Cicadas and Chores on a Bloody Hot Day!

Hi!

Well. Sunday afternoon.... Checking in a little earlier than usual..... not sure why, maybe that I have 2 movies to watch to get them back in the mail before tomorrow morning...... That, and with the borrowed air-con, the kitchen is the coolest room in the little apartment - at nearly 90 degrees; the rest of the place is a little warmer but still cooler than outside. Poor little air-con unit has been going since yesterday....... Hooray that I don't pay for electricity here! But seeing as this air-con unit is so noisy, if the lorikeets and crows (or even my neighbors, come to that) are out there arguing and what-not, I couldn't hear them. Which is actually really nice, my neighbors are noisy morons so to have a break from that is pretty nice..... But I digress. The afternoon is hot as hell, but sunny..... Hopefully this will be summer's last hurrah before leaving it all to autumn......... which should kick in very soon here. Otherwise, here we are!

So work. Yep. Is good. Even better now that my contract has been extended for 12 whole months!!! So now I don't expire until the end of April next year! HOORAY!!! My god, a 12 month contract, that's the longest one I've had here yet! Amazing. And if I can get them to come with me on permanent residency then they'll hire me permanently (I think), and then my god I really wouldn't know what to do with myself and the stability! But am not there yet. I'm just pretty happy I've got a pretty cushy gig (at the moment......) that's going until April next year. Cooooooool! Otherwise, work is fine, still really quiet. We've lost one of our gals to go and have her first baby. One more gal to go to have her first kid in June and then we'll be baby-talk-free!!! We have a new gal starting but I'm not sure when. That'll be nice - I won't be the new kid on the block anymore! So, yes, so far so good!

And then the weekend. Started off quite nicely Friday evening by meeting Talava at Cicada for a quick glass of wine after work. She was visiting from Melbourne for the day. That was most excellent to catch up with her, even if for just an hour. She's getting married in like 4 weeks - pretty exciting! And then our friend Ben (old work-mate from Qld Health) dropped by for a few more glasses of wine and dinner. So, yes, a good night was had by all and the evening was really quite nice!

And Saturday. Chores Pt. I, laundry, surfing the 'net seeing what else I can't live without from the States... so far I've ordered Tide, Bounce dryer sheets and Q-Tips....... and scaring my debit card half to death....... I really just chatted on the phone most of the day catching up with folks........ And then finally sat down to watch "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest"...... not bad, but then I quite dig "foreign" films. All I can say is you'd better read the book first, 'cos if I hadn't read it before watching the film, I wouldn't've know half of what was going on. Just shows how detailed the book is. Not a bad movie tho. Seemed to go by quick for a 2 & 1/2 hour movie. Setting everything up for the last movie in the series......!

And today was Chores Pt. II. I was only able to do them with the help of the a/c, otherwise the place woulda stayed dirty and I woulda spent the day under a cool shower, 'cos today has to be the hottest day of the summer yet. And I know I'm not a wuss because I spent ALL of last summer in here toughing it out with the heat and the humidity, and today is bloody hot. Be curious to see what the top temp was..... because with a day this stinking hot, you don't really have it in you to do more than just sit. So hooray for borrowed air-con enabling me to be productive!!!! Ahhhhh well, autumn soon, which means 8 months or so of glorious weather is just anxiously waiting in the wings! Hooray!

So there you have it. Another fairly quiet episode of my not quite exciting life as an expat down here in Australia. But to hear what all's happening up there, and in light of my having a pretty damn good job, things down here are pretty good if not slightly quiet. Not to worry, slowly but surely am working on fixing that! Just have to save the dough and the vacation time.......!

So yes, with the summer breathing it's last gasps, you're more than welcome to come on down anytime starting around March... and from then it'll beautiful until we do this awful summer business again starting in Nov/Dec. So come on down! Hope you're all well, and I'm serious when I say drop a line so I can hear how you all are up there! Hope you're all well and book that trip down here once and for all goddammit (and if you need help, airline links are over there on the right)!

BYE!
J!