The Bank Told Me to Have a Quiet Weekend

Hi!

Well. Here we are. Nice, very quick week. Now arriving at a rainy and cool Sunday evening. Suits me fine after all the stinky hot weeks that were summer! Week was good. Weekend was good. Ahhhhh, everyone is happy!

So work. Yep. Is good, if not slightly confusing at times as to who does what, when exactly. And that’s all I’ll say on the subject. Suffice to say I have never let go of the fact that I’m on a contract that could end either A) At the expiration date or B) Boss’s will (which is pretty much the same thing). Oh yeah. I’m meant to expire at the end of June. I optimistically organized (tho haven’t sent to HR) my renewal paperwork for either a 3 or 6 month extension. So we’ll get to the middle/end of June and see what shakes down….. Otherwise work is good, really!

And then the weekend. Was just fine. Try as I can, I cannot say it was exciting, no matter from which angle I look at it. The only thing lively about it was the schizophrenic weather – raining sideways one minute, lovely, calm and sunny the next. Made doing laundry and chores interesting. Yes, I’m afraid it’s savings lock-down mode. The Girls and I just paid off 3 of our domestic plane tickets in one shot, so all of our bank accounts are suffering slightly. Plus, I had to take the car in for its regular tune-up and oil change. $325 dollars later (needed a new battery, sigh)………….. Which means, for the most part, the bank says there really will be no fun having!

And today. Was mainly quiet (gasp!surprise!). Spent a good part of it organizing and detailing our trip plan. I know all this planning must seem a bit overboard (you haven’t seen my Trip Plan Spreadsheet), but when you’re showing two gals all over the US, who’ve never been, over 4 weeks, covering both coasts and a fair few places in between, flights, rental cars, hotels, etc, with that many details to keep track of, you’d fill out a spreadsheet too. So I did that today. Researched rental cars, hotels and their distances from stuff. Hard to believe it’s only like 3 months away! I must say, all this research and planning is kinda fun. Hooray!

And that’s that. Quiet but true. You want for things to liven up, then come on down! Yaahhooo!

BYE!

J!

Paws in Weekend

Hi!

Well. Here we are at the end of another week. Another short week I may add, but regardless, the end always seems to come too soon. Ahhhh, never mind, it was a perfectly nice week followed by an even lovelier weekend. The lorikeets chattering away outside announcing the sunset is my hint to get started writing!

So work. Yep. Is good. My Big Project that got pushed up to be due in like a week, well, it's going fine. I showed the "draft" to the main "client" and overall he really like it....... "except, well, can it do this.......?". So it was back to the drawing board for a couple of fairly major adjustments. All I can say is I owe Hasse at least one case of really nice wine. The request that the "client" made, I thought was needing at least a few weeks to fix up, took all of ten minutes. It'll do for now. Next year, bells, whistles, the whole lot. As long as the client is happy, I'm happy! Hurrah! So yes, so far so good on the work-front! Whew!

And then the weekend. Started off kinda painful by taking the bus from work into town to run errands. Mistake on a Friday. Errand-in-town day is usually Thursdays but for some reason I thought I'd shake things up a bit by doing them on Friday. Guess it's been that long since I've taken the bus into town on a Friday evening. Plus there was a rugby game on at the Suncorp Stadium (near my house), so traffic was doubly-horrible. Put it this way, it took me over an hour and a half to get from work to town. Normally takes around 20 minutes. Traffic. Sigh. Nevertheless, got my errands run, and to treat myself for being so patient on the buses (cos bus to home from town took about 45 minutes instead of the usual 15, because of everyone walking into the game), I bought my first batch of Indian Takeout all by myself. Yeah. There's a reason why I don't ever buy Indian food on my own without having someone to help me decipher the menu. It was good (love naan bread) but the next day...oooooh, tummy doesn't agree with Indian food. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Weird thing is I can eat really spicy Mexican and Thai food until the cows come home, but something about Indian food.......... Hmm.

And then Saturday. Was up and out bright and early to meet the girls for a morning Trip Planning Session. And boy did we get lots done! Booked all of our domestic flights (except San Diego to Tucson cos we're not sure of the dates yet, depends on length of roadtrip), and booked most of our hotels except Vegas and LA - those'll be easy. Whew! And now that we have a good idea how much all this stuff costs, we can pay it off now and save the rest for partypartyparty! Ha, more like shopshopshop! Hard to believe it's only 3 months away. HOORAY!

And today was up and out bright and early to meet Jan and her family out in her neighborhood of Samford, which is about 40 minutes north-east of the City, not toooooo far from me, kinda. Very pretty, for the Million Paws Walk for the RSPCA. Oh it was really fun! All these dogs! Big ones, little ones, everywhere, all getting along! And supporting a good cause! Jan's mom had made the costumes for the 8 dogs in our group - Brisbane Lions football uniforms and cheerleader outfits! We won for Best Dressed! Hahahahaha! Oh it was fun. And I got to "borrow" a gal's dog while she ran the RSPCA merchandise table to take him on the walk! He was a lovely Golden Retriever named Danny. Funny thing is, she was from Northern California! I thought she sounded kinda familiar...... Ahhh it was a reallyreally nice day out. And really cool to meet Jan's mom and niece and god-daughter!

And that's about that. Soooooo nice to get out and about for once instead of keeping my head down saving money! Ahhh well, there's a great trip to be had for it! But until then, you should come visit!

BYE!
J!

An Adventure without Bailey...

Hi!

Well. First off - am sorry am late. I didn't do a single thing even remotely exciting over the weekend. But I knew I was having an adventure today, so I thought I'd wait..... And here we are!

So yep. Work. Is good. Had a day off today because I could. It's cool how the Government works with little scrubs like me - for every standard day of 7.15 hours you work, technically you earn 15 minutes towards a day off to be used any way you see fit. And you're supposed to stop accruing it at 22 hours (but, depending on how you play it, you can save up to at least 30+ hours, sweeeet). Well, because Qld Gov't employees are wussies with their sorry little standard 7.15 hours a day (they wouldn't last a week in New York City), I work about 8.5 hours a day, therefore I accrue these little gems faster than the average bear. It's EX-cellent if I do say so myself. Ahhhhhh, short weeks. So yes, had a well-earned day off. Otherwise work is good. The big project am working on has had its due date pushed forward about a month, so they want it in like 2 weeks. I'll have to save all my money to bribe the 2 super busy IT guys to help me with the final interweb touches and adjustments! Fingers and toes crossed that they can help and that it works!

And then the weekend. Started off reallyreally cool Friday evening. Went with Hasse (guy from work) to an art gallery show opening thingy. Friends of his own the gallery, and it was photography, so he thought I'd get a kick out of it. The photos, eh, I have some good stuff that I've done, and if I took Photoshop to some of them and blew them up and put them in fancy frames, they'd be just as good as this chick's. But what made the evening even more interesting was the fact that the Governor General of Qld was there! She's not much of a real, governmental decision-maker or anything political like that, she's basically good for - and this is my tourist understanding of an already strange system of Government - she's good for basically reporting back to the Queen what's happening in Australia. And she just so happens to like art. And she lives like a couple blocks from me in a huuuge mansion down the road! She was there for about an hour, chatted with the owners and the artist and anyone else who had something to say. I couldn't think of a thing to bother her about, so I drank another glass of champagne and thought of my first art gallery show opening for my photography. Hmph! Then we headed off for a lovely meal of Thai food, which, for some reason, if it's spicey and made with coconut milk, I eat it like someone at the next table, or someone even walking by, is gonna take it away from me. Wierd. I just really like Thai food... Then it was home and sleeeeeep. Can only handle so much excitement for what had been a school-day.

Otherwise, the weekend was Yawnsville, Australia. I couldn't even be bothered to do all my chores beyond laundry. Eh, the place is teeny, am only here to sleep, how dirty can it get. And really, vacumming this carpet, am not too sure it really matters (one good thing about this crappy place and its crappy carpet - the cat can throw up on it and all I have to do is just pick up the chunks and know not to step on that section for a few days. Cool).

But today - an adventure was had! Even if it was kinda small and short-lived. I took the day off and so did Lauren and Hasse - so we drove up to a lovely, quaint little town in the hinterland up north of Brisbane by about an hour and a half called Montville. Very cutesy, country, crafts, wind chimes, tourists with babies in strollers (including one on a leash - the kid, not a tourist, but the kid coulda been a tourist......). We wandered through pretty much most of the shops then finally had lunch at a pretty neat restaurant called the Poet's Cafe. Then we drove back into town to miss the evening rush hour. Even tho it was short, it was a really lovely way to spend a day off. Must do that more often.

And that's about that! It's tough going this saving money to go on vacation for 4+ weeks. Gahhhh, I sometimes lose my mind from boredom and too many naps some weekends. But, nevermind, will be there soon and it'll be fun! Hooray! So hurry, c'mon down - the weather's fine!

BYE!
J!
P.S. Tho some sad news - my pup in Tucson, Bailey, died over the weekend of some scary leukaemia. It was quick and kinda painful. Poor pup. Now he's up there with all the other good pups and cats have known over the years - Piper, Freddie, Muffy, Teddy, Grandma Kitty, Chelsea, Joey, Maddie, Geisha, countless goldfish, a couple of birds, numerous lizards, a few mice......... Here's to you Bailey!!!!!!!!!!!!

Field Trips with the Rent

Hi!

Well. That was a fine week. Didn't seem to get much done, but I went to work for 5 days, from 7.30am til 4pm, so I must've done something to keep myself entertained that whole time. And then at home..... I know I didn't bother with tv at least one night..... Oh yeah. Week went by quite nicely, just like most weeks......!

So work. Yep. Is good. Semi-busy, in a very manageable way. Projects ticking along slowly but surely. If I can just put the cool RoboHelp project to bed (hopefully in the next month or so) then I can really get started on another, tho not as cool, project. Heck, they're all cool, but this RoboHelp has been the coolest so far! Annnnd then I get to go learn Flash level 2 (website animation kinda stuff) towards the end of the month! Yeeaaa for learning! So yes, work is good, ticking along quite nicely!

And then the weekend. Ahhhhhhhh, another 3 day weekend! This time it's because of Monday being Labor day - hooray! Tho I didn't know it was a long weekend until the Thursday before, too late to really plan anything major like going out of town. But, the little group of work folks and I have just managed to put together a little field trip for tomorrow - we're taking public transport (so no one gets caught drinking and driving) up to Sandgate (not too far north of the city, but by train it takes about an hour), where we're going to what's known as a pretty awesome pub called the Full Moon Hotel (never been there, have heard it's really good, am excited), plus it's right near the water so it should be really pretty. So we'll have lunch and then hopefully try to find a lawn bowls club - my absolute favorite weekend thing to do in this country! So that'll be a lovely way to spend Labor Day! That's if stuff is even open, owing to the holiday lots of stuff actually closes here. It should be interesting nonetheless!

Otherwise, yesterday was nice and productive in a very chore-like way. My neighbor has just got his lease renewal, he's been here 6 years and they've decided to raise his rent an extra $30 bucks a week. Highway robbery for this dump. So I brought my little laptop over to his little place (and I thought my place was crap) and helped him look for a new apartment. We found a couple but he'll have to go check them out. So if they raised his rent that much, I'm terrified to see what they do to me! I should be receiving my lease renewal soon too, since they're mailing them out like 2 months in advance. Weird. So who knows, I could be pulling up stakes again. Sigh. Someday I'll be able to stay in one place longer than a year.

And today was very quiet in a studious kinda way. Doing research for a new screenplay I'm developing. Should be good. Won't say any more as will jinx it. Suffice to say it's another sell-out Hollywood bit of semi-fluff. Hey, I don't care, just want the money, then I can be artsy. Yeah!

So there you have it. Am looking forward to tomorrow's field trip. Haven't been out on a field trip in ages. I should do this more often, I know. If it turns out to be quite good, well, when you come down I'll take you!

BYE!
J!

Power Tools Get the Chores Done!

Hi!

Well. That was a nice weekend, got much accomplished. And a pretty speedy week on top of it all too. Of course it helps when the week is only 4 work-days long, but eh, at least it went fast!

So work. Yep. Is pretty good. Even though it went pretty fast, the week, I feel like it was one of those weeks where I didn't get a lot of workwork done. Meetings. I don't really like meetings. They're full of good intentions but it seems that 9 times outta 10 not much really comes of them. Weird. Otherwise, all's well on the work front. Just trying to keep my chin up and my projects speeding along to keep me in the good books come June 30th when my contract expires. Because of our new Premier(Governor)/change of Government, things always get a bit dicey with regards to us little folks - especially contractors like me. And the end of June is the end of the financial year, so there's another tenterhook. So oh yeah, come the end of June I'll be a right ball of worry! But, I can only dust off and fluff up my resume and hope for the best!

And then the weekend. Yes, I had Monday off to go have my Will drawn up and didn't I call it - I was outta there in half an hour, and that was with me asking questions! It was easy and pretty interesting. In the end I don't have much to worry about (stuff-wise or impending death-wise, as far as I know), so it's all pretty straightforward. Hard to nominate an Enduring Power of Attorney tho. What a thing to lump on someone. The vacancy still exists if anyone would like to apply!? And no, to answer your only question, I don't own a thing of value or have bank accounts hiding in Switzerland. If I did I wouldn't shop at Ikea.

So the weekend. Started off nice and a little early with motoring from work at 2pm. Turned out it was probably the most productive day of the whole weekend! Just got a lot of little things/chores done around the place. Cool. And Saturday was nice and quiet owing to Anzac Day. So I had a glass of wine to my Grandad!

And today. Eh, quiet too, got some chores done. Was hot. Thankfully the humidity is down so it's easier to get stuff done. Did the usual chores and small home repairs - patched some little holes in the walls (not my fault, but will be blamed if the real estate agent notices, unlikely, but possible), moved the toilet roll holder from up by my head to near the toilet (I rock with my little Black & Decker cordless drill - never get a chance to use it!) and I finally started work on the travel brochure for me and the gals for our Big Trip. Looking pretty good - all one page of it! I hope to have something that not only has dates, hotels and stuff like rental car pick-ups, but helpful info for the gals to peruse about the different places we'll be going. Cool!

And that's about that! Again, another dull weekend, but welcome to my world of saving to go on a 4 week vacation in like 4 months (gasp!money!). So dull is the word until launch time! Hooray! So there you are - you have 4 months to get in while the weather's nice and, well, I can take like a few days off!

BYE!
J!

Wireless Berets in Clean Apartments

Hi!

Well. Short weeks are happy things. And the best part is am taking tomorrow off (cos I can) so that'll make it 3 weeks of 4-day weeks. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. See, I still think the French had something with taking to the streets to demand a 4-day work week. I'd be in the crowd with my beret waving my banner!!!!!! Vive la France!

So work. Yep. Is pretty good. I have to say, it's reallyreally nice having the new gal in the office (taking the place of my former nemis- uhhhhh... politically correct must be politically correct............. co-worker) working with us. She's really cool. She's friendly, got a personality, has traveled, has a brain, is nice, personable, yeah. Sooo refreshing to have her in our department. Otherwise, work is good. Ticking along smoothly. Especially when the work week is four days long. Ahhhhh!

And then the weekend. Can I just take this opportunity to mention how absolutely fantastic it is to have this broadband wireless Internet technology stuff. Man. It's so cool that I can get on to the 'net like that and find what I'm looking for like that - speedy! Not that I ever dreaded checking in with all two of you out there on Sunday afternoons, but with dial-up, well, I'll just say it was at least a 3 hour event. At least. Nowadays, thanks to modern technology - an hour at the most!

Anyways, the weekend. Quiet. I have this new habit where come Saturday, I don't do a thing. I relax. I read, nap, snack, read, veg, it's lovely. Sunday is different, up early, chores, no napping, no veging, and errands. Yeah. And so this weekend followed suit. Yeahyeah, I hear you. Saving money is my only response to your protests of utter dullness streaming from Brisbane! You wanna send me $1,000 to go towards my trip back to the States, be my guest! Then I'll go out and have Adventures! So yes, weekend has been quiet with a clean, dumpy, aired-out apartment. Laundry is out swinging on the line, the paint has finally dried after all the rain we had last weekend and into the week, I took glamor shots of my car to get an ad ready to sell..... Yes, the weekend has been a success, complete with bonus day!

And that's about it. Tomorrow am taking off because I can, and also cos I have an appointment to have my will made. Cool. Been meaning to have it done since I left for NZ how many years ago. No I don't have anything to tell you, no I don't have any plans to cut out early (that I know of), it just occurred to me the pain in the butt it will be if something does happen (knockonwood), being a foreigner, how much trouble some stuff might be to sort out, and quickly. So I thought I'd get a head start. Am not gonna go so far as to pre-pay for any festivities or anything like that, but just get it down in writing (for what it's worth) that no, the landlord doesn't get my stuff just cos I rent his crappy apartment, yes family can have all $200 or so in my bank account, etc. It'll be such a short session for these lawyers (or whoever works for the Public Trustees office for the Queensland Government) cos I don't have any kids (whew!) or investments or property etc.... Put it this way, my appointment is for 3.30pm - I bet I'll be out by 4pm. I hope they don't get mad at me for not having any real stuff to bother about........ Hmmm. Guess I'll find out!

So there you are. Hey, you should really think about taking advantage of the cheap ticket prices and the fantastic weather and get yer butt down here even if for just a short visit (I say short visit cos I can't take any more than 4 days off of work to show you around - gotta save my time for the 4 & 1/2 weeks I'll need in Sept!) C'mon, it'll be fun! You can hop over to NZ if you feel the urge!

BYE!
J!

Four Days of Weekend.......!

Hi!

Well. Sunday evening. The sun is just starting to set, the lorikeets are warming up for their evening chat session, the neighbors have finally quit arguing, there're cool blues tunes on the little community radio station, got mah glass o' wine........ ahhhh! The best part about this whole weekend, and checking in this evening, is that there's one more bonus day to go! HOOOORAY! So it's not quite the end yet!

So work. Yep. Is really good. The thing about knowing I'm not worth the lofty job description (and subsequent money) that I envisioned my job to grow to be in the now to near future, is the fact that I can say no to annoying little projects or even to stuff I just don't wanna do. I felt bad the first time I said no to to helping out on what has potential to be a huge project and a big help to the HR department (helping the IT guy help them with an online application system), and I even got to the point were I almost went back and said "Aww shucks, I'll help ya pardner", but I stopped myself in time. Because no, if I'm not worthy of the pay, I'm not worthy of taking huge stuff on, in addition to my usual stuff. Simple and as selfish as that. I'll basically take on the project if, well, if it looks good on my resume and I learn new software and I don't stress out to get it done! How about them apples?? So yes, so far work is good.

And then the lovely, long drawn-out weekend. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Have been busy! Well, around the house busy anyways. Friday started bright and way early to take Lauren to the airport (I get lost coming home every time. Going there I'm ok because they can direct me. Coming home is a whole different kettle of fish.) And then started in on the second coat of paint on the kitchen cabinets. Don't they look a lot nicer than scuffed-up lime green. Followed by a 2 & 1/2 hour nap. Guess I was tired.

Saturday was the bathroom's day for paint. A chore I've really been meaning to do every weekend since I moved in here. It just needed a second coat (curse you dusty purple color!) and all the edges done. Whew! Man, it looks fantastic! Maybe this is what I could do for a living - live in dumpy apartments and fix them up as I go! With money from the landlord of course. This will be my first and last freebie. And will only work on the apartment if it's not summer or if it comes with air-conditioning. Followed by no nap (gasp!), dinner and "Scrooged" - seasonally a little late I realize, but still bloody funny. But it was a bit of a struggle to hear my movie as the Indian couple next door, well, it must've been an Indian movie that they REALLYreally liked cos the volume was up so damn loud. It got to the point where'd I'd pause my movie to listen to theirs as it sounded so, well, lively. Didn't understand a word of it, but the musical numbers sounded fabulous (as Bollywood films always are)! And it was long too. Sigh. Communal living. It's for the birds. If I ever buy an apartment the first thing I'm doing is putting in soundproofing on the walls cos I don't want to hear what my neighbors get up to (or fight about). That and because I too would love to have a bitchin' tv and surround-sound system. Cos Monster Boy next door has an awesome system too, action films with long, screechy car chases sound amazing on his tv - I hear it allllllll night long cos he's an insomniac. Yeah, am so putting in soundproofing. And some sort of air-handling system where when the neighbors below me smoke, their smoke doesn't drift up into my apartment making it smell like, well, like an ashtray. Oh yeah.

And today. While I still have the kitchen to finish with painting the edges and the front door, I decided I could have the day off from painting. So I did some laundry and surfed a bit of the 'net until I managed to download a Trojan virus of some kind (that's the last time I try to download a song from that website). Well, it took that long to scan the poor little laptop and get the thing deleted..... So while that was happening I chatted on the phone to David. Man, sometimes I wish I could be home to take my friends out for a beer and a meal.

And now here we are! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. One more day of freedom to go! Hooray for religious holidays and Australians for going along with them!!! Will finish the painting tomorrow, hopefully. And then I think it could be time for a crap clean-out - gotta keep this teeny apartment streamlined and because I've discovered myself starting to store stuff under the bed and couch. That's bad.

So there you have it. Kinda dull, yet productive. I know you must ask yourself why I bother putting this kind of effort into such a dumpy apartment. Well, two reasons - one - I have to live in it and dusty purple walls in an already dark, tiny and pokey bathroom offend me, but not nearly as much as the filthy, baby pee yellow walls with bits torn off it did, oh and the scratched-up lime green kitchen cabinets were pretty unbearable too. Now I can live here with a minimum of offense. The second reason is I have to make it somewhat attractive to someone to house sit for me while I'm away for 4 weeks! I will never be Martha Stewart, so rest easy. But am not 20 years old either and can't abide lime green or dusty purple. Sad, but true.

So I hope you're all well up there! You can come on down and visit and be minimally offended by my little apartment! But you still can't stay here - I just painted, didn't add another wing.

BYE!
J!