Penguins Need Not Apply!

Hi!

Well. Here we are! Been ages since I was able to check in. All I can say is that it's been H O T these last few weekends. Like, hot. That first weekend it was I-wish-I-was-dead hot. It was, roughly, 115 degrees, with about 60-70% humidity, inside the little apartment, for almost three days. In fact, it was probably hotter inside considering there's no insulation in the ceiling and a silver, tin roof with zero shade..... Now I know what all those pies feel like in my toaster oven! And then the next few weekends haven't been as hot, but way too hot to either think or risk turning on the poor little laptop. 

So after that horrible weekend, first thing I did was order a portable air conditioning unit (does heat too!). And though it took nearly three weeks to finally arrive (had to come from Perth, on a truck), it is my new best friend, named Pinguino, by DeLonghi (who knew Italy had penguins?!). Of course, the day after it arrived, the weather cooled off significantly, and the last couple of days it's even rained. Typical. But the next time it gets even a little hot, I'll be prepared!

So that's why it's been so long since checking in last. Bummer dude, but it's summer and that's what it does here. But we're here now, have a nice glass of my favorite champagne, Cattier, got some hip n' groovy jazz tunes (thank you SkyFM!), just brought in the happy clean laundry so birds don't crap on it during their evening gab session.... Ahhhhh, yes, life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good. I worked through the whole holiday exodus, which was fine, even kinda nice. And now, slowly but surely, folks are coming back. I've had a bit of work to do but not so much I can't think straight. My manager keeps saying how quiet we are and how it'll stay that way until August at least......... I don't believe him but we'll see. Gosh, I hope he doesn't tell HR that - they won't renew my contract at the end of March and probably won't go through with the Permanent Residency application! Eeeeek! Hey, speaking of PR, I finally received my "all's well" letter from the US Feds about my background check. Yay! That was my last document to hand in and then the rest is up to HR (~snigger~) and the Ernst & Young migration gal...... This is the point at which it fell over last time so here's hoping the migration gal carries a very big stick......... And beats those HR morons to death! OK, maybe not death because then nothing will really get done...... Tho I don't know why I'm in such a hurry - I'll have to pay all the application fees, which amount to, roughly, $4,000 - $5,000............ Whatever. As long as it happens, I don't care! Because ultimately, it'll mean I have a Real Job at long last! Otherwise, work is good. Always happy to have someplace to be with a decent paycheck at the end!

And then there were a few weekends in there....... Well, that last weekend I

checked in was New Year's... Yeah, didn't do anything. Watched a couple movies, struggled to stay awake to watch the fireworks in Sydney (errr, on TV that is, I wasn't actually in Sydney.... tho one year I will.....), then went right to bed. Yep, pretty dull - and that was OK by me! 

And then the last few weekends have basically been a hot and humid blur of a helluva lot of wasted time. Haven't been up to much because I really haven't been able/wanted to.... Oh sure, I could hop in the car and go somewhere, but when it's that hot, everyone has the same beach/movie/mall/museum idea and the places are mob-scenes. And then I'll just end up spending money. So I was safer suffering at home. Which, in the end, has been really good for the bank account - the car loan is $1,700 away from being paid in full! Pretty exciting considering it took me a solid year of throwing three times the amount of money at it. Sweeeeeeeet! Then there're a few more things to pay off and then will start saving for something, maybe a house deposit, maybe just a rental deposit (every month my idea changes from buying to renting). Yay! So there has been a method to being boring! That, and I really have to get going on this screenplay if I want to win this competition and take over Hollywood...............!

So there you have it! Apologies for not being able to check in, but as you can see, not much has been missed. Maybe that's what I'll do, just check in every few weekends if things have been rather dull. And then when something exciting happens, I'll check in.......? Hmmmmmm....... 

Otherwise, I hope you're all well up there, defrosting from winter.......?! Hey, you want to defrost, I got yer defrost all over down here! C'mon down!

BYE!
J!