The Return of RBT

Good news! My friend who has been living in Canberra for almost 2 years is returning to Adelaide. Hurray:) I am very very excited. She will be back within a matter of weeks. Such great timing for her, she didn't even need to ask for a transfer, her job just sent her here. Nice one. Now we'll be able to plan our trip much more easily since we can talk face to face! hooo-raaay.

Hooray.

I'm having a picnic in the park for my birthday on Sunday. It's going to be well warm which is great. I'm going to partake of some beer I think. Good on me. Might do that tonight as well since I have to go out for some club fundraiser. Frankly I think it's a bit of a rip off this year - $30 for only one drink and finger food (no doubt some shitty wedges and meat filled fat sacks) and then some pretend money to gamble with. No being a gambler the interest level is at about zero for the whole thing. Why not just let us have drinks? So not worth $30 and now I have no money to actually drink with.. Grrr. Will be an early one for me, I have to make a cheesecake tomorrow morning! Following a baking session I will be off to the markets for fruit and veg shopping, then heading to MM's to help with some house tidying THEN I am having dinner made for me. Milky Joe is going to help with that by jumping up on the kitchen counter and licking everything as soon as we turn our backs. He's good like that. He also likes to pounce (with claws) on anything that moves, that includes fingers, toes, limbs and hair. Twice yesterday he jumped up on my head and gave it a good battering. God knows what he thinks he's up to. It's all fun and games until he claws me in the eye...

MJ

Here is Milky Joe chewing on a toy mouse. He'll chew anything though, not just mice.

Ready for a pastel night out.

A well deserved breakfast in Melbourne. It was a great hotel and yummy breakfast - but the plant on the table is fake. I was very disappointed.

Milky Joe peering somewhere he shouldn't.

Prancing on the lounge.

I had a weekend in Melbourne. The weather was lovely but there was a bit of smog in the air from the bushfires. We basically just chilled out. Went to see Gran Torino on Saturday arvo - it was great. I recommend a viewing. Clint seems to find directing so easy, it is amazing. Saturday evening we went to a place we'd found last time that has the best gnocchi. We weren't disappointed and also had a yummy pizza. Aside from the delayed flight on the way in on Friday night it was a pretty uneventful weekend really!

Three months to go!

Yes, that's right, only 3 more months of boring normal life before my big adventure beigns! Today I will go and pick up my tickets. The travel agent has been quite awful I have to say. Obviously my opinion isn't going to affect many people, but I advise against using STA Travel. They are unprofessional, unknowledgeable, pushy and so SLOW. I could list the particular events that caused me to come to this conclusion, but that's boring. Next time I will spend my money elsewhere, it's as simple as that.

I have quite a few things to organise before I leave though. Have to buy the necessary travel items, move all my stuff out of the house, find a new housemate for my bro, book some hostels in advance and organise my travel money. I am still undecided about how I should take it with me. Credit cards are pretty pricey, and those pre-paid travel cards are even worse as they charge a set fee for each transaction. Every other time I have travelled I have just taken all my money in cash and kept in in various parts of myluggage. But I guess having $200 stolen in Vietnam is not such a big deal as having $8,000 stolen in Peru!

Back to normal life though: it is cold again! And windy. Last ngiht I went to Adelaid Aquatic Centre and tried to swim. I got a cramp in the arch of my foot that was very annoying. Then I got some water right down in my ear, you know how it makes your eye hurt it goes so far in? My goggles leaked. It was awful. I confirmed my non-swimmer status alright. I hate the smell of chlorine as well. MM and I attempted to have dinner afterwards but Stinklepants was tired and cranky so it was a disaster really. The food was also awful. A pizza that was absolutely drowned in oil. It was disgusting. Clearly someone who has no concept of vegetarianism made it. One of the benefits of not eating meat is that you cut out a lot of oil because it simply isn't necessary. When the waitress came to pick up our plates she asked what type of pizza it was and when I told her she said "Ew, it's oily". Yes, yes it is.

Only one sleep until I am in Melbourne!!

Bruises galore!

Another Monday morning... It is pretty quiet here at work again. A slight flurry of activity this morning when there were a few assignments to mark, but it's all over now. I am feeling very sleepy after staying up a bit longer than I should have last night. I was pretty exhausted after playing 2 games of touch during which I sustained several bruises. Here is an itemised list, just because:

1. Top of foot - sustained when team mate stepped on me.
2. Left shin - SIW sustained during 'karaoke' warm up exercise.
3. Right shoulder - sustained during dive at run-away opposition team member
4. Right just-below-the-knee - sustained during same dive
5. Right hip - same dive

It's nice to have small injuries, makes you feel like you might have achieved something. Although it was exhausting playing 2 games in one night, it was also great afterwards to feel so worn out. And our team is playing much better now which is encouraging. Tangible improvement is always better than winning I reckon.

It seems like the hot weather has left us for now. The house has finally cooled down to a normal temperature and I can sleep! We still have no couches or pots and pans, but we are getting around that and it has become normal to boil water in the frying pan and watch TV from the floor. It's certainly giving me more opportunity to do my stretching which I generally neglect badly.

Hot much?

So the summer weather has finally kicked in. All last week it was over 40 in a crazy way and it has only just started cooling down. To the high 30s. At least there is a slight cooling over night - not that any of that cool stuff finds its way into my house. It is now hotter inside than out and I suspect that will continue until there are at least 2 days of much cooler weather. Stupid badly insulated housing.

My technique for escaping the heat has been to be not at home a lot. Pool is good. Air conditioned places such as work are good. Otherwise, it is just best to hide under a wet towel and drink plenty of water at home. We have at least been lucky to escape the power cuts because TV is about the only activity possible when just laying down makes you sweaty. Right now I have a headache and I can't figure out if it's becaus I haven't slept properly for a week, if I am hungry, if my neck is out of whack, or if it's something completely unrelated to any of the above. Temple massage is not helping.

Maybe it's the computer! Better switch it off.