks have been cut off from everything for weeks now, going back to Xmas. The military has had to airlift supplies to them. And the rivers that have peaked aren't expected to recede for another week or so because, again, the land is saturated and the water has nowhere to go. Pretty sad too for all their livestock and fruit and veggie crops, which will affect all of Australia in the coming months. Bummer dude. But otherwise, we here in Brisbane are fine thus far. Brisbane had a really bad flood in 1974, but since then dam engineering and river management (?) has improved, hopefully protecting us from another flood like that. But, you never know, we can only hope!

So there you have it. A bit dull I'm afraid but that's the way it is at the moment. Really just waiting for this rain to go away. The weather gurus seem to think we might have a sunny day maybe next Saturday. But thankfully I'm not the only one with cabin-fever, almost everyone I know (and don't know for that matter) are bruised and battered from walking into walls with boredom. We really quite like to play outside here, and to not have been able to for months and months is starting to make everyone stir crazy. Hopefully soon we'll get a break. Even Kona has resigned himself to infrequent patrols of the parameter. Good thing I ordered that toilet-training kit, guess it'll come into good practice once it arrives, cos am sick of litter!

Otherwise, hope you're all well up there. I heard about the shooting in Tucson of the congresswoman........... Arizona, you're embarrassing me in front of all these Australians! Now can we please have gun control??! It was bad enough having the Terminator running California, now this! You know you're most welcome to come down here and have a break from all that political nonsense any time!

BYE!
J!
P.S. Was unable to include interesting hyperlinks as per usual, because, with the rain, the internet is acting up something fierce. Crikey. Will update tomorrow...........

New Year with Pups, Sand & A Little Sun!

Hi!

Well. Am a day late. I think the photo on the left kind of explains why I couldn't be bothered - yesterday it was just too bloody hot, too late in the day for my brain to work. But am here now! Got mah cool glass of red wine this evening...... Jazz tunes are streaming from the interweb....... There haven't been too many lorikeets out there lately... I think the seeds they were eating off the palm trees have all been eaten and they've had to invade other palms in other people's yards... Which is fine by me, they'd wake me up around 4 in the morning, every morning! But never mind, here we are!

So work. Yep, go back tomorrow. Holidays officially over. But apparently a few folks are still going to be on vacation so it'll be fairly quiet until probably around the end of the month. Lucky ducks! Ahhh well, I really don't mind as am just soooooo happy to A) Have had a paid break off and B) Have a job! HOORAY!

And then there was the weekend. Friday was New Year's and went over to Jason & Clare's for pizza and games..... Now, I know I'm getting old when to me that is a perfect NYE. We old farts even made it until 1.30am! Of course, that's pretty amazing for them as they have 3 very small children. If it were me I'd probably be face-planted in the pizza come 10pm or so, at best. They are my new small children-raising heroes! And then I came home to find my neighbor and two of his friends passed out in the driveway. Huh. Tho I must say, the next day he was awfully quiet aside from the vomiting spells. Sigh.... I have dreams where I live in a modern, bright, solid, QUIET place...... I don't care if it's an apartment or a house, just as long as I can't hear, see or smell my neighbors. Hmmmm, someday........ Although in saying that I just renewed the lease on this shit-box for another 6 months. And for the first time since I've ever lived in this heap, they haven't raised the rent. Amazing how not charging me $5-10 bucks more per week will motivate me to stay on for 6 more months. Now if only the neighbors downstairs would move out and a lovely quiet Japanese Med Student would move in instead. Sigh........

And then Saturday was quiet, some chores, some TV...... I'm trying to get through that "True Blood" HBO series...... ehhhhh, I really quite like the premise, but otherwise.... Hmmmm.... have finished the 1st season, might give season 2 a chance and if it doesn't swing me, will find a new show. I hear "Dexter" is quite good....... But trotted down to my oft-neglected way awesome video store, Network Video (is as awesome as Casa Video in Tucson, and that's the Most Awesome Video Store on the Planet), and picked up the first couple episodes of "Rome", another HBO series filled with amazing sets, costumes, stories, boobies and violence. Seems to be the formula for a decent HBO series. Hmmm. So we'll see how that goes. All I know is, if I haven't mentioned it already, this new TV and this fancy pants modern Blu-ray stuff is the BEST! Shame there isn't better stuff on TV.... but that's what the Blu-Ray player is for! Hooray!

And Sunday was more chores. But boy it was hot from early morning until late at night. Stupid summer. In the end it melted my brain and all it was good for was sitting in front of the fan watching TV. Sad. But today made up for it - I went out to Red Beach (pup friendly!) over on Bribie Island with a gal from work, her partner and their two way totally cute Jack Russell Terriers Jackie and Georgie. It was an awesome day! Tho sitting here, I must say, the bits not covered by sunscreen (which I forgot) are on some serious fire. Bloody Australian sun. Wooooweeeee! Time for the aloe and peppermint oil! My poor feets! But it was quite interesting to see the damage/changes to the coastline after all the storms we've had. Photos don't quite do it justice. Still tho, the day was perfect, and as you well know we haven't had many of those at all for the last few months!

So there you have it. The end of the holidays. Thank god. Every year after the holidays wrap up (no pun intended), I always vow to go rent a beach house on some remote island and sit the whole couple of weeks out. One of these days I really will and it'll be the best set of holidays ever! But for now, I can't think of a better place to spend them than in Australia - no snow!!!!!!!!! So any time you feel the urge to escape, you're more than welcome Down Under!

BYE!
J!