Monday, July 30, 2007
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Weekends
This is the best weather we've had for ages! Sunny on a weekend too. Today I spent the morning with Eugene and Fred cleaning up the apartment. We spent an hour or so sweeping, dusting and wiping down surfaces and then all tackled the bathroom with gusto! It looks so much better now. It's amazing what Jiff and Spray and Wipe will combine to do. The amount of hair that was stuck down the drain was incredible (and gross.. ). Fred pulled on one strand, and attached to it was a massive hairball - I almost threw up. I'm glad that I hadn't had breakfast yet.
After a while my appetite returned and we went to a cafe down the road. Fred mentioned that this was his first weekend in Sydney, which is crazy - Eugene and I both agreed it seemed like he'd been here longer, but then his first weekend was the one where he came down to the snow with everyone, so he was right. After Eugene took off with Horng to pick up a bday present for Max I showed Fred around the area a bit - down the massive park at the end of our street, the Buddhist temple and we checked out a garage sale (which, as with all garage sales, was disappointly selling junk that noone could possibly need or want). I think Fred's enjoying Sydney so far. He mentioned that one of his friends from Brisbane had put some doubts in his head about the place, but he's been saying how much he likes Glebe, and how happy he is with the house and all, so that's good. It's good having flatmates who are happy.
Mindy had a truly TERRIBLE last day in London and I really felt for her. I wish I'd been there and not working so I could have sorted out a lot of the administrative crap for her. Her bank and removal company really combined to screw her around and make her last impression of London a miserable one. The moving company failed to deliver boxes as they had promised to do, so she had to chase them up. They asked her to pick up the boxes instead, so she had to carry a bunch of massive flat sheets across one of the windiest bridges on the Thames, nearly getting blown off into the water a couple of times. Then, having done that and packed up all her stuff, the delivery man who arrived to take them proceeded to berate her for not taping up the boxes and said something like "I can't believe that you want me to do this.. this is why you were sent boxes and tape!"
At this, Mindy just blew up - no, she wasn't sent anything, so how dare he lecture her! Totally justified. And then he says that his EFTPOS machine is broken, so she'll have to pay credit. And because she's paying credit, she'll have to pay an extra 1% on top. WTF!? Anyway, similar story at the bank, which hasn't managed to sort out internet banking access for her in the entire 3 months she's been there. Truly poor service. It sounds worse than the Aussie banks even!
Then her flight from London Heathrow was delayed...
Right now though, she should be somewhere over west Asia, inbound to Singapore in a couple of hours. It'll be good when she gets there and can catch up with her parents and a few friends, I think, though I'm of course looking forward to her getting back to Sydney in a couple of weeks :)
Speaking of Singapore, tonight I'm looking forward to Australia's final warm-up match before the Asian Cup! Singapore vs Australia. Eugene is bringing a bunch of his singaporean friends down to a pub in the city, to meet up with my Aussie friends. It should be a fun night!
And then tomorrow I need to go shopping and start getting ready to receive some guests for dinner. I've decided to cook some Chili Con Carne, to suit the cold weather we've been having recently. After dinner, some Bond, James Bond (Timothy Dalton hardnut style) will be put on the DVD player. I can't believe that some people haven't seen 'The Living Daylights'. One of the best Bonds, in my opinion, before it got all gadgety and more like Star Wars than ever before. Looking forward to having people over for dinner and cooking! Haven't done that in a while. I just hope my stupid blocked nose goes away tonight. It's been steadily improving, so fingers are crossed.
For the record, my prediction for the scoreline tonight is 3-1 to Australia, with Singapore scoring first, and Kewell getting two goals.
After a while my appetite returned and we went to a cafe down the road. Fred mentioned that this was his first weekend in Sydney, which is crazy - Eugene and I both agreed it seemed like he'd been here longer, but then his first weekend was the one where he came down to the snow with everyone, so he was right. After Eugene took off with Horng to pick up a bday present for Max I showed Fred around the area a bit - down the massive park at the end of our street, the Buddhist temple and we checked out a garage sale (which, as with all garage sales, was disappointly selling junk that noone could possibly need or want). I think Fred's enjoying Sydney so far. He mentioned that one of his friends from Brisbane had put some doubts in his head about the place, but he's been saying how much he likes Glebe, and how happy he is with the house and all, so that's good. It's good having flatmates who are happy.
Mindy had a truly TERRIBLE last day in London and I really felt for her. I wish I'd been there and not working so I could have sorted out a lot of the administrative crap for her. Her bank and removal company really combined to screw her around and make her last impression of London a miserable one. The moving company failed to deliver boxes as they had promised to do, so she had to chase them up. They asked her to pick up the boxes instead, so she had to carry a bunch of massive flat sheets across one of the windiest bridges on the Thames, nearly getting blown off into the water a couple of times. Then, having done that and packed up all her stuff, the delivery man who arrived to take them proceeded to berate her for not taping up the boxes and said something like "I can't believe that you want me to do this.. this is why you were sent boxes and tape!"
At this, Mindy just blew up - no, she wasn't sent anything, so how dare he lecture her! Totally justified. And then he says that his EFTPOS machine is broken, so she'll have to pay credit. And because she's paying credit, she'll have to pay an extra 1% on top. WTF!? Anyway, similar story at the bank, which hasn't managed to sort out internet banking access for her in the entire 3 months she's been there. Truly poor service. It sounds worse than the Aussie banks even!
Then her flight from London Heathrow was delayed...
Right now though, she should be somewhere over west Asia, inbound to Singapore in a couple of hours. It'll be good when she gets there and can catch up with her parents and a few friends, I think, though I'm of course looking forward to her getting back to Sydney in a couple of weeks :)
Speaking of Singapore, tonight I'm looking forward to Australia's final warm-up match before the Asian Cup! Singapore vs Australia. Eugene is bringing a bunch of his singaporean friends down to a pub in the city, to meet up with my Aussie friends. It should be a fun night!
And then tomorrow I need to go shopping and start getting ready to receive some guests for dinner. I've decided to cook some Chili Con Carne, to suit the cold weather we've been having recently. After dinner, some Bond, James Bond (Timothy Dalton hardnut style) will be put on the DVD player. I can't believe that some people haven't seen 'The Living Daylights'. One of the best Bonds, in my opinion, before it got all gadgety and more like Star Wars than ever before. Looking forward to having people over for dinner and cooking! Haven't done that in a while. I just hope my stupid blocked nose goes away tonight. It's been steadily improving, so fingers are crossed.
For the record, my prediction for the scoreline tonight is 3-1 to Australia, with Singapore scoring first, and Kewell getting two goals.
S N O W
One good thing about the cold weather and constant rain recently has been reading the snow reports of massive dumps of 30cm or more of snow every day, especially in the week leading up to us spending the weekend down there.
Overall the trip was great - everyone had a good time and agree that we have to go down again as soon as possible, after Mindy gets back (So Soon! Yay!). After a day of crashes and going slowly even on the easier slopes I got my confidence back up to the point where I could go a bit quicker, and not be totally out of control any time I sped up a little bit on the patches of ice that were still showing. Also, having UHF radios on the slopes was awesome as it made it really easy to keep in touch with the different groups of people - there were 14 of us down there altogether, and we had 4 radios, so we could distribute them based on how we all split up. Most of the time, we could all contact each other without having to fiddle about with mobile phones in our massive clumsy snow-gloved hands. Staying in an apartment in the middle of the village at the base of the mountain was awesome as well!! It maximised the amount of skiing we could do, which was a good thing considering we only got there on the Saturday morning, and left on the Sunday evening.
And I still haven't satisfied the crazy KFC cravings that I got on the way back to Sydney dammit! I need a KFC dinner sometime soon!
Overall the trip was great - everyone had a good time and agree that we have to go down again as soon as possible, after Mindy gets back (So Soon! Yay!). After a day of crashes and going slowly even on the easier slopes I got my confidence back up to the point where I could go a bit quicker, and not be totally out of control any time I sped up a little bit on the patches of ice that were still showing. Also, having UHF radios on the slopes was awesome as it made it really easy to keep in touch with the different groups of people - there were 14 of us down there altogether, and we had 4 radios, so we could distribute them based on how we all split up. Most of the time, we could all contact each other without having to fiddle about with mobile phones in our massive clumsy snow-gloved hands. Staying in an apartment in the middle of the village at the base of the mountain was awesome as well!! It maximised the amount of skiing we could do, which was a good thing considering we only got there on the Saturday morning, and left on the Sunday evening.
And I still haven't satisfied the crazy KFC cravings that I got on the way back to Sydney dammit! I need a KFC dinner sometime soon!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Google Maps
Follow the instructions below..
Follow these steps [in order of course]
1. go to www.google.co.uk
2. click on maps
3. click on get directions
4. Type in "new york" to "london, england"
5. scroll down in the directions to number 21
6. laugh and then re-post this ASAP so other people can enjoy, before Google discover it and change it!!
Follow these steps [in order of course]
1. go to www.google.co.uk
2. click on maps
3. click on get directions
4. Type in "new york" to "london, england"
5. scroll down in the directions to number 21
6. laugh and then re-post this ASAP so other people can enjoy, before Google discover it and change it!!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Gloom
Thinking about Mindy being in London, well, in Paris for the weekend, while I'm here has made me feel a bit lonely and sorry for myself. The days have been going pretty slowly this week and I don't really feel like I've been enjoying anything that I usually would very much lately. Just feels like going through the motions, i guess, sighing as i go.
Studying hasn't been going that well these past couple of days. I've felt just distracted and that my heart's not really in it. I don't think it's really that difficult, I just can't keep my mind on the subject at hand.
I'm hoping that I'll start feeling better once I get into or past exams. Maybe, I guess. Anyway. Exam tomorrow. I should study a bit more and then get to bed before midnight. Get up tomorrow, studying some more before I go. Ho hum.
Studying hasn't been going that well these past couple of days. I've felt just distracted and that my heart's not really in it. I don't think it's really that difficult, I just can't keep my mind on the subject at hand.
I'm hoping that I'll start feeling better once I get into or past exams. Maybe, I guess. Anyway. Exam tomorrow. I should study a bit more and then get to bed before midnight. Get up tomorrow, studying some more before I go. Ho hum.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Australia
If you haven't, get The Shins new album, 'Wincing the Night Away' and listen to 'Australia' at full volume with headphones on. It'll make you jump around like an iTunes silhoutte, with a great big smile on your face, i swear!
Monday, June 4, 2007
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