random life – Page 43 – helenthura.com

May 24, 2007

The Final Countdown

The day that will have the biggest impact on my life so far is almost here. In three days time I will be at the board presenting myself as best I can. The last couple of days I have been busily going over my notes, talking to people, writing new notes, reading reports and more. My desk seriously looks worse now then it ever did when I was at uni.

We picked Mum up from the airport this arvo. It will be a bit of a change having her home again after three weeks away. We have fallen into a system since she has been away and as of tonight that will all be out the window and it will be back to how it was before she went away. In saying that though it very nice to have her home again and to hear all her stories about the sights she has seen out west.

There was an excellent piece of news tucked away in the Higher Education supplement of The Australian yesterday about Asian Studies or more precisely titled the return to Asian Studies not only in universities across Australia but in the school systems as well if Labor wins the upcoming election. I let out a little cheer in the tearoom at work where I was reading the paper and then proceeded to send messages out to various friends either current or former Asian Studies students telling them of the story. In particular it made me think of one of my dear friends Sam who I met in my first year Indonesian class and in a couple of weeks will complete her degree to be a secondary Indonesian teacher and the fact that if Labor wins (as they very well should) her future looks much brighter if a greater focus is made on putting Asian languages and in particular Indonesian into more schools across the country. Kevin Rudd is an Asian Studies man, he did his degree though at ANU and had first class honours to go with it. The electorate that he represents though is Griffith, the very electorate that holds the university that I went to, Griffith University and when Griffith Uni was opened in 1975, one of the four subject areas it offered was Asian Studies. It all seems quite linked together when you look at it. Here though is to the future of Asian Studies not only in Australian universities but Australian schools.

April 24, 2007April 25, 2007

Roma St Parkland

On Sunday I headed into the Roma St Parkland with some friends off POTN to have a couple of hours taking photos. Oh what a delightful time I had in the short period of time I spent with them before been called away for family duties and missing out on the trip they took in the afternoon up to the Mt Cootha Botanic Gardens for some more fun.

We all had a great time and it was such a joy to see so many things in flower in this time of drought due to the excellent water management of the parks in collecting and using rainwater. Whilst I loved the water lilies, my favourite had to be the gerbera bed up in the concentric garden. They were so gorgeous. One day I would love to have a bed of gerberas like that in my front garden. One day I would also like it to rain.

Water Lilies

Dragon Fly

Eastern Water Dragon

Sculpture in the Concentric Garden

Flowers

Interesting dead flowers/seed heads of some aquatic plants.

I hope to get back in there pretty soon to finish checking out the rest of the gardens as I could have spent all day in there exploring and taking photos.

April 18, 2007

Do a jig

I had my assessment day today for the Air Force and I am extremely happy to say that I have been recommended for the Officer Selection Board (OSB) which should happen in the middle of May.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be recommended as my Interviewer kept pulling out questions that I had never seen before or been warned on and I started stressing out. He then said that this is the stuff you need to know for your OSB not today, I am just warning you. In saying that it wasn’t till he said that I am going to recommend you did I relax. Then for the rest of the arvo whilst I was waiting for my medical tests I felt so calm and relaxed. Huge load of bricks off my shoulders. I have a lot of study to do between now and the OSB but I know I can do it. I just have to remember to breathe 🙂 My interviewer did say however that whilst you need to know more information for the OSB it is normally a whole lot less stressful than the interview which is nice to hear.

And here is another Easter Egg photo. These are eggs will grow into Easter Egg shrubs in a couple of months and will fruit around March next year. Click on the photo to see it larger (as usual).

April 15, 2007

Bunny Family

The only time to buy Easter Eggs is after Easter when they are half the price. Especially when your sole purpose is to have fun taking photos of the chocolate delights. We went to The Farm today so my box of eggs and bunnies came along, as The Farm has acres upon acres of green grass, they are after all a turf farm and unlike Brisbane they aren’t affected by that thing called “The Drought”.

Oh what a delightful time I had carefully styling my shots, placing the eggs down in a random but calculated array, finding the perfect bush for the bunny to hide behind and so on.

Here is a family of Lindt Gold Bunnies following each other on the turf. Don’t they look so cute! There is the Papa bunny and the two little kittens. They are crossing the turf back to the warren where Mama bunny is waiting. After I finished with the Bluesfest photos I will post some photos of Lindt bunnies adventures at The Farm and Easter egg fun time.

April 3, 2007January 2, 2008

Today is Tuesday.

We had a big lunch at work today to celebrate 1000 working days without a lost time injury. Not many stores reach 1000, some stores have trouble getting to 50 days. Not one to miss a free lunch and my boss not one either we re-arranged my shift for today so that it would mean that I would get the lunch 🙂 They put on a nice spread for us with a mini BBQ grill in the tearoom which made the storeroom smell like a BBQ mmm. It made it mighty hard to work though, I was writing up milk credits and this smell was wafting through and making my stomach grumble.

More importantly though today is Tuesday and in two sleeps I will be heading off into the big Blue yonder which is the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival which is held in Byron Bay over the Easter long weekend. I have wanted to go to the Blues Fest year for years now and I am finally making the trip. I am making the trip alone though. I am heading 2.5hrs south of Brisbane to a town which I barely know, to a festival where I know no one for the lesser part of six days.

There is one thing I know I am looking forward to and that is Byron Bay Organic Doughnuts. Sigh those were so good at Woodford. I am also looking forward to spending some time at the beach. I haven’t gone to the beach in so long.

Matthew doesn’t see why I am slightly daunted over the whole shebang. That was till Mum pointed out the fact that Matthew could find and make friends with a broomstick (ok so she didn’t use those words, but Matthew is way more extroverted than I am). We can be walking through the shopping centre or in the city and people will randomly come up and say “Hey Palsson” and start chatting to him.

I may be slightly daunted about the trip but I am also extremely excited. I can’t wait to discover new bands and see old faves for the first time live or for the x time. I mean seeing Bo Diddley will be so cool. We have a compilation CD called Rock Around the Clock that Pabbi picked up for $9.95 at Brashs back in the day (early 90’s) that has Hey Bo Diddley on it. Such a rockin’ song. Closer to home, I am really extremely looking forward to finally finally seeing The Waifs and Paul Kelly and the list goes on and on.

Tomorrow is Wednesday and Andrea turns 21.99726 on Wednesday so we are celebrating. She is taking the off work and we will have fun, till I have to go work in the arvo. Andrea turns 22 on Thursday but I won’t be there, hence the celebration of her turning 21.99726.

March 25, 2007

Ordinary day, just like any

Mum is up at IBISCA this weekend having fun looking after a group of high school kids who were awarded bursaries to attend for the weekend. The house as a result has been quiet. Yesterday I worked all day and then went out to a local pub with a bunch of people at work to celebrate two of the girls turning 40. That was the first time I had gone out with people from work since most of the “old school” night fill people had left, it was a very different scene mainly in the reversing of the gender ratios, going from two or three girls and a heap of guys to a heap of girls and two or three guys.

Went out for a long bike ride this morning which was really good, it has been a while since I have gone on a long ride. I went out a bit later than I had planned to. I had planned on getting up at 6am and heading out but I didn’t get out of bed till 7ish and got out the (garage) door close to 8. I was dead tired from having a late night last night but it was a case of well if I don’t go I will never go and then I would be a slacker. Which is not something I want to be.

I made biscuits this arvo between watching a tape of Rockwiz from last night (I like Spicks and Specks for the comedy but as a music quiz show Rockwiz is way cooler). Deni Hines was a crack up! Before tea, I made a batch of mixed berry muffins which will be frozen and taken out one at time when in need of something for morning tea at work or a snack on the run.

It is stock take this week at work which means instead of only getting up one morning at 4:18 to start at 5am, I will be doing it twice maybe three times since I can’t remember my roster. I have nothing against starting work at 5am, the store is quiet with everyone hard at work and customer free till we open at 8am. The issue I have a problem with is the sun and when it decides to get out of bed. There are 52 weeks in the year and only 9 or so of those weeks does the sun decide to rise above the horizon before or as I start pedalling my bike to work. Riding to work in the dark whilst that does not worry me, it can be rather depressing when you are cycling to work and not even the birds have started their morning singing.

I picked up the recent Po’Girl CD yesterday on my lunch break. Po’Girl were one of those cool bands that I discovered at Woodford. I am really impressed with the CD, I have listened to it through a couple of times and I’m happy. Hearing those clarinet strains and those harmonies takes me right back to Woodford. sigh, Those were the days my friends lol.