Apartment Hunting No More!

Well!  It's been weeks and weeks, I've finally snared myself a great apartment... After having my heart broken by applying too late, or having units un-listed, I thought this weekend that if I saw something I liked, I was just going to apply for it.  I'm seriously getting tired of hunting anyway.. each week we see so many apartments, mostly crap or far too pricey (but so swanky!!).  Some come with odd stories.... last week we saw an apartment in Hurstville where supposedly the last tenant was an "old man" who had lived there for "more than 20 years" and then suddenly he stops paying rent.  The agent said that when they went to see what happened, they found out he had "moved to Queensland".  Is Queensland code for heaven?  It didn't help that the place had fresh paint and fresh carpets... I mean how else can you get rid of certain odours...

Anyway so today I found out that I have locked in a great apartment in Rockdale, a far nicer suburb than Hurstville and closer to the city as well. And has a train station 5 minutes walk away... and I don't have to see any homeless people on the way *phew*... or too many asians *phewwww*   The apartment I got is on the top floor of a low rise block (7 storeys?), is super spacious, and to the joy of my boyfriend and all my smoker friends.... it has a big balcony, just like my current place.  It has a big bathroom and separate big laundry room.... oh and the building is only 2 years old, which is great   Anyway.... come to Sydney and see!

White Goods!

Yesterday I made my first whitegoods purchase ever.  I bought me a fridge  Not a huge one, 234 litres LG, but my first fridge nonetheless. I'm proud. Am I weird?  Maybe I'm not weird maybe I'm starting to mature and choosing to spend my money not on clothes and funky stuff but on home items like fridges, washers, vacuums and irons.  Hehe.. there is definitely some sense of satisfaction though.  I could not wipe the smile off my face yesterday. But then again that could be attributed to the fact that ......

I like green apples!

And.... (wow what a mad weekend!) I finally got me an ipod!  A green one of course. 

Picked it up when I bought my fridge, vacuum, kettle and all that stuff - you know buy more, bargain more!! Hehe... I've been playing with my ipod all day and filling up my iTunes with all kinds of old cd's I haven't heard in forever.  I desperately need to go to my car and get all the better cd's in there. I am so super excited.

Happy....

As you can probably tell, everything is going so well now... I'm so happy with where I am at with my life... everything where it ought to be. Plus my bro is coming over this weekend, and that's always good... and Leon just left, and Linh will be here next week.  All I need is Loreen and Elaine to make me completely... ... content.  Work *tick*, home *tick*, family *tick*, friends *tick*.  I should thank all of my friends who are true and who will always be my friends.  Some in Perth, one in London, and some new and old friends in Sydney.  Some friends are more like family... you don't always see them, you don't always agree, but you know you will always be.

So thanks guys...

Currently Reading Prey By Michael Crichton see related

Weekend at a glance

Wow, my 5 day weekend came and went in a flash.. last Wednesday it felt like I had almost forever to sleep in and not care, but look what happened - suddenly it is Tuesday and I'm back at work again! 

Leon was here!

I was soooo uber excited about Leon coming to Sydney because I hadn't seen him in almost 2 years!  We had lots of catching up to do, lots of gossip and lots of bitching... On Thursday we went to the Sydney Aquarium... pretty good fun although I was almost trampled by primary school kids who are taller than me!! Are humans getting bigger?!  We also felt a tad ripped off because there was only one seal  but the abundance of sharks & rays, and super cute fairy penguins made it all worth while.  I also refused to touch a sea cucumber after being advised that these creatures have their stomachs on the outside. How gross. After traipsing around the city, indulging in Krispy Kreme and even a dose of Tiffany  we met up with Al, Babs & Brett for dinner at Blue Fish in Darling Harbour...

Friday was spent bargain shopping (Perth lacks warehouse shopping) at DFO & Birkenhead. We both picked up some pretty good stuff.. went home, sat in the spa for a while, and then glammed up for Arthur's 30th drinks at 333... followed the next day by Arthur's surprise dinner at Hurricane... the cake was sooooo cute!!!  

On Sunday we watched The Lion King, second time for me. I thought it wouldn't be as good, being second time round, but I have to admit I actually enjoyed it more this time.. probably because I got the chance to check out the details and really enjoy the music. Also probably because the first time I went, I had zero hours sleep the night before. Yeh, not a great idea. I still can't get over how amazing the costumes are, and that I still tear up in the intro and the end... and that song in the middle when Simba sees his dad in the sky....!!! Man!

Anyway, Leon's gone now  so all is normal again.  I think he might have left some flu germs behind though. Have to sterilize everything in my house. Hehe..

Arthur turned 30

And dammit, about a month ago he told me he wouldn't have a huge one and I scoffed in the face of that lie. But I think it turned out true!!  Well, I didn't see any vomit on Friday night and I think I had a reasonably coherent conversation with him too.  Wow.  Al on the other hand could no longer prop himself up by 11pm and we were home in time to watch Blokesworld at 12. Sad...

Thank God I didn't put a wager on that.

Speaking of Blokesworld.. girls, if you already think guys are dumb, watch this show and you will know you've been right all long..

Ok better wrap it up, I'm at work afterall...

Welcome Elise Truong

A childhood friend of mine from Brisbane gave birth last Thursday morning to a beautiful baby girl, weighing in at a healthy 2.86kgs. I can't believe she got married, let alone the fact that my sweet girl is now a mother!! It's a strange thought because when I think of her, all I think of is afternoons at her house lazing around, painting our nails and then cleaning it off and then doing it again. And when uni came around, cruising everyday together to the beats of MIB and I'll be Missing You. Same cd the whole frickin' year *hehehehehe*   And tho she might hate this, I still remember the days of Discman, and Mao, and Sven, and Tina... good memories never die...

But now she's a mum, and things will never be the same again. Last time I went to Brissie, we went out at some god-awful hour to get ice cream from a 24 hour parlour. Next time I'm in Brissie, I get the feeling visiting hours will be limited to when the baby's awake... and besides, when the baby sleeps, I'm sure she wants to as well.

Things are changing. She's younger than I am. Another friend who is also younger than me is trying for a baby this year. Does it seem strange that I'm my age, and although in a happy relationship, I can't foresee myself getting married or having a child any time soon?  Not to say that I'm not interested. Because I am.  Haha.. right now I can see Loreen cringing at the thought of me not getting engaged...

I don't know. Maybe it's because I live in Sydney and everything just costs so damn much in Sydney.  I have a decent income and I can't see myself saving enough to pay for a child - cos they are expensive creatures you know!  But despite that, I do feel the clock ticking and I am getting envious of mothers with babies.

Anyway, I don't want to get carried away. Congratulations Di, and I'll come see you and Elise (and Yang) in October. She'll be a gorgeous 6 months by then   You'll be a fantastic mum...

Currently Reading The Rule of Four By Ian Caldwell, Dustin Thomason see related

Reading and relaxing...

Well, the long weekend came and went! I really needed the break and spent it reading some great books. I'm getting back into the swing of reading a book a week, or trying to anyway.  On Friday night I finished up "The Bride Stripped Bare" which is one of the most provocative books I have read in a long time. It's so explicit in some areas that it is almost unnerving. Certainly something I don't want my mother to read! But because it is so raw, you know it is real. I drank that book up within a couple of sittings and I wish there was more.  There's a sequel "Adultery" - from a man's point of view - and I'm just waiting to get my little hands on that!

I'm currently reading "The Rule of Four" by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. Reviewers have called it "The Davinci Code for people with brains".  But I thought I might try and read it anyway  I started reading it yesterday morning and though it is harder to read than Dan Brown, the story is compelling - can't put the damn thing down! 

Also bought 2 more books on the weekend - "Mr Murder" by Dean Koontz, and "Prey" by Michael Crichton.  I love it when Al has exams, because I can read in peace and quiet.

My friends Ian and Eugene also turned 30 on the weekend, celebrated at Mars Lounge, Surry Hills. Really good night, not too huge. Went home at 12.30am like a good girl but somehow, someway the night ended up messy and I ended up sleeping for 2.5 hours only. Don't ask.

Here's to long weekends hey!

Currently Reading The Bride Stripped Bare : A Novel By Nikki Gemmell see related

Snared me a new job

So all the hardwork has paid off. I've been offered a promotion to what I think will be an awesome position. It's true that you don't get if you don't ask. A very wise confidante of mine told me "sometimes all it takes is the confidence to know you can do it". So true. This whole time I've been down about my job, knowing I can do so much more and gain so much more, nothing happened until I opened my mouth and asked for it. And it almost came too easily!

I was offered the position which is unimaginatively titled Project Coordinator. It's a hybrid role which merges the vastly different jobs of Project Manager and Service Delivery Manager. It's a new-ish role created within my company lately as we seem to be on a war path to merge or at least get our fingers dirty within different lines of businesses.  I'm super excited about the prospects as although I was naturally moving into the SDM position, a whole unknown world has opened up to me and I'll have a chance to see what else is out there.  This role is a transitional role for me, so I have been told, as my new manager thinks I'll master it within 10-12 months. So another promotion is on the cards in 12 months.  Finally things are looking up

The "you've got the job" talk has been done. The "this is your payrise" has not. But there is good news and there is better news. Good news is that the people currently in the Project Coordinator role earn a sh*tload more than I do, so I think I will aim high. The better news is that they did tell me "you won't get paid less than X".  And X was already higher than what I had hoped for ...

I'm feeling happy today... even though it is raining outside.