Hi folks. Back again after an attack of Life, but with a few interesting things to report.
Madam started TAFE last week, and coped pretty well with the change. For the next little while, she has three evenings a week, which add up to some pretty long days. I’m taking care of her as best I can and making her dinners (while I’m eating for one, I usually cook for two and pack the remainder as leftovers for the next day). She is enjoying it, which is most important. Also, she continues to impress with her photos, and I’m very proud of her.
My work suddenly took a turn for the interesting, when I was asked to sit in as team leader for a week while our managers were variously absent. It was nice to be asked, and I figured it would be a good chance to sample the job without any long term commitment. That laissez-faire attitude lasted about two days, when I was offered another team leader position for three months. Did I impress beyond all measure, or were they simply desperate? Who knows? My initial week in Boss Job #1 went fairly well, and I’m looking forward to having a crack at Boss Job #2. The money’s nice (if not extravagant) and it’s satisfying to get some recognition for all the extra slog I put in last year.
I’ve done some singing in the last couple of weeks. It’s been an awful long time since I got to do that, which I have been made painfully aware of. MonUCS has started early this year due to an extra special concert – I haven’t managed to get into the music so far, and am not sure if I’ll sing or not. The Choir Of The Wood had its inaugural rehearsal this morning, which was nice to come back to. My commitments for the next couple of months will make my attendance a bit spotty, which is a pain. Still, it’s good to sing again, and to find out that I still can. Ish. Mostly.
The whole wellness thing continues to go mostly, um, well. I’ve started to run as well as walk on my evening wanderings, and have decided to try one of the Couch To 5K programs. Not that I particularly want to run any distance, but I like the gradual introduction, not to mention the many iPhone apps out there that help one along the way. I attempted my first run on Thursday night, which was An Adventure. I didn’t finish, but there were confounding factors. In particular, I was bailed up by a stupid dog with a much stupider owner, which took my mind off the exercise for a bit (though it did wonders for my adrenaline levels). I’ll be heading out to try it again tonight, and shall see how I go. Also, the household diet didn’t completely fall off the rails with Madam out of the house. We continue to eat well, and have had a couple of people over for dinner, which is nice.
For that matter, I’m still enjoying this house an awful lot. It’s just nice to have room to move, to entertain people, for Madam and I to have our own space to work. She’s studying downstairs, I’m here in my man cave, all is well. We’re happy being together, and despite my initial fears things are working pretty well.
So, that’s life. A lot busier than before, and busier even than we were anticipating, but mostly pretty damn good.
Have some music. This is from Rainydayz, a mashup album based on Radiohead’s In Rainbows. This particular track probably bears the least resemblance to its origin of anything on the album, but it also has an awesome inspirational rap from Charlie 2Na of Jurassic 5. Please, give it a listen -
Or, things that may have changed since I last wrote Anything Of Consequence.
Choirs / music excursions of any kind continue to play a major role in keeping me sane. MonUCS is still the base of my social circle, though I’ve gotten a bit slack in attending rehearsals and performing in concerts. I have started singing in an occasional choral group (no, not that one) which has been challenging and lots of fun. We joined in with ROCS for their anniversary gig, and are vaguely talking about a concert later in the year.
I had an unexpected success earlier in the year when I was asked to cater at the last MonUCS rehearsal camp. Despite not a lot of notice and some less than ideal conditions to work in, it all came together. I miss not being able to play silly buggers all weekend, but perhaps I’m better confined to the kitchen, who knows? I was asked to do it again, and foolishly I agreed. I’ve been plotting recipes, and we’ll see how they develop in the month or so I have to tinker.
As exciting as it is cooking for a lot of people, I’m struggling with the motivation to cook for myself. I’ve tried inviting people over and bribing them with dinner, but my efforts have had a mixed reception. So, if you’re curious to see what I can come up with, or just hurt that I apparently haven’t invited you over, let me know and see what piquing my curiosity will produce.
As I alluded to in the “woe” section of my last post, not having Madam around makes life very difficult at times. Still, she continues to come up with interesting things for us to get up to in the time she has here with me. Last excursion, we saw Avenue Q, which I loved. Next weekend, we’re off on an “interactive dining experience” for our anniversary (our “Ooh, hello” anniversary rather than anything more traditional) which sounds like lots of fun, not to mention food. We’re doing the Melbourne Show as well, and hoping that things may change not too long after that.
More noodling to follow. I have been away for a while, haven’t I?
Hello again. Yes, I’m following up my announcement of my return with actual content. Are you surprised? I am, a little. I’m still getting my head together, and I think all of the paragraphs below could grow into posts of their own if I had the inclination. We shall see what develops.
Melbourne, I have gone native. I still don’t really know the geography outside of my stomping ground, but I’m putting roots down. Having had a decent visit to Canberra, I really don’t miss that city at all. Some of the inhabitants I miss a hell of a lot, but I’m not going back there.
Madam is still in Canberra. We’re both at the point where we are both really tired of living apart, and we’re both miserable. Her career has gone well, so I’m glad she stayed there for that sake, at least (she’s now earning more than I am, which apparently I should feel threatened about? I don’t think so). Still, we’ve done the long distance thing before, hated it then, and still hate it. We’re still seeing each other every three or four weeks, which helps when it’s not a source of frustration to us both. A New Plan is developing, and we hope to have it together by September or so. Here’s hoping stuff works out.
So, for this reason I’ve been a thoroughly miserable sod. Apologies to anyone who’s had to put up with me lately. I am trying to get my act together so I cope a little better with the world, and am trying to be a bit more sociable. I’m off to dinner with a few friends tonight, which will be nice.
I’m also trying to do a bit of necessary (and long overdue) self-maintenance. Tomorrow I’m going to a shiatsu place near work to get myself crunched. Also on the to-do list for this week, I’m finding myself a GP and getting a checkup. I’m hoping this is a more positive experience than the last time I saw a doctor. I’m also *cringe* waiting to see *twitch* a dentist. This fellow was recommended by my thoroughly nice Canberra dentist, so I’m hoping he’ll be nice too.
Work is mostly going well. We’ve lost a few people recently due to budgetary machinations, so things are getting a wee bit busy, but at least I’m in no danger of running out of work. As predicted, I’m now bored with most of my work, but I’m comfortable rather than getting complacent. I’m now very used to working in the city, and am seriously rocking my daily commute. I’ve put my name down for some weekend overtime in another office, which could be interesting (and the moneys will be helpful too). I’m at the point where I should start looking around for other opportunities, I suppose. There doesn’t seem to be much potential for advancement in my section, but we’ll see what develops.
However, it is far too late on a Thursday night to go into details. Expect more interesting stuff to follow.
Did you miss me? I missed you.
EDIT: Yeesh. “Possibly Related Posts” is seriously screwed up (probably due to me using such high-powered words as “stuff”. Will try and fix / remove them, but don’t have time this morning.
Am home sick today. Have been trying to write for ages, but can’t get the impetus. Just so you know (especially since I’ve been getting a little more attention lately) I’m here, and I’ll be back with more random witterings.
I’ve been at my new choir’s rehearsal camp this past weekend. From a logistical perspective, it may not have been the cleverest thing to do (as I still have a house full of boxen) but it was good for my mental health.
Some things were Not So Good. I won’t go into them in any detail here – some of them were just karma, and some couldn’t be helped (a drive along a windy road through National Park, with wind and rain and fog and trees down on the road – it’s never going to be pleasant is it?).
I found myself without the motivation to rehearse too much. I’m already a little bored with the music, and was suffering from being unable to talk to Madam much (my phone’s battery went flat pretty quickly as it was). I helped out a little in the kitchen, and spent a little more time laying about feeling sorry for myself. There were, however, certain Lovely People who came and sat on me – literally, in at least one case – and made sure I was doing OK. I then resolved to have fun with my weekend. This involved giving a lot of massages (seven, I think – there was at least one repeat offender client) and generally hanging out and not singing much. I did manage to get a revue act together for Saturday night, which was a little daunting as the performance standard has gone up somewhat since I last performed there, but I was reasonably well received.
On the whole, things went very well. I made a couple of friends, and got to know some people a lot better. I ended the weekend exhausted but feeling loved. Which is the point, isn’t it? Am now home and caught up with Madam. Still pretty tired, but content. Now off to work. Oh. Joy.
The moving is done. It has been a very long day, but I’m happy everything is done.
Today started Far Too Early, and finished mid-afternoon. I now have everything in roughly the right place (including internets, obviously!) and am set up well enough to get to work tomorrow.
Father In Law and Brother In Law seriously saved my bacon, and I am most grateful. I am also far too tired to write about much, but I will say the following about New House -
Everything fits! Holy crap! It’s a little chaotic due to the boxes and stuff, but everything will be fine.
I have a very, very good shower. I am now in love with gas powered hot water.
The pizza place up the street is very good. I will start cooking again. I will. I will.
Believe it or not, I got used to sharing a house with a cat. I haven’t been annoyed by anything small and furry since breakfast time, and I’m getting a little twitchy.
I miss Madam a hell of a lot. Life is better, on the whole, so I’ve probably stopped complaining so much (apologies to my LJ friends list), but I’m still missing half my heart. And all of my wifely snuggles. Which makes me terribly sad a lot of the time.
More later, when I’ve recovered from today’s exercise program.
Morning all. Here’s a brief squeak before I head off to work.
Yes, work! Day One went pretty well. I am rocking the morning commute, thanks to good planning and the paranoia I learned from relying on Canberra’s bus network (which is not the most trustworthy I’ve ever encountered). I know the locals aren’t too impressed with the public transport here, but I’m finding in perfectly acceptable.
I’m in the middle of my induction, which has been interesting so far. Lots of useful discussion about the ethical issues one can strike in A Certain Department, together with lots of client service and the necessary admin bits and pieces.
New House looks fantastic. The owners were in yesterday doing a couple of bits of maintenance I requested, and it has all gone well. I still don’t have utilities, which I’m not impressed with, but Nice Agent is having a word with the connection company today. I hoped to be moving in this weekend, but Father In Law has been unwell on an interstate trip and isn’t home yet, so I’m not holding out much hope. Thankfully, the Lord and Lady are understanding, and don’t mind if I stay in Spare Oom a little longer.
I’ve been here a little over two weeks now. I should have something more profound to say about that, but I’ve got to get dressed and out of the house. More later, possibly tonight.
