Too busy to think.....

It turns out that being busy is much more exhausting than being bored..... I have been in my new job for just over 2 months, and I honestly haven't stopped running since I started. By about 3:30 in the afternoon my brain starts to get a bit fuzzy, and by that time on a Friday, its completely given up the ghost. I have just enough time over the weekend (if I don't do anything intellectual at all) for it to recover enough to start the process again on Monday.

It turns out that I am pretty good at my job. and its really very interesting. But with so many things going on, I don't have the energy to think after work. Turns out that you need think to write a blog...... Don't expect too much from here for a while.

Happy Birthday to me

I think it says something about your Facebook friends, when even the reminder on the page that its your birthday doesn't generate a birthday message.....

Other than that, its a pretty good day. Quiet, a few nice presents. A few messages and a phone call or two. Nothing too exciting. I'm going out to dinner with a few friends and will try KFC tofu (which friends of mine rave about) at a local Vietnamese restaurant.

I hope you all have an excellent day too! Now I'm off to take an afternoon nap :D

Working on the run

This week I got to travel for work. Its a concept that has an interesting mystique. It sounds exciting. A free trip out of town, and while you have to work through the day, you think 'I'll have time to do some poking around, or shopping, or something.

So I got up at 5am on Monday, got on a plane at 7, took a 45 minute taxi ride which took me under Sydney Harbour and walked into the office to be confronted by a classic 'us vs them' tirade. I then spent 6 hours entering numbers into a computer before another taxi-ride through crazy traffic to a hotel where I crashed only to get up at 6:30 the next morning to spend another 8 hours entering numbers, another night at a hotel and 6 hours of numbers before I started the treck home through the start of peak hour traffic.

Thankfully I managed to get on a commuter flight on the way home where you get a free mini bottle of wine......

Somehow when you actually do the work travel thing, it really isn't as exciting. Although I did manage to get several hours of flex to spend when I want to...... Mmmmmmm flex day........

Remember Me

I admit that I'm a bit of a snob about somethings. One of these things is a certain class of so-called 'actors' who appear in popular teenage movies because they look pretty, but dont actually have much in the way of talent or depth. Robert Patterson is one of those I have relegated to this category. What I have seen of him has not impressed me, and for this reason I have largely avoided watching anything he is in because I figured with such a one-dimensional actor, it wouldn't be worth the effort.....

Well, thanks to being stuck at home sick with nothing else to do, and through the urging of a couple of friends (one of whom I would normally NEVER take movie advice from), I watched Remember Me.

I cant say that it has improved my impression of the pasty vampire, but the role didn't have a lot of dimension anyway, so a better actor wouldn't have added that much. But thanks to an excellent script and excellent performances by the rest of the cast, I give the following verdict: Oh. My. God.......

For a while it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.... Just a mix of tortured family lives and youthful revenge tactics. But somehow it pulls you in, you look for the resolution, wondering how its going to pan out, then you get hit in the face by the last 5 minutes. I stared at the screen saying NO! Oh God NO!!!! as a teacher writes on a chalkboard. And I cried. Rather a lot.

If you haven't seen it. You should. Ignore the pasty vampire, he is by far the least important reason to see this film. His one dimension performance just highlights how good everyone else is. Although Pierce Brosnan also does a good job of being less than impressive...... Surprise, its the small names that make this movie so good..

Public transport isn't all bad......

Now normally, public transport is one of those things that like everyone else, I complain incessantly about because it doesn't go where I need it, it never runs on time, and is largely populated by rude, ignorant people who dont care that they shoved you out of the way when you are getting off at the same stop, stepped on your toe, coughed in your face, had excessively loud and obnoxious conversations on their phone which you had to listen to....... Etcetera.....

I use it because the process of finding and paying for a carpark in the city is both painful and ridiculous expensive. I drive as far as possibly can, park for free and take the bus for the absolute minimum distance (one stop - but its a long walk particularly if the weather ain't great, and today it is raining!).

But today, having been sent home from work because the coughing, sneezing, pasty white face and general germiness of my appearance was making people feel uncomfortable (plus, I actually do feel like crap), I climbed onto the bus to confront to of the nicer elements of public transport.

1. The ticket machine was out-of-order so free transport! and

2. there was some really nice eye candy sitting in just the right position that the 'staring vaguely out the window' bus attitude was a perfect cover for enjoying the view. The best possible way this happens is when you get a particularly taught backside in well fitting pants standing 6 inches from you while you have a seat, but today, I just got a perfect view of some great shoulder, arm and back muscles in a not too tight shirt.......

Before someone else says it - yes, I was objectifying the strapping young lad on the bus. But I wasn't obviously ogling him, did nothing insulting or annoying and if we are at all honest with ourselves, we all do it - the important thing is that you do it discretely.

So despite being remarkably full of snot and phlegm, and feeling pretty miserable, its not such a bad day.....

Oh - and public transport isn't always hell - just about 99% of the time!

A short lesson in history....

Well, really, its just a catch up on where things are at seeing I've been too busy and too tired and too lazy to fill you in on whats going on.

So just over a month ago I started a new job. Its turned out to be a really interesting role, which has real implications for other people. Its also quite intense and after 7 1/2 hours at work, I'm pretty exhausted.

Added to this, I'm house hunting. I've done the sums, and finally have the cash available for a deposit, and for the same money I'm currently paying in rent, I can actually buy a place a few k's down the road. It's actually in a different state, but its relatively cheap compared to the city and there are some really quite nice places around. Its just a matter of waiting for one that I like to come along.

This week, I've been sick. Three days at home in bed feeling miserable on what I am convinced are the last days of good weather we will see here this year. I have a real conviction that as soon as I'm healthy enough to actually get back outside and enjoy the sunshine, it will run away and the 8 months of winter will descend. 

Anyway. I still feel pretty blah, and its time to try and force some sustenance down so I'll leave it there. Hope everyone elses month has been great!!!!

Be prepared. For the vultrues

It does seem that when it comes to the furies of mother nature, the best bet is to be prepared. In the recent floods, those who had warning and took precautions faired the best. The poor souls who didn't make it were either caught by surprise in the flash flooding, or ignored the advice and went into flood waters.

Yasi seems to have left much less destruction in its wake than was feared. So far no fatalities have been reported. The people of NQ took the warnings seriously and barricaded  and fortified and evacuated.

What disappoints me the most is that the media seem to be taking it very poorly. By sheer luck, Yasi missed the major centres and took out small towns instead, meaning that the damage and potential for death were much reduced. And the ravening wolves of the media packs seem disappointed.

Public sentiment seemed to be captured by a tweet from a Cairns local saying that if the cyclone wasn't enough, A Current Affair and Today Tonight had arrived early yesterday morning in force. I have to agree. There are local, experienced reporters who went through it all. And they are doing a great job. The descent of media packs from elsewhere, digging for dirt, pulling people back into the memory of the fear, well..... It makes me sick. We dont need that. There were enough mobile phones and video camera's capturing it live. And if you didn't live it, you wont ever understand.

But so far so good. Everyone seems to have made it through. My folks caught the edge of the destructive winds, and made it through with just a couple of nearby trees down and the power out.

There will be other cyclones. There will be more damage. There will be lives lost. But its a beautiful part of the world, and when you prepare, you have a good chance of enjoying it for ever.