Checking In

Ok, so I'm back from an extended leave of absence... or rather just not that much has happened over the past few months. As it stood, up until a few days ago my finances allowed me to eat, pay rent, and go to work, and that was about it. However, all within a fortnight I have had my hotel hours bumped from 21 a week to 35; and have picked up a second job at H&R Block in Chelsea, which sees me doing a few extra 5 hour shifts a week there as well. So suddenly I have gone from having shitloads of time and no money to having plenty of money, but no time.

With the accepted dramas associated with city living: gunmen running round shutting the city down, a new train timetable which makes my commute to the city lengthier and more painful, and people getting run over, nothing much has happened. The has certainly been no chaotic storms like in March, overheating days like in January, or huge concerts like in November. But I assure you that all of these things will come in due time.

Today is the 9th of July, and I'm still running strong with my personal ban on McDonalds, KFC and BK/Hungry Jacks. Feels good - I think I might never touch them again. I have got over the desire to eat them, the craving for the new burgers they advertise on TV, or the "cheapness" - because in all honesty they're not that cheap as it stands anyway. Between Turkish, Chinese and Indian food, I think I cover the food pyramid quite well.

The nights are getting colder - well colder than they were, still not getting below freezing - the average night has a "slight" frost risk, but nevertheless after fully acclimatising over the summer, I am certainly beginning to feel the cold - as emulated on my visit to Dunedin last month - what a bitter cold that was! But thanks to the people I visited, it was a very action packed 6 days, but definitely worth it! Sorry I couldn't spend more time with each and every one of you.

July is set to be a huge month of concerts, but unfortunately I managed to miss out on all but one of the ones I wanted to go to - damn lack of funds! Looking forward to 30 Seconds though, should be incredible.

Hopefully I will write to you all sooner rather than later!

Ciao for now.

My Strange Week

The oddities of this week past has not yet ceased to amaze me. We were entreated to the worst storm Victoria has seen in over 100 years - one of which I felt the full fury of from the safe haven of my workplace. Luckily my shift started when it did (3pm), and not 4pm, as I would have come across this: the reason why Metro trains cancelled so many trains - South Yarra station (one which four train lines go through) was flooded as high as the platforms. So I was sent to work to try and clear the absolutely flooded (and ruined) storerooms in the basement at work - linen was thrown away, those little sachets of tea, coffee, sugar, etc were all ruined, and my shoes (I'm sure) are now much worse for wear. We were treated to thousands of huge hailstones, which (being from NZ), I am alarmed to say I have never seen anything like it. It was not so much hailstones as just chunks of ice being thrown from the skies - some of them were the size of notebooks and 1B5's, but whatever they were, boy did they cause some damage! Seeing vehicles (even now), is rather a saddening thought, as they are now bruised forever - roof, bonnet, boot, windscreens are all dinted, mangled and broken, and millions of dollars of damage was caused - something like 200,000 insurance claims were made (before the start of business on Monday). I must say that it was not like anything I have ever experienced in my entire life. The storm we had in November was powerful, but it had nothing on this. I would hate to think what a hurricane or cyclone would be like! I am still at least even a little inclined to claim that it was a little cyclonic...

Compliments must really be passed onto the SES, who, even with the threat (and arrival) of a storm on Sunday, still had the city drained, the leaf litter cleaned, and the city looking respectable as if it had never happened.

Not much else has been happening really. In constant pursual of another form of employment, with no avail as of yet. I am enjoying my H&R Block course, even though it is so completely foreign to me - so many of these things make so much sense, yet baffle me as to why NZ doesn't have the same idea! What is with pursuing ACC when Medicare seems to be far better!

Saw Alice in Wonderland in 3d today, was good. I enjoyed it - would recommend to anyone who is a fan of 3d movies - though I still hate and despise and want to murder Johnny Depp - what a wanker!

Catch ya next time!

Reporting In

It's been a while since I've reported in, so I better have at it.

Been an eventful couple of months - finally got a job sorted, Houseman at Grand Chancellor Hotel. It's not a difficult job, so it suits me just fine. However, hot days, long pants and long sleeved shirt coupled with the physical nature of the job makes for a very uncomfortable shift. I, do, however work unsupervised so as long as my work gets done I can take as many drinks breaks as I need.

A fortnight ago, my Dad & Stepmum were here visiting, hope they enjoyed it - it was good to finally get some delicious food in my belly ;) - Oh and also have someone to spend some time with. My brother arrived the day before they left, and has settled here - a place in Oakleigh, which he seems to be loving. He tells me he has caught a pet Huntsman, I can just see that going wrong!

Chinese New Year, as per usual, was a spectacular event, with demonstrations all week leading up to it, and a fantastic celebration on the eve of the Year of the Tiger. I have been addicted to a certain Birds of Tokyo CD as of late: Broken Strings Tour, it is incredible, listen to it through at least on a daily basis, if not twice a day. The public transport system here still has a big FAIL stamp hovering over it - the buses and trams which did have Myki have since removed it, and there are talks about removing Zone 2 for trams, with buses likely to follow suit if that happened. Trains are still always late (or non-existant), but luckily none of them have affected my work hours (Touch Wood).

I'm looking forward to the Australia v NZ Cricket series - come on kiwi's, beat those smug aussie bastards and break their "unbeaten season".

Catch ya'll later

2009 in review

2009 ended in nearly the same fashion as it begun: drunk on the streets on Melbourne. The circumstances have changed a lot since I was counting down for 2009, however. The fact of the matter is that 365 days ago, I was a mere visitor in the city of Melbourne, and today I am living there. The other life changing product of 2009 was the completion of my university studies, and subsequent (yet not yet...) entry into the working world. There were also a bunch of smaller events happen - I shared a flat with 2 lovely ladies and 2 great guys - no problems ever to speak of, and we shared some fantastic times. I had an operation to fix my hearing problem, which worked incredibly well (though I fear I may be starting to wain a bit now, which is slightly worrying). I worked for 3 months as a cleaner in the wee small hours before anyone was awake (or before Sam even went to bed sometimes). I was a note taker for the university - giving something back after using their services the year before. Attended a couple of great birthday, theme, and game parties at the castle on the hill - which we always seemed to sit around and chat until 3 or 4am, which I can honestly say never happens with anyone else - will miss you guys! Hosted a couple of my own parties - my 22nd, one other (though I can't remember what it was), and my leaving party in November. I attended a couple of interesting concerts, shows, and seminars. I read some very good books - and understand why they are "classics". Clare suggested we try run the half-marathon, and we trained for that for a month or six weeks or so before my ankle decided that it had done enough and refused to let me use it for running any more (which was saddening, especially as I was making excellent progress - best time was 5km in 26 minutes). I kept my new years resolution - I didn't eat a single pie for the entirety of 2009 - though I had one merely hours after the fireworks had ceased while waiting at Southern Cross for a train that never seemed to come... I gave away all of my pirated shows and games, and have attempted to start legitimising the entirety of my music and TV show collection.

So in brief:

Number of Days: 365

Number of Diplomas: 2

Number of Airplane trips: 6

Number of Job Interviews: 2

Number of Jobs: 3

Number of Computers: 3

Weight Lost: 14kg

Pies Eaten: 0

Number of Dates: 0

Number of CDs Purchased: 21

Number of Pint Nights Attended: 5

Number of Cricket Matches Attended: 2

Number of Poker Tournaments Cashed in: 13

Regrets: 0

Hope to see you all again soon, and may 2010 bring you all the luck and happiness you seek. Bless.