now a thirtysomething from Brisbane
The house is filled with the sweet smell of November rain mingled with the perfume of the Mock Orange.
The street is filled with the soft patter of rain drops, the Four Tops from next door and the sound of whistles and yelling carrying up the hill from the netball.
The makings of Christmas presents cover the living room floor and the kitchen table.
There is  big container of dried fruit soaking in rum and spices in the pantry.
There is only a few days left till the calendar reads December.
So I’m getting not so subtle hints from various people that since Uni is now finished I need to update my little place on the internet more often.
Yep.
Uni is finished.
I’m currently not so patiently waiting for my results. As I’ve mentioned previously, the two subjects I did this past semester were hard. Â QUT also ever so kindly scheduled my final exam for 5:30 on a Friday night. It also earns the title of hardest exam I’ve ever done, both in my undergrad and postgrad lives. It was the exam where we all walked out at the very end of the time and looked at each other and just went “mmm, well that was fun”. Still it was the last exam and we celebrated like the good postgrad students we are with cheap bubbly and plastic cups.
We then celebrated again with a long lunch and more expensive bubbly  the following week after T had her last exam.  It was a lovely lunch, there was eight of us who started together two years ago and now we were all finished.  We’ve all gone or are going into very different aspects of the accounting/finance world but we’ve all toiled together over the past semesters.
Since then I’ve enjoyed doing a lot of sweet nothing. It’s been fantastic to no longer be reading text books on the bus to and from work or falling asleep on the aforementioned books. Coming home from work and just kicking back on the patio with a drink and watching the world go by. In saying all that I’ve also done a whole lot of everything else as well. There’s been road trips, cleaning, early family Christmas, shopping, gardening and hanging out with those dear friends who let me go radio silent during the semester. Now the count down is on to graduation and Christmas.
watched Happythankyoumoreplease the other week whilst on sick leave and whilst parts were weird, parts were sad and parts were darn funny. There was this one scene that just about summed up a part of me oh so very well. More so than I think I’ve ever summed it up myself.
Annie: So, what got you into photography?
Sam #2: Oh, I wouldn’t call it photography.
Annie: What would you call it?
Sam #2: I love taking pictures, I guess.
Annie: Okay. Well, why do you take pictures?
Sam #2: Umm.. I don’t know. When I see something I like looking at, I get to keeping looking at it.
That last line, right there. Yep. “When I see something I like looking at, I get to keep looking at it”. That’s why I take pictures. I like how something looks, or the way the light falls on an item. I take a picture and then I get to keep looking at it.
These are three such pictures.
H.
That’s right, Excuse me while I kiss the sky, I certainly don’t say it like Jimi said it oh it sounds good. Oh the sky has been glorious the last few days. That lovely blue, mostly clear with just whispers of clouds around and so crisp. Love it.
There’s been quite a few going-ons in my life recently hence the radio silence.
1) I moved back in with my mother a few days ago. I loved the location in Spring Hill but I had a few issues with one of my flat mates over what joint tenancy means … I gave a few options over Easter and my last option was that I would move out when she found a replacement.
2) Grandad is still in the hospital, he is now in the rehab unit but it doesn’t look like he will be going home to his home at the end of his stay. Mum is in the process of looking at aged care options. It’s sad. It’s also quite consuming visiting him.
3) Uni, ahh Uni. I handed in my Cost Accounting assignment on Monday night – so glad to have that finished.
4) Work, we’ve had our staffing levels reduced significantly the last few weeks with one girl resigning, one girl on leave and another two going on leave for a week each as well … It’s been non-stop at work.
Tomorrow though I’m going down the coast to pick up a very special purchase. You’ll have to wait and see what it is but I’m nearly over the moon in excitement at picking it up.
The next six days are going to be slightly manic.
Tomorrow – I have work (of course), I get my tooth implant, I’ve got postgrad orientation stuff to do at uni and then I have The Whitlams with the QSO tomorrow night.
Friday – Work and then straight to the airport to catch a flight to Hobart.
Saturday – Wedding of my cousin on the beach at Coles Bay/Freycinet
Sunday – Post wedding activities and flying home Sunday night.
Monday – Work and first uni lecture
Tuesday – Fly to Japan for 2 weeks. (Yeah, I’ll be missing four classes – two for each subject, whilst I’m away)
I’m so crazy looking forward to going to Japan. G (one of my best girl friends) and I are going to have a blast (literally as they having a bit of a cold snap at the moment and it is forecast to snow for the days we are up in the alps!!!).
It’s going to be crazy. I bought a new lens the other week, the 28mm 1.8 which will be one of the two lenses I’m taking to Japan, the other will be the 50mm 1.4. I was thinking of taking my 16-35mm 2.8 but it is a heavy piece of glass. I took a few photos with the 28mm the other day and I’m impressed
Yep, some more of my Figgjo Flint Lotte. Here you see a creamer which doubles as a bobby pin and nail utensil holder, a sugar pot that holds bracelets and hair clips and my soufflé dish which holds jewellery.
I think this could have been the theme song for the eastern seaboard states this summer. It’s something everyone is talking and asking about. Just how is the water?
I’m now mostly settled back in the family home. I did however receive an upgrade from the West Room (my former residence as young adult) to the Balcony Suite (which my two brothers lived in at various times). Apart from obviously having a balcony (it’s 2.5m x 0.9m as in big enough to have perhaps a table and chair but no more than that) it has windows on two sides facing south and east over the garden. I’m not just talking about a window on each side. I’m talking about windows that run the entire length of two sides of the room from thigh height to the ceiling.
Believe me I’m in light heaven. There is light and I love the light.
Went to lunch today at Gusto da Gianni at Portside with the ladies from work as one of the nurses turn 60 on Wednesday. The decor was interesting, cohesion was lacking in some areas, not just with the decor but also with the serving ware. Every single dessert dish came on different serving ware. The gelato was served in a what is best described as a Tuscan pasta bowl and the tiramisu was in a gorgeous conical frustum glass bowl. It was different. That aside the food was generally pretty ok.
These photos are the end of the flood for me. I’ve spent time with SES cleaning up streets, I’ve spent time in my own clothes cleaning up streets, I’ve spent time sorting through my belongings and the water logged belongings of total strangers.
The house on Saturday 15 Jan
The house on Thursday 13 Jan in the early morning.
and that folks is how the water rose and fell on the house that I used to live in.