1st Day of Autumn - 93 Degrees with 65% Humidty

Hi!

Well. I’ve decided I’m gonna quit commenting about how fast the weeks and the weekends go because anymore they always go so quickly. And the heat and humidity. Even if today is the first day of Autumn and it’s currently 95 out there, well, inside it is anyways…. So, there!

So work. Yep. Is good. Bloody busy. Getting to be hard to decide which project to tackle first, they’re all interesting and easy. Am teaching myself (with a bit of help from our two very smart, very patient IT guys from my department) a new Adobe program called RoboHelp. It’s basically web publishing software…. I can’t really explain it, must go to the website and see what they say… But am using it on one of my projects. It’s interesting and at first looked kinda scary but once you get in it’s actually pretty easy and straight-forward. Cooool. I love learning new software, especially on my own and not in a class! Otherwise, work is good. Still no word about my extension, but I live in hope. I hope to get at least another 3 month pass….!? Y’know, if they do extend me, come the 1^st of May I’ll have been with the fire service for 2 whole years – almost a record after Centennial Hall! Hooray! But I gotta get to May 1^st first! Hahahaha!

And then the weekend…. Oh, wait, casting back to Tuesday, I regretfully dropped the Wee Scooter off at the Yamaha dealer for them to try and sell for me. Sigh. I was very sad. And of course the scooter was running beautifully. But after having my little for sale ads up (at work and at the grocery store up the road here) for a month and a half with only one slightly interested nibble, I had to leave it all in the hands of the professionals. I could’ve dropped the price, but again, will leave that to the pros. They know what the market’s doing. Poor scooter. I just wasn’t riding it nearly as much as I should and hopefully some bored housewife out in the ‘burbs will take it for spins to the corner store or the library………! Awwww. I miss my little scooter. It became a bit of a driveway ornament!

So the weekend. Dullsville Australia. Yesterday I did laundry while working on a last-minute project for work, which, I know, totally violates Work Rule #2 – Never Bring Work Home, but when the Director of my department dropped it on my desk Friday afternoon and asked if I could doctor up a PowerPoint presentation for him for Monday afternoon, what other response could I give???! And because I have mad skillz, and really, you can’t say no to the Director, I said yes, of course! So brought it home and after about 4 & ½ hours of tinkering, I think it looks fine! Will get it to him tomorrow with fingers crossed he likes it and doesn’t want something totally different (eeeeek)!? It’s kinda funny, after messing with some of the groovy desktop publishing software that I have, PowerPoint is pretty basic stuff. I can’t believe with all the fantastic software out there in this and age that people still waste their time with PowerPoint! But, I understand, not everyone can have self-taught mad skillz! Ha!

And today. Had the energy for nothing more than surfing the ‘net with my awesome Broadband wireless thingy, watching a DVD and staying in front of a fan with a spray mister at all times. Stupid Tropics. It was 90 at about 11am, got up to at least 96 with what feels like 90% humidity. I considered going to a mall or the movies but shot that idea down as it required leaving the house and that inevitably, always costs money, no matter what; especially in light of the fact that the bank account is in Savings Lockdown mode. And besides, I’d have to leave the a/c at some point and come home to this oven, so might as well acclimate. Sigh. First day of Autumn. Cooler weather has to be close……. It just has to be. Unless global warming really has kicked in and it’ll be like this forever. If that’s the case, maybe I will move to NYC again! No, wait, the summer’s were just as bad there too…. Alaska!

And that’s about that. Am starting a list of things to do with the Gals on our trip around the US. We don’t have a lot of time in each place except for NYC so we have to really keep it to the important stuff. Well, whatever they want to do we’ll do in the time we can! Oh I can’t wait. They’re gonna have the best time! I hope! I can’t wait for Mexican food and to see NYC again. And my pups. And my friends. Oh yeah, and family…….!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man, after this trip, I really hope the airlines keep their prices down. When I moved here I made a promise to myself that I’d go home at least once a year, but the stupid airlines got greedy and I was trapped here. As much as I miss things from the States, I don’t miss them enough to have spent $3,000 to come see them! So now that tickets are less than half the previous prices at the moment, let’s hope they stay that way. Hooray for Richard Branson and competition! So you should take advantage too and come down here for a visit! Come on – it’ll be fun! And cheap!

BYE!

J!

Hot + Couch = Nap

Hi!

Well. Sorry for the time-delay....... I started to write earlier on in the afternoon yesterday, which can't have been a good idea with how hot it was. So I took a break and had a nap. 3 hours later it was dark and nearly bedtime. So, ok, sure, I could've continued on because I was awake for hours into the evening, but whether or not it was going to make any sense.........? So yes. No more naps that close to the evening! Right. Lesson learned.

Anyways, here we are now, Monday evening, chores have all been done, lunch sort of ready for tomorrow, clothes all set out for tomorrow... Yeah, so much for the weekend. Too fast! But hey, just imagine a week with no weekend (and I've had them) - a fast weekend is much better than no weekend. Yeeaaaa!

So work. Yep. Is really good. Bloody busy, but that's good. No word yet if I'll be extended come March 31st (yes it's early panic mode setting in).... I live in hope. Otherwise things are much the same. Funny, we're only 2 months into the New Year and already people are "stressed out". Hmmm. I try not to let the whole 'lots of stuff to be done at work' get me down or stressed out - no point really. Which reminds me, I kept remembering then forgetting to bring my camera to document the massive building site my work has become..... Tomorrow...... Hee, Friday afternoon a big storm rolled in, lightning and everything, yet those construction boys were out there clinging to their giant metal pillars as they stood ankle deep in muddy puddles. Ahhh, the bolt never came. Aren't they brave.

Then the weekend. Yep. Was lovely, if not too hot and humid, as are all weekends anymore. Where the heck is Autumn already????!!! I just want one weekend, one day, a few hours where when I do my chores or run errands I don't have to take yet another shower. Yes, I've sweated out the toxins and fair bit more I imagine, but man, with the heat and humidity already. It's been, what, at least 3 months of it already - enough! Stupid Southern Hemispherical tropics.

Anyways, Saturday was very good, very productive. The Wee Scooter was very happy in that I gave it a bath and took it for a great long ride around town. Went to all kinds of places I haven't been in ages - Morningside, Southbank, work, Spring Hill...... It was so much fun that I have half a mind not to sell it.....! I did have one nibble on the sale hook on Friday but by Saturday, after I'd given the enquirer all the info they wanted, they were no longer all that interested.... Eh, their loss. Such a good little scooter. If I didn't work so far away and own a big car (anyone wanna buy a car....?)....!

And Sunday... chores. The usual. Hot, humid, gross, yet the house, clothes, bathroom, etc are all clean and happy. Thing is, I started at 8am and didn't sit down until 3pm. That's devotion if I ever saw it. Which probably explains why when I finally sat down, I had to have a nap. I was beat. I blame my comfy couch and quiet fan. Or, the stupid heat and humidity. I can handle the hot but not the humid. Yeahyeahyeah, you've heard it all before. I really want this summer to end. Really.

And then today, Monday, went by really fast. It was actually kinda unbelieveable how fast today went. Guess I was that busy at work. I like that. Tho I must admit I did two things - 1) kinda looked for an apartment in NYC (operative word/s - "kinda looked") and 2) scoped out what was happening at the Oscars (hoooooooorraaaay for "Slumdog Millionaire"!!!). From lovely, peaceful, sunny and fun Australia, the thought of living back in NYC sounds kinda fun. We'll see what kind of tune I'm singing after a week back there in September. Even Lauren is kicking around coming with me for a year. I could probably only stand a year back there. Not anytime soon tho, mind you. Just an idea for a bit down the track. I did reallyreally like NYC, it was the winters that got to me. Hmmm.

So there you are. Much the same as always. Are you sure you don't find this all painfully dull? You have to tell me. I write this stuff but for all I know you just flip to Google and look up "underwater basket weaving"...... Well, either way, hope you're all well up there. I gotta say, I can't wait for my 4 & 1/2 weeks this September!

BYE!
J!
P.S. This just in - Autumn supposed to arrive this weekend. Temperatures supposed to rise. A girl just can't win. Stupid global warming.

Faster than Speeding Laundry

Hi!

Well. Another week shoots past faster than a speeding bullet. Hooray! But again, as always, the weekend goes by even faster. I wish I had a time machine sometimes…….. But never mind. Here we are on yet another summery, hot and humid Sunday afternoon. Again with the time machine and to be into autumn already!

So work. Yep. Is really good (work work that is). Personalities always keep it interesting. I suppose if everyone was the same the world would be immensely boring. Otherwise all is well. Busy as a bee in spring, which suits me just fine. Speaking of busy bees, I must take some pictures of the construction site that (right near) my work has become. Good ol Mayor Campbell Newman loves his tunnels, bless ‘im, and by golly he’s building a MASSIVE one all through the city (even imported German tunnel-boring machine drivers), only to ultimately have it dump out right in front of our office windows. In 20whenever. Fly-overs, bridges, on/off ramps, the whole kit and caboodle. It’s gonna be like working, well, under a freeway overpass. http://www.citynorthinfrastructure.com.au/home/home.html Construction around my work started around July last year. It’s a weird thing to watch every now and then. For a while there was much mirth watching 10 construction guys standing around pointing, then walking over to where they were pointing, then walking back again. Now there are these huge drilling machines all tucked up next to each other with cement trucks figure-eighting amongst them. I like to think that if they add one more piece of heavy machinery, a giant sinkhole will open up and swallow the whole scene instantly. And then ol Newman will just have to give it up and put a lovely park in. My work used to be some sort of teacher’s college and it was set in a lovely native tree and bush setting. We had sooooo many interesting birds and spiders and skinks and even those horrible cane toads that the locals use to practice their golf swings on, it was a really very nice setting to work in. And then this tunnel business, which meant the trees were the first victims. Sigh. Can’t stop progress, although it is sort of interesting to watch. Will take pictures.

And then the weekend. Started off in grand fashion, again, with dinner and drinks at the Paddo pub with some folks from work. I swear, for as slow as Friday seemed to go, the evening sure flew by. And then Saturday was up to head out with Young Christine and her boyfriend Toby to the RSPCA so she could confront the realities of adopting a kitty. One was found and bonded with, and yet magically Christine walked calmly away. It’s a big commitment for a young gal who still lives with folks who just say no to cats. Someday. Cute pups and cats there tho. And I have to say, they were flying (not literally, as interesting as that would be to see) out the door into happy new homes (hopefully), which is always a wonderful thing to see. I was tempted to adopt a couple of the dogs until I remembered I’m already living a life of crime by having a cat I’m not supposed to, and a big backyard with no fence……..

And today. Very…. productive. Was up early to be the first to get laundry done (you have to when it’s 1 washing machine versus 8 tenants). And then have been busy cleaning up my little laptop of all of its behemoth multi-media files. I can’t really say much more due to international laws……….. Just basically cleaning up old files, listening to tunes I haven’t heard in years (and discovering some I didn’t know I had, or want), etc. Ahhhhh, little bit of spring cleaning for the computer. Annnnnnd, oh yeah, I mentioned this last week – I am indeed the proud owner of pre-paid wireless broadband! And after a few days of really trying to figure out how it works and getting it registered, etc (it’s just like having a everyone including the Tech Dude at Optus to stay as far away from YouTube as I possibly can, as that is one of the biggest credit-eaters you can run into. Point taken. I have to say the speed is fantastic and I’m able to post my blog and load up all the photos in a third of the time! Waaahhoooo! Hooray for modern technology! Thing is, after having dial-up for so long, and training myself not to bother with exciting websites, now that I can, I don’t know what to go look at! And the other thing is, my credit runs out every month, so if I don’t use it, I lose it! Guess I’ll go scope out YouTube after all……

So there you have it. All the news that’s fit to…… yawn to. Again, helloooo, saving money for trip home means cutting down on the excitement…..! Soon, excitement will happen soon. Until then, send email – that’s exciting!

BYE!

J!

A Rootbeer Float Can Cure Just About Anything

Hi!

Well. That was one week I am SO happy that went by fast. So happy it went by fast that to celebrate I’m taking Monday (today) off, just cos I can. 3-day weekend – HOORAY! But apologies for being late. Technically I'm not, but according to Optus (my new little pre-paid wireless broadband experiment) I am. I couldn't get the little devil to work last night. Plug it in today and wooooosh! Here I am. I keep waiting for it to cut out tho...... But never mind - so far so good - here we are!

So work. Work, as in work, is really good. Love it. Work as in the place with people, yeah. Well. For some people Rome most certainly wasn’t built in a day. Ain’t it the truth. And some things you just can’t teach kids in school. Sigh. Otherwise, 95% of people are fine by me. Yep, there’s always that muddy 5%........ Can’t say with any certainty if I’ll be extended come March 31st (yes, the nervous waiting game starts about now). Of course I hope and plead that I do, but my fate is in the hands of, well, my boss. I live in eternal hope. Perhaps I should dust off the ol’ resume, just in case….. sigh.

And then the weekend. Started off very nicely with some civilized drinks after work with some very civilized work folk. Always nice to have a table of 50 conversations going at once and magically none of them are about work. I love that the folks I work with, we can go outside of work (inside too, come to think of it) and talk about everything but. Fantastic. And then Saturday, nothing. I think I sat on the couch reading my book and watching old movies all day. I’ll tell you what – I needed it after this week.

And then Sunday, errands and one chore (laundry – it’s far too hot and humid to do anything foolish like vacuum or mop. Am not that dirty or devoted to cleaning). The result of which, not only do I have summer-fresh sheets, but I now come to you live from Brisbane via Optus Pre-paid Wireless Broadband!!!!!!!!! I’ve been meaning to become just that much more modern so I broke down today/yesterday and bought one and here I am....!!!!! Turns out, this past Thursday my land-line decided it had had enough of serving me, so it, well, isn’t now. Have logged it with my phone company’s faults department, but knowing my phone company, even tho they say it’ll be fixed by Monday, ehhhhhh, I don’t trust them one bit. And being the modern sort of gal that I almost am, I decided enough was enough! I will no longer be held to ransom by my phone company (-shaking fist in air rebelliously-)! Even tho, heh, the wireless pre-paid broadband thingy I bought is with my phone company; Coincidence that they seemed to have the best deal going out of all 5 of them. So. We’ll just have to see how it all works in the end………

And that’s about that. Nice and quiet. I would say I was saving money, but, like I’ve said before, the minute I leave the house my bank account starts to drain somehow. But, this pre-paid broadband lark should be means to an end – the end of my phone company!!!!! Yeah, kinda sad that something like that is the bright spark in my weekend, I know, but there it is. Maybe tomorrow, in light of the fact that it’s supposed to be 95 with at least 90% humidity, I’ll go someplace with a/c…. kind of an adventure…… Hmmmmm, all I know is I have tomorrow off and I can do what I like! Yaaahhooooo! Short work week!!!!!!!!

BYE!
J!

P.S. Seeing as I was delayed a day by modern technology, can I just say I just cleaned the whole little apartment today in what certainly feels like 100 degree heat with 90% humidity. Turns out I am that devoted to cleaning - and sweating out those toxins! Waahhooo! Time for a A&W Rootbeer float!

Week End - Ain't It the Truth

Hi!

Well. For a short week (3 days of work), it was a busy bloody week. I guess that’s the flip-side to having a short week/long weekend – you just have to cram 5 days worth of work into 3 days. Gahhh. It was tough not to have taken the rest of the week off. And I kinda should have. But never mind. A lovely weekend was had, the weather not too punishing…… And here we are yet again at Sunday evening!

So work. Yep. Is really good. Busy as usual, but good. As many of my projects are kind of continuously on-going, meaning they never really seem to end, even tho they’re ‘projects’… hmmm…. it is really satisfying when one project really does get wrapped up and finished off. Job well done and then 20 new projects scramble for attention! Ahhhh, that’s the stuff I like – always having something to do. So yep, am still really liking this gig, and fingers crossed March comes and goes and I’m still there!!!? Hooray for work!

And then the weekend. Sigh. It was much needed if I do say so myself. Having 4 days off in a row makes it kinda tough to face the week. Stupid mini-vacation! But never mind, I was happy to have the weekend come so soon. Even tho I didn’t get up to much. Yes, I know, it’s the same old song every weekend anymore. I know. Unless you want to send me at least $3,000 for my expenses in September, then boring weekends will have to be endured! Still tho, I wasn’t totally immobile the whole time. Saturday I went on a hunt for bits of glass with Hasse. My bathroom has this sorry little window with 3 bits of louver glass missing. One junk shop and ten dollars later I was the proud owner of 3 bits of matching louver glass. The things I do for this dumpy apartment that the owners simply refuse to. I’m a hero to these four walls! I gave them not one but 2 coats of paint (both walls and ceiling), I cover the crappy carpet with my own happy rugs (that’s merely because I will not walk barefooted on the original, filthy carpets, no way Jose), I even give the hinges a dose of WD-40. Ahhhhh well. I have to live here might as well try to enjoy it as best and squeak-free as I can.

And then today. Laundry and not a whole lot else. Rain. DVD’s. Need I say more? Yet it’s still pretty warm considering there’s been no sun all day. Still tho, it could be faaaaar worse – Melbourne and Adelaide are enduring the worst heat wave they’ve had in like 70 years. 116+ every day. Bone dry, but bloody hot when they’re not used to it. I know how they feel. Hot I can handle. It’s the humidity I can’t take. I just don’t know how Floridians deal. Must have to be born in it. Yuck.

Otherwise, that’s about it! Oh, duh, I know one thing I did over my mini-vacation – went to the new “artsy” cinema up the road from me (veeeeery nice – and you can bring wine/beer in with you! Fantastic!) and saw “Slumdog Millionaire”. I highly recommend it. It was fantastic and not really what you think. Absolutely one of the best movies I’ve seen in years. If Danny Boyle doesn’t win for Best Director, well, I’ll know Hollywood has its head jammed so far up it’s own a-…… Hollywood’ll just never change. Go see it!

Ok, that’s really about it. The wee scooter is still up for sale. Sigh. Lots of little tags torn off mah ad, but the phone hasn’t rung. Gee, I really hope I got my number right…… Chickens. They’re just not made of tough enough stuff to ride a cool, wee scooter around town! Hey, I have a car, that’s my reason…….! Yeah, I turned wuss – what about it, huh??! Huh?!

BYE!

J!

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!

Hi!

First off, yes, I missed yesterday's check-in, but that's because I was being patriotic by attending a pre-Australia Day BBQ! Today is Australia Day but friends had their BBQ yesterday so that we could have today to recover. And that's kinda Australian right there. And yes, I did actually kinda need today to recover. Best part is, I have tomorrow off too! HOORAY for a 3-day work week!

So work. Yep, is really good. Busy. Always. Kinda getting to the point where I really need to keep a closer eye on some of the stuff am doing as it's starting to look like I-5 at rush hour......... But otherwise all's well.

Then the weekend. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Friday was very quiet (gotta save that money for Sept!). Saturday I was a good little house-elf and did the chores, and proceeded to lose about 50 pounds through sweating it out with the 95 degree 85% humidity! But couldn't stand the sight of the place with bits of cat fluff everywhere and the odd skink tail here and there. Nice that my place is so little (and crammed with furniture nowadays) cos it makes it a trillion times easier and quicker to clean. Imagine having one of those great big rolling mansions...........sigh......... Nice. If I could afford one of them I could afford staff!!!! Someday...............!

And then yesterday, Julian's pre-Australia Day BBQ - was fantastic. Forgot mah camera but it was the same crowd as always sitting around laughing, solving the problems of the world and watching their kids play for hours in about an inch of water in their little wading pool. Ahhhh, those were the days - who needs a real pool when you have a little inflatable wading pool and a hose! It was a really nice day/evening, excellent food (as always), great to catch up with everyone, basically it was such a lovely way to celebrate, well, Australia!

And here we are at Monday, the real Australia Day. Incredibly enough there's nothing special on tv! You'd think they'd have movies on at least one channel of nothing but Mad Max, Crocodile Dundee, Muriel's Wedding, something! But no. It's the same day-time crap as the States actually - Oprah, Ellen, Judge Judy. Sigh. Am happy I have a decent sized stash of movies as back-up because that's what I plan to do for the rest of today - veg with movies, maybe a nap and more movies! Hooray! And I have tomorrow off too - BONUS!

So I hope you're all well up there! Like I said, and will probably say every time until Sept, I can't wait to get up there and see everyone (if I can)! And please, if there's anything you want me to bring you from here (ok, well, within reason, let's be sensible now), let me know!?

BYE!
J!

Faster than a Speeding Weekend

Hi!

Well. Here we are yet again on a Sunday evening. I swear, a minute ago it was Friday evening and I was contemplating what a nice weekend this was going to be, I had the whole two days ahead of me, a lovely blank slate. And then whoosh! just like that it was gone, and here we are. Sigh. Do you know, tomorrow (in this country) is the 19^th of January already? Man.

So. Work. Yep. Is actually quite good, if not busy and only going to get busier tomorrow and then on (by now most of everyone I work with will be back from their Xmas break – lucky folks). I like it busy tho. And I like the projects am in charge of. All doable, interesting, manageable. I figure this week is going to go by as fast as the last two. That’s ok. I don’t mind. What I do mind is the equally speedy weekends. I think something needs to be done about this. Someone needs to dig up a Roman or two and sort this calendar thing out. Add an extra day to the weekend. I think an extra day after Sunday needs to be invented. Why not? The Romans did what they wanted, when they wanted, who says things have to stay the same? We don’t have any days that start with “B”, what about ‘Besterday’ or something. Yeah.

And then the weekend. Was nice. Speedy, but nice. Busy. Friday was nice, quiet, low cost. Saturday….. Chores…… Reading………. Dullsville Central…….. And today were errands with Natasha at the malls. We covered a lot of territory, got a lot done, but am happy to report I didn’t spend that much money. Hair gel, library book fines, the usual. Hmmmm, looking at it, fairly dull, but busy. Thankfully the weather was much cooler today that it has been over the last few days, thus making it heaps easier to run errands. Usually when it’s that hot and we have that much running around to do I lose concentration about a third of the way through the day and by the time I get home my brain is mush and I realize I’d spent way too much money on lots of crap I didn't need. So even though the sun is setting earlier and earlier, that just means we’re that much closer to cooler weather! Though they keep threatening me with the fact that we still have February to get through yet…… Hmmm. Fingers crossed.

And that’s that! Still planning our trip to the US in Sept, very exciting. Slowly

but surely it’s all starting to come together and look like loads of fun. If anyone is interested in meeting up with us at some point in our whirlwind tour, drop a line and I can let you know where we’re going to be! C’mon down – it’ll be fun! Help show a couple of Aussie gals around our fine country!!!!! Yeeehaw!

BYE!

J!

1st Week After Vacation, Never Easy

Hi!

Well. That was a week. Busy busy busy. Went by pretty fast too for a first week back at work after 12 days off. Expected it to drag, but it was quite the opposite! And of course, this weekend went by just as fast. It’s already Sunday afternoon, so soon. Sigh.

So work. Yep. Is….. yeah. Good. Busy, and getting busier, which is also good. Picking up a couple more projects. Not everyone is back yet from vacation so things should start picking up even more this next week. Pretty soon, I don’t know, I’ll be too busy to think! Hooray! I’ll say yes to all things they throw at me as I’m due to expire at the end of March, so I’m hoping the busier I am the less likely they’ll be to want to see me go! Fingers crossed! So far so good!

And then the weekend. Was nice. Friday the folks from work and I were good and only had two glasses of wine after work, then home. Got to sleep in Saturday morning (my favorite!) and then picked up Natasha to go get our hair cut. Am trying to grow mine out again so maybe getting it cut, even to get it looking kinda decent, can’t be a good idea. I’m just gonna have to suffer through the gangly growing-out stages or else it’ll never grow out. Then we drove around checking out Springwood (the ‘hood where we get our hair cut) and what the houses were like, where grocery stores are, that kinda stuff. Not sure really other than I have a car and we can now! Then we went to Stones Corner to look at boring office clothes. Then we went to the Paddo pub for lunch and what turned out to be too many glasses of wine. Well, we haven’t really caught up in ages, so one glass lead to another, which lead to another which lead to a sort of hazy evening. Ahhhhhh, it was great!

And then slightly groggy this morning, was up to do quick chores to tidy the little place up for Young Christine and Lauren who came around so we could talk about and plan our trip to the States in Sept this year. Yeeeeaaaaa! It’s funny, they want to do sooooo much, which is fine by me, but there’s not much I really want to do, which is also fine by me cos it’s going to be way enough fun as it is showing them around! It’ll be exciting and everything will have a different perspective. Plus, there are a few places we’re going that I haven’t been – like the drive down Highway 1 and the drive from the Grand Canyon (Flagstaff, actually) to Las Vegas, and then we’ll be spending about 3 days in Vegas and I’ve never been there for reals, just drove through. So I’ll get to do a fair bit of new stuff too – excitement will be had by all! Can’t wait.

And that’s that. Now it’s after 5pm, the day has started to cool off a little bit, silly 80’s tunes on the radio, no wine because I had plenty last night, and now it’s just time to chill out and read (James Bond short stories). Dull, perhaps, but nice nonetheless. Hey, I have to save $ to go to the States later this year, so will have to cut down on the excitement! Wait, I kinda do that anyways. Ahhhh, always trying to save money for something! Hope you’re all well up there! Drop a line sometime!

BYE!
J!

End of Vacation in 3... 2... 1...

Hi!

Well. Am sitting here, blues music on the radio, cool glass of chardonnay, what a better way to see the sun set on 12 wonderful days of vacation, I ask you. Ahhhh. Shame. I could use one more week off… Then I’d want one more week and then I’d pretty much want to just retire and never have to go back. Ever. Sigh.

So yes, work. Huh? Happily didn’t have to go near the place once this whole week. Lovely. Not that I don’t like my job, much the opposite, I just like not working and getting paid for it. Heck, who doesn’t??? But will return promptly at 7.30am tomorrow. Yeah.

Vacation. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Was fan-bloody-tastic. Didn’t get up to a whole heck of a lot, which is what made it so fantastic. Did manage to fit in a trip to Ikea…… picked up my happily tuned-up wee scooter with it’s certificate saying it’s safe to sell (sigh)…… rented some movies (I highly recommend "Gone Baby Gone" - who knew Ben had that in him??!)….. went to the store…. Did the chores today……… yeah, didn’t get up to much. Which is what I really wanted to do – not much. Read my books. Napped. Plus, a lot of the time it was so bloody hot you couldn’t move more than what was really required, otherwise with the humidity, you’d’ve needed another shower. It’s been disgustingly hot and humid. But, thankfully, these last couple of days have been lovely and cool. It even rained most of the day yesterday. Ahhh! So now I’ve managed to get some stuff done! Even painted the ceiling of the bathroom.

I know it all sounds incredibly, painfully dull and extremely uneventful, but I haven’t had a break to just sit since last year. Sure I know that’s what I already do on most weekends, but it’s not the same. If I’d known earlier in the game that I had a job to come back to after Xmas, I’d’ve planned and saved for something far more exciting, something(s) that I could cross off my “Things to Do in Australia” List. But never mind. Will just have to get better at saving for exciting little trips on weekends. I don’t normally make New Year’s Resolutions, but this year I think calls for it. So one of the things on that list (that I have yet to compile, but I know this will be in the top 5) is to get out at least once a month and try to knock some stuff off my List over the year. A lot of the stuff on that List is high dollar, much time off work stuff, but there’re few littlies in there….. So yeah. Have car, will travel – it’s why I bought it!

So there you have it. Yes, I know, bo-ring. Hence the Resolution List. Will work on remedies! Otherwise, I hope you all had a fantastic New Year’s and a lovely couple of days off, if you were allowed! Drop a line and let me know how you all are because, get this, am getting better at returning emails – another thing appearing in the top 5 of my Resolution List!

BYE!

J!