Hi!
Well. Another happy sunny Sunday fades into a lovely late afternoon..... The weekend has been perfect winter weather - sunny, bright blue skies, warm during the day and not very cold at night - ahhhhhhhh! The birds are out there, happily running their little bird errands, tho it seems a little early for their late afternoon chatter session........Still, got the hip n' groovy jazz tunes, got the nice, cool glass of stand-by white wine - yes, life is good!
So work. Yep. Is good. Just had four whole days off and bless 'em, they saved up every bit of work they could find and dumped it on 
me when I returned on Friday. I don't mind tho, it's all pretty quick and easy edit reviews. Nice to have real stuff to do now that I'm finally finished with The Book No One Wanted....... It's funny how we seem to have a bit of quiet time while our customer (Dept of Defence) saves up a ton of work and throws it at us all at once. And it's funny too that we get all this work just before I go away for four weeks....... Ahhh well, we have another editor in the ranks, tho she pretty much works when she wants to, and when she does, it's only for two days at a stretch - niiiiiice. So they'll have to cope with that. Heh, they'll probably save all the good stuff for me and hit me with it when I get back. Heck, I don't mind, I'm just happy to have a job to come back to after a vacation for once! So yes, work is good, busy, which is even better. Hooray for gainful employment and real, honest to goodness vacation time!
me when I returned on Friday. I don't mind tho, it's all pretty quick and easy edit reviews. Nice to have real stuff to do now that I'm finally finished with The Book No One Wanted....... It's funny how we seem to have a bit of quiet time while our customer (Dept of Defence) saves up a ton of work and throws it at us all at once. And it's funny too that we get all this work just before I go away for four weeks....... Ahhh well, we have another editor in the ranks, tho she pretty much works when she wants to, and when she does, it's only for two days at a stretch - niiiiiice. So they'll have to cope with that. Heh, they'll probably save all the good stuff for me and hit me with it when I get back. Heck, I don't mind, I'm just happy to have a job to come back to after a vacation for once! So yes, work is good, busy, which is even better. Hooray for gainful employment and real, honest to goodness vacation time!
And then there were the weekends. Last weekend was busy getting the little apartment ready 
for Emily, my house guest for almost the week! She arrived that Sunday
to super crappy cold and rainy weather. Still, knowing we only had like
five days, we got right out in it. Had some awesome breakfast (Ricotta
Pancakes!) at my favorite little local cafe Sassafras, then walked all over town showing her the "sights", even if it was raining. We didn't really notice tho as we hadn't caught up since last July in Melbourne - much catching up (and walking) was had!
for Emily, my house guest for almost the week! She arrived that Sunday
to super crappy cold and rainy weather. Still, knowing we only had like
five days, we got right out in it. Had some awesome breakfast (Ricotta
Pancakes!) at my favorite little local cafe Sassafras, then walked all over town showing her the "sights", even if it was raining. We didn't really notice tho as we hadn't caught up since last July in Melbourne - much catching up (and walking) was had!
And then the week was busy busy busy with much more walking and sightseeing. I swear I've not done that much walking in so few days as I did showing Emily around. It was lots of fun tho and sure beat sitting around in cafes staring at each other. We did indeed try our hardest to organize a day tour out to one of the islands just off the bay here, but none of the 15 or so tour companies we called were running the tour they said they were - "Oh, we quit running that tour" was a popular response, "Oh, yeah, we don't run that tour on Wednesdays anymore", "No, we didn't 
get enough bookings so we cancelled it this week", to the ol' "I only have one seat left". One tour company's prices were incredibly misleading - the day tour we thought was only $145 turned out to be $495 if all six or however many seats couldn't be booked (and with the luck we were having, we knew we'd be stuck for the $495)....... Oh, and one tour company had a guy answering the phones who didn't really speak English. So the lesson we took away from that exercise in futility was to plan a tour in advance (but even then we're not so sure that would work), read the teeny print buried way down on a random page in the website, and don't plan a tour in the middle of the week during winter. Even tho winter here is like San Diego in the winter - non-existent. Pretty crazy luck really. 
But we did manage to get onto a River City Cruise along the river (well, duh) in the morning, which was nice considering the day turned perfect and sunny, and later that evening we got on the Boggo Road Jail ghost tour, which was actually pretty good and really interesting, although not very creepy, despite our tour guides best costumed "act" (1940s prison warden). Still, it was a really good evening.
All in all it was a fantastic week showing her the city, parks, museums and a couple of quirky little bits. And it went by so fast! So there you go - I think I now have my city tour down to a fine art, so when you come for your visit, bring walking shoes!
And then that was the end of my mini break, back to work on Friday, even tho it was soooo tempting to take the day off - I figured it'd make my next week easier and magically the weekend would suddenly appear! Yay!
And yes, this weekend has been chores with a little home repair thrown in for fun. I have a little window in my kitchen that was barely hanging on it's last breath. At the
beginning of June I put in a repair request to my super crappy rental agency, pointing out that due to the poor little window's state of 
disrepair I wasn't able to close or lock it, technically and by law a 24 hour repair for security reasons, but from this agency - nothing. No response. I pretty much expected that (in Australia, renters are treated as third class citizens and with immense disdain). So, after waiting a month for nothing, and armed with $26 dollars' worth of two kinds of liquid nails, some sandpaper, a couple of little metal brackets, a butter knife (no chisel, see) and a hammer, I set out to repair it myself. To stellar results! Just like new! Well, perhaps not 60+ years ago new, maybe 10... But it's fixed! Before my awesome repairs it could only open maybe eight inches and now I can open it almost two feet! And as an added bonus I freshened up its paint. I am so awesome. Stoopid rental agency and cheap stingy owners. It's times like this I wish I had my own place......... Because every repair I do to this place is a freebie.... Grrrr. Still, it was me that wanted a window that opened and wouldn't fall apart - the owner's solution would've been to nail it shut, no matter that it only cost $26 bucks to fix. Never mind. I'm awesome and that's all there is. This dump is lucky to have me!
disrepair I wasn't able to close or lock it, technically and by law a 24 hour repair for security reasons, but from this agency - nothing. No response. I pretty much expected that (in Australia, renters are treated as third class citizens and with immense disdain). So, after waiting a month for nothing, and armed with $26 dollars' worth of two kinds of liquid nails, some sandpaper, a couple of little metal brackets, a butter knife (no chisel, see) and a hammer, I set out to repair it myself. To stellar results! Just like new! Well, perhaps not 60+ years ago new, maybe 10... But it's fixed! Before my awesome repairs it could only open maybe eight inches and now I can open it almost two feet! And as an added bonus I freshened up its paint. I am so awesome. Stoopid rental agency and cheap stingy owners. It's times like this I wish I had my own place......... Because every repair I do to this place is a freebie.... Grrrr. Still, it was me that wanted a window that opened and wouldn't fall apart - the owner's solution would've been to nail it shut, no matter that it only cost $26 bucks to fix. Never mind. I'm awesome and that's all there is. This dump is lucky to have me!
And today has been finishing up the little chores, repairs and touch-up painting, and enjoying the lovely weather. Man I love winter here (when it's not raining). But I must say, the weekends
are way too short, no matter how nice the weather is. Not enough time or energy to get everything done that I imagine doing first thing Saturday morning. It gets to this time on Sunday and I tick off all the things I didn't get done....... Damn. Oh well. There's next weekend and then......... homeward bound! Woooooooot! Getting excited! Haven't been home since September 2010! Mexican foooood! And oh yeah, friends, family, yeah yeah yeah.......! YAY! Say, that reminds me, is there anything anyone wants me to bring them from here (within reason and law)?? Lemme know or else suffer when I arrive and do not unveil any presents.......!
And, well, there you go. A mini Adventure was had, in preparation for the big Adventure home! Wow. Under two weeks to go....... YAY! Hope you're all well and see you soooon!
LOVE!
J!
