Saturday Check-in with Jets on Blocks.....

Hi!

Well. A little late but also a little early. Sorry for not checking in last weekend.... I had every intention but it turns out there just aren't enough hours in two days...... So am checking in today instead of the usual Sunday afternoon because tomorrow am off to take photos with a friend at the Zombie Walk later in the day, so, knowing I'll get home too late to check in, thought I'd do it now! Thrilling, eh? So far the day has been hot but breezy, tho not sure how much fun a hot breeze really is unless it's in the dead of winter....... The lorikeets were pretty happy about it all this morning but have now gone quiet - hiding in a nice, cool, shady tree hopefully. I just put some beer  in the fridge (Carlsberg - I know, beer, a departure from wiiiine, but seeing as it's summer and it's one of a very few beers that don't make me sick...) but doubt that's ready yet, got some old school 80's tunes courtesy of 91X's "Resurrection" channel (bonus - it's a triple-play day!) - life is good!

So work. Yep. Definite improvement over the last couple of weeks, thankfully. Happily, the Boss now knows am not mentally and technically challenged, therefore, the worry over whether or not I can continue as a Tech Writer/Editor with them has passed; that yes I am useful and judging my new skillZ based on one super crappy publication was a mistake. Whew! And as a result, I've been heaped with tons more work....... uuuhhhh, hooray?! So yes, work is good. Ooooh, I know one thing we got to do last, last week - the air force base (Amberley) happened to have a "Christmas Tree" F/A-18 Super Hornet in their maintenance hangar (maintenance engineers call it a "Christmas Tree" jet/plane because they use it to take spare parts off of to fix other jets until all the missing/ordered parts come in from the US. That way they don't have, say, all ten jets on the ground, they only have one. Neat huh?). So we headed out there to talk to the maintenance guys and to have a poke around the jet. Coooooooooooooooooooooooool! Well, in a jet-up-on-blocks kinda way (although I'd've been, well, arrested if I took a camera on base without a permit, so found a pic from the ol' interwebs....). When we showed up they had one of the engines out for inspection (and subsequently re-installed it while we were there). Wow. That jet is mainly two big rocket engines. It was pretty impressive. And then had a look in the cockpit (no seats, out for maintenance) at the displays and throttle controls and all that stuff that we deal with on a daily basis in the publications we look after. It was pretty neat. Funny, the main maintenance engineer kept saying how they need more maintenance staff (good luck considering Defence has locked down their checkbook), so I left there deciding I was totally going to become a jet fighter maintenance technician! Crawl around on jets fixing stuff and being super useful instead of sitting (er, standing) at my desk all day? Cooooooool! But alas, probably not meant to be as am completely math-challenged...... But hey, always happy for gainful employment as long as I can keep it, no matter if it's fixing jets or fixing publications that help folks fix jets!

And then there were a couple weekends in there.... Last weekend was nice and quiet. Nice in that I headed over to my friend Kim's house (another Kim, gal I work with, lives down the road from me, kinda) to catch up with her and her husband Carlos and to watch some of their friends (all Colombian - Carlos is Colombian, Kim is a local) play ping-pong, an apparent favorite past-time of theirs. We girls sat and gossiped and drank wine while watching the ever-competitive boys. It was actually a great way to pass a Saturday afternoon. Then Sunday was the neglected chores.... and because I got a late start, next thing I knew it was time for dinner! Man. Five-day work weeks and only two days to do stuff is so wrong. It should totally be half and half. I'd be happy with 4 work days and three days off. Hmmmmm, y'know, I could only work 4 days....... if only the bank didn't need the money so much..............

And then this weekend has been good and quiet so far. Hot, but thankfully not unbearably so....... Yet. No need for the chores this weekend, hell, am always at work - not home to make the house messy! So after checking in here I plan to sit in front of the fan and watch movies (with mah cold beer!) - ahhhhhhhhhhh what else can a gal do on a hot weekend day with no air conditioning?! And, in honor of summer, I've finally organized myself to start making sun tea - yuuuuuuuum! Although, after reading that little article from Snopes ('sun tea' hyperlink there) I have to wonder a little about it...... Tho I grew up on the stuff and never had any problems......... Made some last weekend and didn't die of 'sun tea bacterial poisoning'.......... Hmmmm. Anyway, tomorrow am meeting my friend Jason (a very good, keen amateur photographer and host of our 'pizza and game' nights) to go take pictures at the annual Zombie Walk. We went last year with a couple other folks and it was such a fun day. I wanted to dress up this year but like the weekends, time just got away from me to organize a costume and makeup............ So we're off tomorrow afternoon to see what we can see. Every year the walk gets bigger and bigger, so here's hoping there're tons of cool zombies to take photos of! Yay zombies!

And there you have it! Ahhhhhhh the hot breath of summer...... gonna have to think when will be the best time to check in, a time of day where the poor little laptop won't overheat.... I bought it a new fan/cooling pad thingy, and that has to help, but the poor thing still gets pretty hot, especially when it's pushing 85-90 degrees in the little apartment...................! Morning could be a good time but that's reserved for sleeping in and big breakfasts! Will think on it........ Otherwise, I hope you're all well up there. Drop a line if you wonder about anything or, as always, need help planning that Big Trip Down Under!!!!!!!!!

BYE!

J!

An Invasion of New Skills, Appliances and Recipes!

Hi!

Well. Here we are, another Sunday afternoon. The sun is piercing, the heat blazing - apparently we hit 31.6 degrees (that's 88.8 in Fahrenheit) at 10.45am with 47% humidity, which is thankfully low compared to what it usually is, and that's made it bearable, but it's only Spring! Summer isn't due for another two months! I suppose this is just Summer's way of saying "Get ready cos it's gonna suck, like always". Sigh. Oh well, like the winters in NYC, it's the summers here I don't dig. Well, at least with the summers here I'm certainly not deprived of blue skies and sunshine. Brisbane: 1, NYC: 0! Thankfully tho, over the last half-hour it seems the temp has dropped a little and a breeze has picked up - whew! But hot or not, it hasn't stopped the jazz tunes, tho it has delayed the excitable and chatty lorikeets...... in fact, there isn't much happening out there in the trees at all really..... Guess even the locals were taken a little by surprise by the sudden heatwave. But, we're here now, got a delightfully cool glass of a new stand-by white wine - Lana's Bike Sauv Blanc (from NZ and it's not bad at all) - life is good!

So work. Yep. Overall is good........ learning isn't as much fun as it's cracked up to be, unfortunately. Turns out they've erroneously judged my new skills-in-progress on a publication I was working on with another guy - it was written poorly to begin with through no fault or intervention of ours/my own, yet they seem to think I'm responsible for it's terrible quality (??!?). Hrm. Poor communication amongst the troops is ultimately to blame...... Long story that I won't bore you with....... Ultimately, a girl can only do her best with the limited assistance she's got on hand and that's all a job can ask. But, am always happy to have gainful employment while I can - fingers crossed this little communication/learning bump in the road is just that and it'll be smooth sailing to March when my contract is due to be renewed.....!?

And then there was the weekend. Well, really, last weekend was nice and super long in that I had those extra days off, which was dangerously fantastic! Dangerous to the bank account and the fact I could totally get used to a two-day work week! So, leading up to the "invasion" by the rental agency, I took mahself and mah chipped glasses back to Ikea, where we can never just go and do one thing or god-forbid leave empty-handed.... but I needed that extra rug, tablecloth and 10,000 tea lights (storm season is coming after all)..... And to think, there's still one more thing am thinking of getting tho I can't bring myself to do it just yet - my entire sofa cover comes off through the magic of Velcro (aren't they clever at Ikea - not only do you have to put the entire thing together you have to cover it as well, although you do eventually finish with a new-found respect for professional furniture builders) and I'm thinking of "refreshing" with a new cover. Thing is, what goes on must come off in order to go back on....... which means un-building the whole sofa just to recover it. And you have to pay $189 (for the tan cover) for the fun and the new covers aren't washable like the one I have now is. Who dry cleans sofa upholstery??? Needless to say, I haven't decided yet...... Or maybe I'll just run out and get that leather sofa I've always wanted..................... It's these serious, pressing world dilemmas I fret over during the weekends..........!

Then it was Invasion Day, which is always an exercise in futility - I ask for stuff and they say no. This time I asked for screens for my kitchen windows to stop possums breaking in at night during the summer so I can sleep with the windows open. The agent's response -  "probably not". Nice. She must have air-conditioning (or screens) she gets to use during the summer. Then I asked to have an exterminator do the whole place to stop the four types of ants that always move in with me over the summer. She really said no then and kinda made fun of me for not knowing that "everyone in Queensland struggles with ants over the summer." She must not get four breeds of ants all at once in her house all summer long. May get an exterminator in to do just my place on my own dime if that's her attitude........ So I hate these "inspections". I mean, I get why they do them, but when I've lived here for so long and been told numerous times my little apartment "is the best out of all of them", why can't they leave me alone? Why must they force me to take a day off work to supervise them? Ok, so I don't have to take the day off, but who likes strangers coming in to their house to poke around while you're not home??????!

But once she thankfully left I quickly got to work with mah new sewing machine (don't laugh) to hem the curtains I've had for years that've needed hemming something desperate. Coooooooooooool! No idea what am doing really, but how hard can it be? It's why they make seam rippers (which I haven't had to use.... yet)! My ultimate goal is to get good enough, through making a few curtains for the little place and whatever else I can think of, to make mahself some work clothes from 1950's patterns. Crazy? Yes. Certainly I have better things to do with my two precious days off? Definitely. But who doesn't love learning a useful new skill that could ultimately save lots of money in the long run? I ask you!

And then there was this weekend. Haven't got up to much unfortunately (or fortunately if you're my bank). The most exciting thing I managed to do is to make my first "meal" from the Ikea cookbook I've had for yeeears and never was brave enough to give a go. Well. Yesterday I made "Noggin Salad" (with crispbread), which is really just a very fishy Swedish version of potato salad (it even has red caviar!). It's not bad tho I think I misunderstood what they meant by "two small onions" and "one bunch of fresh dill"........ Still, I've never made potato salad before for any country and the potatoes came out perfect if I do say so mahself! It's not baaaaaaaad if you love onions and dill...... Tho I must say I have discovered I rather like Mackerel and red caviar........ If I make this again, a few alternations will have to be made. Overall, not bad tho. Oh - one thing I will say, I got to use my new stick mixer for more than just scrambling eggs..... Did that save years off my life or what not having to cut up those onions! I have seen the light and it is called Sunbeam StickMaster Pro (+ whisk, + chopper)! Hooray for modern conveniences/appliances! I feel like a 1950s housewife stepped into the 2000s! Will never chop stuff by hand again! Wooot!

And, well, there it is. That's what's been happening here. As dull as it is at times, I'm happy that it's the little things in life that can make me so happy - like learning a new skill to fix some drapes, or having a new appliance that saves hours of time in the kitchen...... Imagine if the only things that made me happy were regular vacations to faraway islands and lots of expensive jewelery? Well, I'd be dead broke for starters........ But with a fantastic tan and glittering accessories at least.............

So there you have it. Hope you're all well up there and if you need annnnnny tips in planning your trip to visit when summer's furnace shuts off in March, let me know........!

BYE!

J!

P.S. So I changed the template for the little blog - thoughts? Yes? No?