I would now like to congratulate myself on one continous year of blogging... even if I have been averaging only about 2 posts per month, at least I have every single month since June last year on record. I look at my 2005 archive and it shows 65 posts... how on earth?! I must've been super freakin' jobless... especially considering the average length of my posts and it was only over a period of 6-7 months. This last year, I haven't even reached half that. Anyway, we have reached the end of one month of winter and it has been horrific... I am ready to kill myself... really... it hasn't been this cold in June the last few years... too depressing!
On the work front, I moved to a different client and project 2.5 weeks ago and that has accounted to my slackness in updating but it has been great working here compared to my old project. Probably another 2.5 weeks here before I move on to the next client.
On the personal front, last time I touched briefly on the citizenship thing so to elaborate, yeah, after two years and some of being permanent residents we were eligible to take up citizenship so we did! I still have to apply for my Australian passport and then I have to get one of them Overseas Citizens of India cards and I believe I have basically lost my right to vote in India which I never gave a shit about anyway but now have to vote here or you get fined and stuff so that'll be rather annoying although I think they have online ballots and all which should be convenient. The ceremony was ok... we took a pledge of committment and then our names were individually called out to receive our certificates and I was on the edge of my seat waiting for my name and of course when it was called, I almost tripped and fell because my heel had gotten tangled in my handbag strap but made it to the stage and off without incident. Then we all sang the National Anthem which is not that hot an anthem and we were given native plants which I have promptly killed with neglect as always. The citizenship interview that we went for before all this ceremony jazz was actually funnier because they just look over your application and you have to mug up these rights and duties of being an Australian citizen and we mugged and mugged on our way there and since we both went in together, we were competing with each other to give the right answers when the officer asked us for them. Anyway, I really don't like at it as a betrayal of the motherland because the motherland will always be home but at the same time, this country in all it's 'bogan'ness (Australian slang for red neck type people) and 1980's atmosphere has taken me into it's warm embrace and for that I will always love it.
Then what else has happened... a good friend has left to work in the UK and travel around Europe for 2 years so that was a bit of a bummer... he's been our friend since our first day in Australia and we've had some fun times. It's not fair that I should bid goodbye to people and move to another country and start from scratch to build something similar to what exists at home and then people should go and ruin it by bidding goodbye themselves. Ah well... we now have accomodation in the UK!
So there were a couple of smashed as farewell parties... at one of them, we booked a karaoke room for 2 hours and they said we could hang out longer since no one else had booked it so we hung out for 4.5 hours in total and sang for all that time. It was really insane... I've never karaoked like that in my life. At the end, the departing couple (she's actually still here for another couple of months) gave prizes to best female and male singers. I won female which if I hadn't, deep down I would've been most upset... haha... but the prizes were these awful naked men and women playing cards. The naked men are sitting on my coffee table... they look super freakin' fake though!
Then, I've been for a couple of shows in the last week... last Sat night, we went to Cirque du Soleil - Varekai... it was unbelievable. Cirque du Soleil is this global company of human circus performing artists and they perform crazy as acrobatic stunts on ground and in the air and tell a story at the same time... some great music too. It was very unique and breathtaking. Then on Tue night, I went to watch a production of the musical Miss Saigon. It's about an American GI who falls in love with a Vietnamese 'woman of the night' just before the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. It was tragically beautiful... some great songs!!
My gig calendar for 2007 has been pretty good so far and I've still got a few shows to go. At the beginning of the year, watched Roger Waters live in concert and Snoop Dogg, Beastie Boys and various other artists and DJs at a music festival. This month was these two shows. In August, I've got Bob Dylan... I hope he plays the songs I know and love. And in September I've got Steely Dan whose music I've got to get more familiar with and a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera which is my favouritest Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
So that's been it pretty much... weekend ahead to look forward to. Oh, also went wedding dress shopping and that was pretty overwhelming. Most are Cinderella type with these fairytale stiff skirts with hundreds of layers and we were joking how my fiance could hide under there at the wedding and light up a spliff and hotbox it... it would also create this fantastic smoke effect of me walking down the aisle! Anyway, I don't think I'm going down that path so will have to keep looking.
Until next time and the next year of blogging, adios!
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Friday, June 29, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
You’ll say we got nothing in common, no common ground to start from and we’re falling apart. Then I said what about Breakfast at Tiffanys...
Gee whiz… when things happen, they happen all at once. And sometimes nothing happens at all… like I think I was bemoaning nothing happening in like Feb and then suddenly life became hectic in March and we’re already at the end of April? Did time fly so when I was a child? I don’t think so really… what was life after all but a school timetable and weekends… so now its work and weekends but somehow it flies… I guess, cos there is no timetable. Well whatever, I have lots of updating to do on this blog. The real reason I continue to maintain this blog at all (with everyone on the blogroll being so slack at updating) is so I have a record of my life to look back on in one, two, five, ten, thirty years… it’s amazing the little things one forgets that one never expected to forget but forgot anyway, so the blog helps greatly. I wish I’d had a blog before I left India… I mean, I used to write stuff in a journal before I left India but it’s not the same as recording life events on a blog because a blog is public and a journal is private and I got over ‘Dear Diary, I did this and this and that between 3:00 and 5:00 pm today’ by age 12. So this blog is more like a dear diary in the sense of ‘Dear Diary, I went to x parties this weekend and got wasted at x of them…’ and then I can read these entries at some later point in my life when my life isn’t all that happening and then I can feel nostalgic for the good times and may want to kill myself at being reminded of a better time, but who knows… it may indeed only ever get better (but I doubt it).
So if you’re still reading, I left off at the long weekend holiday? The weekend that followed was meant to be really quiet because of the wild holiday weekend but it ended up that a friend and I met for a quiet drink or two at 5:30 pm on a Friday evening at this delightful bar along my one-and-only-close-to-my-heart Yarra river… by 8:00 pm, we had grown to 12 people and maybe 5 rounds down. And of course, that’s when we should’ve stopped and just GONE HOME. But of course we didn’t and of course we partied on and eventually I think we got home at 3:00 am. This is the trouble with Fridays – you always start off so early because it’s straight after work and sometimes it gets out of freaking control. It was an awesome night though – lots of laughs and tram and China Bar incidents! China Bar deserves a post of its own – it’s a mildly dodgy Chinese fast food place that doesn’t have a liquor licence but serves you Victoria Bitter beer anyway and I’m not a fan of Asian food but I don’t mind going to China Bar once in a while and eating the roti channai, which is like roti and chicken curry but I really couldn’t handle the place in my soberness and so most times we go there when we’re smashed and do crazy things like sing the Indian National Anthem. The rest of the weekend should’ve been quiet, but again, it wasn’t! I think I ate off our friend’s bbq for all meals beginning on Sat afternoon until Sun evening because Sat night he brought it over to our place and I actually spent a pleasant quiet evening by myself watching a Poirot whodunit on TV and then Sun afternoon, we had a tiny bbq partaay to watch the Australian Grand Prix on TV. The race was great, except for Ferrari winning of course. But how awesome is that young little Lewis Hamilton??!! So sweetly and talentedly he’s made it to the podium also every race since.
Then there was a week of work as usual but I do believe a few of us went out to dinner to a fancy schmancy Sri Lankan place that Thursday night and I finished almost an entire bottle of wine so was decidedly seedy the next morning at work. I was meant to go lawn bowling that evening with work but decided to give it a miss and went home to rest and I think slept for 12 hours+ that night. The next day I woke up well refreshed to find out India was pretty much out of the World Cup… Mr. Moonlight had stayed up most of the night to watch the match so was decidedly seedy that day and I convinced him to have an afternoon nap since we were going out that evening although at the time I was clueless about the things in store for me later that night. So then I did many household chores being in a domestic mood and expecting houseguests on the Monday and so forgot to wake him up and he was fully panicked about being late to this thing we were going to which was apparently some work friend of his party type thing. I of course never panic because I am never on time to anything ever! So I was done with my shower and hanging out in the bedroom and cutting my nails I think when I hear him on the phone outside trying to make a dinner reservation??!! So when he comes in I’m like, what’s the deal with the dinner reservation, I thought we were going to a party and he’s all, oh what are you talking about… very lame attempt at covering. But so anyway, I sorta fully guessed then that he was going to propose to me that night because well, I don’t know, I just knew. And then we sat in the car and he played a CD he’d burnt that day and the first song was Penny Lane and that was sooo funny and sweet and typical of him and just confirmed it. The rest of the songs were all the other songs we’ve considered our own over the years… there was Sweet Child of Mine, Can’t Help Falling in Love, She, Annie’s Song, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Strangers in the Night, and then he drove us to this stretch of road along the Williamstown beach where the waves dash against the embankment and there’s a lighthouse and everything and then on the way he pretended he was making up this poem and would give me two new lines every two minutes but really he’d composed it earlier and had to improvise anyway since he forgot half of it and it was just really funny and sweet because by now I was fully certain of what was coming. The reason for the beach was because we first met at the beach all those years ago (7 years and some months to be precise) at that wonderful rendezvous of our youth, EC-41… Then once we’d parked he proposed and got out of the car and got down on his knees and put the ring on my finger! Ah, the ring… the most fabulous exciting bit to any engagement and mine is absofuckinglutely stunning… I love it… it’s a half carat diamond in a platinum setting and it’s from Tiffanys cos Audrey Hepburn style, I’m just craaaazay about Tiffanaaays! Tiffanys has a special significance in our relationship because right from the beginning we never had anything in common except partying and drinking and smoking, and then we had a fight in the early days and I think this song just happened to play and it made us smile so since then he only has to play this song when we’re fighting and it makes us laugh. So when we discussed getting married and stuff in recent years, my only wish (well, by only wish, I don’t really mean only wish – I’m a woman, I’m allowed to have million wishes and dreams for my engagement and wedding) was that the ring be from Tiffanys! Here’s a picture for you but it really needs to be seen in the flesh.
So if you’re still reading, I left off at the long weekend holiday? The weekend that followed was meant to be really quiet because of the wild holiday weekend but it ended up that a friend and I met for a quiet drink or two at 5:30 pm on a Friday evening at this delightful bar along my one-and-only-close-to-my-heart Yarra river… by 8:00 pm, we had grown to 12 people and maybe 5 rounds down. And of course, that’s when we should’ve stopped and just GONE HOME. But of course we didn’t and of course we partied on and eventually I think we got home at 3:00 am. This is the trouble with Fridays – you always start off so early because it’s straight after work and sometimes it gets out of freaking control. It was an awesome night though – lots of laughs and tram and China Bar incidents! China Bar deserves a post of its own – it’s a mildly dodgy Chinese fast food place that doesn’t have a liquor licence but serves you Victoria Bitter beer anyway and I’m not a fan of Asian food but I don’t mind going to China Bar once in a while and eating the roti channai, which is like roti and chicken curry but I really couldn’t handle the place in my soberness and so most times we go there when we’re smashed and do crazy things like sing the Indian National Anthem. The rest of the weekend should’ve been quiet, but again, it wasn’t! I think I ate off our friend’s bbq for all meals beginning on Sat afternoon until Sun evening because Sat night he brought it over to our place and I actually spent a pleasant quiet evening by myself watching a Poirot whodunit on TV and then Sun afternoon, we had a tiny bbq partaay to watch the Australian Grand Prix on TV. The race was great, except for Ferrari winning of course. But how awesome is that young little Lewis Hamilton??!! So sweetly and talentedly he’s made it to the podium also every race since.
Then there was a week of work as usual but I do believe a few of us went out to dinner to a fancy schmancy Sri Lankan place that Thursday night and I finished almost an entire bottle of wine so was decidedly seedy the next morning at work. I was meant to go lawn bowling that evening with work but decided to give it a miss and went home to rest and I think slept for 12 hours+ that night. The next day I woke up well refreshed to find out India was pretty much out of the World Cup… Mr. Moonlight had stayed up most of the night to watch the match so was decidedly seedy that day and I convinced him to have an afternoon nap since we were going out that evening although at the time I was clueless about the things in store for me later that night. So then I did many household chores being in a domestic mood and expecting houseguests on the Monday and so forgot to wake him up and he was fully panicked about being late to this thing we were going to which was apparently some work friend of his party type thing. I of course never panic because I am never on time to anything ever! So I was done with my shower and hanging out in the bedroom and cutting my nails I think when I hear him on the phone outside trying to make a dinner reservation??!! So when he comes in I’m like, what’s the deal with the dinner reservation, I thought we were going to a party and he’s all, oh what are you talking about… very lame attempt at covering. But so anyway, I sorta fully guessed then that he was going to propose to me that night because well, I don’t know, I just knew. And then we sat in the car and he played a CD he’d burnt that day and the first song was Penny Lane and that was sooo funny and sweet and typical of him and just confirmed it. The rest of the songs were all the other songs we’ve considered our own over the years… there was Sweet Child of Mine, Can’t Help Falling in Love, She, Annie’s Song, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Strangers in the Night, and then he drove us to this stretch of road along the Williamstown beach where the waves dash against the embankment and there’s a lighthouse and everything and then on the way he pretended he was making up this poem and would give me two new lines every two minutes but really he’d composed it earlier and had to improvise anyway since he forgot half of it and it was just really funny and sweet because by now I was fully certain of what was coming. The reason for the beach was because we first met at the beach all those years ago (7 years and some months to be precise) at that wonderful rendezvous of our youth, EC-41… Then once we’d parked he proposed and got out of the car and got down on his knees and put the ring on my finger! Ah, the ring… the most fabulous exciting bit to any engagement and mine is absofuckinglutely stunning… I love it… it’s a half carat diamond in a platinum setting and it’s from Tiffanys cos Audrey Hepburn style, I’m just craaaazay about Tiffanaaays! Tiffanys has a special significance in our relationship because right from the beginning we never had anything in common except partying and drinking and smoking, and then we had a fight in the early days and I think this song just happened to play and it made us smile so since then he only has to play this song when we’re fighting and it makes us laugh. So when we discussed getting married and stuff in recent years, my only wish (well, by only wish, I don’t really mean only wish – I’m a woman, I’m allowed to have million wishes and dreams for my engagement and wedding) was that the ring be from Tiffanys! Here’s a picture for you but it really needs to be seen in the flesh.
So there we were, engaged after all this time and it was a wonderful exciting feeling. We went to dinner and called all our friends in Melbourne and met a few of them after dinner and I finished a whole bottle of wine in excitement/celebration. The next morning we called up our families and spoke to a few friends in India and basked in the glow of moving on to the next step, scary as it may be. We also had shitloads of cleaning to do that day because the next day a friend from Brisbane and a few members of his family arrived in Melbourne to stay with us and there was barely any time to think for all the people around us and overseas phone calls to make and receive! That week was a total blur with friend getting wasted every night and me having to work so only got wasted one night mid-week. Laughed a lot that week but I think one of my favourite nights that week was just a random week night… I wasn’t drinking, friend was already down something like 6 beers, haha, we went to dinner and it was pouring that night and freezing cold but still lovely because it was raining because as you may or may not know, I love a rainy night. Then we took a drive and picked up a couple of other friends and there were 5 of us in this car on this rainy night with nowhere to go but aimlessly drive and it was just a total Madras flashback! So we ended up in some random outer suburb and parked in some random shopping centre parking lot to have a smoke and a spliff in the freezing cold (cos we do not smoke in the car, some things have changed from when we were juvenile, mildly delinquent teenagers) and then drove back into the city :-) Was so simple and fun and non-alcoholic and reminiscent of MADras!
So that weekend was my “fiancé’s” pre-birthday bash… it was at the rooftop bar I mentioned a couple of posts ago and was another crazy, drunken night that ended at 4:00 in the morning. That Saturday night was someone else’s birthday party so couldn’t recover from hangover and went out that night too but didn’t drink on this occasion so got home fairly early. Sunday was a day of relative rest I think but don’t fully remember and then Monday night we had to stay up till midnight to bring in his birthday and give him presents although there was nothing major cos he only wanted cash and then the next day was a stressful day at work and that evening went to Guitarman’s house to celebrate Mr. Moonlight’s birthday and also Big City Dude’s birthday the day after so quiet bbq and drinks AND a boob cake :-) I will have to find and post the pictures of that cake… was unbelievably delicious even! The next day, had another stressful work day and hurriedly packed and flew to Fiji that night, but that’s a whole other tale!
So that weekend was my “fiancé’s” pre-birthday bash… it was at the rooftop bar I mentioned a couple of posts ago and was another crazy, drunken night that ended at 4:00 in the morning. That Saturday night was someone else’s birthday party so couldn’t recover from hangover and went out that night too but didn’t drink on this occasion so got home fairly early. Sunday was a day of relative rest I think but don’t fully remember and then Monday night we had to stay up till midnight to bring in his birthday and give him presents although there was nothing major cos he only wanted cash and then the next day was a stressful day at work and that evening went to Guitarman’s house to celebrate Mr. Moonlight’s birthday and also Big City Dude’s birthday the day after so quiet bbq and drinks AND a boob cake :-) I will have to find and post the pictures of that cake… was unbelievably delicious even! The next day, had another stressful work day and hurriedly packed and flew to Fiji that night, but that’s a whole other tale!
Monday, November 28, 2005
That's just the way it is... Things'll never be the same
Isn’t it just the irony of life that when I had no wish to stop blogging, when I had so many exciting things coming up like Christmas, trip home, weddings, babies, bachelorette parties, etc. to blog about circumstances forced me to take a break…
Update: Everyone scared me slightly about how much detail I put up so I have taken down most of the bitching. Here is a gist for anyone who missed out ;)
My boss was fired. Him getting fired set off a crazy chain of events… No one did any work for two weeks… everyone just stared blankly at their monitors, most people took 2 hour lunches everyday and at least thrice a week there was alcohol involved at these sessions, people fucked off whenever they felt like it and took it in turns to call in sick, people picked up fights with people they believed had been involved in getting him fired, people threatened to quit, people did quit, and of course every Friday night was a major regroup and re-strategise campaign at the pub …
I had a little work drama of my own in all this… but now that has been sorted too and the person I was really pissed off at got exactly what he deserved!
So now we’re trying to pick up the pieces and move on from everything that happened in the last three weeks. People will be missed, like my ex-boss and a couple of other friends who also left… I think that we all had a really good time in the last two years and now the party is really over! Well, nothing lasts forever…
Also on that note, my friend from Madras who came to Australia the same time I did and who shared my first apartment with me and S and who washed and ironed his own clothes and cooked his own meals for the first time ever at the same time as me, is returning to Madras for good in a couple of days. I will miss him… his turn of phrase is really quite like no one else’s… we could publish a book on all the funny things he has said in the crudest manner possible… The three of us lived together for 1.5 years and it seems like such a hazy dream now… None of us had lived away from home before, we were all spoiled rotten with never having done chores before, we missed our friends (and family) terribly and tried to recreate our alcoholic party Madras lifestyle in Melbourne and realised it wasn’t quite the same…
But we had our fun and games and wild nights on the town and quiet, reflective nights in. We also had our share of fighting and hating each other, there were car troubles and university troubles and financial difficulties and struggling to make ends meet. Everything was so new and strange… like smoking in our apartment, whenever we wanted, wherever we wanted (I’m so glad we stopped that dirty habit)… That whole first experience of living away from home is really quite something and its impossible not to form this incredible bond with the people you shared it with. And its also impossible not to pick up some embarrassing stories about each other along the way… I’ll hold my tongue though, don’t want embarrassing stories about me to get out!! So anyway, we hung out this weekend one last time in Australia and it was good. The cool thing is he’ll be there in Madras when we visit and he’ll be as jobless as us so we have someone to hang out with during the day like we used to…
I’ll come around and visit everyone real soon, ok? Must get back to work now!
Update: Everyone scared me slightly about how much detail I put up so I have taken down most of the bitching. Here is a gist for anyone who missed out ;)
My boss was fired. Him getting fired set off a crazy chain of events… No one did any work for two weeks… everyone just stared blankly at their monitors, most people took 2 hour lunches everyday and at least thrice a week there was alcohol involved at these sessions, people fucked off whenever they felt like it and took it in turns to call in sick, people picked up fights with people they believed had been involved in getting him fired, people threatened to quit, people did quit, and of course every Friday night was a major regroup and re-strategise campaign at the pub …
I had a little work drama of my own in all this… but now that has been sorted too and the person I was really pissed off at got exactly what he deserved!
So now we’re trying to pick up the pieces and move on from everything that happened in the last three weeks. People will be missed, like my ex-boss and a couple of other friends who also left… I think that we all had a really good time in the last two years and now the party is really over! Well, nothing lasts forever…
Also on that note, my friend from Madras who came to Australia the same time I did and who shared my first apartment with me and S and who washed and ironed his own clothes and cooked his own meals for the first time ever at the same time as me, is returning to Madras for good in a couple of days. I will miss him… his turn of phrase is really quite like no one else’s… we could publish a book on all the funny things he has said in the crudest manner possible… The three of us lived together for 1.5 years and it seems like such a hazy dream now… None of us had lived away from home before, we were all spoiled rotten with never having done chores before, we missed our friends (and family) terribly and tried to recreate our alcoholic party Madras lifestyle in Melbourne and realised it wasn’t quite the same…
But we had our fun and games and wild nights on the town and quiet, reflective nights in. We also had our share of fighting and hating each other, there were car troubles and university troubles and financial difficulties and struggling to make ends meet. Everything was so new and strange… like smoking in our apartment, whenever we wanted, wherever we wanted (I’m so glad we stopped that dirty habit)… That whole first experience of living away from home is really quite something and its impossible not to form this incredible bond with the people you shared it with. And its also impossible not to pick up some embarrassing stories about each other along the way… I’ll hold my tongue though, don’t want embarrassing stories about me to get out!! So anyway, we hung out this weekend one last time in Australia and it was good. The cool thing is he’ll be there in Madras when we visit and he’ll be as jobless as us so we have someone to hang out with during the day like we used to…
I’ll come around and visit everyone real soon, ok? Must get back to work now!
Monday, September 05, 2005
Ok, its been very long and I don’t really feel like *completing* the snowboarding saga. Just some quick bullet points on the rest:
And the beach is still my holiday destination of choice, but the snow makes a good winter getaway.
Last week, I went to Sydney twice on freaking work. The first time was on Monday morning, so that was a real blast… waking up at 5 am after two days of the most physical activity I’ve undertaken in many months… I could barely lift my laptop into the overhead compartment. The rest of the week was a blur and then I went to Sydney AGAIN on Friday morning. Whoever said corporate jet setting would be much fun and highly glamorous has got it all wrong. Its just tiring and boring and plays havoc with my ear pressure. I’ve now been to Sydney four times on work and still haven’t seen anything except the Opera House or done anything except eat at McDonald’s (Sydneysiders are not that keen on Subway, I’ve noticed – there are never any around)!
The pic below I took from my hotel room when I last stayed in Sydney a few months ago!
Ok, its Monday evening and I am forcing myself to go sign up at the gym next door. I have three months to get fit before Christmas and my visit to India where I can say ‘Up Yours’ to everyone who made fun of the weight I’d put on the last time I visited. Also, my tummy must be super toned for Neha’s wedding (of Neha C fame) as I am going to be one of her bridesmaids. Yay… I can’t wait (for the wedding, I mean, not the gym)!
- The Saturday afternoon was as tiring as the morning
- The instructor tried teaching us how to snowboard backwards although why she thought we would be able to do this when we could barely snowboard forwards, I don’t know. Suffice to say, I tried this twice and took two terrible tumbles and decided that I would stick with the forward henceforth
- The instructor also tried to get us on this strange thing called the Poma lift which pulls you upslope by you holding on to a cable attached to this circular thing. Now for skiers, it didn’t seem so bad… they held that circular thing between their legs and it just pulled them up very gracefully. For snowboarders, you hold it under your arm and what happens is the thing actually drags you but your snowboard still doesn’t move so your body gets pulled but your feet don’t move and guess what happens next… that’s right, you fall on your fucking face! Again, suffice to say, two attempts at this has turned me off “pomas” for life!
- The instructor made us feel very cool when she said ‘Now remember, snowboarding is an EXTREME sport’!
- The instructor taught us how to point our arms to change direction and slow down, etc. and much fun was made of my earnest Staying Alive attempts… all I can say is, it fucking worked!
- After the lesson (and a brief 4 pm snack which served as lunch) we bravely attempted the mountain again. This time, my pointing helped me have a really really good run for about 5 secs and of course I got very excited and thought, ‘Ha, there’s really nothing much to this snowboarding business’ and then of course, everything came crashing down as usual as I totally got confused about which arm to point in which direction. B, who watched the entire debacle from the ski lift had much to say about this to everyone else.
- Halfway down the mountain, I decided to quit for the day. By now my head was hurting so much, I felt sure some brain damage must have been sustained. So I unstrapped my feet and dragged the snowboard behind me much like taking my dog for a walk and wouldn’t you know it, I slipped even when off the snowboard as it somehow sneaked up under my feet. Next thing I know, I’m on my ass again and I’ve let go of the damn board and it goes hurtling down the mountain at breakneck speed. Everyone around yelled ‘Incoming’ and luckily no one got hit. So that was that…
- Sunday we tried skiing and that was slightly calmer. At least I could glide off the freaking lift without losing my balance and falling on my ass. But there were still moments… much easier to break a bone whilst skiing I feel… legs splayed in opposite directions, skis stuck in the snow, etc. etc. Anyway, managed to have a couple of successful runs (fell only once or twice) so there is hope yet… but I think I will give snowboarding another go when I do return to the snow.
And the beach is still my holiday destination of choice, but the snow makes a good winter getaway.
Last week, I went to Sydney twice on freaking work. The first time was on Monday morning, so that was a real blast… waking up at 5 am after two days of the most physical activity I’ve undertaken in many months… I could barely lift my laptop into the overhead compartment. The rest of the week was a blur and then I went to Sydney AGAIN on Friday morning. Whoever said corporate jet setting would be much fun and highly glamorous has got it all wrong. Its just tiring and boring and plays havoc with my ear pressure. I’ve now been to Sydney four times on work and still haven’t seen anything except the Opera House or done anything except eat at McDonald’s (Sydneysiders are not that keen on Subway, I’ve noticed – there are never any around)!
The pic below I took from my hotel room when I last stayed in Sydney a few months ago!
Ok, its Monday evening and I am forcing myself to go sign up at the gym next door. I have three months to get fit before Christmas and my visit to India where I can say ‘Up Yours’ to everyone who made fun of the weight I’d put on the last time I visited. Also, my tummy must be super toned for Neha’s wedding (of Neha C fame) as I am going to be one of her bridesmaids. Yay… I can’t wait (for the wedding, I mean, not the gym)!
Friday, August 05, 2005
A View From A Room
This is the view from my window at work. Isn’t is awesome?
I didn’t always have this view. The company itself resides in a dark depressing building next door with windows that don’t let any light in. But our department lucked out and moved last September to this building with the beautiful open plan floor and floor-to-ceiling windows with views of Albert Park and the St Kilda bay.
I was also really lucky to get this sweet spot next to the window. My boss was particularly happy with me at the time and told me I could choose any spot I wanted in the new place. I will not have this spot forever sadly. The company that we share the building with next door is moving out at the end of the year and then we will surely have to move back to the dreariness and dinginess that is next door. In winter months I never got to see the sun when I worked next door. I am already dreading our impending move even though it is months away.
Look, look… a ship!
In the first month of working here, the arrival of a ship in my little view of the bay was cause for much excitement. At other times, I simply like looking out at the sea. Canon aren’t kidding when they advertise that a new colour is created every second. I’ve watched the sea change from the lightest of blues to the darkest of greens, sometimes all in the same day. There are days when the rain causes the sea to completely disappear into a wall of white mist. There are days when the sea is a dull gun metal grey as it reflects the dark cloudy sky above it. And then there are the glorious warm and sunny days when the bay is crowded with tiny craft and the brilliantly coloured kites of kite surfers and sails of wind surfers vie for your attention and you wistfully look out at them in seconds snatched away from looking at your computer screen.
And its not just the bay. There are planes and helicopters constantly whizzing by. There are tram and road incidents to keep an eye out for. There are peaceful demonstrators and anarchists on megaphones. There are folks playing cricket in the grounds diagonally opposite to us. There’s the towering buildings of the city in the background and the Bolte Bridge on the right. At Grand Prix time, there’s sometimes a glimpse of a car or two as they practice around the Albert Park track and the noise from the cars is a beauty in itself. And my personal favourite, the rain. Always the rain, beating down on the glass. Rain that falls straight sometimes and slanting otherwise. Rain that reminds me of the monsoons in my own beloved land.
Ah view, I shall surely miss when we have to part ways. But until then, I shall do you full justice and keep on looking out…
I didn’t always have this view. The company itself resides in a dark depressing building next door with windows that don’t let any light in. But our department lucked out and moved last September to this building with the beautiful open plan floor and floor-to-ceiling windows with views of Albert Park and the St Kilda bay.
I was also really lucky to get this sweet spot next to the window. My boss was particularly happy with me at the time and told me I could choose any spot I wanted in the new place. I will not have this spot forever sadly. The company that we share the building with next door is moving out at the end of the year and then we will surely have to move back to the dreariness and dinginess that is next door. In winter months I never got to see the sun when I worked next door. I am already dreading our impending move even though it is months away.
Look, look… a ship!
In the first month of working here, the arrival of a ship in my little view of the bay was cause for much excitement. At other times, I simply like looking out at the sea. Canon aren’t kidding when they advertise that a new colour is created every second. I’ve watched the sea change from the lightest of blues to the darkest of greens, sometimes all in the same day. There are days when the rain causes the sea to completely disappear into a wall of white mist. There are days when the sea is a dull gun metal grey as it reflects the dark cloudy sky above it. And then there are the glorious warm and sunny days when the bay is crowded with tiny craft and the brilliantly coloured kites of kite surfers and sails of wind surfers vie for your attention and you wistfully look out at them in seconds snatched away from looking at your computer screen.
And its not just the bay. There are planes and helicopters constantly whizzing by. There are tram and road incidents to keep an eye out for. There are peaceful demonstrators and anarchists on megaphones. There are folks playing cricket in the grounds diagonally opposite to us. There’s the towering buildings of the city in the background and the Bolte Bridge on the right. At Grand Prix time, there’s sometimes a glimpse of a car or two as they practice around the Albert Park track and the noise from the cars is a beauty in itself. And my personal favourite, the rain. Always the rain, beating down on the glass. Rain that falls straight sometimes and slanting otherwise. Rain that reminds me of the monsoons in my own beloved land.
Ah view, I shall surely miss when we have to part ways. But until then, I shall do you full justice and keep on looking out…
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
No Ordinary Day
Today has been different
Item 1:
It is such a warm winter’s day, I cannot express my joy at having had such weather… trust Melbourne to be so out of whack… there have been summer days way colder than today. It was really really pleasant drowsily waiting at the tram stop in the sun… it even became kinda hot after a while but I was too lazy to remove my scarf and winter coat… so that was a pleasant change
Item 2:
There was a very nice tram inspector on board my tram this morning. I do not evade fares (any more). I got away with fare evasion when I was a poor student but made a deal with God (kinda blasphemous but what to do) that if I didn’t get caught and fined during my struggling student days, I would definitely buy a ticket once I started working. So now I buy monthly tickets and the other day the stupid validator on the tram was all crook and completely messed up my ticket. I know that when this happens you’re expected to buy yourself a new ticket and get in touch with the authorities that be to send you a replacement ticket. But there was no way I was spending another $100 the day after I bought the fucking ticket and then mail the old ticket to the authorities, etc… it would just lie on my desk for days on end and I’d be $100 poorer… So I decided to take my chances on travelling with my screwed up ticket and today the tram inspector was very nice about it. He gave me a “permit” to travel for another month (he just took my word for when the ticket was meant to expire) and didn’t fine me or anything. Very nice… normally these fuckers are just dying to do you in!!
Item 3:
My company is introducing performance management for the first time and we had a session on what it all meant. It got me all fired up thinking about career progression and what not but having known my boss for 1.5 years, I find it very hard to imagine actually seriously sitting down with him and planning all this out. That one is going to be a real challenge.
Item 4:
There was an actuary in this session and he decided that since I was from IT (I only work in the department, I’m not actually a developer or anything) I could answer all the questions he’s always wanted to ask about IT and never could! So I patiently answered all his questions about the passwords for different systems and why we couldn’t just have the ONE password for ALL the bloody systems… This didn’t really fit under “what was so different about today” but just thought I’d add it in anyway!
Item 5:
My boyfriend S has been having debilitating back problems off late and today the chiropractor told him to just chill at home for the next few days and not damage his back further by sitting on the uncomfortable chair at work… what a lucky bastard! I mean, yeah, poor fellow, he really is in a lot of pain, but as I’m typing this he’s happily watching DVDs at home while I toil and toil to bring home the bread (hahaha… that only ;))! So anyway, he was around here at lunchtime and we had lunch together which is quite rare since our workplaces are far apart… it was also damn funny because we picked up our housemate as well because S needed something from him and our entire household had lunch together on a week day… cannot remember the last time that happened! It reminds me of the day when I took a sickie from work due to a massive hangover from too much wine the previous night and that just happened to be the hottest day of 2005 so these guys decided to come back home around noon and we then proceeded to the beach and had a very enjoyable time indeed playing hookey from our respective workplaces!
Item 6:
In the midst of all my performance management sessions, lunches with boyfriends, blogging, etc., etc., I have managed to do quite a bit of work today!!
I’m off for the day now… the rest of you’ll in different time zones, happy rest of the day!
Item 1:
It is such a warm winter’s day, I cannot express my joy at having had such weather… trust Melbourne to be so out of whack… there have been summer days way colder than today. It was really really pleasant drowsily waiting at the tram stop in the sun… it even became kinda hot after a while but I was too lazy to remove my scarf and winter coat… so that was a pleasant change
Item 2:
There was a very nice tram inspector on board my tram this morning. I do not evade fares (any more). I got away with fare evasion when I was a poor student but made a deal with God (kinda blasphemous but what to do) that if I didn’t get caught and fined during my struggling student days, I would definitely buy a ticket once I started working. So now I buy monthly tickets and the other day the stupid validator on the tram was all crook and completely messed up my ticket. I know that when this happens you’re expected to buy yourself a new ticket and get in touch with the authorities that be to send you a replacement ticket. But there was no way I was spending another $100 the day after I bought the fucking ticket and then mail the old ticket to the authorities, etc… it would just lie on my desk for days on end and I’d be $100 poorer… So I decided to take my chances on travelling with my screwed up ticket and today the tram inspector was very nice about it. He gave me a “permit” to travel for another month (he just took my word for when the ticket was meant to expire) and didn’t fine me or anything. Very nice… normally these fuckers are just dying to do you in!!
Item 3:
My company is introducing performance management for the first time and we had a session on what it all meant. It got me all fired up thinking about career progression and what not but having known my boss for 1.5 years, I find it very hard to imagine actually seriously sitting down with him and planning all this out. That one is going to be a real challenge.
Item 4:
There was an actuary in this session and he decided that since I was from IT (I only work in the department, I’m not actually a developer or anything) I could answer all the questions he’s always wanted to ask about IT and never could! So I patiently answered all his questions about the passwords for different systems and why we couldn’t just have the ONE password for ALL the bloody systems… This didn’t really fit under “what was so different about today” but just thought I’d add it in anyway!
Item 5:
My boyfriend S has been having debilitating back problems off late and today the chiropractor told him to just chill at home for the next few days and not damage his back further by sitting on the uncomfortable chair at work… what a lucky bastard! I mean, yeah, poor fellow, he really is in a lot of pain, but as I’m typing this he’s happily watching DVDs at home while I toil and toil to bring home the bread (hahaha… that only ;))! So anyway, he was around here at lunchtime and we had lunch together which is quite rare since our workplaces are far apart… it was also damn funny because we picked up our housemate as well because S needed something from him and our entire household had lunch together on a week day… cannot remember the last time that happened! It reminds me of the day when I took a sickie from work due to a massive hangover from too much wine the previous night and that just happened to be the hottest day of 2005 so these guys decided to come back home around noon and we then proceeded to the beach and had a very enjoyable time indeed playing hookey from our respective workplaces!
Item 6:
In the midst of all my performance management sessions, lunches with boyfriends, blogging, etc., etc., I have managed to do quite a bit of work today!!
I’m off for the day now… the rest of you’ll in different time zones, happy rest of the day!
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