Running record...


My half marathon history is as follows:

2003 - trained hard, torrential rain, Time 1'50"49
2004 - didn't train as hard, beautiful weather. Time 1'50"01
2005 - intended to run again, got shin splints and sore knees.
2006 - got fat :o(
2007 - was finishing up Masters and not exercising
2008 - late entry, attempted to kick start myself into exercise. Gorgeous day. Time 1'59"10

I was very happy with the run given I hadn't really trained properly, and best of all I really enjoyed myself. I'm seriously considering the full marathon in September. First though, a week off to let my sore legs recover :o)

It's the middle of May. Somehow since the last post the holidays have ended and two weeks of term 2 have already passed...

I did go into school after I left you last and rearranged the furniture in the classroom and it has been working much better for me. I have been running again, and managed almost 15k on Tuesday which should leave me able to finish next week's half marathon - I'm not really going for a PB time-wise as my preparation was scant at best. I'm going to do another 15k tomorrow morning, before Bad Dog.

Today's been a bit of a write-off. Nursing a hang-over I've spent the day feeling listless, sorry for myself and a bit lonely. I had big plans for school stuff and I've done none of it. I need to snap out of it and get going. There are some reasons for my mood and I guess I'm just going to have to get used to feeling like this for a while. More soon.

So. A week on.

I do feel a lot better - still not sure what was going on for most of last week, but I think it was either a cold or an allergy. Eye drops and antihistamines did help and I've not had anything since Friday. Maybe it was just me relaxing after the first term of teaching...

Had a good night with Muz Thursday on his return, and caught up with Anna off my uni course on Friday which was great as we swapped Kindy stories. The weekend was chilled with beers, brekkies and bonding. One of the many UK David's was in town and great to catch up with him...

I'm both restarting running action tomorrow and going into school - these holidays will be over before I know it.

Still, there's always Anzac Day to get up to some mischief... :o)

I'm feeling very listless.

It should be a good time - day 4 of school holidays should find me relaxed, playful and full of the joys of spring. Or at least autumn. But no. Unable to shake some sort of sickness - cold? Hayfever? Allergy? Lethargy? I feel like I'm not quite up for anything. Add to that Muz being away in QLD and Dave is not a happy bunny right now.

Don't seem to have the energy/desire for gym/running/cooking. Too restless for tv/DVD/movie/computer stuff/reading/museums. Feels like I've got ADD. My eyes itch and I go from being coldy/fluey to being ready to take on the world. Bi-polar anyone?

Hmph. Not happy Jan.

Numbers...

Well I turned 43 today. It was a lovely day. I was at school teaching, then at a picture book workshop, then had dinner and beer with Jules and Bill. Noice. Here are some other numbers for the day...

17 - kids that sang to me this morning
12 - SMS birthday salutations (8 Oz; 4 UK)
9 - Facebook happy birthday messages (including one from Facebook itself)
3 - actual birthday cards
3 - beers tonight
3 - phone calls in (one sleepy; one cheery; one wishing they could be here)
2 - phone calls out (one to the UK; one to QLD)
2- birthday emails
1 - cake from a parent

Happy birthday to me (and Stevie P in the UK)!

A few years ago I offered to look after a friend's dog whilst he went away for the weekend. Since then I have been lucky enough to be asked to look after George a number of times whilst Peter and his partner Gary have had weekends away. All those years ago Peter lived in Surry Hills - since then home is now Tamarama and George has a playmate Monkey who also needs looking after.


And so this weekend I've spent a wonderful time (so far) by the beach with the dogs enjoying the gorgeous autumn sunshine. I took some time yesterday to just go and sit on the beach in the late afternoon; and then this morning was a little more ambitious and ran from Tama to North Bondi, back to Bronte and then back to the apartment to a breakfast of fresh fruit and coffee. It feels like I'm on holiday!

I always enjoy my time by the beach - being near the water always seems to lift my spirits whether I'm feeling good or bad beforehand. There is also a lovely cafe nearby where I went and people-watched yesterday, and the intention today is to spend my time split between doing some planning for the next week at school, taking in the lovely scenery around here and eating fruit, fresh turkish bread, cheese and dips. The dogs will need another walk of course later when it's cooler and then I'll finally head home early evening feeling energised and ennervated.

It really has felt like I'm miles away from my place in Newtown, and it'll help me get through the last two weeks of term one of school before I get some holiday time.

A post. Quick and dirty as it's time for early bed as I'm fighting a cold.

School is great, but really exhausting. My kids are great (mostly!) and it's fun spending time with them at school. Days are quite long and there's always too much to do but... :o)

Having fun at the circus course too - it's my time to escape completely from thoughts of school. February has flown by and Mardi Gras came and went - spent the night with my sister who had arrived that morning from the UK and honestly didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. Sue's here til Easter which is great - looking forward to catching up on everything with her.

Don't seem to have much time for other stuff right now. Except Muz ;o)

And lo, it came to pass that another month went by and I verily did not blog...

Bugger. Happy New Year, and it now seems too late to review 2007. Let's just say it started badly; plateaued in the middle and somehow became incredible in the last 4-5 months :o)

January consisted mostly of watching tennis and it being too hot to do much else. I resisted the gym, but did end up eating more healthily. I had 4 days in Melbourne staying with my mate Rich which was great, and went to see the tennis live which was very cool. Then it's been back to Muz's birthday celebrations leading straight into work.

Day 3 of term tomorrow, the second with kids. So far my class seems pretty cool though we've not finalised final numbers yet. I'm actually heading to bed as I'm tired - it's pretty tough having to be 'on' for the entire school day - particularly kindergarten when they need help and instruction with absolutely everything. Fun and rewarding though...

More soon. Really. No, really.
:o)

Just a quick one to wish everyone a happy new year before it all goes a bit mad here tomorrow. I've been lucky enough to be invited to the VIP viewing area for the fireworks at Dawes Point tomorrow which should be very cool - I've never actually been down to the harbour for the NYE fireworks so if I'm going to do it I might as well do it in style!

Otherwise still very quiet. Hanging out; walking; Wiiing; reading... I'm probably the most relaxed I've been in ages! Mind you, so is my waistline so I really must get exercising - however it's really hot at the moment so hard to motivate oneself for running again. I will though. Maybe next year :o)

Here's to a great 2008 for everyone - I'll be back with a review of 2007 very soon!!

Not much to report at this point. School's out until 29 Jan 2008 though, so I'm pretty happy about that!

Still not back at the gym, but the Christmas shopping is pretty much sorted and most of my life admin is under control. Been having a laid back time of things lately. Highlights last weekend were playing with Muz's new Wii. If you haven't, do so immediately. If you have, you'll know what I mean! I'm still aching from the boxing, tennis and bowling at the weekend - I didn't think I'd even work up a real sweat whilst playing a video game.

So what's in store until Christmas? Relaxing mostly. Trying to do the running and gym thing. Trying to eat healthily - not the easiest time of the year to try and do that though!

It's all good right now... ;o)

It's Christmas-time. There's no need to be afraid.

Here are two images - I think it's going to be a close call as to which of these will be more associated with Christmas this year.

"The Holly and the iPod" anyone?

As you can see from the post below, I'm loving the fact I can take pics with my phone and bluetooth them straight to the MacBook for inclusion on Minkered... Too easy.

Huzzah!

So, only three weeks til Christmas, suddenly.

Still working at the gym and running stuff, but I did buy some pretty running shoes - they're lime green and everything! And I bought two pairs, so I can run long into 2008...

Hmm. I had a quiet week last week and the weekend was great and also quiet. Caught up with Muz, read a bit, played with the new MacBook. Ah yes, my new baby arrived so that was fun. And this morning the Remix JamPack has arrived so hopefully I'll soon be making sweet music. Well, music at any rate.

I'm also trying to renovate a couple of chairs I liberated from the pavement recently. I'll post a picture of them as they stand right now and then I can post again when they're finished and hopefully looking snazzy. (As you can see, they're going to require a bit of time and effort!)

That's it for the moment - I'll let you know what else comes up this week. Will Dave finally get back to the gym?

And lo and behold it was suddenly another two weeks since I last blogged and I again wonder who's stealing all the time I once had.

Since the last post things have been a little calmer I suppose. The five week block of teaching did indeed finish, and then last week I was in Thu/Fri for a couple of days. We had had a teacher night out in Newtown on the previous Friday night and that was fun.

Two weekends ago I managed to catch up with Adrian, Bobby and Gary & Peter which was great. Last weekend was a whole new show though Jerry. Muz and I entered the Sydney Urban Max race and have a really good time. It's a bit like the Amazing Race, with over 350 teams running around Sydney (or using public transport only) solving clues and undertaking challenges. Muz wrote more about it here, so go have a read and see the map of where we went. The highlights for me were two - one, stripping down to our undies in the pouring rain and diving into a swimming pool to find a rubber duck with the number 72 on it; and two, coming 7th overall and 3rd in our category. Way to go us! We also realised today that we did one extra checkpoint so could have actually come in second! Doh. We were really chuffed though, and good to know me and Muz can race well together should other challenges come up.

Yesterday was Gary's birthday do in Tamarama and it was good to spend a bit of time there and have a few beers with the sun setting over the sea. Today was a bit confusing as I thought I wasn't working unless called in. They didn't call so I didn't go, but apparently I was meant to be there! Oops. Better luck next time. If there's not much work this week then I'll finish the Christmas stuff and get back running and to the gym.

No, really. :o)

Another week goes by, and in fact we're now only scarily some 6 or so weeks until Christmas! Yikes...

As below. Teaching still as described, though only one more confirmed week and then back to casual until the end of term. We did have the first of the 2008 Kindergarten orientations this week, which seemed to go well. If the kids are all as well behaved as the ones I had it'll be fine! There are two more Thursday mornings of that to come, then one hell of a lot of planning and research for me over the long end of year break.

Sculpture by the Sea was good last week, though it didn't seem quite as busy as last year in terms of pieces on show. Was good to go with Muz though, and then spend some time with Gary and Peter and a few others for a leisurely lunch in Tamarama.

Dad seems to be continuing his improvement, and I'll find out a bit more later when I call to say hello.

In other news, all good. Hoping to spend a bit more time on this in the coming few weeks when I'm not so flat out with work. Let's see!

So, it's November and week 3 of the term is already past. So, what's been happening? Not that much to be honest.

Teaching remains the same - hard to plan, changing most days, not quite sure what's coming next. I see it as good experience for my future work. All good.

Dad went home from the hospital and seems good. A relief for us all.

Last weekend remained pretty quiet. Ended up spending most of the time doing life admin; playing playstation; watching trashy movies and reading. All good. Still very happy with my lot right now.

This weekend - who knows? So far plan is to visit Sculptures by the Sea on Sunday, but otherwise the world is my lobster.

Two posts on the same day? Monsieur, with these Rochers you're really spoiling us!

Whatever.

1½ weeks into the casual teaching which has been interesting. It's hard not really knowing what to expect on a daily basis - it makes planning really hard, and sometimes I feel I'm not really giving it my best as a consequence. I know things will be different when I have my own class, but for the moment I just have to go in and do my best.

On that note, the school has verbally offered me a year's contract for 2008, teaching kindergarten. It's great news - I had made it known that I'd quite like to work with the younger children - though I was thinking more Yrs 1 or 2 than kindy. However it'll be great experience and it's great that I don't really have to think too much about work for next year. It also means I can spend the Christmas holidays planning and programming ready to give it my best shot. I'll tell you more once it's all official like.

Otherwise, things are ticking along nicely thanks. I enjoyed my two weeks off and really did very little, but decided that was long overdue as I haven't had any long period of time off for over three years. Yay.

I've been worried about my Dad, who's had an operation to unblock one the carotid arteries in his neck - the good news is that he's on the mend, though he's still in hospital for the moment.

Love life is great. Thanks for asking.

Have a pretty free weekend this weekend coming. Now just working out what to fill it with...

The devil will find work for Idol hands to do...

Watching Australian Idol this serious has been car crash television - I personally don't think the singers are that great, but something keeps me watching. I have been fascinated with how much to me Matt Corby looks like a young Jane Fonda, but couldn't really find any pictures to prove my point. Fortunately my mate Muz did me this favour and found these two 'separated at birth' pictures:




I can't wait for Matt's workout DVD. And also given what he was wearing in the last couple of shows, I don't think it'll be too long before we see him wearing something like this:

I think I might have to be washing my hair that evening.

iTunes meme: (Thanks to Muz)

Sort by song title:
First: The A Team - TV theme
Last: 80s medley - Stars on 45 (I would like to say I did used to share this computer with a flatmate...)

Sort by time:
Shortest: "Not Happy Jan!" - TV ad soundbite
Longest: Hedgehog 1:15:46 - this is one of my own mixes

Sort by artist:
First: Take on me by A-ha
Last: D.E.V.I.L. BY 666

Sort by album:
First: Album: Absolute Dance Move Your Body! Song: Conquering America by Bodies Without Organs
Last: Album: 70s Preservation Society Song: Disco Inferno by The Trammps

Top 5 most played songs: These are all from the same album - Trip The Light Fantastic by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. There is a good reason why this album has been played so much...
1. Me and My Imagination
2. If I Can't Dance
3. New York City Lights
4. Only One
5. If You Go

First song that plays on shuffle:
Aerodynamic by Daft Punk

Type the following into the search and how many titles come back?
Sex: 19
Love: 263
Death: 3
Fart: 0
Tardis: 1 (No farts, but I do have a "tardis"!)

Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod!

Yesterday afternoon I went to the local shopping centre to have a mooch around. Having a peek at a cheap DVD stall lead me to almost gasp in disbelief. The previous night I'd been at Muz's, and we'd spent a bit of time sharing weird memories by searching for stuff on YouTube. One of my searches was for the clip from The Fast Show which parodies The Singing Ringing Tree, one of my strongest childhood TV memories. Last time I searched for the clip it wasn't there; this time it was. Muz wasn't familiar with the original show, so I spent some time trying to explain it to him to put the clip from The Fast Show in perspective. I remember it as an eastern european production of a fairy tale that ended up being quite scary.



Last time I tried to buy the original Singing Ringing Tree it was hard to find, and weirdly only available from Amazon in Germany in order to get the version with the BBC voiceover. Hence my almost gasp. There nestled amongst the $5 DVDs was a locally produced version of The Singing Ringing Tree - the cover design drew me in. So I paid my money and came away happy. I'm saving it to play when Muz is next here, so I have someone to bore to death with my memories. I particularly remember the spinning dwarf; the musical bridge; the giant fish encased in ice and the glorious 'technicolor' it was filmed in, which only added to the spookiness.


Wikipedia has this to say about The Singing Ringing Tree:

"Imagine a fairy tale conceived by Wagner and directed by Fritz Lang, with nods in the direction of The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari and German expressionism, and you'd be close."


See all the screen shots and read the full story of The Singing Ringing Tree here.

See the Fast Show parody here. You need to watch past the fake introduction!

Well as promised, here it is... my 666th post. So, is it the number of the beast?

According to http://www.666man.net, this is what we should know about this number...

"The number 666 comes directly from the worship practices of the city of Babylon about the time of the Bible prophet Daniel. The people of Babylon worshipped gods that were associated with the sun, moon, visible planets of our solar system, and certain of the stars involved with the practice of astrology. The Babylonians were the principal developers of astrology, as we know it today. In their worship system, they had 37 supreme gods, and one of these, the god associated with the sun, was supreme over all the other gods. These people believed that numbers in some way had power over the gods they worshipped. However, they had to create numbers that they could assign to the gods so that they could have power over them. To do this, they counted their gods and assigned a count number to each of the 36 lesser supreme gods, and then added up all of these numbers (from one to 36) and assigned the sum to the sun god. The first god they counted got the number one assigned to it, and the second god they counted got the number two assigned to it, and so on up to all 36 lesser supreme gods. Now, if you have not guessed it by now, the sum of the numbers from one to 36 totals 666, which they assigned to the god associated with the sun. They did the calculation like this:

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ... + 33 + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666

However, they went further. They feared these gods and worried that one of them might strike them down sometime, so they made amulets with a 6 x 6 matrix of the numbers one through 36 on them. The practice of creating amulets with this arrangement of numbers as part of astrology appears to have continued well past the time of Jesus. Archeologists have found amulets with Latin Inscriptions, so we know that the Romans were indulging in this practice.

Therefore, the 666 number came about because of the pagan worship practices of the Babylonians and their practice of astrology."

The weirdest thing about all of this is that 36 is my lucky number! I never knew of the association until today, and I'd not added the numbers up to 36 together either. Odd.

I'm officially doing bugger all. It's great. Think I might do a bit of life admin and treat myself to a trip to Manly on the ferry! Also Blogger tells me that this is my 665th post. That means I have to think of something suitably evil for the next one!

And so it became October, and it's really starting to be warm and sunny. Estival even. In summary, summery. I digress...

I've had a great few days since the last post on here thanks for asking. As mentioned I worked on Thursday and Friday - the first day covering for teachers as they did some planning so I had about an hour with six different classes. Friday I taught the Yr 5's, and then went off to the end of term teacher meal in Leichhardt. Interesting! It all got a bit hen night/18th birthday party for my liking, but it was fun-ish whilst it lasted.

Oh, and the best news of all? School offered my five weeks casual full time work as a roving teacher - basically this means I'll fill in for teachers as and when I'm needed, but it will be fixed term rather than a day-by-day basis. Cool! There should still be casual work for the last five weeks of term too, but this is a great start. Woohoo!

Saturday was a leisurely morning and then spent the evening over with Muz on the north side. Beers and thai food. Yum. Sunday back home and cleaned and tidied the house. Muz came over later, and when we were joined by Tim we hit the Union for food and beers. More beers back here before heading off to Bad Dog. We had a blast! Muz had a couple of shiny silver body suits (don't ask!), and we slipped into them once at the party. Did we steal the show!! That lasted about 3 hours before we donned our 'civvies' and partied till the wee hours.

Yesterday was a slow, lazy, wonderful day. Sleep, trashy movies, KFC, beers... all the things to do when you don't have to do anything! Noice.

I'm now at the start of a couple of weeks holiday as mentioned, but I think today might be another of those lazy days. Don't want to rush into my 'to do' list too quickly!!

Lots of posts from me - what's that about?

Today was a bit of a milestone, and an anticlimax all in one - if that's possible. The really good news? I now have my teaching number, which means I can officially teach primary school children in NSW and get paid for it! The eighteen months of study has paid off and now I'm let loose on the real teaching world. I may get a full time job offer for 2008, but it's about a 1:5 chance so I'm not holding my breath. Meantime, there should be plenty of casual work available for Term 4 (starting mid October) so that should keep me out of mischief meantime. However first I intend to have some time off doing nothing but Davie things.

The anticlimactic part? I was offered paid work for tomorrow and Friday, but my teaching number came through too late to accept it. Bugger. Mind you, the school is still keen to have me for next term on a casual basis, and I'm going to their end of term meal/booze up on Friday so it's all good. Today did involve me heading out to Blacktown (about an hour on the train); waiting for 1.5 hours to get served by their customer service rep only to be told I needed another document from Uni; another hour on the train this time to my old work at Qantas where I finally officially resigned (they'd kindly let me have leave without pay to study); to Uni to get said document faxed off; and finally home.

*Stop the press*
My school have just called to offer me the two days paid work - woohoo! I'm really teaching to earn my keep! Yeehah! Wonder which class I'll get tomorrow!

So what do you call it when your anti-climax gets reversed? I'm not sure I should be saying I've just now had a climax...

What a difference a week makes! And what little difference 3 years make! Read on...

I left you a week ago having not really done much stuff this time Monday night. However miracle of miracles I managed to knuckle down and so when a mate came over for dinner Tuesday night I was all but finished my full report. I even amazed myself as that's not even due in until this Friday! From the full report it was relatively straightforward to précis that down to a Powerpoint presentation and so by Wednesday mid-arvo I was done, dusted, finished and able to walk away from the whole thing for the evening. Very cool. Thursday was the post-Internship conference and I presented everything at around noon. Woohoo! Thursday night I printed everything else off and by Friday afternoon I had completely finished my Masters course (assuming the final report makes the grade). Almost unbelievable. The last eighteen months have really flown!

Yesterday was another interesting day, but for completely different reasons. Some of you reading this may remember I got into running when I last moved back to Oz in 2002-2004; completing 2 x 10K runs, 2 x City to Surf 14K runs and 2 x half marathons. I was pretty into it and only stopped when I got shin splints and then when I met Craig and started the uni course the running went by the wayside. Well my mate Muz persuaded me to do the 9K Bridge run and I took it as a way to kick-start my running career again. I had hoped to get in some decent training, but due to teaching, the uni stuff and some badly timed hayfever and/or headcold symptoms it just didn't happen. So my preparation for yesterday's race was a 3K run last Wednesday; a 5K run last Friday and then the actual race! Miraculously I did the whole thing without stopping and thanks to Muz's pace-making we came in at just under 52mins for just under 10K (according to Muz's iPod). I was really amazed how my much body remembered and readjusted as I'm not even sore today at all. Weird. Hats off to Muz too, as it was the furthest he'd ever run and a personal goal for him ticked off. Way to go mate!

Today ended up as a great impromptu day too. Caught up with Bobby and another mate Brett for coffee and ended up at the Coogee Bay Hotel for lunch and beers. Noice. Since then the day's been very chilled and has involved lots of cups of tea and searching the interwebnet for stuff. And here I am. Soon-ish to bed. I'm off this week if my teaching number doesn't get sent to my by the Department of Education. If it does I'm up for some casual work - if not it'll be mid October as it's end of term this week. Fingers crossed, but either way I'm going to make sure I enjoy the first time off I've had in two years ;o)

I sometimes find it amazing how I can find so many useless things to do when I've got some uni work to do. Right now I'm working on my action research project for my Masters. Allegedly. Today I had a leisurely start to the day, stopping for breakfast in the city. I didn't actually put fingers to keyboard until around 11.30am, and was over at the Metro centre having lunch only some two hours later! Bumping into a colleague only wasted a bit more time, and then it's amazing what else you can find on the interwebnet to keep you amused...

I even watched Australian Idol.

And then I came across a blog post from someone that just made me a little pensive. When someone else bares their soul a little it can often trigger stuff for me if pertinent, and this particular post certainly was. I'm not going to say much more than that for now, as my project research is still looking at me somewhat blankly. However let's just say I'm grateful for what I know and what I'm learning... and there's plenty still to come.

With a knowing nod and glass raised to the author... "To adventure and misadventure."

Bring it on.

September already eh? Haven't really had much time to myself lately, but that's all been in a good way. Finally online at (new) home, which helps.

So, the teaching practicum finishes tomorrow. The last nine weeks have really flown. So now it's head down to write the mini-thesis which I have to present on Thursday/Friday next at our post-intership conference. Then that's it. I'm on the open job market pretty much ready for term 4, which starts mid-October. This means I'll finally get chance to have a real holiday. Sigh. Can't wait.

Settling into the house properly now. Have even been cooking, plus the telly and CD player were returned from being fixed today. Woohoo! House warming and meal invites going out soon...

In other news... ;o) Going to keep that one under my hat. It just seems appropriate for now, but it's all good. Better than good. Almost incredible. Suffices to say I'm happy though... oh yes.

More soon, probably in between cups of tea instead of doing the thesis - I know what I'm like!!!

Ah. Well my archives are back which is good. Now I just have to sort out the formatting... :o)

One step at a time!

OK. So the number of posts is still not great. However I do have an excuse in that I currently have no internet access from home as since the move the phone line hasn't been properly sorted.

So, what else has been happening? I've moved house, and am now in lovely Alice Street in Newtown (not really that big a move, but it went very smoothly). Big thanks to Ken and Bobby who helped with the move - particularly to Ken who sold me his white goods at a knock down price. Julia moved in that first Sunday and so far it's been great to share a place.
The teaching is going well and it seems weird that I'm over two-thirds of the way through the internship already. Time is flying.

And about that time stuff. I wonder why else time has been flying so? Well I've been spending some quality time with a lovely bloke and really enjoying it. More of that soon, but suffices to say it's made everything else seem very easy ;o)

OK. In an internet cafe so I'll make this brief until we get online at home and then it's on for one and all. More soon... Oh, and thanks to some of the new people that have posted comments, directed here from other blogs!

Ay Caramba!

I promise I'll try and do this more often. Particularly as I've now realised that there are a few new people looking coz of Facebook (ah the perils of the interwebnetthingy).

So I left you in June. Lovely girl. Since then, in brief:
Spent three weeks in the UK primarily for my Dad's 80th birthday. Have to say it was fantastic. Wasn't sure how Dad's health would be, but he was in fine fettle and seems to have recoverd well from the stroke in February. It was great to spend time with him and he really seemed to enjoy himself. I also managed to reconnect with old mates from London/York and genuinely enjoyed myself even with all the running around up and down the country.
Returned to my DET interview which seemed to go well. Fingers crossed re job offers.
Started a nine week placement at school in Marrickville teaching some gifted and talented 11 year olds. So far, so good. They're a challenge, but it's all good teaching experience.
Am in the process of moving out of the house and renting a place to share with Julia, my niece. Moving in two weeks and I have to say I'm very much ready for it now. Prepare for lots of invitations for food and wine. I'm going to get back to being the entertainer that I always used to be. Woohoo.
Had some fun nights/days here since being back. Thanks to everyone that's helped my prop up bars around Sydney. Thanks to Tim for organising the theatre last Friday - it was lots of fun and good to spend a bit more time with Tim and Chris. Tim - you're now linked! There's a lovely picture of the two of us on Tim's blog from Kooky last when we inadvertently went as twins. Peas in a pod.
Feeling like the move will herald a return to form for this happy camper. Way to go me.
OK. Time to plan tomorrow's spreadsheet lesson. More soon. Really. Though there might be small gaps in transmission as I move house as I'm here and there for a bit and not sure when the internet access will be sorted out.

Woah! So almost 9 months goes by... and I wonder what the hell's been happening. You probably do too, if you're still reading.

So. What news? Well - since September there's been a lot happening. In summary:

Craig and I split up in March which is sad. However we're still friends and still living together as landlord/lodger (me lodging - Craig bought the house).
Dax our staffy is as beautiful as ever and will be 5 in August.
I have one assignment left before I have completed the Bachelor part of my two year Masters of Primary school teaching. Just waiting to see where I have my 9 week internship starting mid-July.
I hit the UK for three weeks holiday 20June-11July. I'm in London 23-26June and 2-10July. Prepare to catch up for beers and shenanigans.

In fact that will do for the first update in all this time. More soon - but look out people in Blighty... I'm on the way!

Wow.

Can't believe it's already been over two months since I last posted. Not that there hasn't been much going on - the opposite in fact - but it seems only recently that I was enjoying some time off from uni. Well I'm currently on day 46 without a day off. I've been doing uni work, cafe work, sometimes both, and for the last 4 weeks teaching in a school in the eastern suburbs. The teaching has been great fun, but completely exhausting, and I'm ready for it to be over tomorrow. Sad to finish, glad to get some time off!
Craig spent almost a month in the USA, and it's great to have him back. Julia my niece arrived a week and a half ago and I'm looking forward to spending some more time with her and her friend Bill whilst I'm on uni break. So two weeks of just cafe work and then back to uni for 6 weeks and then holidays until March 07! I will be working at the cafe, so it's not all relaxation, but the pressure will be off for a bit whilst the sun shines.
More soon :o)

Quick posting for July, just coz I haven't been posting regularly for some time now... Not a great deal to report since the last posting. Had a weekend down in Canberra, which on balance I can't really recommend! Partly due to the company (friend of Craig's 40th, but the weekend highlighted how much they've grown apart) and partly due to the place itself. Dull, soulless and rather scarily Stepford Wives. Other than that I've been taking it very easy. Lots of time with the dog, a bit of cafe work and not much else. Uni starts again in 3 weeks so still a bit more time to enjoy. Started doing some of the sorting I promised last posting - and that will continue. Oh, and the soccer's been replaced by Wimbledon watching - tennis was always more my sport!

Another week on and not too much to report. First things first though, happy birthday to my Dad, who is 79 today! All being well I'll be back over in the UK this time next year to help Dad become an octogenarian.
I've done very little over the past week and it's been great. Lots of walking the dog and leisurely admin and house stuff. Going to try and get some tidying done today - it's time to clean out the laundry. Don't you love lazy holiday time? I was up this morning watching the Australia-Italy match. We were robbed! Now go England...

Well this is definitely the longest time between posts since this thing began some 5 or so years ago... Apologies to anyone left that might still be reading. I alluded to stuff happening back in January when I last did post and yes, there have been some changes.
In February I finished up at Qantas as I have taken leave without pay until the end of the year. Sue (my sister) arrived from the UK a couple of days later to celebrate her 50th birthday and we had a week together enjoying Sydney - particularly the trip to the Hunter Valley. Then, on 6 March I went back to Uni some 18 years after graduating the first time...
This time I'm doing a Masters of Primary School Teaching, and that's what has been keeping me so busy! We've just finished semester 1 last Friday, hence finally having some time to focus on admin type stuff again. As well as Uni I've been working as a barista in a local(ish) café 3 days a week so it's been full on. Many thanks to Craig for being so supportive over the last three months - I'm not sure if I'd have survived otherwise! Also Jonathan was also over for part of the time, heading back just before Easter, and since then it's been assignments a go-go. Craig also started a new job too, so we've kept ourselves very much to ourselves whilst we've readjusted. Then, a couple of weeks ago we got the offer to take on a dog for someone that was going to live overseas, and so we welcomed Dax into the family home. He's a 3 year old pure bred Staffy, and very cute with it. As you might guess, things are quite a bit different from when I last posted!! Right, off to do a trial barista shift at a café round the corner - fingers crossed it works out as it would be so much more convenient and I need some extra shifts whilst I've got these next 5 weeks off from Uni. 5 weeks... count 'em!

So it's way past the Happy New Year time for the first post of 2006. But it'll say it anyway.

Lots going on. Some good, some not so good. When I've worked it all out, there'll be a full update. Meantime I'm off home from work to a public holiday tomorrow.

Happy Australia Day!

Twas two days before Xmas and all through the office,
Nothing was stirring.. not even ...er.. can't think of anything to rhyme!

Winding down now to 2 whole weeks off. I can't wait! Neither Craig nor I have had any time off since May, so it's long overdue. We're going to eat well, gym, go to the beach, do odd jobs around the house and generally just relax. We've got a relatively quiet Xmas and Boxing Day, and then may head up the coast to Newcastle for a couple of days. Then we'll do the big NYE party - this year called Fantasy. That'll get us into 2006 - and then best of all, we're not back at work until 9Jan. Woohoo!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a minkered New Year! x

A second post for December - surely not? And we're only just half way through the month.

Having said that, there's not a great deal to report again. Still not going out a great deal; still trying to gym; movies; the odd meal out; DVDs etc. Cheap is good. The work Christmas party was OK - the crown green bowling was fun. I was fine in theory but not quite as good in practice sadly...

Not much on for this weekend, save drinks tomorrow night and a meal. So looking forward to having two weeks off - I finish work on 23Dec and don't go back until 9Jan... Joy!

More soon...

Well this will at least make sure I post at least something for December. That makes one a month since July. Go Davie!

Er, yes. Reportage: actually same old stuff which is good. Not so much going out; gym stuff on a semi-regular basis; eating out a bit; catching up with some friends; movies; DVDs and generally doing things that don't cost a great deal of cash!

We did go out with Craig's workmates for Marilyn's birthday. We did head over to Tamarama for Gary's birthday beers and pizza. I did get horribly hungover from drinking too much at my work department do - and it's the bigger full on one on Saturday. We're going crown green bowling which should be fun. I'll let you know how I get on. Until then, presume not much has changed...

Remember remember, the 5th of November - gunpowder, treason and plot.

Except of course it's now the 16th and I can't remember what happened on the 5th. I should of course remind all those UK types that Bonfire Night is a peculiarly local thing and so there's no celebration or fireworks here down under.

Actually the weekend of the 5/6th we went out with Adrian, David and Jason - and had a hoot. Up early Sunday morning and out - haven't done that in a bit and it was good. Originally we'd said we'd do the Pheonix, but no one was there so Manacle saved the day. We fell home sometime in the mid afternoon. Zzzzzzzz........

Last weekend was the Newtown Festival. We didn't so much go to it as it came to us - it's held in the park across the road from the house. We pottered through early in the day and it was just kicking off. Instead of loitering though we hit the beach, which was great - and that put us in a good mood to rejoin the festivities on our return with Bobby. Fun. A few drinks, some live music and then watching the world go by from the front porch - whilst eating a full Sunday roast. Cool. We could have made a fortune had we rented out the loo... On to the Newtown for beers to round off the night. Fun.

Otherwise things continue as normal. Both Craig and me have been busy with work so we've not done too much else. Gym, movies, the odd meal - standard stuff. Movie recommendation is Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - a real old style romp and one of the most intelligently scripted things I've seen in a while.

OK - that's it for now. Time to head home for the night. Not much happening I hope. A lazy night!

Well that'll be October almost over then. I really don't know how I'm managing to NOT to blog so much. It's not like I'm doing anything that's taking over my whole life. Apart from possibly having one :o)

The house is coming along nicely. Work is still busy but bearable. Most free time is spent enjoying the new place watching DVDs or going to the movies. Or the gym. Or for a run. These are the main things outside of work of late. We've had some friends for dinner, and pottered around to see other mates. We've been cooking more, out for drinks here and there and the odd game of pool.

Life goes on at a more leisurely pace. I like it.

OK. Long overdue as seems to be the way these days. In brief: we've moved into the house and have pretty much settled in. Very glad to be there and having fun getting it sorted. Work's been really busy lately and that's put a bit of a kibosh on regular updating of this thing. Not too much to report otherwise - trying to gym and run (though that fell a bit by the wayside during the relocation); keeping ourselves nice and having quieter times.

Once I get back into some sort of proper routine then hopefully this will be updated on a more regular basis. More soon...

Hello! Just in case you were all wondering, I am alive and well. Just a bit busy...

We move into the new house on Friday. The last couple of weeks have had every spare moment taken up with packing; sorting; painting etc. However we're almost there!

We had a good night for Craig's birthday, though nothing too outrageous in the end. Since then we also took our fetish clad tushes to the Rubber Ball - fun if a little cold. Not much going out or much of anything until Sleaze probably - we've got a house to move, unpack and settle into. It's going to be great having that bit more space, the spare room and the incredibly handy location. 3 more days of work and then 4 days off the aid our relocation. Yay!

It's Friday afternoon, though sadly not quite time for Crackerjack.

Either way to be honest there's not much to update you on! Work continues to be a bit busy without being startlingly rewarding. Things with the house progress a little more quickly - more work has been done (we've got no floors!) but if I began to tell you the hassle I've had with financial institutions you'd be asleep in a nanosecond.

Otherwise last weekend was good - pretty chilled with nights in, nights out, movies (Sin City - excellent!), good food and gym. This week's been a bit slower - good meals most nights and then a performance at the Opera House last night of Boomerang by the Bangarra Dance Theatre. Really cool. This weekend is Craig's birthday weekend (the day is Monday) so there's drinks and meals and stuff. Best news of all though is that we have Monday off to spend together. Woohoo!

Another weekend is upon us. I'm winding down at work at 4.45pm, trying desperately to look busy...

Nothing much to report really. Things still moving slowly house-wise but should kick in properly next week, when I can actually pay the guy!

Work is kind of ongoing. Yawn. And it's been busy, which so isn't right.

Otherwise it's exercise where possible; the odd movie; the odd dinner and nights in. This weekend will be gym and running; and just chilling out. Great.

Another few weeks passes and I've not really blogged again. As you may (or not) have noticed...

Things move on slowly in terms of house stuff. Builder is appointed and scope of work and price agreed - woohoo! All we have to do now is wait for it all to be done so we can move in and actually enjoy the place. Will keep you informed, but it probably won't be much before the end of August.

Work is kind of ongoing. Yawn.

Things with Craig are good - we're trying to eat healthily, keep fit and generally have fun with one another. So far, great!

Not much else to report. No going out partying, not much other socialising either. Money needs saving at this point. Lots of DVDs and movies.

The weather's been pretty good considering it's winter - for example went for a run today at lunch in glorious 20C sunshine. Marvellous! More soon.

Contrary to popular belief, I am in fact alive and well and living happily in Sydney. Some things I've done since I last updated this thing are...

1. Sold a house here in Redfern
2. Bought a house here in Newtown
3. Visited the UK for a three week period (apologies to those I didn't get chance to catch up with - particularly Pilar, Nelse and Garry). Many thanks to Jonathan, David Perry and Stevie P for allowing us to crash at their respective places
4. Went to Spain with my Dad for a week (not that much fun)
5. Went to Berlin with Craig for three days (much more like it)
6. Had the braces off my teeth
7. Had my eyes lasered
8. Had my PC get very sick and although it's in theory recovered, I've still not got it all up and running again yet.

There will be more soon. No, really. Don't give up on me just yet!!

Well that was the birthday weekend that was... and it was great!! Friday was my actual birthday and although I was at work there were various things to help smooth the day. First was breakfast with Craig in Glebe beforehand, and then there was cake for morning tea and then Allan took me out for lunch to Waterloo. All good. Didn't stay too late and headed home for a quiet night with Craig as we'd both had quite a busy week.
Saturday we were up and off to Leichardt for brekky and Craig pick up cakes for me and Aaron for the meal later that night. Then it was off to do the Harbour Bridge Climb. It was a glorious day and soon we were we suited up and had been through the safety stuff and we were off. Magnificent!! The views were great and we couldn't have had a better day. Many thanks to Craig...
Some 3½ hours later we hit the fish markets for lunch - beer and sashimi for me! We then chilled for the afternoon before heading up for dinner and drinks with Gary and Pete; Bobby; Aaron; Patrick and Robert. Great fun - thanks to those that came along. Home around midnight, a little drunk...
Sunday was pottering around Newtown as Craig was off meeting friends. I viewed a house that was too small and had brekky alone as I was stood up for a potential brunch! Craig came back and we pottered some more before home and chill. I made dinner and we watched DVDs. All was right in the world.
I am now 40. And very happy with it! :oP

And lo and behold Davie hits 40... quiet please! Hopefully no-one will notice...

It's probably one of the longest times between posts ever. No excuses, just stating the (somewhat) obvious. It's not even that there's been huge amounts going on - rather more settling into a status quo and not leaving myself time for quality blogging. Or even low quality blogging.
It seems a bit like a treading water time at the moment. Some good news in that the UK flat completed OK and that's a weight off my mind. And a bonus to the bank balance. However, the Australian house didn't sell at auction at the weekend and so that's still hanging over me a bit... We'll wait and see what happens this week in terms of further talks with prospective buyers. Work is still dull, but I've really got to hang in here until the houses are all sorted out (and that means potentially until this one sells and a further one is found and bought - I'm aiming high!). Things with Craig are good though we'd like to move from the place we're currently living in - but a lot hangs on the other property outcomes. Only 6 weeks until I'm back in the UK for 3 or so weeks - so hoping to catch up with as many people as possible.
Finally seem to have shaken the chest infection that knocked me down after Mardi Gras - and it wasn't due to overdoing things either! Good to catch up with Jonathan and Mark, and looking forward to catching up with them again at the end of April.
Birthday coming very soon - the big 4-0. Don't really care either way, but not doing anything big to celebrate. Very low key. Meal with Craig on the actual day, and probably beers the night after as it's a Saturday. I'll celebrate more when other stuff is a bit more sorted out! OK, back to work a while. More news as it happens...

It's the middle of February. Or to be a bit more precise it's about 60% of the way through February, and I'm still not a posting. No real dramas, just a bit of apathy in general and a large dose of work boredom.

Still waiting for UK flat to complete. Oz house now on the market as Pete wants out again and I can't afford to do it by myself. It's a real shame as the place has so much potential. Oh well. Onwards and upwards. Really not much else going on - believe me that's been taking up a lot of time. Looking forward to seeing Jonathan and Mark who arrive on Saturday. Otherwise just business as usual. Will report more soon.

No, really.

And lo and behold it was 2005. In fact it was almost a month into 2005 and still no blogging from Davie. OK - very quick and dirty, with a full update early February promised.
Living with Craig as mentioned in the last post. Cycling to work currently which is great (about 20 mins each way) and starting to get back into the gym. Currently doing a 21 day detox - no alcohol, no caffeine, nothing fried or processed etc. Feeling a bit more energetic than of late so it's all good.
Work is OK - a bit dull and soon I'll need a change. But for now it's constant and easy if not very challenging. Next!!
Houses - still waiting for the UK flat to complete. Once done full decisions will be made on the place here.
In other news: been chilling out of late (helped by the not drinking). Staying home, DVDs - that kind of stuff. Heading to Tasmania for 4 days with Craig on Wednesday which should be fantastic. Really looking forward to it. ADSL should be connected at Craig's once back so expect a bit more of a regular update. And finally, finally, finally I got my first tattoo on Saturday night. Long overdue as I've dithered for ages about design and location etc. Craig bought me it for Christmas bless him, which forced me to make a choice. I'll upload a pic very soon.

Right. Honestly there's not much else to report. Really need the UK flat to complete to free up money to even consider any more stuff. So watch this space boys and girls...
P.S. Happy New Year!

It's almost that time again. New Year beckons and there's been nary a posting for three weeks. Well that's the Christmas time of year I guess - though I'd like to say I've been out gallivanting but I haven't. Actually I'm glad I've not been out gallivanting so strike that. I've been spending time with Craig mainly and fitting in work, some limited exercise, limited socialising, various house shenanigans and that's about it. It's been fantastic. Except for the work and the house stress, obviously.

So it's 2005 in about 36 hours. I'm currently in work, but have the day off tomorrow to fly to Byron Bay as we organised to be up there last year having had such a good time. However, many things have changed and to be honest I'd rather not be travelling up there. Half the people that were meant to be going have dropped out and Craig's staying in Sydney. If it wasn't for Stevie P, who changed his plans to be up in Byron at the same time, I'd gladly stay in Sydney and lock myself and Craig away until it was all over :o) But I digress...

So. Work is still busy and ultimately unsatisfying. Once things with various houses progress, it's time to do some serious re-evaluation. Houses. Well. Still waiting to complete on the UK property. Aussie property is dependent on the UK money so no further progress. Hoping that might start in mid January if we're lucky. Was sharing a rental place with Pete and Bobby, but due to various mis-haps we finally broke the lease and as of Tuesday just gone I'm living with Craig. Wow. Big step but it feels incredibly right. He's such a great bloke and we're having so much fun. Long may it continue...

That kind of brings things up to date. I've been feeling really tired and generally run down and so am hoping that will improve once the New Year hits and I get back into proper eating and a decent exercise routine. So there you go. Happy New Year to one and all. See you back in 2005.

Hello again everyone! Not sure why it's taken me so long to blog again, but it has. And this is going to have to be short as I'm at work but wanting to leave.

Short and sweet. Things are OK. Not great, but OK. Some bits are great - Craig; the fact we finally got the house plans approved; the weather. Other things are not so great - UK flat - taking forever to complete; apartment here - trying to break the lease; the job - dull; gym - not been going.

Overall though it could be a lot worse. Stevie P is on his way here for a visit and it'll soon be Christmas. Though of course it doesn't feel like Christmas because it's been too hot!

Recent highlight - weekend away with Craig to Newcastle. Surprisingly nice place - relaxing, funky and beachy. Noice! Watch this space for more...

Yay for weekend's away for the short working weeks that follow them! Last Thursday I left work relatively early and then managed to visit the Young Street house to pick up mail; go to Oxford Street to pick up various stuff for the weekend away and finally into town to get some other things. Home and food, pack, Craig's. Sleep.
Friday was a long but nice day. Up early for our 6am flight to Brisbane. The mate who did the booking for us suprised us with a limo pick up instead of the coach transfer which was great - meaning that we were on South Stradbroke Island in time for a second breakfast! The whole weekend was great. We ate, slept, sunned our buns, cycled a lot (it's the way to travel round the island), worked out and worked in :o) Finally we arrived home tired but happy late on Monday night.
This week has been busy with work and just readjusting to the real world. Caught up with Craig on Wednesday and then tonight it's drinks after gym after work. I'm leaving in about 10mins. Woohoo. Not sure what the weekend holds. Watch this space.

Very quick update. Overdue again I know but...

Two Fridays ago I had quick drinks with work people then bolted to Craig's for a much better time of things. The weekend was quiet, we did the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition and had a groovy old time. That was preceeded by brekky at Bronte and a catch up with Gary and Peter. Can't remember what the rest of the weekend held, but it probably revolved around Craig's and chilling out. Noice.
Early November is a blur of work, a bit of gym and catching up with Craig whenever possible. Pete and Bobby headed up to Brisbane and I embarked on some sorting and tidying last weekend. Hung out with Craig some more too. The lowlight was being mugged. Nothing serious in terms of physical injury of anything, just loss of cash, cards and phone. Hey ho. The police were great though.
This week's been work, gym, sorting through paper work and getting ready for a long weekend up at Stradbroke Island off the coast of Brisbane. Mine and Craig's first trip away!! Am excited. More next week when I'm back... hopefully tanned and rested.

A Thursday post I hear you cry? Unusual I know, but then I thought to myself 'Why not?'

Last Friday was indeed Steamboy, with a snatched dinner first. Steamboy was fun, although a bit of a head trip with Japanese animation of Victorian Manchester and London. Go figure. Home to bed as me and Craig were both a bit knackered from the week. Brekky at Craig's Saturday morning then Craig dropped me off in Newtown as he went off to look at potential new houses. I stumbled across Pete and Johnno for the first time in ages, which was good. Thence to Oxford St to have brunch with Shane. I ended up buying myself a couple of t-shirts too, and a cuddly doggy for Craig :o) Woof! Back home and tea with Dave at the apartment in the sunshine.
Finally over to Craig's before out for beers and dinner in Newtown with Corinne et al again. Noice. Ended up at Kuleto's to meet up with Sally and Gus, who I used to work with at Borders many moons ago. Great to catch up with them. Home to bed by around 1.30am.
Sunday was a bit of a sleep in followed by another run around Canada Bay before brekky in Glebe. The weather was a touch inclement and so in the end we went back to Craig's and dozed whilst Craig managed to rustle up a fantastic roast complete with veggies for dinner. Yum. We were then treated to a spectacular storm and so plans to venture far were scuppered. We settled on beer and pool at one of Craig's locals, which was a lot of fun (and surprisingly good music!). From there as the rain stopped we had beers with Bobby at the Newtown. Home. Bed.
Onto the working week. Dull, duller, Dulles, dullest. (Note clever airline pun - except that I don't look after Washington. Oh well.) Actually work's been OK, though it's not really going to set the world alight. Monday night was a tidying night at Potts Point. Tuesday night was a headache and so tea, toast and early bed. Last night I was dreaming... I was locked in a prison cell. No, sorry. Last night was home and a quick beer with Bobby at the Bourbon. Craig joined us and then we ate at Tropicana (drinks were about $2 each, which were more expensive than I'd been led to believe by George Michael). Home, tea, bed. Noice.
Not sure what the plans are for tonight and the weekend, but it won't be much. Low key weekends at home are the new going out!

Not a great deal to report on the doing stuff front. Finished last week off work having done nothing at all - was hoping to get stuff done, but the infection really took it out of me. Friday was quiet drinks with Craig and friends and dinner. We didn't kick on as I was a bit tired. Saturday was something. Can't actually remember what? Oh I know. Met Bobby for coffee in Newtown and Aaron joined us by chance. Met Paul and Gary for lunch which was great. Then over to Potts for a bit. Met up again with Craig later and we opted for a night in with a DVD and snuggled. The DVD was good, but a bit full on - chronicals of a man with a terminal disease. Noice. Sunday was a run round Canada Bay followed by breakfast in Balmain. I can't remember what else we did! Lunch inNewtown at Taste, but what else we did after that is anyone's guess. Maybe pool and a beer at the Zanzibar? Sounds about right. This week's been work and more work. Craig stayed at mine Monday night; I stayed there Tuesday as my room sprang a leak in the heavy rain we've had; Wednesday I had beers with Pete and then last night I met Craig at the Newtown and we had beers and dinner, bumping briefly into Aaron.
Tonight is Steamboy - most expensive anime movie ever and dinner. Looking forward to more relaxing times...

OK, OK. Long time overdue. Again. I know. However I was chastised by MSN messenger today so I have to put fingers to keyboard and get some stuff down for posterity.
I left you aeons ago. Staying at Tamarama seems almost like it was in a past life! I digress. Craig and I had a great weekend I seem to remember. Can't remember the whole thing, but it involved DVDs, breakfasts and lots of snuggling. Yay.
The following week I've no idea. I'm currently at home so can't even check the work diary to help. Let's assume whatever I did was fantastic then. The next weekend was Sleaze. Again Craig came over to Tamarama on the Friday night, and then we did our own stuff pre- party. It was the first party that Craig and I had been to together so we decided we'd do our own thing and not arrange to meet any friends at any time anywhere! Strange, but the right decision as we knew we'd bump into people all over the place anyway. And so it came to pass...
The party was OK, but the music was lacklustre. By 5.30am we'd grown tired of chasing anything remotely danceable and walked back into town. A beer at the Oxford followed by Manacle when it opened. Better music and more fun. Stayed there til noon then retired for sleep and snuggles. Finally awaking at 11.30pm we grabbed food and had a couple of drinks at the Colombian before piking from another Sunday night party. We actually had more fun snuggling and felt great as we hit the beach on Monday morning. Yay for us! The following week I'm sure was fun too. Work of course, but a short week. We like that. There were various house things in there too, as we had plans turned down. We rejigged, re-drew and re-presented. Fingers crossed again.
So last weekend. Gary and Peter took me to Dragonfly for sushi as a thanks for looking after Tamarama. Great. Thence to the Oxford and home with Craig. Then to Newtown in the morning - brekky and the afternoon in the park. The night held martinis at a local bar and dinner at a local restaurant. Great night. Sunday we got up and ran to the Opera House and back before brekky. Chilled at home, coffee with Dave and then movie, beers and pool. Cool.
This week was work on Monday, then I've fallen foul of an eye infection. Been off work since and been signed off til Monday. Lots of snoozing and DVD watching in a darkened room. Heading to Craig's now to meet him after work.
All is good :o)

Well I guess eight days since the last post is an improvement on the time before that… (except now it's actually Friday as I saved this as a draft and didn't post it - doh!!)
Last week did indeed go quickly, though I must admit to feeling bewildered by the move over to my new routes. It’s so weird to feel so impotent (insert appropriate joke here). Hopefully I’ll get up to speed soon, but the person I’ve taken over from didn’t really get a proper handover when she took over and so the whole thing is limping along quite badly. Obviously when I say limp… and we’re back to impotency again. Yikes. I got into work every day last week before 8am and went to the gym on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Good for me! And finally my short week was over. Friday I got up and got organised and headed over to Aaron’s. We hit the airport around 9am ready for our Melbourne adventure. Soon we had joined Rich and Russ and were having fabulous italian lunch sat in the sunshine with bottles of wine. How much more civilised is that than work? We then pottered about and before long we were drinking in the Laird. The gang all finally arrived and I for one was a little tipsy. Tired and drunk I called it a day before midnight and went home to sleep. Good to see all the gang again – particularly the Brisbane boys. Saturday we were actually all up and about reasonably early and so yesterday’s gang of four plus Tim and Ross did brekky.
From there we all went our separate ways ostensibly to shop – I hit the markets but couldn’t find a single pair of black boots I liked. About 3 hours and several locations later I finally got a pair of Doc Martens and met Aaron for some t-shirt browsing. Finally it was back to the ranch and I did the whole shave, shower, wet shave my head thing – well why not? Various people arrived at our rooms for pre-party beers and soon we were on our merry way. And to the party! We got to the party not too long after kick off and suddenly we were in full swing. The party crowd was fun – sexy, friendly, peppered with familiar faces and new, appealing ones! The music however, left a lot to be desired. It was as though someone had prepared the Trance-master 3000 and left it churning out ethereal dance tunes by rote. Oh well. The smaller room didn’t really get going music wise either, which was a real shame. Come 5am Aaron and I had had enough and so we adjourned back to our place for vodka, some real music and a bit of a chill out before showering and changing and heading down to recovery – for which we had high hopes. And boy were those hopes realised! The recovery had those vital elements the party lacked – still ostensibly the same crowd, but with much, much funkier music. The venue was great too – small funky bar with dance area and cool loungey bits. So much fun was the recovery, that come midday we really didn’t want to stop. Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to…
Chance would be that some of our extended group know the organisers of the Beyond parties, and this was the 4th anniversary one. Consequently they were having a post-recovery recovery at a funky apartment in Melbourne industrial-ville by invitation only. You guessed it – we got invites! Thanks need to go out to Tim and Andrew the organisers; the lovely Wayne for putting a good word in for us and for Susan the hostess for being so gracious with her hospitality. Aaron and me had met Susan at one of Wayne’s chill outs previously, and it was great to see her again. And verily we partied on and on… until about 7.30pm when we thought we should at least stop and eat. It proved our downfall – one we stopped there was no winding ourselves back up (which had been the plan) and so to bed we went…
Monday – more brekkies en masse. We had every intention of hitting the supposedly great Impressionists exhibition, but we were out-queued for the third day running. Oh well. Eventually it was time to head home to Sydney. So nice to get out of town for a bit though, and catching up with the gang was fantastic. Melbourne well and truly painted red!
The good times weren’t over however – I had managed to get Craig’s holiday dates wrong and so when he called a day early on that Monday morning I’d been most pleasantly surprised. Thus straight off the (delayed – grrr!) flight home, and then over to see Craig. Great to see him again – all bronzed and gorgeous after his hols. We did some much needed catching up…
Tuesday and back to reality. Work was really, really dull. I so didn’t want to be there – in fact all I felt like doing was curling up with Craig and shutting the world outside. Fortunately he was up for that so Tuesday night was more snuggles, this time at my place. Bliss.
Wednesday – work and then home. Food and telly. Bed.
Yesterday was a weird one – I got trained up to essentially be a replacement steward in the event of industrial action. Get me! So, after my 12 hour day I can now in theory prepare and serve chicken or beef (with a hot towel) in any cabin of a 747. Cool! And all I wanted to do after that was snuggle with Craig again. Lovely man that he is was happy to invite me over, and even made me dinner. How gorgeous is he exactly?
And so to now. Friday 4.15pm. About to leave work and head out to Peter and Gary’s in Tamarama. Craig is going to meet me there hopefully in time to watch the sun set. Then it’s a weekend by the seaside for us. Fantastic. At this point next week is a dim blur and not worthy of contemplation. Too many lovely things happening between now and then… :o)

Well so much for the promise to improve. I have been doing other stuff honest! Actually quite a bit has been going down (as it were…)
Two weeks and a day ago I left you. Still in August no less. Crikey. The start of that week was pretty non-descript… work, podiatrist on the Tuesday, tried to do the gym on the Wednesday but Peter the trainer was so late we cancelled and I just did a run. That evening though was great. I headed over to Newtown and met Craig for a beer before we had dinner and home to his for a last night of snuggling before he headed off on holiday on the Friday. I’ve no idea what else I did that week. Think I was meant to catch up with Aaron, but didn’t. Probably lurked around Potts Point in the new surroundings. Got a nice message from Craig before he headed off on Friday and managed to speak to him. Not looking forward to not seeing him for 17 nights. And counting. :o(
Tried to keep myself busy that weekend. Managed to hook the PC up to the new ADSL connection in spite of the company’s help desk being a no-help desk. They won’t thwart me with their ‘we don’t support your modem’ shenanigans! So I’m back on-line at high speed all the time. Yay for music downloading! It really gives me no excuse for not updating Minkered…
Pete and Bobby had got up early to go to day Manacle, and so that afternoon they were up for continuing. We went for drinks to Jason’s in Bondi and had a couple of beers there. Thence to Bobby’s friend Martin’s party to continue. Fun. Then to the Newtown to finish things off. I piked around 11pm and took myself sensibly home to bed. Only to have to let Bobby in at 4am…
Sunday was Bobby’s birthday, but he had to work. Pete and I did brekky at Truck and then kept ourselves amused somehow – can’t remember how! Eventually it was time to head out for birthday beers – and we got to the Colombian at around 9.30pm – just in time to meet the gang. And verily we hit Arq. And there we stayed. Til after my self-imposed curfew. I did head home with Bobby so I could go to work… but then decided to head back out again. Naughty. Day Manacle was great though – Rado played a good set and we had fun. Colombian for more beer. Green Park for more beer and pool. Food. Home. Bed at 6.30pm. Sleep.
Tuesday was the worst day… Wednesday we made lo-o-o-ove. Sorry. Thought I was George Michael for a second there! Actually the whole week was a bit of a busy blur. In work early every day, ready for the move to International. Wednesday I did the gym, where Peter did a ‘fifties’ session with me. That’s where you do fifty reps of each exercise. Ouch! The rest of the time was resting, reading, internet-ing. Oh, and I hit Peter and Gary’s again on Thursday for food handover and the confirmation of looking after George, their Staffordshire terrier for that coming weekend.
Friday was very, very busy. Early into work. Did the handover to Bev and relaxed. Ended up managing to leave around 4.30pm. Woohoo! No more Domestic flights for me! Headed out to Bondi Junction and picked up George from Peter’s vet’s practice. To their place in Tamarama where I planted myself for a weekend of dog sitting. By the beach admittedly, so hardly too much of a trial – except that George is very high maintenance. Think 4 year old boy who has the ability to take your arm off if you rub him up the wrong way…
However, Friday night passed uneventfully with takeaway chicken and chips; League of Gentlemen Series 2 on DVD and a relatively early night. George managed to sleep on the bed and banished me to a tiny quarter so I didn't sleep particularly well! Saturday was brekky; taking George for a play in the park and then off to do some chores. Ended up back at Tamarama later and did not much else again. Pasta for dinner ready for my 10K race and more League of Gentlemen (the rest of Series 2 and the Christmas special). Early bed again and I managed to get George to only take up half the bed. Woohoo!
Up at 5.30am. Brekky and headed off to North Sydney via Potts Point to drop the car off. Come 7.30am and we were off - running in one of the most scenic runs around for the third year running. Wasn't sure what to expect time wise as I've not been training, but ended up with a respectable 49mins - about a minute slower than last year. Happy with that! Back to have brekky at Tamarama and then eventually Pete and Bobby came over for tea. They left and I hit Bronte to catch up with Rich, Russ and Aaron. First time I've seen R'n'R in about a month! I then took George off to one of Peter's veterinary nurses and my dog-sitting weekend was over. Back to Potts Point for dinner and sort out and an early night. Yay!!
This week - started in International. Weird. I've got all the systems knowledge I need to do the job, but no market knowledge. Consider the next few months as I immerse myself if all things India; Qantas flights from Australia to Singapore and Australian Airlines flights from Darwin and Cairns to and from Singapore. Phew! I'm exhausted just contemplating it. Not really doing much else. Gym last night which was good, and I'm going to go again today. Got an unexpected message from Craig on Monday night which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Assuming he was at Darwin airport en route to his beach in Thailand. Can't wait to see him in 6 days.
It's a short week this and next for me as I take a long weekend and head to Melbourne. We're partying on Saturday but to be honest I'm not that interested. Looking forward to catching up with a lot of people I've not seen for ages - Adrian and Shane and Graham and David are flying down from Brisbane, and I'll hopefully also see Mark S and Steve A. I'm determined to see more of Melbourne than the inside of bars and clubs. Check back next week to see how I managed!!

Long time no post. I will improve, I will I will!
There’s not too much to report actually, and for once I’m going to keep this relatively undetailed. Not the weekend just gone but the one before went pretty much as described. Slept at Potts Point Thursday night; half day Friday complete with foot x-ray (not broken) and moving the rest of the stuff to the new place. Dinner (late!) with Craig and some of his mates. To his for sleep. Noice.
Saturday was brekky for me and cleaning at Pete and Johnno’s. Thence to PP for cleaning and then back to meet Craig before heading back to Pete and Johnno’s for their party. A bit quiet and with a couple of drunk, stupid people which meant it wasn’t the best. Lots of people kicked on. I headed happily back to Craig’s shortly after midnight. Sunday was brekky and then over to Potts Point. Caught up with Pete and then spent some time in the Botanic Gardens as it was lovely. Finally Craig went home and me and Pete did too. Out for beers which suddenly became Arq. So not a good move. Home by 3am – yay for willpower! Back out at 3.15am! Boo for no willpower!! Finally home around 7.30am, shower and back out for work. Vile. Slow week and things with Craig a bit strange. Monday afternoon got my lower braces fitted on my teeth. Coz I’d had no sleep I kept snoozing whilst they were working on my braces – not sure how many people that happens to! Home, sore :o(Tuesday: work, home, nothing. Wednesday: work, gym, nothing. Thursday: work, Hellboy – which I really enjoyed. Yay! Friday: work, out with workmates. Surprisingly distracting. Saturday: up and over to Tamarama to find out how Pete and Gary’s place works as I’m house-sitting there for 4 weeks from mid-Sep. Went round Toni Collete’s house, as it’s up for sale. Nice! Back towards home and coffee with Dave in Potts Point before heading over Newtown way, though Craig came and got me from Central. Went with him to his work and then back to his. Chats. All sorted out. We had a great rest of the afternoon; fun drinks and dinner with Patrick and then home. Snuggles. More snuggles yesterday morning. Craig made brekky in bed and we just snuggled and read and it was fantastic. Lovely and comfortable. Finally up to King Street for coffee and a mooch. Back to his for more snuggles and reading etc. I headed back to PP around 5.30pm. Chats with Pete and Bobby. Pete had found homes for the remaining homeless stuff in the flat so it looks great. They went out for dinner. I had risotto and Buffy and a brief chat to Craig before bed. Noice.
This week: work. I’ve got two weeks to sort stuff out before I move to international – need to get my finger out! Hence doing this at the end of the day instead of real work :o)

Lo and verily, forsooth etc. Thursday afternoon and I’m not really ready to start anything new at work so I thought I’d post on here and get things up to date.
Friday last. Indeed to the new apartment where I helped Pete and Bobby unload their stuff and then whilst Pete took the ute back Bobby and me had a couple of celebratory beers. The apartment is great – similar to Brumby Street, but with a much funkier balcony thing happening. I then left and headed over to Craig’s, where we just talked and snuggled. Well not just that…
Saturday morning, and the long leisurely lie-in that we’d promised ourselves. Fan-tastic. Then Craig suggested a run – and so we did. 8K around Canada Bay with Patrick – and best of all my legs didn’t hurt one bit! Yay! Thence to brekky and then I left Craig to his own devices (he probably would). Can’t remember what else I did Saturday afternoon! It must have been rivetting though… I’ve a vague recollection of being on a train and speaking to Steve and Rich on the phone, but otherwise… nah. Dunno. Later… I met up with Gary and Peter in the Newtown. Aaron bailed out, but various other people joined us -–mainly Peter's old drinking pals. The Newtown wasn’t at its sparkling best however, and so we adjourned somewhat stupidly to Manacle at approaching midnight. It wasn’t any better though and so I returned home after one beer and fell into bed.
Sunday was up at a reasonable time, and originally Aaron was going to help me move some stuff to the new place. However he wasn’t feeling too good and in ensuing chats to Craig he volunteered to be my truck driver for the day. So we did that. And then adjourned back to Marrickville for a snuggle. We then decided to have dinner via a quick beer at the Newtown. Good job too, as Aaron was completely and utterly slaughtered. And then got worse. It became apparent that he’d been given a Valium which he’d taken because he was so drunk, not realising that it would knock him for six. And then some. The upshot of all of this was that we walked Aaron home, abandoning dinner, and I actually stayed with Aaron for the whole night, just to make sure he was OK – he seemed that bad! Not the best of nights for anyone.
Monday – home, shower, work. Felt rough as I’d hardly slept. Took a half day and went home and pottered and relaxed before an orthodontist appointment at 5.30pm. To the new place to try and sort my bed out, but realised one of my nuts was missing. Missus. Back to Marrickville to eat and sleep.
Tuesday – in work at 7.30am! Left at 4pm and did orthodontist again (as I’d broken a separator) and then the podiatrist (I’ve got to have my foot x-rayed on Friday). To Potts Point again where we sorted out the telly – my tube has gone funny :o( Pete cooked a lovely meal and then I went home to Marrickville in the pouring rain.
Wednesday – was yesterday. Into work early again and then left to get my nuts sorted. Did that then went to the gym. From there home to get changed and chatted to Aaron on the way. Up to meet Craig – and bless him he’d bought me a fantastic bunch of yellow tulips. It’s been so long since anyone bought me flowers… We had food across the road from the Dendy and then adjourned to Marrickville for the final sleep. We snuggled in bed and just enjoyed each other’s company. Oh, and I phoned Nick – it looks as though him and Nicola are going to buy the UK flat! Yay!! Fingers crossed everyone…
Up this morning and into work around 9am, having snuggled with Craig for as long as possible :o) Work’s been dull and I’m on a half day tomorrow so I’ve got no enthusiasm this week – just want to get the moving out of the way and then I can get myself back into a proper routine. Leaving soon, Marrickville then over to sleep at Potts Point for the first time, after I give my bed a decent screwing. The rest of the stuff will go tomorrow afternoon post x-ray, with Aaron hopefully helping me out, bless him. Then it’s drinks with Craig and some of his mates and then crash out I guess. More weekend snuggles. We like :o)

It’s Friday the 13th. Somehow that seems apt for a blog…
Well, it’s safe to say that there’s been a few things happening. Last Wednesday I did indeed hit the gym, but felt pretty washed out and useless. Peter was late too and didn’t in the end charge me for the 35 minutes or so that we did. Left there and then met up with Craig outside the Dendy. We had a nice dinner over the road in a café with a long italian sounding name (yet weirdly we both had sausages and mash!) and then we decided it was best to have an ice-cream, then a coffee, then go back to his to chill. Noice.
Thursday I really don’t remember as being anything special. Work and then to the Newtown with Aaron – we may have even eaten first (I think we did – sushi). Friday was another day of work and then the good news was that I got a new job! Still at Qantas, and still doing the same thing, but a transfer across to International. I think I’m going to be looking after all flights to India and some Singapore terminators (no, not Arnie!). It’s good in that I’ve kind of plateaued within Domestic so it’s a chance to use my brain again. Mind you, it does mean I’ll have to work… I celebrated the only way possible. I stayed in with a nice dinner and went to bed early.
Saturday I slept on after Bobby texted to say he’d arrived back in the country. Without Pete, who was stuck in Dubai. D’oh! I finally rang Bobs just as him and Mark were going to Day Manacle. No way I was going to do beer at 9.30am on Saturday! I pottered until I met them finally at 1pm when, in a shock move, we did indeed have beer. Newtown then Colombian. Then home. In the end I didn’t do much else except eat and watch trashy telly as I was slightly merry. In bed early-ish.
Sunday started with brekky with Rich and Aaron up at the Chocolate Dog. Pete was home so we chatted but didn’t manage to catch up. After brekky we pottered around Newtown then I hit the Metro with Aaron as Rich went home. Eventually to Craig’s around 4pm. We went for a walk in Glebe Park to watch the sun go down and then had a lovely dinner at the Badde Manners Café (sweet potato fritters… yum!). Thence to the movies to see Connie and Carla, which was surprisingly fun and a good old fashioned romp. Home to snuggle. Noice. Sunday would have been the City to Surf 14K race had I been fit, but I wasn’t. I mused on that a while. For about a nanosecond!
This week has passed relatively quickly and uneventfully. Monday worked and then met up with Pete and Bobby and Mark for beers. Good to have everyone back again! Tuesday worked and then after dinner I read and finished The Men from the Boys – a book that Craig lent me. It was good – I enjoyed the story (which was described as Tales of the City set in Boston) and could identify with a lot of the main characters problems and issues. Worth a read.
Wednesday worked and then hit the gym – the good news being that I managed a 4K run with only minor shin pain. Hopefully this means I’m going to be able to run again. I’ll take things slowly though… I was meant to catch up with Craig but he was lying low with a migraine and so I slobbed at home instead. Yesterday was work and then Pete called to say we’d got a new apartment to live in at Potts Point! All so very sudden… It’s good though as it means I’m not living out of a suitcase for 6 weeks or so. I’ll move in next weekend – Pete and Bobs moved in today. Woohoo! Last night I joined Craig and Patrick at the Newtown and we in turn were joined by Aaron and another Craig. Dinner, back to the Newtown for one last beer then home to a nice long chat and sleep.
Today is work. I’m really bored this afternoon but can’t bring myself to start anything new. I’m going to head to the new apartment after work then possibly meet up with Craig again so we can have a long leisurely lie-in tomorrow morning – with no pressure to get out of bed for work. We’ll see. Yay for weekends!

So that’s another 10 days between posts. I spent do much time between posts I should think about becoming a goalie. Seamen anyone?
I digress. The weekend in the mountains was lovely. Mostly. :o) Actually it was great. We arrived down on Friday night after a bit of an adventure getting there (ie we couldn’t find the right road out of Sydney and ended up going round in circles a while…). Once there, after a detour for Thai at Katoombah, we got to the house. Rod and Tony were already there, with the fire lit, so all was well. It was even better after copious amounts of red wine and lots of talking and solving the world’s problems. Weirdly of the six of us there we had this birthday/couple thing going on – there was Rod and Tony (couple; consecutive birthdays 9 and 10 April), Rich and Russ (couple (sometimes); consecutive birthdays 15 and 16 May) and then me and Aaron (couple (formerly); consecutive birthdays 1 and 2 April). Bizarre or what?
The house was perfect for staging a sit com or other comedic event. The main lounge room had three doors off (all of which interconnected) and a serving hatch. We soon made the rule that you weren’t allowed to come back into the room through the door you’d left through. Well we had to make our own entertainment – it’s the countryside!
Saturday we upped and showered and picked up Dave from the train station. From there to fantastic brekky and look round the shops in Blackheath. It wasn’t quite as cold as we’d thought but still quite cold for Australia. We finally headed back to the house with more drink and sat around a bit. Then the braver of us decided on a walk, seeing as the countryside was beckoning. Later R&R did a food run and Tony and Rod cooked risotto and then we had Christmas pudding! Noice. Well they do a Christmas in July thing in the mountains and that was our nod to that. More drinks, chats, heated debates (me and Aaron in the kitchen!) and finally bed. Sunday was much the same. Up and cleaned the house, brekky in Blackheath again, went and saw the Three Sisters and then slowly made our way back to civilisation.
Things went a bit strange after that! Later… I called Craig to wish him happy birthday and he happened to be in the pub with his friend Patrick just near where I was eating dinner. We caught up and had a great time. The upshot of this was that we all ended up hitting the Shift to meet Steve and Aaron and a rare old time was head. It was very, very drunken though. Craig and Patrick left and it seemed only logical at that point to carry on partying so up to Arq it was. Oh dear. I just shouldn’t have. Suddenly I was home and showering and heading straight to work. Not a good move. Most of the week was slobby as a consequence. Just work and not much else. Craig was being elusive and I was wondering if I’d somehow done something wrong. I was also full of cold from the mountains and not up for much of anything. I did the Newtown briefly on Thursday but it was vile. I took Friday off work to attend to various appointments – the biggest of which was finally getting the house plans into council. Fingers crossed for both that and for selling the UK place (anyone want a lovely warehouse apartment in Peckham?)
Friday night is a bit of a blur – oh I know, me and Aaron went to see I, Robot – which I thoroughly enjoyed. Beers in the Newtown were short and dull.
Saturday I pottered a bit and did laundry and that kind of stuff. Later I met Craig and over a couple of drinks sorted out the little niggly things from the last weekend and all was well. Which is good, as he’s lovely. Sunday we got up quite early and Craig drove us to Bronte for brekky, followed by the walk to Bondi and back. Back to his for a bit (ahem) and then wandered round Newtown till late afternoon. I headed home and then to the Shift via Rich and Russ’s briefly. Everyone had been at Toybox and there was a push for the recovery at the Shift upstairs. I had no interest and after a couple of beers downstairs went home. Wasn’t in the mood after the lovely day I’d had with Craig.
Monday was a funny public holiday for banks and Qantas employees. No, really. I slept very late (11 hours altogether) and then headed out for brunch. Met up with Gary K for coffee later in the afternoon and then finally home. I Buffy-ed as it was all I could face. Yesterday was work and then the podiatrists. We will get my feet working! Thence I had sushi in Newtown and headed to Broadway to watch Spiderman 2. However I got my session times wrong and missed him by 20 mins. That meant I went to see Stepford Wives instead. My advice? Avoid. Or read the book. Or get the original movie out instead. Bland and pointless. Home. In bed by 9.45pm. What’s that about? Today was work and that’s it. Meeting up with Craig again tonight after the gym – my first time back in the best part of two weeks. Oh the pain. Tomorrow. I’ll have I mean. Til then…