Hobart: Day 1 - Evening

Tonight we ate at the New Sydney Hotel, which is a nice little pub in the city of Hobart. It's got an Irish theme to it, and there's a lot of history in the place, with loads of framed & signed pieces by celebrities (such as Jimoein) and car number plates from all over the world, as well as all sorts of logo'd caps hanging from the walls. Mealwise, I had a lamb shank in red wine and rosemary and there were lots of entrees to share. Pimms & lemonade to drink, my standard alcoholic beverage.

First day of work went slowly but that's normal somewhat. The drive to the client site was scenic - Tasmania's topography is quite beautiful in my opinion, as there are lots of hills and paddocks built on hills. We drove past a large body of water and there were hundreds of black swans scattered across the bay, it was a fascinating sight.

Pretty tired, but enjoying it. Had a huge conversation about games towards the end of dinner.. everything from Doom to Super Mario, Mortal Kombat and Wolfenstein 3D cheat codes.. the Gran Turismo and GTA series, and beyond. A good trip down memory lane.

The most bizarre thing that happened during dinner tonight - we were discussing 80s music (or rather, the boys were), and I was about to ask one of them whether they were into Jeff Buckley.. and as the thought was forming in my head and I was about to open my mouth, Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye" started playing! Talk about a coinky dink! Psych-out..

Hobart: Day 1 - Morning

As usual, my alarms were no use.. because I woke up a solid hour before they were due to start ringing! I did NOT want to get up at 5.30am, so I forced myself back to sleep until 6am. Got up, had a shower, made the decision that my work shirt didn't need any ironing (I think some of the others might), and put on my polo shirt from yesterday to go and have breakfast at 6.30am. Everybody was scheduled to eat at 7.30, but because I was up so early I figured I might as well eat first and then clean up my room (it's still a weird concept that I don't actually need to tidy, because there's people who are paid to do that in hotels.. even outside of my own home I don't need to "look after myself"!).

Ordered a Full Breakfast, which is basically your choice of hot food and fruits/cereals/yoghurt, whereas a Continental Breakfast is just the fruits etc. A big scoop of scrambled eggs, a tomato, a rasher of bacon, a small scoop of mushrooms, two pieces of apricot and two glasses of orange juice were enough for me. Of course, me being me I ended up dropping both my knife and fork, and a piece of apricot when I was trying to spoon the fruit onto my plate, so by the end of my morning meal I had two pairs of knives and forks and two serviettes (one had the dropped apricot slice wrapped up).

To add further to my uncoordinated mess, I discovered early on that I had worn my polo shirt inside out. This was strange, because I thought I'd left it turned inside out last night and so I'd tried to wear it the right way out. Luckily I'd brought my lovely shawl along so I draped that over the most obvious parts (collar and buttons) and I'm sure nobody else noticed.

Time for work. Day 1 should be interesting! I wonder we'll have for dinner tonight..

Hobart: the arrival

Virgin Blue flight. I've never been on such a big plane before.. it seated more than 30 people!* ;)

*Last year I flew to Albury for work and it was a Rex (Regional Express) flight.. I think it seated about 33 people and it had propellers too. [N.B.: Before last year's trip, I hadn't been on a plane since I was about 3 or 4, so I had no recollection of what a plane flight was like, except for the round bread roll that was part of the flight food. And the UHT milk container thing.]

The most exciting part about a plane flight is when the plane begins to take off from the tarmac. After that, it's all about trying to keep occupied because you definitely can't fall asleep sitting on such an upright seat. I read a bit of the Time magazine I bought on Friday, and then listened to a Hamish & Andy podcast.

Taxi ride to the Old Woolstore Apartments was about 20-30 mins. Met up with the others, then drinks at the Baaa Bar. Pimms & lemonade, and then a Little Creatures Pale Ale. Mixing drinks (i.e. spirits and beer), especially on an empty stomach, is not a good idea. So I ordered room service.

Tomato and capsicum soup with a small loaf of damper. Heaven at 11.30pm on a cold summer night in Hobart (12 degrees Celsius.. oh man.. I totally didn't pack appropriate clothing) when one hasn't had dinner (a prawn tempura sushi roll at the domestic airport at 7pm just doesn't cut it) yet.

Almost midnight now. Listening to the first ever mixtape I received from my boy. It brings back good memories, and the songs are beautiful too. I think I'll let it play throughout the night to keep my company. I've brought my Care Bear (it's a special one - he's dressed in a bee suit and has crinkly wings too) and Tigger. A week or two ago I discovered that they sell Care Bears at Coles.. really want to start a collection.

Need to hang up my work clothes in the closet, get changed, get the extra quilt from the closet for warmth, brush my teeth, then go to sleep. 7.30am breakfast tomorrow for an 8am drive to Boyer. And so begins the working week..

Counting down for the Melbourne weekend.

it's all about the people

It's been a while since the last post, and I am having a much more positive relationship with life and love. And besides, life couldn't be up if it didn't have it's downs. :)

Just finished my second week of work, and although I don't think I was 100% productive and efficient, I had a great time in terms of preparing for the weeks ahead and also starting to develop new friendships with people I'd never really talked to before, as well as a stronger relationship with current friends. There are some really good people at work. When I say "good" people, I don't mean that in a work-skills sense - there are lots of people who are excellent at what they do, like Ruse there are many high performers here - but I mean it in the sense that they have a good heart, and there is something more to them than just doing a good job at work. It's these people who I like the most, and hopefully I'll be able to develop stronger bonds with the right people during my summer holiday work.


Quotes from Souled On.

"I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free."
Clarence Darrow

"Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you."
Jean-Paul Sartre

"Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom."
Marilyn Ferguson

purge.

Sick of it all.

End. Life.

it's so curious..

There are just too many things that seem to happen by chance..

- Told a friend tonight about how much I miss playing saxophone, and that I wanted to borrow his alto sometime.. and then it turns out that he's got a house party in my area this weekend so he can actually drop it off!

- Had a random craving to listen to Miriam Makeba's music a few days before I discovered that she had passed away.

- After a few moments of silence one day, I had a desire to ask my boyfriend if he loved me. I thought about asking him, then decided to say nothing instead.. and shortly thereafter, he asked me the exact same question.

These are just a few recent examples. Things like this seem to happen on a moderately regular basis. I just don't understand. It's too much to be just pure random coincidence in my opinion.. I feel like I must have some kind of psychic ability that I haven't tapped into yet. I probably sound like a crazy person when I say that, but I do believe it. Something to ponder..

Sinner - Neil Finn

See it anyone got my eyes got my face
Sing it everyone got my nose got my blood
Conscience plays upon me now
Safe until my luck runs out
Cuckoos call, pendulum swings
I thought you knew everything
Lift my hands make the cross

Sinner I have never learned
Beginner I cannot return
Forever I must walk this earth
Like some forgotten soldier

Those things I should keep to myself
But I feel somehow strangely compelled
Under moonlight I stood wild and naked
Felt no shame just my spirit awakened

Sinner
Seein' everything, got my eyes got my face
Fireball drop from the sky
All my dreams have come to pass
Where's my faith is it lost
Can't see it till I cast it off

Sinner there is no such thing
Beginner I have learned to sing
Forever I must walk this earth
Like some forgotten soldier

Today I am still disconnected
To the face that I saw in the clouds
And the closest I get to contentment
Is when all of the barriers come down

Sinner
These things I should keep to myself
But I feel somehow strangely compelled
And the closest I get to contentment
Is when all of the barriers come down

Sinner

---

Listening to old albums. Australian music is great. Looking forward to listening to Vusi on the train to work this morning. He's South African.

patience is a virtue.. albeit a difficult one

Every time I feel like asking for something from him because I feel like I'm the one who's been trying hard, I stop myself. All the things I've done lately are because I love and care, and not because I want something in return. So I'm just going to keep my mouth shut and be happy in the knowledge that I'm doing good things.

And I wish my heart would stop big-beating and just be normal-beating.. it's bothersome and it scares me sometimes. According to Lan it's a sinus rhythm and it happens when pressure builds up in the heart so it tries to solve the problem by making an 'escape beat', ie. a big beat to try and release the pressure. I just think my heart aches in a romantic fashion.. and obviously he has to do something about that! :P