Lost property

I have lost my USB plug! It's freaking me out because I have heaps of stuff from Japan on it that I haven't been able to put elsewhere here yet cos the computers won't read the Japanese. Plus my stupid resumes. Plus the fact that I simply can't afford a new one. It's SO annoying when stuff just disappears. Last time I know I had it was at the library on Tuesday... gonna ring them in a minute and see if I left it there, which I doubt. But if I did leave it there, it's almost certainly gone for good. BOO.

Bookclub

I never finished reading my book for dicussion last night, but that didn't stop me having a crack at discussing it! In general I would say the novel had a lukewarm reception. No one was in love with it, no one hated it. Anyway, it was good to just get out of the house and spend some time talking to real people for a while. Actually yesterday I had a pretty good one, went to see Noise at the Palace. I got quite wrapped up in it, although I have to say that the audio sometimes drove me a bit nuts. But the film is called Noise for a reason I guess!! Anyway, I certainly recommend having a squiz if you get a chance.

People are stupid

Animals should not get awards. Animals don't care about awards. Humans like to attribute animals with our characteristics for some reason - it's not right. Animals care about food, shelter and running around, maybe we should take a leaf out of their book.

The Interview

Done it. Short, sharp and shiny. No idea whether he was impressed or not. Forgot to ask when I could expect to hear from him about it, I was a bit distracted by personal chaos today. He's gonna pick some people out to do a trial shift and see how it goes. Bit of a task just to land a job making sandwiches for people who have real jobs in the above office building.

Before that I had lunch with a friend who I haven't seen for well over a year. She is down from Canberra and it was good to catch up, although as I mentioned, I was a bit distracted and maybe wasn't the best company. I now the great part about life is that you don't know what's going to happen, but sometimes I just wish I could have a little peek, just so I can sleep at night and adjust my heading. Tomorrow night is bookclub though so a little distraction!! Yar. Gotta go finish reading the book but. Perfume it's called.

Strangers gather

This arvo I attended my great-grandmother's 90th birthday party. She didn't recognise anyone and appeared dazed and confused most of the time. She asked me "So where are you headed?" A pertinent but unanswerable question. She had a cake, a big yellow one. She ate the strawberries off the top and dropped the green tops neatly onto the floor under her wheelchair. That's what I'm going to do when I am old. If I can't be shot, which if I ever reach such a state of infirm would be my desire, I will spend my time doing vague things like that, dropping rubbish, eating other people's food, interrupting conversations to talk about random nonsense. That's something to look forward to aye! The party was attended by a rather large number of relatives who I don't know. It's weird to stand in the same room as all these people who have all descended in some way from this one woman and yet have nothing to talk about with them and furthermore, little interest in talking to. Strangers get thrown together under the pretence of "family gatherings" all the time, it's so awkward I wonder why we still bother.

Anyway, tomorrow I have an interview with some bloke at a cafe in Flinders St. It's hardly what I want to do, but it's a lot more money than what I'm doing now!

Today the last of my belongings arrived back from Japan. In the rather huge box there was my kangaroo outfit, my koala slippers, camera tripod, smelly soaps, Japanese porn (don't ask) and a whole bunch of papers I have been looking for since I returned. There is something rather exciting about receiving such a large package, even if I did send it to myself! I was reading the letters that the kids wrote me when I left and they are heaps cute and it actually made me miss them a little bit! So I had to think about all the times when they were being shits, which was actually 80% of the time in reality, and that made me feel heaps better. I have spent my morning at the library again, sending out my resume, and receiving e-mails almost immediately saying that I am not suitable. Boo! How do they know? Surely any monkey can answer a phone?

Anyway, more important things to think about, Autumn Touch Grand Final tonight. Well, first we play the team ranked 5th and if we beat them, we get to play in the final. All very exciting. Better go down some chocolate for energy and warm the old legs up.

The Cost of Living

It costs $305 to get your motorcycle learner's permit in South Australia.

It costs $3.80 for a peak time single trip bus ticket - great value if you are travelling from TTG to, say, the airport. But not such great value if you are travelling 5km down the road!

It costs $0 to use the internet at the library - but I invariably spend most of your time wondering what's the deal with all these other people who aren't at work at 1pm on a Tuesday and if they are hating it as much as me.

It costs $4.50 for a regular Boost Juice. SO not worth it.

It costs $1.34 for a litre of petrol at the servo across the road.

It costs $8 to see a movie today because it's Tightarse Tuesday - and I still feel ripped off, or at least I would if I hadn't been too tight to pay! What happens when Tightarse Tuesday is too dear for tightarses? What do we call it then?

Small people

Recently I have been spending quite a bit of time with small children. It's quite bizarre how many differences there can be between they way people choose to handle their kids but there seems to be one common rule: Bottle of warm milk = snoozy time. Last night I was babysitting with a friend for her friend's 2 year old child who was not happy at all with mum leaving the house. Our tactic was to let her run around being hysterical at everything for 10 minutes until she got sick of that, after which she said "NO!" to everything we said to her, refused to be read a book and it wasn't looking promising for an easy bed time. But in comes Bottle of Warm Milk to save the evening, 10 minutes later she is lying quietly and what appears to be sleepily across me with a belly full of milk. We throw her in her cot, back out the door and that was it. It's like magic! I so wish warm milk had that effect on me too. I'm beginning to think that just looking after other people's kids is the way to go really. I mean you come in, play with them for a few hours, they love you for it, and when the nappy's full or they start cracking the shits, you leave! I can see how it might tempt people to have their OWN kids, sometimes it seems like it's really not that hard, but they aren't taking into account the Novelty Factor. Sure it's fun to spend one evening a year running around entertaining a 2 year old, but every evening? No thanks.

General malaise

It is driving me a bit nuts that people keep envying my unemployed status and telling me to just "enjoy it". What's to enjoy? For someone who enjoys being busy and having things to do, and is happiest in that environment, this is a bit maddening. No job = no $$$ too you know! No, I'm not a glass half full person, but I wouldn't say I am completely glass is half empty either. I would say that the glass has water in it and wonder whether I should drink it now or save it for later (water restrictions and all you know). Some bloke I was talking to last night told me that the years he spent on the dole were "the best of his life". God knows what he was doing with his time, i never got a chance to ask him. But there really just are too many hours in a day when you have no tasks to fill them with. There are only so many books one can read after all. What did all the rich ladies do back in the day when they weren't allowed to work? No wonder gossip was so vicious. I suppose I could sit around crossstitching a cushion cover all day but it's a bit lonely and, what's that word... oh yeah, pointless ('cept for the needle of course...)! I have been trying to invent Things To Do to keep me busy, but being short on cash, the things I actually want to do are out of reach for the moment. Thank god for touch footy is all I can say. Our team lost one, won one last night. I missed out on scoring because I was too lazy to take a few steps back and get behind the ball enough. Some nights I'm just not on the ball, as it were. Now, I think I'm gonna go eat a chocolate digestive. McVites - gotta love em.

Bit dwon

Blogging has been a bit tricky lately. Not much to report. At least, not anything that I want randoms reading about! Still looking for work, still not found any. The only thing I am doing with any great delight is touch footy. Writing cover letter for jobs is the worst thing ever. Lies lies and lies. I read the letter back and think "what a wanker!". Why do I have to pretend that I really really want to work in their shitty office? Why can't I just say, "Look, I need a job, you need someone to shuffle papers around and I can do that with my eyes closed." Surely that'd be easier? There are vague plans forming for next year, but it's just so far away that it's hard to use that to keep my spirits up.

Quiet please

Since when are libraries places where you come with your mates and yell at each other while eating chips and playing computer games? Shouldn't these kids be in school anyway?

Pubcrawling

Friday night was the touch footy pub crawl - a lot less messy than I thought it would be. I ended up catching the bus home at 11:30pm! I did have quite a few drinks, but I didn't eat dinner beforehand so I got over drinks pretty quickly. The T-shirt slogan this year was "I pay money to touch people" with 2 strategically placed hands... Someone mentioned that it would have been better as "People pay money to touch me" and I tend to agree. Anyway, walking around in a large group of us, it didn't feel half as seedy as it could have! Kicked it all off in the Unibar which was a bit of a blast from the past, had a discussion about perhaps introducing springing staright up in the air, gazelle style, as a tactic onto the touch field. Hmm. Moved on to Mansions where we walked straight past families having a bit of a quiet dinner to the bar, ordered rather a lot of shots and became very noisy indeed. I'm sure we annoyed the hell out of them and I will have an attempted quiet meal of my own interrupted by drunken fools some time in the future. Karma.

Long story short, not too chaotic and Saturday morning I was up and about without too much trouble. Today I am off to my grandparents and then some more touching bizzo in the city. YAY, running around.

Images

An old fella busking at the markets in Maitland.

My friend's son whose ever-present snot trail seems to have disappeared just in time for the photo. Seriously, how can such a little person have so much snot up there?

One cannot visit Sydney without taking a picture of the Opera House and the bridge...

Both of which I managed on my way to Manly by ferry.

Old Sydney Town

Yesterday I caught the train down to Sydney proper. The plan was to catch up with my mate after she finished work at about 7 so I had the entire day to kill. I dragged myself and my suddenly twice as heavy backpack down to Circular Quay and ate lunch while doing a bit of people watching. Had a good stare at the Opera House and Bridge - seems the obligatory thing to do with oneself in Sydney. Watched some aboriginal blokes performing some songs and posing for photos with tourists. They'd be making a fair bit of money I reckon. I caught the ferry out to Manly, it hadn't changed much from what I remember it as a few years ago. I saw a sign near the sand that said "Due to pollution please do NOT swim for 24 hours after heavy rain". Nice. We can swim at all other times at will, but of course only at our own risk. I didn't swim. Not because I was afraid of pollution, but because it wasn't that hot, and I had nowhere to put all my stuff while I was at it. Instead I called Centrelink and registered for the dole - yes, I applied for unemployment payments while at the beach! I think I'm on the right track, unemployment is going to be a piece of piss for me.

Today I thought I might head to China Town and pretend I was back in Japan or something. But turns out that just walking down George Street can do the same job. So many internationals, I couldn't hear any English being spoken at all. There's a bloke next to me in this internet cafe looking at soft porn! BTW - internet cafes in Australia suck! Where are the free drinks? Where is the relax chair? Where is the ice cream machine? And most importantly, where is my privacy?? Anyone walking past can see my screen (as we have just seen with porn man on my left). Some things the Japs just do better.

Vego update

Inspired by a comment on a previous post I have been thinking about my vegetarian journey thus far. Tonight we are having a BBQ for dinner. To be honest the whole BBQ thing has never really been up my alley, I have never been one to salivate over the idea of sausage in bread. So it really doesn't bother me that I am restricted to my vegie sausages (should they even technically be called sausages??). In general I have found that to be the case with many things. We went through the Hungry's drive through and it was just not an issue - I didn't feel tempted to dig in to a burger, or even thickshake! Across the way was The Colonel - still no temptation there, and I LOVE the chicken there. There are so many vegetarian places around now that eating out simply isn't an issue, and eating in is easy, just sort it yourself. So despite various people telling me it would be a struggle, that I would give in to temptation - I have been fine, and no one is more surprised than me. I think it really helps to just not consider meat as food anymore - just look right through it at the shops, look for the vego option first - it's usually tastier anyway.

My stay in Newcastle is drawing to a close. Tuesday I will head back into Sydney and sort something out there. Gonna be a real backpacker and see if I can secure myself a hostel or something. Or maybe I'll be heading to Canberra, it depends on what others are up to. I just hope the fine weather holds out so I can get around without getting wet. I hate getting wet!

Newcastle (there's no castle though)

Been trotting around the Newcastle area today. Went for a walk up a tree covered hill, got lost, but then found our way, and came home again. Did a shop at Coles, perused K-mart and drove through Hungry Jacks (I was just in the car, I didn't approve of this plan). It was another lovely day, sunny and blue skies. Just gets better and better here like there is no such thing as impending winter. I hear it's been a bit windy and rainy in Adelaide, which is great cos we need water, but even better when I am not there!!

Newcastle is a funny place. Mix of affluent and effluent. Waiting for my friend on Tuesday I sat next to a bloke and his mum and girlfriend while they went into great details about how to rip off Centrelink and have your case thrown out of court. It's just another world, living day to day finding any way possible to rip off the system. Good as any other job I suppose... That'll be me waiting in line for the dole soon enough!

Child's play

I am in Newcastle. Staying with an old old friend (she's not old, but our friendship is) and her family. The family consists of one husband and one small child of the male variety. So far I have been a hit because a) I brought him a Magna Doodle, and 2) I have been taking every opportunity to swing him upside down by his ankles. Right now he is snoozing (little tackers get siestas everyday, dunno why, they're not even working! What do they need to rest for??). We've made a pav and all that's left to do today is anticipate eating it. Yummm... I'm up here until next Monday when I will jump on a train possibly to Sydney, possibly to Canberra - we need to have a chat with another friend before deciding.

This morning I woke from the best sleep I have had for a long long time and spent an hour or so watching a film called Cars. Very funny - I like how there are kids jokes and adults jokes getting along together in there. Does anyone remember Scarface Claw from Hairy McClarey (from Donaldson's Dairy)?

Scarface Claw

My suggestion is to just start bandying that about the office today - guaranteed smiles.