Climbing Rocks to Get to Ikea, Chores and the Weekend!

Hi!

Well. Here we are. A very lovely, warm and breezy Sunday afternoon. Am just early enough to beat the birds at their evening chat session and early enough, and smart enough to have finally changed the radio station to my favorite local community radio station 4ZZZ in time to catch a particularly lively African music show; This totally beats the strange show tunes radio show on ABC. I guess this is what happens when you get adventurous with the radio dial! Tho, soon ABCs way cool groovy jazz tunes radio show will be on and then the Sunday ritual will be complete. But here we are - got the very nice, cool glass of standby white wine (I know it's a crime against wine, but I've had to add ice cubes to keep it cool. We're getting into summer here and as much as I like to drink wine, I can't drink it that fast! And honestly, can you drink warm white wine? Yeah, didn't think so, no one's that much of a tough guy.) So yes, have some good tunes (currently De La Soul. I quite like them, never-mind the fact they did a song called "Jenifa"), nice cool, humiliated wine, a lovely breeze - life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good. Busy. Which is always a good thing, although challenging when you're doing two jobs at once and both demand your immediate attention, like, yesterday. I successfully coped because I've had nearly a year to get ready for something to do. And the fact that I'm just awesome that way. And by the end of the week I found myself with time to read the news. Excellent! As far as the whole Permanent Residency fun, it seems to be full steam ahead, with HR finally fully convinced that they need to help me, which they promise to do in a fairly speedy manner (we'll see). Far be it for me to tell HR to put a shake in it, but I did explain that the sooner they get their stuff together, the sooner I can hand in my application - before Immigration changes the requirements, as is their wont at least two or three times a year. So watch this space! Otherwise, always happy to have gainful employment, and very happy that they're threatening to keep me permanently (again, watch this space)......!

And then there was the weekend. Well, wait, let me back up to Tuesday where I had my first rock climbing course (of a six-week session)! HOORAY! It was fuuuuuun! It's a six-week course designed for folks who've maybe done it once or twice (I did it once, yeeeears ago), or not at all, so we start at the very beginning and go through all the safety, gear, technique, etc. Knowing that you climb in fancy climbing shoes with no socks, there was no way I was gonna borrow their stuff, so I bought all my own stuff (which thankfully, isn't much. Not like scuba diving). I think I mentioned this a few weeks ago....... Anyways, this past Tuesday we started at the beginning (and had to drill certain points home for two other guys on my course (out of four of us in total) who are known as YouTube Climbers - guys who learn everything on YouTube, and not necessarily the correct way). And then we were off and climbing the Kangaroo Point Cliffs - at night (with spotlights)! I only managed 3 climbs out of the 6 we were scheduled to do, but that was because my "buddy" was dead slow. That's ok. At the rate I ached over the next two days, 3 climbs was fine. This coming week tho we have two sessions - one on Tuesday and an indoor session on Friday. Coooooooooool! Will remember to bring my camera as the view is most excellent!

And then earlier that same Tuesday saw another Home Invasion by the Real Estate Agent and one of the Owners. Those Invasions always stress me out (never mind the fact I have to take a day off work so I can be here to supervise), but as a renter in Australia I seem to have no choice. Unless I buy my own place and the chances of that happening are slim to none....... Still tho, I passed and that means they'll probably renew my lease. And because I "always keep the place so tidy", they'll probably also jack up my rent. Sigh. Still, it's cheap for the 'hood and it allows me to pay off mah car and go on the odd Adventure. So won't complain. Much. Or often. But then the day redeemed itself spectacularly when my two neighbors (Luise and Kayle) and I decided a trip to Ikea was needed - they for a new sofa-bed and me for shelves for the bathroom and a new desk (to replace this lovely workhorse that's hopefully being sold this next weekend)! And the fun part was, Kayle'd never ever been to Ikea before. I think against his will, he quite liked it. We actually had quite a good time and found what we'd all been looking for. Awesome! And then later that evening, as you know, I went to climb Kangaroo Point Cliffs for the first time....... A fantastic, productive, semi-spontaneous mid-week day off if there ever was one!

And then there was the weekend. It was very good, very relaxing. I'm still madly selling stuff on eBay, and, conveniently, my timings for when my 7-day auctions end are on the weekends; so this weekend was spent doing the chores and getting rid of stuff (and turning a buck). So far I've managed to sell my three mirrors (at almost double what I paid for them - fools!), my chaise longue (still waiting for the chick to come pay and pick it up) and my two biiig bookshelves. This eBay lark is interesting in how much a group of people will pay for what. Like, I cleaned up on those three dumb mirrors, but I took a hit on the bookshelves - I expected to make at least $100 and only got $56 for both. New, they're $80 each. And new, the chaise longue is $480, and, granted mine is like 3+ years old, I only made $152 for it. Eeeek. So I guess the sales can even each other out in a way. Hmmm. Either way, am slowly but surely gaining back some valuable space and changing it all out with smarter furniture. Sweet!

And really, that was about it. A very good weekend all-in-all. Oh, and I think I figured this blogging template business out - I said I'd use their new template system thing, and it works a charm except for when time comes to place photos, and then it just has a hissy fit. Thankfully you can default back to the old system, which I've done, so hopefully things will work as before. I had to fill out a feedback thingy so I told them why I had to go back to the old system. I tried their new system last year with the same frustrating results. So hopefully, this time next year they'll have sorted it out?! Anyways, point being, I'll try to add some more photos from the NZ/Rugby World Cup Adventure!

So there you have it. I hope you're all well up there. Unless you like hot and humid, you'd better book that trip down here soon before the furnace really gets going! Otherwise, drop a line so I know how you all are!

BYE!
J!












Will post more photos from the latest NZ Adventure once I find them........! This really cool new camera and I seem to disagree on where to download files to what folder where. It's like hide n' seek with mah damn photos....... The photos above, well, I'm not sure how they ended up in the usual files..... But they are of the All Blacks' liveried Boeing 737 (pretty cool if truth be told); the All Blacks team accepting their welcome home haka at Wellington airport; the control tower in Wellington (spot the tower nestled in the suburbs!) And that last photo is of Wellington harbor, with that white spot being the ferry that takes you between Wellington and Picton. More photos to come once I find them!