It's Been Too Long and Much BBQ Had.....!

Hi!

Well. Here we are, over a month late....... Wow. Am really sorry. I do have a couple half-decent excuses, which, now that I look, they're pretty much the same as last time's.... but more on that later. All is well here tho! The weekend has been lovely and perfect - low humidity (well, today it has been), lovely bright sunny skies and cool breezes - ahhhhh autumn really wants to arrive, even if it is a couple weeks late! Tho I noticed the weather for the end of this week is meant to get back up into the mid-90s again. Yikes. So much for autumn. Guess our weather here will be down to two seasons - cool and hot and humid, with hot and humid for most of the year. Look, we've had summer since the end of October, am sooooooo tired of it - I want to put blankets on the bed and sleep 'til 10am on weekends! Hell, I'd like to sleep 'til 10am any day of the week! Annnyways, all is well here - the birds are flitting around out there, running their errands and catching up on the latest bird-gossip, and probably gossiping about humans too for all we know.....! Have a nice cool-ish breeze, a very nice, cold, standby Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (lately, all white wine tries to kill me with headaches. I'm scared of them now. Tho champagne seems strangely, thankfully safe.....), got some lively guitar tunes from SkyFM, the chores have been done and the kitties are resting - it's hard work doing chores when you're that short with no thumbs. They get along better but still have to figure out the whole play versus kill concept. It'll take time...... But yes, all in all, life is good!

So, work. Yep. It's good. I'm busy, but not as busy as I usually seem to be, which is a nice change of pace. Still waiting for the day when our tiny little group gets moved to a quieter floor.... HR are hiring like it's a fad going out of style, so more and more folks are moving in - our fingers and toes are crossed they're all more important than us and we get shuffled away from the action! I know, I shouldn't complain - the folks I work with are pretty nice, the work won't kill me with boredom and frankly, there are worse jobs out there. Yay for decent employment!!!!

And then there were a few weekends in there. Well. Can't quite pick out any stand-alone exciting action moments, but suffice to say, errands were run, gave mah car its annual and much needed bath and wax (soooooo pretty), watched a lot of Breaking Bad with Bruce (just starting season 5), went out to lunch and dinner a fair bit with a few folks, oddly enough, to lots of "American style" BBQ places. I won't bore you with detailed reviews, but suffice to say the food just ain't like back home. And honestly, I walk into these places with high hopes and an open mind - not all BBQ can be like my Dad's, and he's The BBQ King. And I'm also painfully aware of how far away we are from the US, and the ingredients, while nothing you can't find here (or via the interwebs), just aren't quite the same as home, somehow. So, popular dishes seem to be sliders, wings, ribs, "southern" fried chicken, pulled pork (practically every place in town has pulled pork these days. Meh, it's post roast, yawn), hoagies, and chili cheese fries. There's more but you get the picture, nothing very special. Places I've been to recently include Tippler's Tap, Pit Boss American BBQ, Red Hook (hell, I used to live in the real-life Red Hook!!!!) and Carolina Kitchen (even when cooked by a North Carolina native it still wasn't all that great, tho the corn bread sure was). This whole American style BBQ n' wings is THE latest food fad to hit Brisbane, sort of along with the Mexican style craze, tho I also have yet to find any Mexico-Mexican places, it's mainly South America's take on Mexican....... Hey, again, not complaining because with allll these new places opening, at some point one of them has to be good...... Right? Right??? I live in hope. That or my Dad moves here and sets up his own restaurant. MMmmmmmm!

And really, that's about it. Oh, one of my excuses, in addition to weekends taken up with Breaking Bad and eating crappy but well-meaning American style BBQ,

is my poor little ol' trooper of a ten year-old laptop has had something go wrong with its hard drive and won't boot up. It starts to but then gets caught in a loop. So, it's currently on its way to hopefully be repaired......... The thing is, most of my photos are in there. Oh, sure, I have most of them on an external hard drive (well, as of August last year. Oops), but it's not just that, I love typing on it. No offense ASUS, but your keyboard sucks. Takes me too long to hammer out what I want to say. But I guess it's just getting used to it still...... So, that's sad. This new laptop isn't too bad, I guess I should use it more - to check in with the little blog perhaps?! Heh, yeah yeah yeah, hint taken computers!

Anyways, there you have it. See? Told you you haven't missed much! But yes, all is well here and I really will try to check in more often, dullsville or not! And hey, if you really want to know, get on down here and see it all for yourself! I'm not paying all this rent to have this little spare room be just an office!!! Don't make me get a little foreign exchange student, 'cos then you really will have to sleep on the sofa bed (hey - beats just the couch, which is all I had before)! So, c'mon down!

BYE!
J!

Happy New Year (Little Late)!

Hi!

Well. Look at that, haven't checked in in months, and am very sorry. Every Sunday afternoon I thought about it though, it's become that much of a habit! But life and the holidays conspired against me - if I wasn't busy that day I was too tired from being busy to write. And as you can see it all started at the end of November when I hosted my first house guests here at the Hacienda, Emily and Ian, and from there the crazy busy period of the holidays kicked in, time flew by, and now here we are, end of January. Sheeessssh! But, all is well - the birds are out there happily chattering away, doing the chores, tidying their nests, going to the store, catching up on all the day's gossip. And as always, have the hip n' groovy jazz tunes from the new Radio Tunes (I still like name SkyFM better, less lame). And seeing as it's the middle of summer, I've got a nice cool beer, a very easy-to-drink James Squire's The Constable Copper Ale. The sun is shining in bright blue skies, the humidity is actually starting to dip (temporarily) for the first time in months (yay!) - life is good! Now I'll just try to dust off the memory and give you the latest.....!
 

So work. Yep. Is good. Busy, which is standard for me most of the time. The publication am working on is giving me wicked headaches, literally, but I finally got it to a point where it was off my desk Friday, and that's awesome, so I could actually do some of the other work piling up. The headache book will come back after its reviews, but it shouldn't give me headaches next time around. Still, always happy to have the work! Our open plan office is still stupid and myself and my cell mate got moved away from directly in front of the kitchen to across from where we were sitting, next to the kitchen. It's better, but people are still noisy. Open plan is just an all-around bad idea for what we do. But HR are reportedly needing to hire 200-300 people over this year to staff all the new contracts we're apparently winning, which will eventually, hopefully mean our tiny group will be deemed so insignificant that we'll be moved to make way for all the HR people they'll have to hire to hire all the new people. So hopefully they'll move us far, far, far away from HR and onto a quieter floor. Ahhh, typical work woes! Otherwise, all is very well. Yay for a good gig!

And then there were the weekends, including Xmas and New Year's! Let's see.... So, Emily and Ian's visit was good, tho a bit hotter than the snow they'd just left behind. I hope they had a good time even tho it was only for a couple of days. It was Ian's first visit to Australia, and tho we were on a limited budget, I hope the little bit of local sight-seeing we did gave him a rough idea of how diverse Southern Queensland can be - from forests of gum trees to tropical forests with towering leafy trees and ferns galore!

And then what was happening.... We had our work Xmas lunch at a nice enough place called the Waterloo Hotel. That was fun, food was pretty good. It was just nice to get out of the office with everyone, have a few drinks and just hang out. It was a good afternoon.

And then there was Xmas. This year was again spent with the foster family (The Adcocks) but was a little different in that we spent it at their son Russell and his wife Kim's newly-built house - with a pool! Really nice place, tho a bit far out in the 'burbs for me. But hey, Brisbane being the over-inflated property market that it is, it was one of the few places they could afford to build a nice, big house (in one of those planned development community thingys). And tons of their family came up from Sydney and Adelaide. Everyone that I've met over the years has been really, really nice, and so tolerant of an interloping American orphan every year. And this year was no different - the food was awesome (we had turducken!), the conversations were fun, it was great to catch up with everyone, and the afternoon simply flew by. It was lovely as always. Tho Margaret (foster Mom) mentioned something about this Xmas they might go down to Sydney to spend it with her sister and her family. Fair enough. If I didn't go around to theirs for Xmas, it would be totally fine, really it'd be like any other day. Hell, probably take myself out for a good walk to enjoy the city while it's so quiet. So we'll see. But yes, Xmas was very, very nice. So nice of them to have me crash their day! And New Year's was pretty quiet, didn't feel like doing anything, pretty much like every year. I don't like the crowds, the cost and I don't like trying to get home. So best to just stay in, watch movies and drink my own nice wine!

And then as soon as it all had come, it was finished and it was back to work. Oddly enough, lots of people didn't take a lot of time off like they usually seem to. So it was kinda like business as usual. Which was fine by me. The quicker the holidays are over with, the better!

And then these last few weekends have just been catching up with my friend
Bruce, well, he was my old boss from my days at Fire but we've always stayed in touch. We haven't caught up in a very long time so we've just been hanging out, going on fun 4x4 drives in his whiz-bang Toyota FJ Cruiser and watching Breaking Bad (he's never seen it). It's been fun. Tho I don't think my waistline appreciates all the beer and pizza, still, it's been good to re-watch the show with someone who's not seen it. If you haven't seen it yet, I can't recommend it enough!

And then last weekend I adopted the newest member to the family. Her name is Lola and she's about nine months old (Kona will be nine years old in March). She and Kona seem to get along well enough tho haven't figured out the difference between playing and killing each other. They like each other well enough to be in the same room and eat in the kitchen at the same time, they just have to work out actually playing together. They'll get there. I'd been wanting to get him a friend for a long time but couldn't, mainly because I wasn't even supposed to have a cat at the Palace and I didn't want two cats to worry about being outside. But now that we're here and we're legal (tho don't think I'm allowed to have two cats), he can't go outside, so I dare say at times he's gotten a bit of cabin-fever. And I also hoped with a girlfriend around he wouldn't be so shy when people come around. So she's been here a week and so far so good. Bruce came around last night and we watched a few episodes of Breaking Bad and Kona actually came out and hung out. Ah-mazing. He NEVER does that when anyone is here. So my plan could well work! But she's a cutie and fulla beans, just like he was/is. So, hopefully they'll learn how to play and not rip each other to shreds. Time will tell!

And there you have it! I hope you're all well and happy up there. If you get tired of that cold, wet or snowy weather, c'mon down! I gots me pleeeenty o' space!!!!!

BYE!

J!

P.S. No idea what's up with the highlighted font - can't seem to turn it off. Hmm. Sorry 'bout that. Stoopid computers.

Weekends of Unpacking (yes, still), Settling In, and Pre-G20 Fun!

Hi!

Well. Here we are on another sunny Sunday afternoon. It was a bit warm today but thankfully there was a decent enough breeze and the humidity was low enough that it was tolerable. The birds are out there chattering away as they finish their Sunday errands and regroup. Here at the Hacienda, the chores are more or less finished (leaning more towards less... running the dishwasher counts as a chore, right?), the laundry is happy and clean, according to Kona who is making sure the bed gets made in his own sweet time just as soon as he's done sleeping on the pile of clean sheets; we have the hip n' groovy jazz tunes (I still think of it as SkyFM); and we have a very nice, cool stand-by Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (beer today), ahhhhhh yes, life is good!

So work. Yep. Busy, but that's good. I've finally learned that every time they say things are going to slow down a lot, that means things will get really busy for

me. It's weird but that's what I've noticed. And when they say they're super busy, somehow I'm not. Huh. But ultimately, I don't mind, I'm just happy to have a decent job. And speaking of having a decent job, this week marked my fourth year with Boing - wow! I even think that could be a record out of all of them since 1985?! AH-mazing. But the scary thing is how fast it's gone. And of course that thought is followed with the realization that in Feb I'll've been here nine years. Nine. Good grief. I only intended to check the place out, see some sights and head back after a few years....... Guess I like it here....... 'Course, having a decent job helps!

And then there were a few weekends in there....... Last weekend was pretty busy with errands and running around, much to the poor, neglected car's thrill and amazement (unlike all the spiders that got blown off - sorry guys). Saturday, after a lazy morning and a leisurely tour around East Brisbane (just seeing where the roads go....), we headed over to Ikealand. This trip was kinda different in that every time I go I like to get in when they open and get back out again. Well this time I went in the late-ish afternoon and lo and behold the hoards of screaming children had thinned to a very bearable level and the folks shopping were just normal folks shopping, not families keeping their kids entertained. It was awesome. Well, maybe not for the bank account, but crowd-tolerance-wise, I was way happy.

And came away with a few useful things - a new desk, a cabinet thing to store shoes and plastic shopping bags for near the front door, a little set of proper champagne glasses, a set of curtains for the bedroom, two little sets of pretty, red flower, string lights for the balcony, an extra comfy cushion for a balcony chair (or wherever), and a thing to hang all my scarves on in the closet. A happy trip was had! Then Sunday was putting it all together and settling in, with some chores thrown in for fun.

And this weekend has been tidying, unpacking the final three boxes from the move in May (yeah yeah, I've been busy), and throwing a ton of stuff out. Like

old cell phones, of which I had six, not counting the one I currently use, dead modems, and computer cables - what to do with those? In my heart of hearts I just can't throw them in the trash..... Surely there's someone out there who'd thrill to strip them all of their copper?? And then finished setting up the guest bedroom so it actually looks more like a bedroom instead of a storage space. Oh, and did I mention, I got a fancee pants airbed? And it's actually pretty nice - I can say that with authority because I've slept on it. Yay! Come one, come all!

And really, that's been about it. Getting ready to host my first real guests in two weeks, Emily and her boyfriend Ian will be visiting from Washington for a couple days on their way down to visit her Dad in Melbourne... We have a lot planned for those three days, it should be fun! But first I have to survive the G20 descending on Brisbane from about this past Friday (or at least that's when I noticed all the branded town cars flooding the streets in a seemingly panicked rehearsal). The official meetings kick off Saturday and Sunday next weekend (all of us in the city have that Friday off so they can clear the city and lock it down in time), but folks have already started arriving...... Apparently the King of Saudi Arabia is on his way - preceding him were two jets full of crap, including a bullet-proof Mercedes. Honestly, someone

tell these people that folks in Brisbane just can't be bothered, let alone would even know what any of the delegates look like, apart from Obama, Putin and their own Prime Minister??? So this week should be fun because of all the barricades that have apparently sprung up over the weekend along with all the police checks.... My walk in to work should be interesting to say the least, not to mention the commute home! I've already seen my first protest - a rather weak affair sponsored by the Anonymous crowd - lucky if there were fifty in their little march. But with the amount of cops surrounding them you'da thought they were a group of thousands. Gee they're sure excited about all this. It's actually kinda funny to watch - here's hoping I don't end up an innocent bystander caught up in someone's silly crusade!!!!

So there you go. Hope you're all well up there..... Drop a line or better yet, c'mon down for a visit!!!! Errrr, probably not until March or so now, unless hot and humid is your thing, but just get yer butts down here already!!!!

BYE!
J!

Long Time, No Gossip!

Hi!

Well. Been a little while, hasn't it? Many apologies for the radio silence - can't say much has been happening worth reporting tho, so you haven't been missing anything, but more on that later. But we're here now - it's a glorious spring day, summer is trying to stick its nose in early, but so far so good. The jacaranda trees are coming up in full purpley bloom, including the tree off my balcony, which I had no idea was a Jacaranda tree until it started to bloom. Yay! But it's a shame it's only so pretty for just a couple weeks, then I'll spend the rest of the year sweeping up tiny little leaves..... Ahhhhh, small price to pay to live next to such a big, pretty tree! And hey, it sure beats palms full of possums! But today is lovely - a bit of a warm breeze, few clouds puffing away up there, the birds are out and about happily chattering away and running their Sunday errands. Yesterday afternoon I had a zippy little Lorikeet slam itself into my little window in the living room. Poor little bird. I had a look and he'd flown away; but I could see how it thought the window was just more trees - the reflection from their view just looks like more trees. I felt bad but was happy to see it just shook it off and flew away, probably with the biggest headache of its life, not to mention all the shit his friends must've given him. And now the chores are all done, the dishes are churning away in the dishwasher (so awesome to have one of these again), the laundry is out there on the line flapping in the breeze and hopefully dodging birds with weak bladders..... We have the hip n' groovy jazz tunes, tho SkyFM has since re-branded itself as Radio Tunes. Don't know why, money from big corporate sponsorship probably (wait for those ads to start)..... It's kind of a shame because I liked the whole SkyFM brand thing. But for now the tunes are all still good and reliable. And last but not least, we of course have a very nice, cool glass of another contender for the good ol' stand-by white wine, Vasse Felix Classic Dry White (Semillon Sauv Blanc - not bad at all), so life is goooood!

So work. Yep. Have been busy. Like, busy. Which is probably another reason

why I haven't had the energy or brainpower to check in these last few weekends. I mean, I don't mind, I like being busy, but so busy when I get home am asleep (unintentionally, much as I like mah new couch) by 7pm and come the weekend I have zero energy to do more than the chores and to change the DVD/Blu-Ray........ OK, that's not quite true, but you get the drift. But work is good, tho still can't say the same about our new "open plan" office - it still sucks, and how. But we do quite like our "new" neighborhood, being right in the middle of the city - so much good food, groceries and shops. Tho things will get uber tricky come the G20 - our building has two main street entrances - one across the street from the Hilton, which will be packed I'm sure with delegates and their handlers, and on our other side, the main headquarters/building for Queensland Health, where, oddly enough, I used to work just before landing this gig. That's only a biggish deal because both the Ministers for Health and Mental Health live there, so, bound to be the site of a protest or two. And speaking of potential protests, we also share our building with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, (and, incidentally, where I'll need to go to collect mah new Australian passport when it finally comes through some time next year or early the year after!!!!), so, they're at least certain to have one or two little dread-locked, patchouli-wearing hippies waving placards outside and shouting, hopefully without the bullhorn..... It should be interesting to say the least. I don't think we're sign-posted anywhere but on the list of building ingredients near the elevators, tho I'm sure there's a profiteer-hating protester somewhere out there who will find us. Apparently, we're having guards (armed??) on both entrances checking IDs and stuff...... Not sure when that little nod to paranoia kicks in, soon tho I'm sure - the G20 officially kicks off on the 15th and 16th of Nov, but the mayhem and paranoia is already building up. Thankfully, we get that Friday the 14th off........ Watch this space......!

And then there's been a few weekends in there........ Like, lots of them. Am really sorry for not checking in. A few of those weekends, since returning from

mah trip, have been burned up just trying to get computer stuff updated and transferred - never a straightforward affair. So, after a few hours of chasing my IT tail, I'd give up, along with my will to check in and say howdy. And then I had problems with my trusty camera not wanting to play nice with any of my computers, so that took a couple weekends to figure out - turns out no one would talk to each other because the camera's SD card was full. Huh. And just general IT stuff has been sucking what brain fumes I have left at the end of the week. And too, not a lot has been happening...... Let's see..... Oh, duh, last night I had my friend Kim and her husband Carlos and their little baby Luna over for dinner (of course I forgot to take pictures). That was special because they were the first friends I've had around since I lived at my nice place in Spring Hill, going on 7 years or so ago. I hated having people around The Palace because it was small and dumpy, even tho I did the best I could with what I (and Ikea) had, I was still embarrassed to have anyone around. So now I finally get to repay all the dinners and BBQs folks have invited me to over the years. And it was fun! Tho my cooking timings were off - totally gotta work on that. But it was just really nice to be able to hang out like normal folks in a normal space with normal chairs and to be able to cook in a normal kitchen......! I must say, I'm digging this apartment.

And speaking of normal chairs - one weekend was taken up with a trip to Bunnings, originally for two things - a drip tray for my Frangipani (Plumeria) tree so whenever I watered it it didn't drip all over the balcony below mine, and some grass for Kona to nibble on. Well. Much like Ikealand, you can't get out of there for under $200 dollars, and I didn't. I ended up coming home with three cat grass plants and a container and soil to plant them in, a big container and more soil for mah tree, and a brand new three-piece patio set! I love it. And so does Kona. Pretty comfy, durable, easy to look at. Yeah. Digging the new digs even more now that I have a nice balcony to sit on comfortably! (Oh yeah, that window there behind the BBQ, that's the one that poor little Lorikeet drove into... Silly Lorikeet).

And what else..... Oh, last weekend I finally got organized enough and listed my big corner desk and that little bridging unit/wall shelf for sale on eBay. Hmmm. Well, the desk just left this morning for its new home (bye desk, will miss you!), and the shelf is supposed to go to its new home tomorrow evening sometime, hopefully. But ai yi yi, did I take a hit $$$ on those or what. All up I paid, roughly, $580 for both of them a couple of years ago, and they are in excellent condition. Yeah. Stupid auctions, I made a whopping total of $55 for BOTH of them! Yikes. But, if that's what the market will bear for used Ikealand stuff, so be it........ Bummer dude. I try to look at it this way - a nice gal and her grumpy guy came by today and took the desk away and gave me $45 bucks for not having to kick it down the stairs by myself - that's a win, surely! Sigh.

And that's about all that pops to mind for the time being......... All is really well tho. Spring is here, which means I'm not getting up for work in pitch dark, which is nice. The weather is beautiful, even more so from a decent apartment. Kona is happier here because he has room to run and get the crazies like he used to at the nice place in Spring Hill; and I dare say he's even losing a bit of weight now. I have room to breathe and privacy to rest without possums waking me up all night or neighbors wanting stuff from me every ten minutes, which I didn't mind but I kinda minded. So, really, moving has been good for both our healths (is that even a word)! Yay! Now you folks just have to c'mon down and check it out - I'll be here a while, I hope, so you have time to get planning!!!!

BYE!

J!

Return From Vacationland......!

Hi!

Well. It's been a while, hasn't it?! Ahhhhhh, yes, vacation has that effect on things...... Apologies for not checking in these last two weekends tho - that first weekend back was spent unpacking, tidying, kicking jet lag (trying to anyways) and getting ready for work. After four weeks away from work it's really something you have to get in the mood for, like it or not. But, we're here now! The sun is shining (after a few very rainy and chilly days), the birds are chattering away out there like they haven't seen each other for years, got the hip n' groovy jazz tunes along with a new, pretty decent sparkling wine Edinburgh Palace (by Philip Shaw) - life is good!

So work. Yep. Has been pretty good all of the first week I was back. Not overly busy, which is super nice for a first week and still suffering from jet lag just a little. Funny thing is, our little group was meant to move to our new building on the 25th of July, so while I was away. Meanwhile, one month later, we're still at the old building. That's how insignificant we are in the greater scheme of things..... Apparently we move at the end of this week, so that should be fun. Although, after having just moved myself from one apartment to the other, this move should be cake because we don't have to do anything other than pack - sweeeet. And have scoped out our new digs and I've actually been issued a proper standing/height-adjustable desk! After, what, two years of kicking and screaming and flat-out refusing to "sit down like everyone else", common sense finally reigned supreme! Ah-mazing. Buuut, the big huge bummer about the new set-up is that the whole floor is "open plan", so me and the other guy who stands will be seen by everyone. Thankfully, he's six and a half feet tall, but we stand next to each other, right at the kitchen entrance. So really, it's gonna suck. A lot. But hey, I still have a real job so will just have to lump it until we win the lottery! 

Oh, and one more totally ah-mazing thing still on the work topic, brace yourself because this is incredible news, years in the making - my permanent residency application was approved on the 6th of August!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I am now a real-life Permanent Resident of the great country of Australia!!!!!!!!!!! AH-MAZING that Boing finally got it together after nearly four years. YAY! I'm pretty stoked. And I only need to have it for twelve months before I can apply for citizenship and then the country is my oyster! YAY! Really pretty cool.

And then there were some weekends in there...... Well, the trip home was really good, super busy and a little sad. I missed seeing my Grandma in South Bend by less than 24 hours..... But we'd spoken the week before I left so I was glad for that. And I was glad that the whole trip to see her was already planned and that her memorial was timed just right for me to be able to be there. And it was really nice to see the Uncles, Aunts and cousins, even if just for a short time. Shame it was without Grandma, but nice so many folks came.

Otherwise, much Mexican (and diner) food was eaten, along with many margaritas! It was really nice and fun to catch up with the family and friends, some of whom I hadn't seen in yeeeeeears! Yeah, it was a great trip. Am only sorry it went by so fast! And the other bummer is it'll be a couple years before I can get up there again..... Gotta save vacation time not to mention money..... and plus am really wanting to do some things around Australia... I've been here eight and a half years now (!) and still haven't seen Uluru or any of Western Australia yet! And then maybe I'll come back up there for a visit. But in the meantime, I have this nice, two-bedroom apartment in the city and I just bought a brand-spankin' new sofa bed with a fanceeee double inner spring mattress! So c'mon down y'all 'cos I can't afford to always come up thataways!!!

And then these last couple of weekends have been busy getting back into the swing of things, doing the usual boring weekend chores, even still a little more unpacking from The Move back at the beginning of May! I mean, really, I was only in the place like 8, 9 weeks before my trip, and with only so many hours on the weekends... Yeah, I still have stuff to unpack and even more to donate! Just because it's a bigger place, I totally don't want to clutter it!
 
Otherwise, all is well. Happy to be back but I miss home and the people and the fooooood......! Ahhh well, next time! And I hope everyone is well up thataway. Get saving those pennies and c'mon down - winter is just about finished with spring around the corner - September 1st to be exact!!!!! So pack those bags and get down here already!

BYE!
J!

Countdown to Vacation with Friends, Concerts and Food!

Hi!

Well. Here we are on another beautiful Sunday late afternoon. There's a little breeze but not much, the sun is starting to go down, which means it'll get cold in no time after such a perfect, warm day. That's what's nice about winter here - even tho it's pretty chilly at night, the days warm up and are full of sunny, bright blue skies...... Ahhhhhhhh! The birds are out there happily doing their bird things....... Kona is out guarding the balcony from intruders... Got the hip n' groovy jazz tunes...... Got a nice cool stand-by beer (nom!).... Yep, life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good. I think I said it last week and I'll say it again this week - man I'm busy. But some of that has to be the clean-up-the-desk-before-

vacation panic. Well, that and our office is moving while I'm away, so I'll have to pack up all my stuff Tuesday afternoon before I go and make sure it's all ready to move. I just hope I've caught up on everything by then!!! Eeeek! There'll be a few of us gone over the next month, so there won't be much happening, which is good because that means I shouldn't have towers of work waiting for me when I get back.....I hope! Otherwise, work is good. Still pretty happy to have a job to come back to after vacation. This "novelty" just doesn't get old after being on crappy (but well-paid, I might add) temp contracts all these years. Yay for real work!

And then there was the weekend. Whew! More like week and weekend!

Busybusybusy. Always a last-minute rush to get things done and see everyone before I go - like I'll never see them again or get stuff done when I get back! So what was on this week....... Tues I had to get mah hair cut - want to make at least a little effort to look OK for when I see everybody back home. Then Wed...... I know I had something but can't remember what because no matter what it was (some minor errand that could only be done after

work), it wasn't as big a deal as trying to get home was! There was some big rugby game on at the stadium between me and my house, so traffic by the time I got to my end of town - ay yi yi. Took me an hour and a half to go what usually takes, roughly, 20 minutes. Fuuuuuuuuudge. Oh, I know what game it was, it was the third (last) game in the State of Origin series. Basically, only the two states of New South Wales and Queensland play each other every year (no other states play for whatever bizarre reason) and it's a major deal for folks who follow it, and whoever wins two of the three games wins, obviously. But the stupid stupid thing is, New South Wales won the first two but for some supremely stupid reason they still play the third game. I don't get it but apparently it's just a money-making event/game with maybe some attempted face-saving thrown in for fun... Actually, Queensland really whupped their asses in that one, but it totally doesn't matter, New South Wales still get the golden chalice or golden shield with their names on it, or golden whatever. And for the rest of us who don't give a rat's furry pink backside, it's a traffic-snarling fiesta!!! Still, I'm not really complaining because ultimately I think it's pretty cool to live in a 'hood with such a good venue (52,000+ capacity!). I appreciate it mainly for concerts when I'm interested, but I have been to one or two games over the years......... And the best part is - I can walk home when it's over - wooohooo! See ya suckas stuck in traffic/trapped on public transport!!!!!

And then Thurs was the Lloyd Cole concert at the Powerhouse (one of my favorite, coolest venues)!!!! That was really good and I had one of the most awesomest seats in the house - front row center! Tho I must say, the row right behind me would've been better actually because that was where the rise started, meaning you could not only see over the stage, but over the heads of the folks in front of you. Duly noted for the next gig. But ahhhh, the show was really good. If you like Lloyd, who's been around since the early 80s and has never stopped making music (tho the band has changed and sometimes he does his own thing, like at this gig), it was a great night.

And then Fri I could finally get some stuff done... And then Sat I met a friend for a little wander around the French Festival. I must say, while the food was way awesome (it always is), I was disappointed with the wine tasting tent. Yeah. It was a bummer. Ten bucks got you three tickets and a cool little plastic cup (worth keeping) but the tastings were literally the size of a taste. So really, I paid ten bucks for a wine cup with sips of three different wines. Harumph. Last time I went, they had a champagne tent and for something like $40 you got six real glasses of all these different champagnes - from super expensive stuff to the cheap (but still good) stuff. It was so great I had to go home after I finished my six and lie down! That was a good year. This year was more about the food. And really, it was awesome. I'll still go next year! And finally they spread it over two days instead of one... If only I'd had the time - and spare stomachs!

And today I finally got to catch up with my friend Kim and her husband Carlos and finally meet their new little baby girl Luna! She's just over seven weeks now and a squirmy, chatty little thing with sooooooo much dark, dark hair (that'll be her Colombian dad)! So cute. Very happy for them as she'd been long-awaited via IVF! It actually worked! Good for them. They seem pretty happy and ever so relaxed for new parents with their first baby! It was a really great afternoon. Very, very happy for them.

And that's about that! Still got some stuff to do, like finish packing, tidying

the little house, make sure I have my passport, plane tickets (well, receipts anyways), etc etc etc. So that's on the list for tonight....! Better get going because the hours over the weekend just fly by! So unfair when work just drags. So if I don't check in over the next couple of weeks, I'll check in when I get back, or maybe I'll see you there!!!!!!! YAY!

BYE!

J!