My ADSL is broken... no web browsing.... had authentication problems earlier this week... not good... depriving me of my internet :( Must download more when it is available :)

Ooh... raining... first decent rain for this month... and its the 30th already! Hopefully enough to put out the bushfires and stuff in the north east.

Nothing interesting today, just ran some errands and walked around the city a bit. Schools went back earlier this week so not many kids hanging around :)

Another nite spent at work.... only till 10:30 tonight, which was good, as I was starting to get tired at 10:00 :)

Today was another hot day, with the expected temperature being 40 degrees. It "only" reached 38.... but still wasn't really bearable, especially with the smoke from the bushfires again covering the entire city. At least there wasn't the smell of smoke today. Its a bit cooler tonight, but the wind has died down and its basically dead still at the moment.

Played golf today... did ok, but still need more practice before I get a bit more consistent... probably should buy a set of clubs for myself.... but don't "really" need it at the moment... save the money for other things like holidays and new phone and stuff like that... :)

Work was ok, finished at 11pm instead of the usual 10:30pm because they day after a public holiday, everyone decides to do their banking. Still better than Friday nights when it can get close to 11:30 or even later. Off to bed now... so tired...

Went out to the Docklands today and there was some sort of festival thingy on at New Quay with heaps of people out and about. They have nice restaurants out there but it still seems a bit detached from the rest of the city. I think that it will take some time and more development linking it with the rest of the city before they actually get the "community" sort of feel at that place. At the moment it seems that there is only a lot of high priced (and high rent) apartments and a few shops. There's nothing to "pull" people in.

Going to work tomorrow as my shift for today didn't happen as it was a public holiday today. Applied for another "casual/part-time" job on the weekend, see what come from that. Maybe I'll even get an acknowledgement this time... followed by a rejection letter... *sigh*... such is life....

Oh. forgot to add that today is Australia Day. The day this country was "settled" or "invaded" (depending on your point of view) by the English. Celebrations of being Australian were held everywhere... I guess that after the Bali bombings there is a sense of national pride in what we are and what we stand for. I see that as an important step, we are proud to be Australian :)

I will never complain about the cold winters in Melbourne ever again... :)

There was a big Chinese New Year festival/celebrations in Springvale today, but I didn't go to that... I think Caroline and some friends went.... Maybe go to the "proper" ones next week in the city.

Finally some relief... there is a strong, sorta cool breeze that blew in this afternoon and the temp is now a "cool" 33 degrees... max today was 43.3 degrees... apparently the 2nd hottest day in Melbourne... ever..

Looking forward to tomorrow... there will be a change in the morning (hopefully) and the temp will drop for a few days, with showers. Going to go out for a walk maybe later tonight to catch maybe a breeze :)

Argghh... 2 hours from the hottest part of the day and its already over 40 degrees... there is some sort of a sea breeze... just that its a hot breeze... melting.... I'm melting....

Its about 11:30pm now.. and the temperature is still 32 degrees outside... 42 tomorrow and 38 on Sunday... *sigh*

Hot weather is not meant to be *this* hot in Melbourne. I just hope that we don't get many more days of this. And again, hope that no-one decides to flick a match/cigarette out their car window in the country....

Today is another day of hot temperatures... just that this time it is also smokey... just like last week. Damn its hot... even hotter tomorrow apparently... *sigh*....

My mum had left her purse in a deli when she went to buy something. So she got it back today... lucky as!

Went to the timberland wholesale clearance today and bought a top and a pair of shoes. Pretty cheap compared to what they sell for at retail.. top was $69 and the shoes $79. I'll put some pictures up tomorrow... Then went just up the road to a place called "Legs and Breasts" for lunch... they serve chicken :) The leg was quite nice but a little on the expensive side.... but still a good day!

Then I got home.. my mum lost her "wallet/purse" thing so had to call up the bank, etc to cancel credit cards, etc. Sigh... still have to go get a new license and goto medicare for a new card. :( and to top it off it will be 38 degrees tomorrow and 40 on Saturday...

Today I went out to Camberwell and then onto Holmesglen to meet up with my mum. Didn't have access to the car so PT was the method of travel... plus I was bored... and early.... so decided to go in a roundabout way to get there:
Caught the 109 tram out from the city through Richmond and Kew to Deepdene, then caught the 72 tram from there to Camberwell station, where I had to do some banking... Still being ridiculously early to meet up, I caught the train from Camberwell back towards the city to Burnley, where I changed trains to go back out again to Holmesglen... and I was still like 15mins early...

Not many notable things happenned. Got my ticket checked by undercover "Customer Service Officers" who really stood out from everyone by not sitting down when there were plenty available and crowding the doorway in the middle of the tram. Another thing was that my ticket (a 10x2 hour) got stuffed up by a validator later, so now I have to go get a refund/exchange for that.

Seriously spending too much on Frappucinos lately, especially with the warmer weather and all that. Something like $4.60 for a tall (the smallest size) which is quite expensive for a bit of coffee blended with ice.... but I only really like Fraps from Starbucks... thats about it... probably wouldn't get my money's worth if I worked there.... which someone suggested I should... *grumble* *grumble* never want to work in hospitality again... :(

Well, didn't do too much yesterday... just went out and did banking, posted letters, etc that kind of stuff and met up with Fel in the afternoon... when she finally decided to wake up... around 3pm or so :) Have to goto another bank today to deposit some money on behalf of someone else.... so I guess I'd better get onto that... more later... and pictures if there is anything interesting happenning...

Hmm... Karen's suburb in Canberra got a "evacuation warning" this evening because of the possibility of the fires sweeping through there, so she and Nick have decided to go to their "family home" in Sydney. Hopefully their house (rented) will be ok!

*cough* *cough* This is the view outside my window this morning. All I've got to say is that its not fog... and where there's smoke.......

Also, who's idea was it to paint the trams grey so they could blend into the background?

So Canberra is on fire... well.. parts of it... destroyed something like 300+ homes and have killed 4 people. That is not a good way to start the year. The TV footage was pretty graphic... seing flames just burn everything and embers flying around everywhere lighting up trees, houses, cars, .... this is where people live... their lives have been destroyed. A lot of people didn't even have time to pack stuff and get out, they were lucky to get out with their lives. News coverage with some pictures/video can be found here

Well, I spoke to Karen today (who lives in Canberra) and she and Nick are pretty freaked out about what has happenned.. they live a few suburbs away from where the worst of the destruction was.. they're ready to drive to Sydney if they need to. They have their stuff packed and car fuelled up... just hope that they don't have to. The wind is going to pick up tomorrow and that might just make it worse... :(

Tomorrow will be 37 here, so hopefully no one decides to be stupid and go out and light a fire somewhere (it has happenned before.. 2 years ago).

Hmm.. mucking around with the scanner, come up with a picture collage of myself from when I was a baby till 2001. The picture and description can be found here. Puts me in a reflective mood and I think of what could of been if I had taken another path in life. That opens up a lot of endless possibilities with "what if" statements everywhere. I'm happy with my life as it is now, be nice to know a "different" life though.

Didn't do much again today, weather was nice... which is always a bonus on weekends. Should go out more I think, maybe next weekend, or tomorrow... hmm.. guess I'll call up some people and ask what they're doing. Chris and NIck come back from their respective holidays this next week sometime, Australia Day long weekend next week, and Chinese New Year the weekend after that. It looks like it will be fairly busy which is good :) Haven't heard from Enrica but I guess she will get home soonish. Fel brought back 31 rolls of film and spent so much buying stuff... can't believe that... guess you don't go on holidays all the time (although it would be good to have that once in a while!)

Well, met up with Fel today after her trip to Malaysia, Thailand, HK and Japan. That would be cool. I wish I could go, I wish I could afford to go. Hmmm.. still want to go to europe at the end of the year, well, maybe southern europe so its not so cold, but have to see how that goes. OK, have to seriously find a good job now... hehe... all these wants and no means to pay for them...

Continued to be stalked by j0m on RBJ. I dunno how I like being stalked, but at least she seems nice :P As long as it doesn't freak me out I'll be ok with it! :)

Hmm... another beautiful day here, so I decided to wash the car at one of those do-it-yourself with high pressure water guns places... Only got slightly wet this time, and the car got pretty clean, didn't miss too much I think... but then... went to Caulfield to pick up an assignment from last semester, and some guy banged his door onto my car... grrr... didn't notice until I got home... stupid people who just don't take care.. bah.

Apart from that it was another un-eventful day. The agency didn't call with work, so it looks like another week on minimum amounts of money... *sigh* Having lunch with Fel tomorrow apparently, so that's something to look forward to. :)

Hmmm.... love this summer weather... it was just nice today... really can't complain! Went out and walked around a bit today, just looking at shops, etc but didn't buy anything, just a fruppucino from Starbucks in Bourke St. They are actually hiring people for their different locations now... according to the sign they had, which are: City (3 stores), Port Melbourne, South Yarra and a few others. Certainly not the same as over in the US where its hard to drive more than 5 mins without coming across one *lol*

Well, it didn't reach the expected top temperature, but there have been lots of bush fires around Melbourne, there is sort of a haze that makes it look like LA on a good day :)

Work was actually quite ok today, no one bothered me.... I just went there, typed and came home... all for around $60 for 4 hours so thats quite good by my standards. Still, have to find a "better" job that will lead to me becoming a high paid graduate next year... first step in me taking over the world! ... muwwahahahaha... :)

On a completely different note, I'm still waiting for Melbourne Tourism Services to write/call me about the volunteer job that I "applied" for. Its working as a guide/helper person at the visitor centre in Fed Square or Bourke St Mall. I also expressed interest in becoming a city ambassador where you rove around the city and help tourists out, etc. I think it was Edward Woodward who spoke at my graduation and said that we should be part of our community and contribute to it. I guess this is one way in which I can do it.

Just one comment for now...
Really really windy and hot to match, 37 predicted again... and now its off to work I go... *sigh*

ok, the links page is up... just have to get more links put in, etc and maybe put a section "about me" in there somewhere. The photos section... hmmm... have to organise the photos again and put the pages with the correct comments etc. Will do that later in the week... its late and I should probably be in bed...

Woohoo! Finally moved over so that my blog is on the front page... and it looks ok as well... All in a day's work. Would like to get the photos, links and other bits and pieces pages done as well, but that includes moving over some stuff that hasn't been touched for a while. I will look at doing that some time this week. I should also go out and take some more photos. Its just with summer, its hot hot hot, making it a pain to walk around and getting sunburnt during the day... hehe

Arrrgghhh... installed Windows Media Player 9 just now and it screwed up all my playlists... now I have to go and re-order all my mp3s... bleh... stupid Ms....

Went and got a haircut today, so now I look like I'm 16... *sigh*

Thats about it... (boring... I know)

Two days of very cool weather, sunny but not hot by any stretch of the imagination. Went out today and got a quote for an airfare for my mum. She was thinking of going away for about 2 weeks because of stress from a certain person *cough* *cough* (no, it wasn't me) but finally she decided not to go but will probably still go some time this year.

Read something in the paper about how around 60% of uni students cheat in some form or another. I was thinking the percentage would be closer to 100% but I guess that is only the percentage that admit to cheating, the other 40% or so is lying... I mean, it could simply be a "bending" of the rules but I'm sure most people have done it and got away with it. Not that I would ever cheat during my master's course... and I haven't.. I think *lol*

Anyways, my life is quite boring these days, just surfing the net, going out here and there and working every now and then. Maybe I should do something to shock the system? LIke fly off to NZ or somewhere for a few weeks... thats sounds great.. until I look at my bank balance and just daydream that I could do that :-(

Today it reached 40C!!! It was sooooo hot... have a bit of a headache now from the heat I think. Its better now as a change came through in the afternoon so it should be more comfortable to sleep tonight! Didn't do anything at all today, how productive... :-(

It's hot... damn hot... got to 35 today and heading for 37 tomorrow... good day to stay indoors and turn up the air conditioning I think.

I've decided to list my problems with that someone here:

• is inconsiderate of others


• is not helpful in the everyday running


• takes common "resources" while hoarding their own personal collection of "resources"


• believes that they know everything and everyone else is wrong


• likes competing with me even though I have no intention of competing


• is driving me crazy

Those of you who know me well enough will know who it is...

Started working on redesigning and moving bits and pieces of my page around. Probably end up putting the blog on the front page... profile page has disappeared and probably end up with just 2-3 pages for the whole site. Main page with everything, and one for photos and the other for links and other stuff that doesn't fit anywhere.

I downloaded some software to update my webcam automatically whenever its on (hardly ever!) so thats working well now :-) Such a nice day. I think I will point the camera outside for a while...

Bleh.... so tired from work tonight... don't really feel like writing... I dunno why some guys will try to "befriend" other girls in the aim of "being" with them when they already have a gf... *sigh* ... thats all I have to say...

Woot!
Played golf as a last minute decision today, just 9 holes and it was late afternoon start. Quite good and scored ok (ok by my standards), except for the 2 balls that I lost... grrr... oh well... should actually get a set of golf clubs and play more, but I dunno, don't want to be burdened with spending all that money and feel guilty not using them enough.

Hmm, today was a nice day weather-wise. Didn't do much else, ended up shopping for groceries, etc in Box Hill and had... uhh.. sesame paste thingy there as afternoon tea... freshly ground... yum! Dunno what I'm gonna do tomorrow, probably just walk around the city a bit and see if there is anything to buy (last day of post-xmas sales).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

From the rain, to the wind and then finally the clear(ish) skies. The fireworks went off as planned at midnight and went for something like 15 mins. Fed square was awash with people but less than last year. People (media) are blaming the threat of terrorism, but I think because the locations was spread further this year and the fact that it wasn't exactly warm meant many people had private parties and the like.

Docklands seemed to be a popular place, with lots of people heading down there at 7pm, just as I was leaving work... hmmm... I pity those people that had to work through the night, as I was one of them once... 31/12/1999... I still remember how much I got paid for that night, something like $300, it was something like triple time from 6-10pm and 4x from 10pm-2am... and I worked from 5pm-1am. Got a good view of the fireworks at least... cos we were in our own secured area in the hotel :-) ahh... those were the days...