Tuesday, July 31, 2001

Time for bed. Work got much better. I felt like I'd done something and learned quite a lot by the end of today - at last. I'm sure it'll all have disappeared once I've been to sleep but for now...

Home and a takeaway (very nice pumpkin chicken, rice and stir-fry veggies). Nice chats to Jonathan and Scally and then the final episode of Buffy. Also, the decision thing I've been alluding to re the flat? Well I can blog the decision now, as I've spoken to David the landlord. I'm moving. For whatever reason (and to be honest it's hard to put my finger on it) I've not settled here. Maybe it just doesn't feel like home. Maybe I need more of a change of lifestyle. Either way, I've given notice. Of course I've already been plotting. Actually one of the reasons for things not being right here is missing a flatmate. Nick was such fun to live with and it's not been the same without him. However, things kind of seem to have worked out. Charlotte from work is (sadly) splitting up with her boyfriend and their lodger also recently moved out. So, she needs a flatmate. I went to look at the place and, again for no real reason, it felt right. Nice place, nice room, own bathroom and balcony off the bedroom. Affordable. Lifts in to work some of the time with Charlie. And best of all? It's not much more than about a 5 minute walk to the most famous beach in Australia. Fantastic. I think I need to live somewhere that makes me think I've actually moved 12,000 miles around the world, otherwise I might as well have stayed in London.

So boys and girls. Further incentive to come and stay. The beach at the end of the road. Bondi. Available from mid-September...
So, 2½ hours later and the rollercoaster that has taken over my moodswings has me currently back on upward movement... Went out at lunchtime into the sunshine. Ate sushi and feel better. Have meetings for most of the rest of the afternoon, ranging from the not very interesting to the learning how to properly put stuff on the sites. Yippee. At this rate I'll be suicidal again by 4.30pm and in the most fantastic mood by the time I get home!
My strange mood of almost three weeks ago is back. Lethargy. Procrastination. Inability to concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes. Mild despair. Withdrawal from social stuff.

Still think it's a readjustment thing. I've not settled into the flat really, and need to make some decisions about what's best on that front. Work is up and down - some days I feel like I can breeze it, other days I feel like it'll never be within my grasp. Either way, I'm not doing stuff like I should. Lesson for today - lifted from Return of the Jedi I think (read in an old diary the other day): 'Don't try. Either do or don't do.' Hmmm. Gym - still not joined one and the longer that drags on the more I get pissed off with myself. I'm kind of hanging in case I make a dramatic change of plan re the flat. Though there's nothing to stop me going casually. And then there's Tony. Who is lovely. But also going through stuff himself at the moment and I'm maybe taking it all a little too personally rather than being there for him. Just because someone else has things going on, it doesn't automatically follow that they're anything to do with me. But of course I do think that and then that gives me another reason to beat myself up.

The sun is shining today, which can only help to lift my spirits. I really, really need to get off my self-pitying arse and do stuff. 'Don't try. Either do or don't do.' OK. Time to do some of the former. Doing the do. Betty Boo.

Monday, July 30, 2001

OK, so who stole the day? It's gone 5pm already and I've no idea what I've done for the day. Yesterday ended up down in Bondi for a couple of beers with Charlotte and then on to Tony's who served up some fantastic home-made minestrone. We watched The Jackal (where, for the first time ever, I thought Richard Gere was OK as an actor) and then hit the sack. This morning we had a team meeting and the rest of the day's just been spent getting my head around things to do! Sales meeting just finished and now... er, pass. More later.

Sunday, July 29, 2001

Well what a weekend this hasn't turned into.Weather from hell. Rain through the end of the week continued into the weekend, with it also turning incredibly windy. Friday night ended up staying in as it was too miserable to do much else. That's the continuing theme of the weekend really. Saturday I managed to take stuff to the laundry, grab brekky out and return to the comfort of the flat. (I say comfort - everything's relative. I've not really settled down here...watch this space for impending news - it's decision time). Did some work in the afternoon - not much mind you - and listened to music. Ultravox, Shakespear's Sister, Right Said Fred (no, really), Sunscreem, Dead or Alive - ahh the memories. Having decided to postpone the Mountains, Tony's thrown himself into work and so not seen anything of him. Wasn't going to go out last night either, but Garry called and so we ended up having a couple in the Oxford and the Barracks. It's now early afternoon Sunday and I think I'm going to do some work for a bit. May give Charlotte a call and wander up to Bondi, and try and hook up with Tony a little later too. It's stopped raining, but it's still incredibly windy and could still be showery at the drop of a cliché. It feels very English and autumnal. 'Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness. Close bosom friend of the maturing sun. Conspiring with him to load and bless with fruit the vines that round the thatched eaves run.' Or something. You get the idea. More later.

Friday, July 27, 2001

Well today is almost over. Well, the work part. Good-ish day. I think. Lots to read and work on over the weekend. No partying for me. :o(

The *NSYNC thing was pretty much as expected. Beer and sushi. Film on very big screen. Good dancing. Instantly forgettable songs. More beer. More sushi. Wraps. Satay sticks. Home. Bed. Yee-hah.

Up at 6.30am to talk to Nick. We sorted out all the bills and outstanding stuff (finally!) so that was good. Good meeting with boss lady at 9am. At doctors over lunchtime. Have agreed to participate in an asthma study. Get me.

Off home to a lazy night. No plans. Need to get my head round some work stuff at some point over the weekend, but it might not be tonight. See how the mood takes me.

Thursday, July 26, 2001

Jive Records Australia and IMAX Theatres Present "the" POP experience.

You and a friend are exclusively invited to the Australian launch party of the brand new album 'Celebrity' AND the premiere of the IMAX film

*NSYNC:Bigger Than Live

Thursday 26 July from 6.30pm sharp!


Hmmm. Wonder what my biorhythms say for today?
Why I oughtta... If I'd have been with the boys at the Transatlantic Blog Meet with Michael, I'd have got Kate Bush before he'd finished the lyric. Here I was this morning shouting it at Internet Explorer like a man possessed. (It remained unmoved.) It may have been in part due to the fact that I was only playing 'The Dreaming' earlier in the week - it being one of the hidden delights of getting several hundred CDs out of storage. Check out the Blogmeet pic that Michael links to too. Michael, you're looking good!! Oh, and Michael, sorry to be such a pedant, but it's 'Sat in your lap'. What he gives, he takes away... Love ya!!

Wednesday, July 25, 2001

The rest of Monday passed fairly uneventfully until I met Garry in the Oxford. He had a couple of mates here from the UK, and before I knew it I was a little minkered. Minker Lite. Stumbled home, ate and fell into a coma.
Tuesday was day from hell, not helped by waking at 4.40am and not being able to get back to sleep at all. In fact I went onto the net for an hour and spoke to Nick, who thinks the flatmate thing is now sorted in the UK. Fantastic. Into work and the day was just not nice. Lots of bitty things wrong, a couple of things slipped through the net and I had a couple of meetings where I just thought 'Help!' Home, chats to Kaz, Dad and Sue. It was nice to speak to everyone and hear some familiar voices. The cooker finally gave up the ghost on Monday night too, so last night was Scrambled Eggs with Fresh Basil, Microwave-stylee, with some Sweet Chili Sauce. Very nice! Chats to Tony, where I bleated on for ages (bless him!) and then Buffy and bed around 11pm.
I slept! Yay. Woke feeling better and into work. Better day here. Got my head around the Sales operation and what I have to do as E.P. and then we hosted our first live Webchat for K-Zone. The kids come come and chat to the Editor and get all their questions answered about their favourite mag! </end corporate bs>
It was actually a lot of fun and went off really well. Yay! Right, off home now - where I'm going to eat, answer some email (sorry to all of you I've been slow at replying to!) and then do a bit more work. Yes, you heard. Laters... you may get a post-work from home bleary-eyed blog later tonight, but don't hold your breath!

Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Day. Hell.

Shit. Fan.

You decide.

Monday, July 23, 2001

The weekend passed relatively uneventfully, and all too quickly. Friday night was beers in the Oxford with Garry - and various other protaganists appeared including Tony, though he went off to bed early-ish as he still had a day of the conference. We stumbled down to the Beresford to be joined by Jonny Boswell - great to see him, but I was a bit minkered by this point and can't remember what we talked about. Must ring him this week to find out how he was... oops!
David B was meant to come over Saturday morn to go through the flat stuff, but demurred after throwing coffee down himself. Way to go. He called at 9.10am and I took two headache tablets and slept through until 12.30pm. Garry and I decided a movie was the best option and ended up wandering down by Darling Harbour and up into town before grabbing a coffee and heading to see Bridget Jones's Diary. Good film - very enjoyable, quite funny, very British. Out for more beers with Garry Saturday night - just Oxford and singing to trashy songs on the jukebox. Home around midnight and chats on the net to Nick.
Didn't sleep very well and woke for good at 8am Sunday. Pottered about on the net before getting my act together and sorting out the flat. Think some bits are missing from my bed, so the plan to reassemble that went out the window. Also, it was miserable weather - first prolonged rain since I've been here. I had a haircut, collected laundry and grabbed a Thai curry for scran. Tony came over about 5.30pm and we hit the Oxford. Three beers with the boys then back to mine via a takeaway for Tony. Watched The Mask of Zorro with a bottle of wine and fell into bed around 11pm. Could have done without the fire alarm going off at 4.34am...
Didn't sleep well after that and so consequently I'm a bit tired. Left Tony still asleep, lucky bugger. Right, time to do some work. More later...
OK - the weekend's over and so you don't have to wait any more. It's actually not that exciting, but at least it's made a few people sit up and ask me what I've been up to! The task from last week that I hadn't done for a year or so was, in fact, ironing a shirt. Congratulations to my sister Karen for guessing correctly. However, I'm not going to divulge about which of the other suggestions I have or haven't done... and in fact my statement about having done all but one was in fact false when I actually read the suggestions in more detail!

Friday, July 20, 2001

Michael likes English words, and has a list of them on his site. I'm not sure if it's a particularly English word, but one word I like, and used for the first time in an SMS message today, is foist. Nice! Unsure what it means? Go here.
Am I a bit of a git? You tell me. Things could be worse. I could have made you all look at this...
So, your answers flooded in. Well not so much as a flood as a stream. Actually not so much of a stream as a trickle. Thanks guys and gals. They varied from the sublime to the ridiculous, the innocent to the downright filthy. Cue drum roll and hush amongst the audience. Here are the nominations for the 'What I did the night before last that I hadn't done for a year' category:

Church
Hoovering
Growing an inch taller
Going to bed early
Helping an old lady over the road
Went to the cinema
Sorted out all paperwork and filed it
Painted a wall and watched it dry
Gave myself a pedicure including red nail varnish
Wrote some letters
Did a whole pile of ironing? Even the things at the bottom of the pile that are a) out of season or b) out of fashion or c) don't fit?
Stayed in???!!!!! (Nah. Not possible.)
Took it up the butt. :-0

I'm not sure what to make of the suggestions really. One of you got it right. Excluding the correct answer, I've done all but one of these things within the last year, and I'm working on one of the others. You decide which. And the winner is...
.
.
.
.
.
.
wait for it...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I'll tell you tomorrow.

He he he.

Thursday, July 19, 2001

I did something last night that I haven't done for ages. In fact the last time was probably almost a year ago, maybe more. Oddly enough, I quite enjoyed it though normally I bang on about hating it. What could it be?

If you haven't got your mail client set up, just send a message to daveboyes@hotmail.com, titled 'Last night I think you...'. Best answers blogged tomorrow.

Wednesday, July 18, 2001

David's responsible for this (though he stole copied the link from elsewhere). It's a Personality Disorder Test. He's an avoidant narcissist; I'm a histrionic, narcissistic obsessive-compulsive. Histrionic? Me? Meeeeeee? MEEEEEEE??????

Disorder : Rating
Paranoid: Low
Schizoid: Low
Schizotypal: Moderate
Antisocial: Moderate
Borderline: Low
Histrionic: High
Narcissistic: High
Avoidant: Low
Dependent: Low
Obsessive-Compulsive: High

Click Here To Take The Test
It's a funny old world. There I was, sat on the loo at work here in Sydney when I came across something I'd never even considered before. Above the cubicles, attached to the wall is a box. I hadn't really given it much attention, though I'd occasionally heard an odd noise whilst in the bathroom. No, not that. I started to examine the box a bit more closely and it suddenly dawned on my what it was. The thing is programmed to emit a spray of air freshener every so many minutes to keep the place smelling of roses. What a fantastic idea. All rise in salute to the inventor of the automatic air freshener.

Another thought. What if it's based on how much smell you create as opposed to a certain number of minutes? If not, surely that version won't be long... though it's not included as an application for this.
I found out today that Netscrape users can't the the lovely little title tags I put on my links - that's the bit of text that appears and says something like 'Ooh missus'. I urge everyone to use Internet Explorer to see the site in all its glory! Mind you, it actually only amounts to 8% of you that are using Navigator...
Lunch. Sushi. Yum. Very cheap over here, and good quality too. Big box is $6.60 which equals about 2 and a half of your English pounds. What's more it's good for you! How cool is sushi?

Tuesday, July 17, 2001

I'm tired. My eyes hurt. Otherwise I'm OK. Testing is dull. Looking at the eighty-seventh revision of an e-card (why can't agencies ever actually read the brief you send?) gets kind of tiresome. I'm away soon. Easy night. Food. Maybe tune in the telly. Laters...
Busy day today. Site template testing on different platforms. Was meant to be having lunch with David B the landlord, but he's cancelled. Stayed up late sorting stuff out and rearranging the furniture and so on last night - finally got to bed some time around 2am! Oddly enough though, I was in early this morning. How does that work? Also, had the worst muffin this morning. Missus. Not happy!!

Initially typed 'finally got to be some time around 2am' in the sentence above. Oh wow, that's so existential! To be or not to be? That is the question - asked about how soft my pencil lead is. Missus. You can take a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead. OK, I'm losing it. Meeting time. More later.

Monday, July 16, 2001

Damn. Considering how good my memory can be, I forgot to mention a couple of things:
Mouse mats (x4)
Cheese grater
Measuring jug

Don't even ask why I bought 4 mouse mats. I said don't ask! Unless you can work out why...
Entry before last saved. Thanks to safe mode - you can go and edit the HTML directly which I needed to as I'd rendered the edit link unreachable!! Of course this will read like I've lost the plot, as everything will appear normal to you guys. Suffices to say there were problems, honest!
Yikes. I've no idea what I've done, but most of my blog entry has suddenly become part of the title of one of my links. D'oh. Don't you just love Blogger? Though it's probably me not closing speech marks or something. I'd have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids.
Up later than I wanted to be today. Conscious at around 7am and then felt groggy when I finally woke at 8.07am having failed to set the alarm. The walk down the the station is good for the soul though, particularly on an again gorgeous morning. My walk takes me past Hyde Park and I also get a great view of the AMP Tower (Centrepoint as was), both of which looked great in the morning sun. Big breath. Take in view. Everything seems better.

For some reason today, the last bit of my walk found me singing Rockabilly Rebel by Matchbox. Why? I've no idea. Rebel? Maybe. Rockbilly? With this hair?? I don't think so.

I've yet to work out Sydney Transport's pricing policy. For three days last week it cost me $3.00 for a day return to North Sydney. One of the other days cost me $5.20 and I think (though I may have misheard as it was my first day) another day cost $5.50. I guess it's a peak hour thing, though in all but one of those days I've travelled before 9am. Maybe they change the peak hour time on a daily basis. Maybe not. All I can work out at the moment is that the price seems more expensive after about 8.48am. Maybe I should ask. Maybe I should buy a weekly ticket. But who's to know what price that might be?

Finally for the moment THAT view. The one from the train. The Harbour was incredibly calm this morning in the bright, early sunlight. I had coffee and a ham and cheese croissant nestling contentedly in my rucksack. Perfect.
Weekend synopsis:

Friday: Quiet beers with Tony that kind of escalated. Suddenly there were about 8 of us, and quiet became a bit louder. Tony and I ate at Cafe Comity and then back to mine to crash... and crash we did.

Saturday: Woke at about 10.30am feeling a little worse for wear. Managed to just about get our act together and head off to pick hire car up for noon. Got the car, which smelt of a) cats b) garden centres and c) used jocks, and headed to Bondi for fantastic brekky at Tony's local - Brown Sugar. Green eggs - wonderful! (And no, I'm not referring to this, but to scrambled eggs with pesto - couldn't find a link for the latter!) Left Tony to work and headed to the SupaCentre at Moore Park for a supposed shopping frenzy. Garry and Mat joined me there, but our sum total of purchases were 24 tea light holders and 2 CDs. Home and sorted a bit and then chatted on the net to Danny and Wayne. Headed to Tony's at around 9pm for Thai food and then Tony worked and I watched telly and read a bit. I hit the sack at around 1.15am, Tony finally stopped working around 3.30am.

Sunday: Woke at 9.50am. Meant to be at Ian's at 10am to pick up the telly and CD player! D'oh. Rang but no answer so Tony and I wandered down to the beach and had coffee as it was the most fantastic morning. Winter. 19ºC. Go figure. Ian did then ring so Tony headed back to yet more work and I went down to Darlinghurst. Got my things!! Yay! Finally also met Terry - Ian's other half. They've only been going out together for about two years now... Got everything set up at the house and dropped Ian back on the way back to the SupaCentre. Boy my life is SO rock 'n' roll! This time I held no prisoners. I bought:
Fitted sheet set
Webcam
Plug extensions
Iron*
Ironing board*
Kettle
Bed linen (x2)
Tea towels (x6)
Vase
Lemon squeezer
Coat hangers (x16)
Plastic containers (x5)
Potato peeler
Kitchen scales
Colander
Plastic cups (x6)
Bath mat
Scissor set (x3)

I think that was it. God, it's like playing that game at the end of The Generation Game. No cuddly toy though. Dumped everything back at the ranch, dropped the hire car off, came and showered and shaved and hit the pub. Met up with Garry and Mat again, and got drunk and did lots of girly singing. Hmmm. Not a good look. Home, drunken phone calls and bed. Way to go!

*For guests obviously

Friday, July 13, 2001

Been for lunch with Bel and Charlie to a local-to-work eatery. Nice! Went to the nice deli for coffee afterwards and caught up on all the goss. Feel better generally today... thanks to those of you who sent messages relating to me feeling a bit low. Not sure what the night holds, or the weekend for that matter. Think tonight may just be quiet beers. Saturday is car hire day! May well go on a bit of a shopping spree for those bits not yet bought (possibly with Bel looking for bed linen and doonas - rock 'n' roll!) and then Sunday is the finally pick up the TV and CD player day. Yee-hah. Looking forward to that as the flat will seem much more like home. Can't wait. Need to speak to Nick the UK flatmate to sort out a few things there and I need to do the gym join thing. God, it's just gone 4.30pm and it's starting to get slowly dark. Winter eh? Sheesh.
Thanks to those of you commenting on the spelling of the last post. You know who you are. Tim Johnson. The comments were actually copied from the Harry Potter site. So there. Take it to Warner Bros. Meanwhile, it's finally happened. Grammar and spelling are obsolescent in the light of SMS messaging - it's official.

Thursday, July 12, 2001

"Beater practise"

"Wand: Unicorn Hair, Yew, 9 inches!"

"Chaser practise"

"Slither in. Sorry, Slytherin"

No, it's not some new fetish night on the scene here in Sydney. I've been here...
I think I'm a bit sad. Time to go bananas.
"Still on for tonight?"
         "I sent you a message saying I'm gagging for it. Missus."
"Been at clients all arvo. See you later for a session. Madam."
         "Can't wait to get my lips around the first one. Matron."
"It'll slide down your throat a treat. Missus."
         "I like to have one in my hand and one in my mouth. Vicar."

Yes, Garry and I are going out for beers.
Ay ay ay. The times they are a-stranging. Have gone into the most weird mood starting yesterday. Don't know why, but it's here. It's kind of a mix of feeling down, a bit lost and wanting to put my head in the sand and make everything go away. I guess it's not that surprising really, given what I have gone through in the last few weeks. In fact only 3½ weeks ago I moved from the flat in Elephant into Peckham. It seems like aeons ago.

Of course there's absolutely no reason for this feeling. At all. I've moved to a country that I love, I have (what seems like it will be ) a great (but demanding) job, a circle of friends from when I lived here before and some new work colleagues, and the possibility of a partner in Tony. So, why the funk? A period of readjustment? Just getting my head around the fact that I'm actually here? The realisation that now I'm here it's not really any different than London was? Except for going out less...

It is winter though, and the most marked difference here is that this will last only 2 months of the year instead of the summer being over in a nanosecond. I need to sort the flat, get to the gym, eat healthily and focus on work - after all, I have a site to relaunch in under a month.

OK matey, pull yourself together. Show these Aussies what you can do. Guess I'd better go and a) slap myself around a bit, b) get my website producer head on and c) think about what to have for lunch.

SNAP OUT OF IT!!!

Wednesday, July 11, 2001

Re-read the earlier blog entry and it's a bit dull. Come on Dave, you can do better than that! Sorry, think my brain is overloaded with new stuff. I could tell you about the commute in more detail. I have about a 10 minute walk to the train station, but it's through town and I go past a number of nice little coffee bars which is great for me in terms of sustenance, but bad for me in terms of waistline (if I don't get my arse in gear and do some exercise).

The trains here are different to the tubes in London. They are incredibly regular, reliable and are double decker (how funky is that?). I only go three stops - Town Hall-Wynyard-Milson's Point-North Sydney. The best part of the journey? Crossing the harbour on the bridge. The train emerges from the tunnel and on the left is all of Sydney Harbour laid out to the Blue Mountains in the west - lots of inlets off the harbour, lush greenery, docks and wharfs, catamarans whizzing commuters to work, Luna Park amusement park on the North Side giving a sleazy seaside town feel to things, the swimming pool (even busy at 8.30am with keen athletes).

On the right side (and with a better view on the way home) is Circular Quay, home of the Opera House. Seeing that each morning is the kind of pinch-yourself reminder that you're on the other side of the world. The Quay is also home to a big ferry terminal full of yet more commuters. Oh, and loads of those street type entertainers that dress up as the Statue of Liberty and frighten small children. The harbour opens out as it heads towards the Pacific, with more docks and wharfs cityside now converted into funky apartment buildings and the Taronga Park Zoo and other fantastic things North side.

Then the five or so minute walk to the office where sadly, as already blogged, there are no more views. Not a bad little trip all in all, and a couple of nice deli's this side of the harbour too, to stave off hunger lunchtimes. Right. More tea. Vicar.
Nice night last night. I've no idea where the time went, but go it did. Home about 6.30pm after a swift commute home. Tried to get the fax software sorted on the PC at home. I can fax out OK, but have problems receiving stuff other than doing it manually, which isn't the point really. I think I may have to get another phone line installed in the flat. Went online and chatted to Danny a while, which was fun and nice to catch up with him. Tony called and came over from a late meeting bearing gifts - beers and crisps. We like that. Sat and chatted and then went out for dinner. We couldn't decide what the hell to eat but finally settled on sharing a big risotto and a big salad. Nice. Home and chill. Bed. The flat is definitely cold. Much better for having someone to keep warm with :o)

Lousy host this morning though. Unable to provide brekky,as the contents of my fridge currently run to beers, milk, yoghurt, dips and apple juice. Also, I have no sugar, precluding making of tea for Tony. Also, coz the cooktop is a) electric and b) half knackered, it takes about 300 years for the kettle to boil. We walked downtown and bought coffee and muffins. Sometimes it's for the best! Into work and have been briefing an agency to design screensavers and e-cards. Rock 'n' roll!

Tuesday, July 10, 2001

How do you solve a problem like Maria?
Morning two. It was cold in the flat this morning. I'm not going to get a summer for ever! Here at around 9.15am having managed a coffee on the way but bringing in a ham and cheese brioche. Mmm. Checked mail and arranged lunch with the girls (Charlie and Bel, maybe Helen). Going to read a content plan so that I can be knowledgeable when I have a handover meeting at 11am. Not sure I'm going to get used to this working lark again. Or, more importantly, this winter lark.

Monday, July 09, 2001

I think my brain is full. Next.
OK. It's 2pm on my first day at work. I guess I should be doing something, but I haven't quite worked out what it is yet! So far so good. The best start to my new job? The fire alarm going off at the apartment at 5.50am. I'd not even considered what might happen in the advent of a fire. No one else in the building seemed to be moving, though it was kind of hard to tell. The good news? Within about 5 minutes the fire brigade arrived, and turned off the alarm. The bad news? Within about 10 minutes it went off again. Great. This time I stayed in bed and sure enough the fire truck came back and turned it off again. Hopefully this won't be a regular occurrence! So I tossed and turned a bit and finally got back to sleep with just enough time to fall into a really deep sleep before the alarm went off. Joy. And it was bloody cold when I did finally get out of bed!!

Managed to trough some brekky before leaving the house, and the commute's not too bad. 10 minute walk to train, 10 minutes on the train, 5 minute walk to office. The train goes over the harbour and gives the most incredible views. I can glimpse the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge as I walk from train to office, but sadly I have no further views once in work.

Big team meet first thing (every Monday apparently) and then, as the Pet Shop Boys would say, you only tell me you love me when you're drunk. Er I mean I've been left to my own devices. I've located the kitchen to make coffee, I've found the café downstairs to buy coffee and I've had a trip to the local deli (in the rain!) to buy great (but relatively expensive) lunch type stuff - oh and more coffee should I desire it. Ah yes, and the toilets. Found those. To get rid of the coffee.

I now have a laptop, email access (but not to Hotmail! Sniff...) and a phone. I've been through the CMS (Content Management System) with my editor and read a couple of proposals. I need to immerse myself in everything that is Youth Entertainment. Or is that Yoof? I know it'll come with time, but I feel kind of helpless in that I don't know about anything yet. Everyone else does. Don't you just hate that?

Had a quietish weekend otherwise. Beers with the boys Friday night, followed by Indian with Tony and kip at mine. Well tried to. The apartment is quite noisy through the night, just by virtue of being in town. Tony had a big work weekend ahead and needed to kip. He doesn't do noise very well in terms of sleeping. I worried that he wouldn't sleep and so neither one of us slept that well. I was up for brekky with Ian at 8.45am Saturday, which was nice. Great to catch up with him again. Brought Tony coffee back almost 2 hours later and he'd slept. He then went off to do work stuff and I pottered. Walked down to IKEA but decided I couldn't face it, so walked back again to Ian's. Saw his place (lovely!) and saw my TV and CD player for the first time in almost 2 years (even more lovely!!). Headed back to mine and was diverted into the Oxford by Garry. We then did noodles and went and say Moulin Rouge. Great film. I really, really enjoyed it. Camp as hell, good use of contemporary lyrics in a period piece, just all round good entertainment. Dizzy camera work in the opening 15 minutes made me wonder if I was going to enjoy it, but enjoy it I did. Go and see. Big time.

Went to Tony's for cocoa (no, really). No, really. Up Sunday morning and after brekky did manage IKEA. And then did laundry, haircut and headed downtown for other stuff. Teapots and mugs. I know how to have a good time. More beers at the Oxford twixt 6-8pm and then home to merry UK phone calls. Nice to chat to everyone. Bed. Nice weekend though quiet. Most bizarre thing? Realising that as I came into work for the first time here, the Tavern was just closing. How weird is that??

Friday, July 06, 2001

Fantastic! The PC is up and running - and seemingly quite fast! It's amazing what you forget and/or remember about stuff that's been in storage for so long... I spent ages looking for the modem yesterday until my ex-flatmate reminded me that this PC has an internal one... D'oh! Mind you, this is about all I've managed for the day. Still, this does mean that I'm back connected to the outside world. Marvellous.
Things I'd forgotten about in Oz:

Scented toilet paper
Cockroaches
The apartment is taking shape, though slowly. Can't wait to get the TV and, more importantly, the CD player back from Ian's this weekend. Only when I can dance round the living room in my underwear will it really feel like home...

Bought 'Bubbles' the vacuum cleaner yesterday. We are very happy together. Went out for beers with Garry (2 'R's) and Mat (1 'T') last night at the Oxford - fun, though I got incredibly drunk incredibly quickly. Had to leave around 9.45pm before I fell over. Bed by about 10.15pm and didn't wake until 9.30am. Have pottered (tea, muffins, the odd phone call) and am now going back to the flat to sort through more stuff. Today's agenda:
Empty 2 tea chests full of CDs
Re-assemble bed for second bedroom
Fully clean kitchen
Unpack completely
Take washing to laundry
Etc. etc.

It's my last weekend of freedom before work starts in earnest on Monday. Oddly the most minkering thing I feel like doing is having a couple of quiet beers. Having an early brekky with Ian in the morning, pre-IKEA. Charlie has invited me to a party at hers tomorrow for Tracey leaving so I may nip down there. Dunno. What's kind of nice about knowing less people is that there is no pressure to go out - I can do nothing if I so desire. I might just do that...

Thursday, July 05, 2001

Well I see it didn't take me long to be replaced at the quiz. Thanks guys. I'm Dave, in case you've forgotten... (sniff).

I have furniture! It's like Christmastime - and I don't just mean the weather (it's bloody cold today!). All this stuff I put into storage in September 1999 - and now I'm opening box after box and thinking 'God, I don't remember that!'. Most bizarre thing I've found so far? A plastic bag full of fridge magnets. Really. Off to plan my day. Doing IKEA on Saturday (I know how to have a good time), so may just head into town and buy linen, a king size doona and a vacuum cleaner. Don't you just love moving 12,000 miles away?

Wednesday, July 04, 2001

Meeting good. People seem like nice people. Boy will I have a lot to learn starting Monday. OK, so I'm going to enjoy my last few days of freedom. However, I've got to be somewhere 20 minutes out of the city, after having picked up the key to the back entrance of the apartment, by 8am. D'oh. Time for bed methinks.
Right. Web site designs browsed, magazine browsed, off to meet my workmates. Most scary of all on the web site designs was the 'Meet the Crew' page - which will include a picture and profile of everyone involved in bringing the sites to life. Hmmm. My first decision as producer???
Hmm - my act did so not get itself together yesterday. I did organise the removalists, tracked down the key to my storage from Ian, organised to get stuff in the morning and arranged access to the new place with the caretaker. Not bad. I so didn't buy anything. Not a thing. Not even a sniff of a pillow (makes a change!). Ended up back at Tony's watching the tennis whilst he worked.

Am now in an internet cafe going over the designs for one of the magazines I'm going to be working on, as I have my first work related meeting in 2½ hours. In before that to meet everyone then straight in, no messing (no change there then).

Life down under? It's really happening...

Tuesday, July 03, 2001

Today's the day - to get my act together. Things to do:

Move to Surry Hills.
Phone electricity company.
Phone guy about new cooker top.
Phone storage people.
Phone removal people.
Phone Ian to track down other stuff.
Phone Garry, Phil, Jon, Brett, everyone else...
Go through web designs for tomorrow's work meeting.
Buy quilt (doona), pillows, linen.
Have takeaway.
Resist Tony's kind offer to come back up to his house tonight.
Maybe...

Monday, July 02, 2001

Monday morning going slow... except it's Monday afternoon and I've not long been up. Hmm, thought I'd managed to escape the jetlag - seems there's a little still lurking after all.

It's been a weird weekend. Picked up the keys to the flat on Friday night, as posted, yet I'm still at Tony's. He's been great - very hospitable and also has reintroduced me to the joy of loose leaf tea. No, really. Twining's Irish Breakfast Blend. It's the most tea-like tasting tea I've had in years.

Still can't really believe I'm here. Saturday night went to a party at the invite of Paul and Peter, and it turned out I know one of the guys hosting the party. John. Kiwi guy. And, as it turned out, I knew about 10 other guys at the party. Fantastic. Made me feel right at home. Also, one of the guys, Denis, had moved into the same apartment block as me that very same day. Someone to go and borrow cups of sugar off. Fantastic!! I flagged just after midnight though, and came back here. Sleep.

Sunday was a nice day - another great day weatherwise, and this is winter. Ended up down at Darling Harbour and was persuaded to go bungy-trampolining with Tony and Kelley. No, really. (Can't find a decent link about it either). On then to see Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (which was better than anticipated) and then home. Food and an early-ish night.

Not sure what the rest of the day holds. Should get organised. Got a work meeting on Wednesday, but otherwise just really need to sort out the new flat - get my furniture out of storage, track down Ian (who has my TV, CD player, microwave and PC), get the cooktop fixed, buy some kitchenware, start the flatmate hunt etc. I'll keep you informed.

But I'm here. And oddly, it feels like I've been here for years.