Last night Gene & I decided to hit the town (the cinemas at Eastland anyway) and see a movie. It's been awhile. Hot Fuzz was the last thing we saw and that was in Geelong. We're slowly moving closer to the CBD in terms of distance...
There really wasn't much on. We could have gone to see Spiderman 3 but it was a Friday night that screamed annoying teens in the cinema so we chose to see The History Boys.
The basis of our decision were the billboards and the big bright signs we'd seen for it in London's West End earlier in the year.
Tickets in hand we entered the cinema to find ourselves the youngest audience members by a clear 40 years.
Still, it was a great show. There were parts which seemed very theatrical and I'm keen to read the play script now. In fact we're both wishing we'd seen it on stage as I can see how it may have worked a little better. It was different watching a show with an audience that's at least a generation older than you. Hearing the different points of laughter (compound adjectives and all) and the similar points.
Being the party animals that we are, we're heading out again tonight to a swing ball to dance the night away. Should be good!
Showing posts with label Gene. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gene. Show all posts
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Monday, May 07, 2007
Happy Beanie Smart Cookie
Yesterday was Gene's birthday. I was not as prepared for celebrations as I'd planned to be as it's been a big week at home. (I keep saying that but the weeks seem growing exponentially).
I started and have already failed my attempt for 1 photo per day. No matter it's the quality over quantity thing I say! I will share two photos though.
The view from my window:
Dad's first finger-knitting experience:
Dad learnt how to finger knit earlier this week and what you're seeing in the picture is a headband he made for Mum.
Further finger-knitting explorations have been put on hold as Mum went into hospital on Friday. Turns out she has a lesion or tumour on the head of her pancreas (might not be diabetic after all). So she went in for surgery on Friday where they removed her gall bladder (neither of my parents have gall bladders now) and bypassed the ducts that had been blocked by the growth. Sadly they couldn't remove it as there were too many surrounding blood vessels. So they took a biopsy and we'll know the results today or tomorrow. It's looking like she'll go for radiotherapy when she's better. Mum's still in hospital, probably till the end of the week but she's recovering well with her sense of humour well in tact.
While I'm sure other things happened this week I can't recall them. Priorities and all!
So it was Gene's birthday yesterday and I was unprepared. The space invader socks have proven far more time-consuming than I had bargained for and I had to start again with finer wool and less time. The short-row knitted beanie that I'd started for him was gigantic. It was looking a bit disastrous. I had to resort to plan B - making it up as I went along. In the end there was a large cookie cake (think two cake sized cookies with chocolate-cream-cheese icing) and a crocheted beanie. Why the cookie-cake? When I was at uni in Ballarat in one of my end of semester assessment interviews the topic of Gene came up and one of my lecturers said that Gene was a smart cookie (I was a good fish apparently). As for the beanie it was crocheted quickly in Gene colours as he said he'd lost his Barcelona beanie.
Happy Beanie Smart Cookie! I hope you still had fun even though you had to work last night!
I started and have already failed my attempt for 1 photo per day. No matter it's the quality over quantity thing I say! I will share two photos though.
The view from my window:
Dad's first finger-knitting experience:
Dad learnt how to finger knit earlier this week and what you're seeing in the picture is a headband he made for Mum.
Further finger-knitting explorations have been put on hold as Mum went into hospital on Friday. Turns out she has a lesion or tumour on the head of her pancreas (might not be diabetic after all). So she went in for surgery on Friday where they removed her gall bladder (neither of my parents have gall bladders now) and bypassed the ducts that had been blocked by the growth. Sadly they couldn't remove it as there were too many surrounding blood vessels. So they took a biopsy and we'll know the results today or tomorrow. It's looking like she'll go for radiotherapy when she's better. Mum's still in hospital, probably till the end of the week but she's recovering well with her sense of humour well in tact.
While I'm sure other things happened this week I can't recall them. Priorities and all!
So it was Gene's birthday yesterday and I was unprepared. The space invader socks have proven far more time-consuming than I had bargained for and I had to start again with finer wool and less time. The short-row knitted beanie that I'd started for him was gigantic. It was looking a bit disastrous. I had to resort to plan B - making it up as I went along. In the end there was a large cookie cake (think two cake sized cookies with chocolate-cream-cheese icing) and a crocheted beanie. Why the cookie-cake? When I was at uni in Ballarat in one of my end of semester assessment interviews the topic of Gene came up and one of my lecturers said that Gene was a smart cookie (I was a good fish apparently). As for the beanie it was crocheted quickly in Gene colours as he said he'd lost his Barcelona beanie.
Happy Beanie Smart Cookie! I hope you still had fun even though you had to work last night!
Monday, November 20, 2006
A serenade, bandages & the unexpected
What a surreal and fantastic 24 hours have just passed!
Last night as I was readying myself to head home I was called over to a seat near the quartermaster's store and serenaded by one of the crew members. Rob (the aforementioned crew members) sang Just the Way You Are as he'd been singing it in our site shed one night after Anneke had the song stuck in her head. Rob then said he needed to work on the song a bit and I suggested a repeat performance one night. So last night it was. Complete with backing track! Then Play that Funky Music resounded over the system and the crew, locals, workshop and general passersby in the compound alike, danced for the duration of the song. It was great to see people smiling as they went past!
I headed home and drew myself a nice hot bath to try and ease my sore shoulder and back muscles. I'm currently waiting to find out if the osteopath that is recommended has enough time to see me. I hope so! There's a little point just to the right side of my spine between my shoulder blades that hurts. I can feel the pressure there... I just can't seem to ease it though. Anyhow, I did that and listened to the soothing sounds of the Baraka soundtrack.
Twenty minutes of meditation finished my relaxation for the night and I crawled in to bed and dozed off within seconds. Can I just say that I've never had so much trouble focusing on one thing for twenty minutes before? I think the meditation is a good thing. I've woken up feeling really good this morning.
Speaking of waking up... I woke up this morning, rolled over to give Gene a hug and was shocked to see a huge, okay rather large, bandage on his left hand. It held his middle and ring finger together and went down across his palm to his wrist. He was asleep though so I didn't want to wake him up but I was alarmed never the less. I went to open a packet of tissues and woke him up doing so and he explained that it wasn't as bad as it looked (typical boy style I thought). His finger (middle) had gotten caught between two bits of steel and there was a cut and some bruising but he didn't think it was broken (he can still move it). Apparently he woke the nurse up so he thinks that's how he ended up with the large bandage instead of the bandaid he was after. Phew! Shall monitor it just incase he is just being a boy about it, but I think he'll be fine.
This brings me to the unexpected part of the twenty-four hours. After fussing over Gene while trying to get ready for work I realised I was going to need to run for the shuttle (nothing new there). I trooped off down the stairs and opened the front door to see... rain. I was stunned. I watched it for a moment with the grin of a cheshire cat on my face before heading upstairs to get a cardigan/jackety thing to cover up so that I didn't have to sit in the office with damp clothes all day. The rain was light but it was actual rain as opposed to the odd drop of water. It's starting to ease now but it's possibly going to continue lightly through the day.
I love it!
Last night as I was readying myself to head home I was called over to a seat near the quartermaster's store and serenaded by one of the crew members. Rob (the aforementioned crew members) sang Just the Way You Are as he'd been singing it in our site shed one night after Anneke had the song stuck in her head. Rob then said he needed to work on the song a bit and I suggested a repeat performance one night. So last night it was. Complete with backing track! Then Play that Funky Music resounded over the system and the crew, locals, workshop and general passersby in the compound alike, danced for the duration of the song. It was great to see people smiling as they went past!
I headed home and drew myself a nice hot bath to try and ease my sore shoulder and back muscles. I'm currently waiting to find out if the osteopath that is recommended has enough time to see me. I hope so! There's a little point just to the right side of my spine between my shoulder blades that hurts. I can feel the pressure there... I just can't seem to ease it though. Anyhow, I did that and listened to the soothing sounds of the Baraka soundtrack.
Twenty minutes of meditation finished my relaxation for the night and I crawled in to bed and dozed off within seconds. Can I just say that I've never had so much trouble focusing on one thing for twenty minutes before? I think the meditation is a good thing. I've woken up feeling really good this morning.
Speaking of waking up... I woke up this morning, rolled over to give Gene a hug and was shocked to see a huge, okay rather large, bandage on his left hand. It held his middle and ring finger together and went down across his palm to his wrist. He was asleep though so I didn't want to wake him up but I was alarmed never the less. I went to open a packet of tissues and woke him up doing so and he explained that it wasn't as bad as it looked (typical boy style I thought). His finger (middle) had gotten caught between two bits of steel and there was a cut and some bruising but he didn't think it was broken (he can still move it). Apparently he woke the nurse up so he thinks that's how he ended up with the large bandage instead of the bandaid he was after. Phew! Shall monitor it just incase he is just being a boy about it, but I think he'll be fine.
This brings me to the unexpected part of the twenty-four hours. After fussing over Gene while trying to get ready for work I realised I was going to need to run for the shuttle (nothing new there). I trooped off down the stairs and opened the front door to see... rain. I was stunned. I watched it for a moment with the grin of a cheshire cat on my face before heading upstairs to get a cardigan/jackety thing to cover up so that I didn't have to sit in the office with damp clothes all day. The rain was light but it was actual rain as opposed to the odd drop of water. It's starting to ease now but it's possibly going to continue lightly through the day.
I love it!
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Really
Today was the first day in a few weeks that I was at work at 0900. It's funny how you know that you need to be awake "early" the next day and yet the night before you just can't seem to convince yourself to be asleep any earlier, even if you try.
So in an attempt to relax and have a clear head ready for bed I listened to the Learn to Meditate podcast that I'd downloaded recently. There were two things that I really loved about it. Firstly it was a podcast from the Meditation Society of Australia which meant that there were Australian voices narrating. I've forgotten the second... clearly it wasn't that important to me... It was really good though. Certainly cleared my head and made me ready for bed. They advise you not to lie down while meditating as you're more likely to fall asleep. Good advice!
Gene & I played tag at the front door this morning. He ended up working about 14.5 hours last night. Just as I was reaching for my keys to open the front door from inside the villa he opened it. A quick hug and kiss and it was time for him to go to bed and me to run for the shuttle bus. (Well, walk quickly, haven't had to run for a while).
The temperature has cooled in Doha to a pleasant sounding 23-26 degrees at the moment. I say "pleasant sounding" because in all our minds it should be pleasant. However having been in 40-50 degree heat for the last few months, 23-26 degrees seems a little on the cool side. A few jumpers and sweaters have come out of the wardrobe/suit cases and a couple of jackets too.
Everything's relative really...
So in an attempt to relax and have a clear head ready for bed I listened to the Learn to Meditate podcast that I'd downloaded recently. There were two things that I really loved about it. Firstly it was a podcast from the Meditation Society of Australia which meant that there were Australian voices narrating. I've forgotten the second... clearly it wasn't that important to me... It was really good though. Certainly cleared my head and made me ready for bed. They advise you not to lie down while meditating as you're more likely to fall asleep. Good advice!
Gene & I played tag at the front door this morning. He ended up working about 14.5 hours last night. Just as I was reaching for my keys to open the front door from inside the villa he opened it. A quick hug and kiss and it was time for him to go to bed and me to run for the shuttle bus. (Well, walk quickly, haven't had to run for a while).
The temperature has cooled in Doha to a pleasant sounding 23-26 degrees at the moment. I say "pleasant sounding" because in all our minds it should be pleasant. However having been in 40-50 degree heat for the last few months, 23-26 degrees seems a little on the cool side. A few jumpers and sweaters have come out of the wardrobe/suit cases and a couple of jackets too.
Everything's relative really...
Friday, November 10, 2006
A Cool Doha Night
Last night the temperature dropped to 25 degrees Celsius with a cool (probably 23-24 degree) breeze and I kid you not some of the locals had jackets and beanies on. I must admit that it did actually feel cool to us as the maximum temperature that day had been 31 degrees. (Although I would swear that it was warmer)
As I was on the bus on the way home, Under the Milky Way started playing on my iPod. That song triggers a myriad of feelings and thoughts when it comes on. So much so that I can't really find words outside of my head to describe them accurately. I'll always see ballerina's flying in the air with pyro wands and silver trial bikes dancing with them. I still remember how wonderful it was to know that my friends were watching what I was watching and that I had my family in the stadium with me sharing the moment. It also makes me think of home. Not as in Melbourne, but home as in where my friends and family are. I actually think of my friends as a bit of an extended family because like my family they're always there for me. I can't see the Milky Way here in Doha. The light pollution is worsened by the dust and sand that's always in the air and as such there aren't that many stars that can be seen from the city. For the first time since I left Melbourne in mid-August I missed home.
With perfect timing as always, Nick C will be arriving in Doha in the morning. I called yesterday to let him know that I'll be buddying him and meeting him at the airport. I managed to catch him just after Matt's show finished and it was really good to hear both their voices even with the ridiculous delay. There's something wonderful about being able to say to a friend from home, I'll see you on Saturday. It's not something that I've done for awhile!
I've got a long day of work ahead of me but I know that it's going to fly by because I'm working with great people and it's an amazing environment that I'm working in. Gene's at home tucked in bed, apparently not sleeping which is bad because he starts work in seven hours, and well for all who've asked. He sends his love to you all, but in a more, Gene-manner than I've managed to pass on.
We're both really busy and it's kind of strange being in the same place, sharing the same house and not seeing each other. I really should be used to it by now but it still gets me everytime :)
This post sounds more melancholy than I expected it to. I suppose I should stop listening to The Happy Prince just before bed because the story always makes me sad!
Hope you're all well and thanks for the emails. They make this busy, restless and exciting period easier to work through!
PS. The cold is much better. Sleep is a wonderful thing. Novel is doing less well. Completely stuck and have returned to knitting Mum's socks while procrastinating.
As I was on the bus on the way home, Under the Milky Way started playing on my iPod. That song triggers a myriad of feelings and thoughts when it comes on. So much so that I can't really find words outside of my head to describe them accurately. I'll always see ballerina's flying in the air with pyro wands and silver trial bikes dancing with them. I still remember how wonderful it was to know that my friends were watching what I was watching and that I had my family in the stadium with me sharing the moment. It also makes me think of home. Not as in Melbourne, but home as in where my friends and family are. I actually think of my friends as a bit of an extended family because like my family they're always there for me. I can't see the Milky Way here in Doha. The light pollution is worsened by the dust and sand that's always in the air and as such there aren't that many stars that can be seen from the city. For the first time since I left Melbourne in mid-August I missed home.
With perfect timing as always, Nick C will be arriving in Doha in the morning. I called yesterday to let him know that I'll be buddying him and meeting him at the airport. I managed to catch him just after Matt's show finished and it was really good to hear both their voices even with the ridiculous delay. There's something wonderful about being able to say to a friend from home, I'll see you on Saturday. It's not something that I've done for awhile!
I've got a long day of work ahead of me but I know that it's going to fly by because I'm working with great people and it's an amazing environment that I'm working in. Gene's at home tucked in bed, apparently not sleeping which is bad because he starts work in seven hours, and well for all who've asked. He sends his love to you all, but in a more, Gene-manner than I've managed to pass on.
We're both really busy and it's kind of strange being in the same place, sharing the same house and not seeing each other. I really should be used to it by now but it still gets me everytime :)
This post sounds more melancholy than I expected it to. I suppose I should stop listening to The Happy Prince just before bed because the story always makes me sad!
Hope you're all well and thanks for the emails. They make this busy, restless and exciting period easier to work through!
PS. The cold is much better. Sleep is a wonderful thing. Novel is doing less well. Completely stuck and have returned to knitting Mum's socks while procrastinating.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
A Good Night's Rest
Sometimes it's best to just go with the flow and deal with the consequences later. Last night I had a fantastic time at Al Bayti where some of the crew are staying. I'll only go for an hour or so because I have to be at work this morning somehow turned into oh is that the time... I have get up for work in just over four hours if I want to make my shuttle bus. It was all worth it though. I had one of the best, if shortest, nights of sleep and feel fairly refreshed!
It was also good to see Gene last night (while we were both awake). I hung around work catching up on my filing until the 00:30 shuttle to Al Waab, where we live, to change out of the day's clothes. Jack kindly gave us (and Rick) a lift to the party where there was the perfect mixture of music, beer, dancing, cocktails and, most importantly, conversation that didn't revolve around work.
I must admit it was particularly wonderful to put faces to the voices and names that I'd heard on radio. It's amazing how different people can look without a high vis vest and hard hat too...
All in all a good night was had by all. Gene & Jye arrived at our house around 07:30 talking rather loudly. I ended up trotting downstairs and making "please keep it down" motions in a half state of consciousness before heading back upstairs to make the most of my last hour of sleep.
It's gatherings like this that you end up remembering after the shows long over. I was originally planning to head home for another attempt at a good night's sleep. I'm glad I didn't. I don't think I would have slept as well as I did and I would have missed out on a great party. It's funny being social outside of work can be almost as refreshing as a night in when you're working. I look forward to doing it again some time :)
It was also good to see Gene last night (while we were both awake). I hung around work catching up on my filing until the 00:30 shuttle to Al Waab, where we live, to change out of the day's clothes. Jack kindly gave us (and Rick) a lift to the party where there was the perfect mixture of music, beer, dancing, cocktails and, most importantly, conversation that didn't revolve around work.
I must admit it was particularly wonderful to put faces to the voices and names that I'd heard on radio. It's amazing how different people can look without a high vis vest and hard hat too...
All in all a good night was had by all. Gene & Jye arrived at our house around 07:30 talking rather loudly. I ended up trotting downstairs and making "please keep it down" motions in a half state of consciousness before heading back upstairs to make the most of my last hour of sleep.
It's gatherings like this that you end up remembering after the shows long over. I was originally planning to head home for another attempt at a good night's sleep. I'm glad I didn't. I don't think I would have slept as well as I did and I would have missed out on a great party. It's funny being social outside of work can be almost as refreshing as a night in when you're working. I look forward to doing it again some time :)
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Trundling Along
November is really not the best month for me in terms of NaNoWriMo. After last year's dismal attempt I figure I can't possibly do worse... Big words...
Anyhow, life is trundling along slowly. I'm eternally grateful that I'm right handed as my left arm is giving me grief from last weekend's blow to the shoulder blade. I've been on anti-inflammatories for the last four days and at night have something to try and relax the muscles but the ache is still there. If it's still there tomorrow I've been told to get Xrays. The doctor didn't look impressed when I mentioned that I kept swing dancing after the accident... Probably should have thought about that a bit really...
Aside from that nothing is new. Last night was the best sleep I've had since Saturday. I managed a whole 4 hours before waking up. I'm averaging three because that's about as long as I can sleep before I want to toss and turn.
Gene's working over at Khalifa now so I got to see him today while we were both awake! Very exciting. It was brief though. To be accurate I saw him twice but the second time we were being introduced and I was giving him his crew. Hehe we shook hands like it was the first time we'd met. :)
I have possibly mentioned this before but I'll say it again. A big thank you to those of you who write somewhat regularly in your blogs and anyone who emails. You're my only link to what's going on back home and I check all the blogs religiously in the mornings (Doha mornings that is...)
After finishing working on the Commonwealth Games with no pictures of my own I've made an effort to take pictures every day of what's happening on site. It's been really good because it gets me out of the office and reminds me of what we're moving towards. Naturally I can't post the pictures of the site but I do have some photos of some butterflies that Amy & I spotted in the shrubby plants onsite. I even got a picture of a little flower too. I love my macro photography setting on the camera.
It's almost dinner time... they had creme caramel for dessert. MMMMMMMM...
Anyhow, life is trundling along slowly. I'm eternally grateful that I'm right handed as my left arm is giving me grief from last weekend's blow to the shoulder blade. I've been on anti-inflammatories for the last four days and at night have something to try and relax the muscles but the ache is still there. If it's still there tomorrow I've been told to get Xrays. The doctor didn't look impressed when I mentioned that I kept swing dancing after the accident... Probably should have thought about that a bit really...
Aside from that nothing is new. Last night was the best sleep I've had since Saturday. I managed a whole 4 hours before waking up. I'm averaging three because that's about as long as I can sleep before I want to toss and turn.
Gene's working over at Khalifa now so I got to see him today while we were both awake! Very exciting. It was brief though. To be accurate I saw him twice but the second time we were being introduced and I was giving him his crew. Hehe we shook hands like it was the first time we'd met. :)
I have possibly mentioned this before but I'll say it again. A big thank you to those of you who write somewhat regularly in your blogs and anyone who emails. You're my only link to what's going on back home and I check all the blogs religiously in the mornings (Doha mornings that is...)
After finishing working on the Commonwealth Games with no pictures of my own I've made an effort to take pictures every day of what's happening on site. It's been really good because it gets me out of the office and reminds me of what we're moving towards. Naturally I can't post the pictures of the site but I do have some photos of some butterflies that Amy & I spotted in the shrubby plants onsite. I even got a picture of a little flower too. I love my macro photography setting on the camera.
It's almost dinner time... they had creme caramel for dessert. MMMMMMMM...
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Mr Postman look and see...
Sadly no iPod has appeared yet and is unlikely to appear until, at best, Tuesday. I should probably stop obsessively checking the pidgeon holes for it until then but I'm optimistic!
I had a fabulous weekend with my gorgeous man. We spent Friday night relaxing and discussing our post-Games holiday. We've nutted out some dates and are aiming for our return flight to Melbourne on the 9th February (I guess arriving on the 10th, but we'll have to wait and see). Now all that remains are flight & accommodation bookings and much saving.
Yesterday, after sleeping in until the luxurious hour of 11am, we had beef(?) kuftas for breakfast and then asked ourselves what do you do when it's 38 degrees celcius and humid? Naturally the answer to that question is swing dance! So we set up my speakers and danced in our carport to the amusement of the neighbours passing us on the way to the pool (probably a more sensible option). Photos were taken but I've yet to see them. If they're not too terrible they may even get posted :)
After a brief altercation between my shoulder blade and the corner of the coffee table (the coffee table won. ouch!) we decided to rest for awhile and program a few slower songs to dance to while I nursed my injury with a packet of frozen mash potato. As soon as the aromatic garlic and herbs in the mash potatoes started to permeate the air we decided it was time to return my "ice pack" to the freezer for a bit and keep on dancing. By this stage our carport was in full sun and to be honest we were melting! Plenty of ice tea helped us through the next few hours as we tried to practice our moves and I'm fairly sure we made up some moves too! We're really missing our swing dancing classes here but I think we were doing okay.
The sun faded from our carport and that was our cue to finish for the day. (We're sensible people really). Gene had a haircut in Mel's carport (Mel & Dobbie's Barber Shop) and then it was time for us to head inside and consider dinner.
While considering dinner we started playing the Sims 2. This delayed dinner considerably. We ended up having corned beef, eggs and rice while continuing our game. Our Sims live in "Melbourne". I think it's a joke because it's always raining in the game. Still miss the rain by the way.
The hours (both simulated and actual) flew past us and before I knew it there were just seven hours left until I had to get on the shuttle bus for work. Whoops. Pumpkin time. We lay in bed and chatted about random things. Mainly PS2 related and then roughly five and a half hours before I needed to be on the bus I finally fell asleep.
Suprisingly I was on the bus about 10 minutes earlier than I usually am this morning. I even had time to polish my boots and have a quick breakfast before I had to leave the house. Amazing what a short sleep can do for me. So it's the start of another week and as the Carpenters karaoke DVD (complete with typos) serenaded me on the way to work I thought about when my iPod was going to arrive so that I could listen to my audiobooks and music on the way to work. I was briefly distracted by the image of Singapore's Underwater World during Mr Postman but that soon passed.
Tonight I'm going to the Ramadan tent at the Ritz Carlton with Amy & PC. I can sleep later. There's too much to see and do in Doha!
I had a fabulous weekend with my gorgeous man. We spent Friday night relaxing and discussing our post-Games holiday. We've nutted out some dates and are aiming for our return flight to Melbourne on the 9th February (I guess arriving on the 10th, but we'll have to wait and see). Now all that remains are flight & accommodation bookings and much saving.
Yesterday, after sleeping in until the luxurious hour of 11am, we had beef(?) kuftas for breakfast and then asked ourselves what do you do when it's 38 degrees celcius and humid? Naturally the answer to that question is swing dance! So we set up my speakers and danced in our carport to the amusement of the neighbours passing us on the way to the pool (probably a more sensible option). Photos were taken but I've yet to see them. If they're not too terrible they may even get posted :)
After a brief altercation between my shoulder blade and the corner of the coffee table (the coffee table won. ouch!) we decided to rest for awhile and program a few slower songs to dance to while I nursed my injury with a packet of frozen mash potato. As soon as the aromatic garlic and herbs in the mash potatoes started to permeate the air we decided it was time to return my "ice pack" to the freezer for a bit and keep on dancing. By this stage our carport was in full sun and to be honest we were melting! Plenty of ice tea helped us through the next few hours as we tried to practice our moves and I'm fairly sure we made up some moves too! We're really missing our swing dancing classes here but I think we were doing okay.
The sun faded from our carport and that was our cue to finish for the day. (We're sensible people really). Gene had a haircut in Mel's carport (Mel & Dobbie's Barber Shop) and then it was time for us to head inside and consider dinner.
While considering dinner we started playing the Sims 2. This delayed dinner considerably. We ended up having corned beef, eggs and rice while continuing our game. Our Sims live in "Melbourne". I think it's a joke because it's always raining in the game. Still miss the rain by the way.
The hours (both simulated and actual) flew past us and before I knew it there were just seven hours left until I had to get on the shuttle bus for work. Whoops. Pumpkin time. We lay in bed and chatted about random things. Mainly PS2 related and then roughly five and a half hours before I needed to be on the bus I finally fell asleep.
Suprisingly I was on the bus about 10 minutes earlier than I usually am this morning. I even had time to polish my boots and have a quick breakfast before I had to leave the house. Amazing what a short sleep can do for me. So it's the start of another week and as the Carpenters karaoke DVD (complete with typos) serenaded me on the way to work I thought about when my iPod was going to arrive so that I could listen to my audiobooks and music on the way to work. I was briefly distracted by the image of Singapore's Underwater World during Mr Postman but that soon passed.
Tonight I'm going to the Ramadan tent at the Ritz Carlton with Amy & PC. I can sleep later. There's too much to see and do in Doha!
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Hazzar!
Hazzar! Gene & I will be sharing accommodation as of Saturday. Even better still we get to stay at Al Waab which is where the bulk of the people I know are staying. Now all I need to do is work out when the dry cleaners are open (for sheets etc) and how to get there!
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
A brief pause
You can't half tell that this is the week that Gene's on night shift can you? I guess that's why I posted so much in Melbourne in between work. Gives me something to keep me busy.
Well, that and it gives me a brief pause from my obsessive email checking. As there's nothing of note I find myself checking it quite often. Don't get me wrong, there's usually five or so emails each day. Arts Hub, fun things to do in Melbourne, discount holidays from Melbourne and even better... my internet bill for the service that I'm currently not using. My email's fascinating and personal!
I've taken to reading The Age everyday as a source of news from Oz. Largely because I had the weather page bookmarked from when I was in Melbourne. I sigh wistfully at the 20 degree fine weather that I see all too often lately.
It's 35 degrees and "smoke" according to Weather Underground as of 41 minutes ago.
For those of you who are still in Melbourne please go and see lots of Fringe Shows or at the very least spend a night or two at the Festival Club Bar at the North Melbourne Town Hall. I'm really quite sad that I miss out on Fringe this year as it's been a highlight of my year for the last three or so years. It looks like there's plenty to see and it opens tomorrow night.
Well, that and it gives me a brief pause from my obsessive email checking. As there's nothing of note I find myself checking it quite often. Don't get me wrong, there's usually five or so emails each day. Arts Hub, fun things to do in Melbourne, discount holidays from Melbourne and even better... my internet bill for the service that I'm currently not using. My email's fascinating and personal!
I've taken to reading The Age everyday as a source of news from Oz. Largely because I had the weather page bookmarked from when I was in Melbourne. I sigh wistfully at the 20 degree fine weather that I see all too often lately.
It's 35 degrees and "smoke" according to Weather Underground as of 41 minutes ago.
For those of you who are still in Melbourne please go and see lots of Fringe Shows or at the very least spend a night or two at the Festival Club Bar at the North Melbourne Town Hall. I'm really quite sad that I miss out on Fringe this year as it's been a highlight of my year for the last three or so years. It looks like there's plenty to see and it opens tomorrow night.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Four Seasons In One Day
My computer (obviously not the one I'm on now) has thrown a hissy fit. IT are onto it but I figure I have a couple of minutes for a quick update.
Antibiotics are doing wonders. Can't possibly forget to take them as I start getting vague and dizzy when I forget. Missed today's check up though... whoops. Maybe on Wednesday when the doctors are in again...
The weather lately has been wonderful. The since Friday the weather has been a pleasant 32˚C during the day. Sometimes there was even a breeze that was cooler than the air temperature! I have a feeling the dust was blocking out the sun a bit and that's what caused the cooler days. Today the sky was rather clear and we were back to 38˚C. Happily our evenings are sitting on 28˚C so we get some respite from the heat.
Over the weekend I took Gene shopping at Landmark so that we could get some decent fruits & vegetables. Naturally the only fruit we ended up bringing home were dried cranberries, a necessity for life. Gene even got roped into installing Age of Empires II on the spice/nut seller's computer at the supermarket. Not sure how he ended up doing that... Gene reckons it was his glasses that made him look like a computer geek. It was a fairly successful shopping trip otherwise. We found a watch for Gene with visible clockwork that's self-charging.
---------------------
Well, I started this post five days ago and I figured it's time to finish it now.
Yesterday was our weekend making today is the start of a new week. All in all it was a good week last week!
Gene, Anneke, Mel and I made our first journey to the Souqs on Sunday. I think we ended up in the textile souqs but I can't be 100% sure. I base that thought solely on the large number of fabric shops that we passed by. It was a fairly successful shopping trip for me, although I'm far too short to wear the dresses that I was after (circle dress mentioned in a previous post). I think I'm going to get one made before I leave. I also found a dress that looked (depending on your point of view) a little like the dress the kid in Final Fantasy X wears (Gene reckons it looked Jedi). It had long bell sleeves and a hood. It was awesome! Sadly the small sizes were meant for people with a better build than I have. Again I may yet get this one made for me.
I ended up with a couple of wraps (100% cotton, I'm ready for Ramadan!) a top which is essentially a square folded in half diagonally and seamed to give it "sleeves" and an abaya which has a gorgeous domino pattern on the gauze-like material it's made of. The plan is to convert it into an overdress (which is not unlike its actual purpose). Beautiful fabric & made.
Speaking of Ramadan, there is every possibility tonight will be the first night! How exciting :) We're looking forward to checking out the Ramadan Tents at night to join in the festivities. "Chrismas everyday for 30 days" is the description we've had so far. Should be fun!
With only 69 days to go until the Opening Ceremony things are starting to get a little busier at which is always good! I like keeping busy, it's more fun that way and means that I'll get more done on my day off!
Yesterday was a fantastic day in every sense of the word. The lovely Amy Wee organised for us to have brunch at the Four Seasons and it was amazing. There's no way to really know how amazing that brunch is unless you go there but let's just say that the dessert room with a chocolate fountain you can smell from the lobby just made me the happiest girl in the hotel. I made it through about 7 courses, wait... make that 8 courses (five buffet and three dessert). There was a tasty selection of seafood, crayfish, oysters, salmon etc, freshly prepared sushi & sashimi, a caesar salad bar... and then there was dessert. We had a designated dessert time so that we'd actually eat some proper food before gorging ourselves on sweets. With an hour left of brunch after two hours of eating we got down to business. Amy enjoyed some chocolate covered prawns and cray tails among other more common dishes (there are photos). I must say that the fresh waffles were possibly the best that I've had. The drinking chocolate was good too... it went well with the chocolate fondue. The creme brulee was tasty although there wasn't much of a caramel top. Having eaten ourselves silly some headed off to the day spa while others headed home for a siesta. We decided to sit by the pool/beach outdoor bar and enjoy a drink before heading home. It was a big day!
Needless to say we skipped dinner and instead went home to relax on the couch while discussing how much exercise we'd need to do to recover from brunch. Something about exercise being 90% mental kept coming up...
Gene & I "exercised" by jumping into a taxi and shopping for a good deal on a PS2 so that we can play DVDs and, of course, games in our spare time. Gene figured that as we may end up moving it would be a good idea. Plus it's something that we've been talking about for a bit and they're quite small and cheap right now. So we ended up with a PS2 that came with 10 (well we got 11 somehow) games, two controller and a memory card. We chose to buy an additional game "Steambot" which we've been enjoying so far. It's a sandbox game and we get to play a blonde boy called "Vanilla". It's pretty funny. We're fairly sure he's got the hots for a girl called "Coriander". It appears everyone is a herb or a spice in the game. Good fun. Unfortunately as Gene's on night shift and I'm on day, it'll be about a week before we get to play it again as we're planning to play it together.
Okay well my backup has finished now so off to work. I can't believe I've been here for five weeks already!
Antibiotics are doing wonders. Can't possibly forget to take them as I start getting vague and dizzy when I forget. Missed today's check up though... whoops. Maybe on Wednesday when the doctors are in again...
The weather lately has been wonderful. The since Friday the weather has been a pleasant 32˚C during the day. Sometimes there was even a breeze that was cooler than the air temperature! I have a feeling the dust was blocking out the sun a bit and that's what caused the cooler days. Today the sky was rather clear and we were back to 38˚C. Happily our evenings are sitting on 28˚C so we get some respite from the heat.
Over the weekend I took Gene shopping at Landmark so that we could get some decent fruits & vegetables. Naturally the only fruit we ended up bringing home were dried cranberries, a necessity for life. Gene even got roped into installing Age of Empires II on the spice/nut seller's computer at the supermarket. Not sure how he ended up doing that... Gene reckons it was his glasses that made him look like a computer geek. It was a fairly successful shopping trip otherwise. We found a watch for Gene with visible clockwork that's self-charging.
---------------------
Well, I started this post five days ago and I figured it's time to finish it now.
Yesterday was our weekend making today is the start of a new week. All in all it was a good week last week!
Gene, Anneke, Mel and I made our first journey to the Souqs on Sunday. I think we ended up in the textile souqs but I can't be 100% sure. I base that thought solely on the large number of fabric shops that we passed by. It was a fairly successful shopping trip for me, although I'm far too short to wear the dresses that I was after (circle dress mentioned in a previous post). I think I'm going to get one made before I leave. I also found a dress that looked (depending on your point of view) a little like the dress the kid in Final Fantasy X wears (Gene reckons it looked Jedi). It had long bell sleeves and a hood. It was awesome! Sadly the small sizes were meant for people with a better build than I have. Again I may yet get this one made for me.
I ended up with a couple of wraps (100% cotton, I'm ready for Ramadan!) a top which is essentially a square folded in half diagonally and seamed to give it "sleeves" and an abaya which has a gorgeous domino pattern on the gauze-like material it's made of. The plan is to convert it into an overdress (which is not unlike its actual purpose). Beautiful fabric & made.
Speaking of Ramadan, there is every possibility tonight will be the first night! How exciting :) We're looking forward to checking out the Ramadan Tents at night to join in the festivities. "Chrismas everyday for 30 days" is the description we've had so far. Should be fun!
With only 69 days to go until the Opening Ceremony things are starting to get a little busier at which is always good! I like keeping busy, it's more fun that way and means that I'll get more done on my day off!
Yesterday was a fantastic day in every sense of the word. The lovely Amy Wee organised for us to have brunch at the Four Seasons and it was amazing. There's no way to really know how amazing that brunch is unless you go there but let's just say that the dessert room with a chocolate fountain you can smell from the lobby just made me the happiest girl in the hotel. I made it through about 7 courses, wait... make that 8 courses (five buffet and three dessert). There was a tasty selection of seafood, crayfish, oysters, salmon etc, freshly prepared sushi & sashimi, a caesar salad bar... and then there was dessert. We had a designated dessert time so that we'd actually eat some proper food before gorging ourselves on sweets. With an hour left of brunch after two hours of eating we got down to business. Amy enjoyed some chocolate covered prawns and cray tails among other more common dishes (there are photos). I must say that the fresh waffles were possibly the best that I've had. The drinking chocolate was good too... it went well with the chocolate fondue. The creme brulee was tasty although there wasn't much of a caramel top. Having eaten ourselves silly some headed off to the day spa while others headed home for a siesta. We decided to sit by the pool/beach outdoor bar and enjoy a drink before heading home. It was a big day!
Needless to say we skipped dinner and instead went home to relax on the couch while discussing how much exercise we'd need to do to recover from brunch. Something about exercise being 90% mental kept coming up...
Gene & I "exercised" by jumping into a taxi and shopping for a good deal on a PS2 so that we can play DVDs and, of course, games in our spare time. Gene figured that as we may end up moving it would be a good idea. Plus it's something that we've been talking about for a bit and they're quite small and cheap right now. So we ended up with a PS2 that came with 10 (well we got 11 somehow) games, two controller and a memory card. We chose to buy an additional game "Steambot" which we've been enjoying so far. It's a sandbox game and we get to play a blonde boy called "Vanilla". It's pretty funny. We're fairly sure he's got the hots for a girl called "Coriander". It appears everyone is a herb or a spice in the game. Good fun. Unfortunately as Gene's on night shift and I'm on day, it'll be about a week before we get to play it again as we're planning to play it together.
Okay well my backup has finished now so off to work. I can't believe I've been here for five weeks already!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Family
Home again today. Well at my villa anyway. Villa again today just doesn't have the same ring to it really. Tomorrow I'm going to the doctor (yes, it's finally time to admit that I'm not well and perhaps it's not just my allergies playing up). Nothing to worry about though, I think the pasta that I had for dinner last night may have been older than I remember. I should really watch that. It smelled okay though!
As Dad mentioned on his blog talk is really cheap. I had a grand ol' conversation with my folks at home while tucked up on the couch nursing my cold the other day. It cost me a total of $2.40 for the quick call home to get them online before our free 90 minute conversation. I love Skype for that reason alone!
When I was living in Ballarat I remember being tucked up in bed feeling like the world was ending all because I had the flu.(Did I mention that I don't cope well when I'm sick? I hate being sick). There's something more trying about being sick when you're not at home. I think it's mainly because you don't have all your comfort foods at your immediate disposal. Right now I'm feeling frustrated because I really want to be at work but instead I'm back on the couch not eating anything and being hungry. I realise there's a simple solution to the whole hunger problem but I assure you it's not that easy which is why I'm home in the first place.
Anyhow, whinging aside. Gene looked after me in the early afternoon before trundling off to work his night shift. This was after he called his Dad and had a chat with him on Skype and before we called Nick C for a quick catch up. In the true spirit of good timing he was catching up with Suze who I worked with at M2006 as well as the Comedy Festival this year! It was really good to speak to him today (or tonight in his case) because it feels like ages since we've spoken! I guess today's been about calling family and touching base. Gene & I called my parents as well to wish them a safe journey as they're about to embark on a 25 day tour of China tracing Marco Polo's journey. Sounds amazing!
Speaking to our families was a wonderful thing today. It certainly made me feel a bit better knowing that they were all safe and well.
I'm always amused by the way that I keep in touch with people better while I'm overseas than I do when I'm in the same city as them. It's almost like being at home when you speak to people back there! Family members are particularly good at "normal" conversation when you're overseas. There's nothing quite like hearing about the neighbours or the dogs when you're a quarter of the way around the planet!
It's almost 16:00 now and I've been awake for all of 4 hours but I think it's time to head back to bed for a cat-nap. I'm getting good at sleeping right now. The other night we had a bit of a party at the villa and I managed to sleep through it all. I meant to have a nap and get up and be social, figuring that the noise from the party would wake me up, apparently it was not to be!
Well, I should at the very least go and make my bed before I consider sleeping. I got some new bed sheets today for the handsome price of AU$27. I wish linen was that cheap back at home! I made sure that I didn't choose white sheets (there's something about white bedsheets that screams 'hotel') and they're cotton so they should be nice and cool. Pictures are likely to follow. I've been meaning to take more photos of Doha but have yet to work out where I can take photos. Want to make sure that I'm not going to get arrested for accidentally taking a photo of a strategic structure.
To bed!
As Dad mentioned on his blog talk is really cheap. I had a grand ol' conversation with my folks at home while tucked up on the couch nursing my cold the other day. It cost me a total of $2.40 for the quick call home to get them online before our free 90 minute conversation. I love Skype for that reason alone!
When I was living in Ballarat I remember being tucked up in bed feeling like the world was ending all because I had the flu.(Did I mention that I don't cope well when I'm sick? I hate being sick). There's something more trying about being sick when you're not at home. I think it's mainly because you don't have all your comfort foods at your immediate disposal. Right now I'm feeling frustrated because I really want to be at work but instead I'm back on the couch not eating anything and being hungry. I realise there's a simple solution to the whole hunger problem but I assure you it's not that easy which is why I'm home in the first place.
Anyhow, whinging aside. Gene looked after me in the early afternoon before trundling off to work his night shift. This was after he called his Dad and had a chat with him on Skype and before we called Nick C for a quick catch up. In the true spirit of good timing he was catching up with Suze who I worked with at M2006 as well as the Comedy Festival this year! It was really good to speak to him today (or tonight in his case) because it feels like ages since we've spoken! I guess today's been about calling family and touching base. Gene & I called my parents as well to wish them a safe journey as they're about to embark on a 25 day tour of China tracing Marco Polo's journey. Sounds amazing!
Speaking to our families was a wonderful thing today. It certainly made me feel a bit better knowing that they were all safe and well.
I'm always amused by the way that I keep in touch with people better while I'm overseas than I do when I'm in the same city as them. It's almost like being at home when you speak to people back there! Family members are particularly good at "normal" conversation when you're overseas. There's nothing quite like hearing about the neighbours or the dogs when you're a quarter of the way around the planet!
It's almost 16:00 now and I've been awake for all of 4 hours but I think it's time to head back to bed for a cat-nap. I'm getting good at sleeping right now. The other night we had a bit of a party at the villa and I managed to sleep through it all. I meant to have a nap and get up and be social, figuring that the noise from the party would wake me up, apparently it was not to be!
Well, I should at the very least go and make my bed before I consider sleeping. I got some new bed sheets today for the handsome price of AU$27. I wish linen was that cheap back at home! I made sure that I didn't choose white sheets (there's something about white bedsheets that screams 'hotel') and they're cotton so they should be nice and cool. Pictures are likely to follow. I've been meaning to take more photos of Doha but have yet to work out where I can take photos. Want to make sure that I'm not going to get arrested for accidentally taking a photo of a strategic structure.
To bed!
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Dusty
You're all smart people so I'm going to assume that you can guess the current weather conditions in Doha.
I've seen a mini sand storm in the last day and today I could barely see the stadium from across the road. It's a little insane really! Dust allergies are not coping well at the moment and we've just been told that a dry cough is yet another sign of dehydration so yay for the feeling of having a cold constantly!
Gene & I may end up living together after all in two to four weeks. Our managers are looking into it for us so that would be GREAT! Like one of the guys at work put it, it's just like dating again - except we've been living together for the last three years.
My new local bank accounts have been set up and it's really quite novel to have to take money from one account an shift it to another before you can withdraw it. Novel and initially upsetting as you freak out because the atm's telling you have no money but really you do. So yet another piece of plastic fills my wallet.
Gene's feeling like he's been here for weeks already with the heat being a bit of a challenge. I keep hearing how wonderful the weather in Australia's been and I can't quite bring myself to keep up to date with that.
That said, Steve Irwin's accident was big news over here at work, being an Australian company with lots of Aussies over here. Sadly that's the only news from home that we've gotten. Feel free to let us know of other events!
This weekend (read Friday) we're going to have brunch at the Sheraton. We're still trying to work out transport but it should be a great day. We might even make it to the souks!
Well, time to make some Pocari Sweat up (good isotonic drink) to help combat the dehydration.
I've seen a mini sand storm in the last day and today I could barely see the stadium from across the road. It's a little insane really! Dust allergies are not coping well at the moment and we've just been told that a dry cough is yet another sign of dehydration so yay for the feeling of having a cold constantly!
Gene & I may end up living together after all in two to four weeks. Our managers are looking into it for us so that would be GREAT! Like one of the guys at work put it, it's just like dating again - except we've been living together for the last three years.
My new local bank accounts have been set up and it's really quite novel to have to take money from one account an shift it to another before you can withdraw it. Novel and initially upsetting as you freak out because the atm's telling you have no money but really you do. So yet another piece of plastic fills my wallet.
Gene's feeling like he's been here for weeks already with the heat being a bit of a challenge. I keep hearing how wonderful the weather in Australia's been and I can't quite bring myself to keep up to date with that.
That said, Steve Irwin's accident was big news over here at work, being an Australian company with lots of Aussies over here. Sadly that's the only news from home that we've gotten. Feel free to let us know of other events!
This weekend (read Friday) we're going to have brunch at the Sheraton. We're still trying to work out transport but it should be a great day. We might even make it to the souks!
Well, time to make some Pocari Sweat up (good isotonic drink) to help combat the dehydration.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Happy Father's Day
Gene's landed safe and sound if somewhat jet-lagged and hot. It's his first day at work today and it's a scorching 46˚C today.
To be honest I'm looking forward to October as I hear it's going to be really gorgeous weather then. Until then we are happy to know that August is supposed to be the worst month of the year in terms of weather.
Today is actually a public holiday, Qatar's Independence Day if I'm not mistaken. So later tonight - provided I don't go home and fall asleep immediately (which is a promising idea) - we may head down to the Corniche and check out the celebrations. Fireworks and plenty of partying apparently!
Happy Father's day Dad! My best wishes from the desert!
To be honest I'm looking forward to October as I hear it's going to be really gorgeous weather then. Until then we are happy to know that August is supposed to be the worst month of the year in terms of weather.
Today is actually a public holiday, Qatar's Independence Day if I'm not mistaken. So later tonight - provided I don't go home and fall asleep immediately (which is a promising idea) - we may head down to the Corniche and check out the celebrations. Fireworks and plenty of partying apparently!
Happy Father's day Dad! My best wishes from the desert!
Saturday, September 02, 2006
It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas
Gene should have touched down in Doha now. I feel like it's Christmas day and I'm waiting for everyone else to get up so we can do presents.
Spent much of yesterday asleep as I may have mentioned but have gotten a fair way through my book. Also more than halfway through Mum's sock (literally a sock, not a pair yet).
Argh! Impatient much!
Oh and it's hazy today. Giving the impression of possible rain without the likelyhood of it ever happening. Most of the drivers don't remember the last time it rained and they've been here on average 10-11 years.
Spent much of yesterday asleep as I may have mentioned but have gotten a fair way through my book. Also more than halfway through Mum's sock (literally a sock, not a pair yet).
Argh! Impatient much!
Oh and it's hazy today. Giving the impression of possible rain without the likelyhood of it ever happening. Most of the drivers don't remember the last time it rained and they've been here on average 10-11 years.
Parking in Doha
Happy Birthday Fi! I'm a day early here but it's technically the 2nd of September where you are now!
As Naomi mentioned in her blog, Gene is on his way to Doha tonight (well today for me because it's only 17:00 here). So what did I do with my day so far in preparation? Well, I slept in until 09:00 and believe me those two hours of extra undisturbed sleep were a beautiful thing. I then rolled over and dozed for another couple of hours after turning the air-con off until the warmth of the room woke me up and I turned it back on again. In the process I called Gene at the most inconvenient time of checking in to the plane. So I plodded downstairs to chat with my housemates who were off to brunch at the Sheraton (having brunch at a five star hotel is the done thing over here as you can buy alcohol and food at the same place, just like home!). I did my, now weekly, French manicure and read a bit more of A Short History of Nearly Everything before returning Gene's call and wishing him a safe flight. I think the best thing about our one minute and 13 second conversation was ending it with see you in the morning!
Life in Doha is plodding along. Or at least if feels like it's plodding along until I realise that I've been here for two weeks already and we're about 91 days from Opening.
Carrefour Villagio is operational again which made us all very happy at work even though Mega Mart seems to be the supermarket of choice. I've decided against shopping this weekend as I simply don't need anything other than fabric softener. You may be asking how I can need fabric softener and I give you that without it I will more than likely live. However with my skin still drier than ever before I am planning not to repeat the grazing that I gave myself while drying myself with my towel. (Apologies for the poorly constructed sentence. I could re-write but I'm lazy and short on computer battery life and the charger's at work).
With each night I have been getting more and more grateful that Dad got me A Short History of Nearly Everything. Sure it's not going to see me through to the end of the week but it's been a really entertaining read and it's re-sparked my interest in science. Not that I'm planning on a career change or anything I love my job! It's actually been kind of nice to know that I haven't completely forgotten all my science general knowledge. There are plenty of recognisable names and I am happy to say that I remember what the discovered or what was named for them before Bill Bryson explains. I go through moments in my life where I feel a little dull in the mind but this book has been pleasantly reassuring that I'm not completely away with the fairies.
Speaking of books, Gene was saying that at the airport he had to keep himself from buying books. I assured him that Jarir Bookstore had a fair number of English books and that it even included a selection of Sci-Fi/Fantasy which had Pratchett but no Gaiman. I guess I'll have to wait until we arrive in London to get a copy of Fragile Things.
I must admit there is an impressive amount of USB adaptors for sale over here in Doha. USB to just about anything. Even phoneline plugs (CAT something?). I found some great looking iShuffle speakers at Jarir which as I have an iPod I probably won't buy, but I did find some cool and comfy looking wireless iPod headphones going for QAR120 (about AU$43).
It looks a little overcast outside but it's not actually going to rain. It's amazing how it can still trick your brain into thinking it might be cool outside. It actually seems cooler today but the temperature's still 37˚C.
On a side note I'm so happy that I've found the degrees symbol on my laptop. It was getting boring typing out the word! For those of you wondering how I found it... did I look at the keyboard map? No. I went `¡™£¢∞§¶•ªº–≠œ∑´®†¥¨ˆøπ“‘«åß∂ƒ©˙∆˚ ahah! Found it!
I thought I'd finish off with an example of why you should be patient while driving and preferably stick to the roads. You can see Khalifa Stadium, where I work, in the background.
This was there all day and took a crane to rectify. No one was hurt but you've been warned!
As Naomi mentioned in her blog, Gene is on his way to Doha tonight (well today for me because it's only 17:00 here). So what did I do with my day so far in preparation? Well, I slept in until 09:00 and believe me those two hours of extra undisturbed sleep were a beautiful thing. I then rolled over and dozed for another couple of hours after turning the air-con off until the warmth of the room woke me up and I turned it back on again. In the process I called Gene at the most inconvenient time of checking in to the plane. So I plodded downstairs to chat with my housemates who were off to brunch at the Sheraton (having brunch at a five star hotel is the done thing over here as you can buy alcohol and food at the same place, just like home!). I did my, now weekly, French manicure and read a bit more of A Short History of Nearly Everything before returning Gene's call and wishing him a safe flight. I think the best thing about our one minute and 13 second conversation was ending it with see you in the morning!
Life in Doha is plodding along. Or at least if feels like it's plodding along until I realise that I've been here for two weeks already and we're about 91 days from Opening.
Carrefour Villagio is operational again which made us all very happy at work even though Mega Mart seems to be the supermarket of choice. I've decided against shopping this weekend as I simply don't need anything other than fabric softener. You may be asking how I can need fabric softener and I give you that without it I will more than likely live. However with my skin still drier than ever before I am planning not to repeat the grazing that I gave myself while drying myself with my towel. (Apologies for the poorly constructed sentence. I could re-write but I'm lazy and short on computer battery life and the charger's at work).
With each night I have been getting more and more grateful that Dad got me A Short History of Nearly Everything. Sure it's not going to see me through to the end of the week but it's been a really entertaining read and it's re-sparked my interest in science. Not that I'm planning on a career change or anything I love my job! It's actually been kind of nice to know that I haven't completely forgotten all my science general knowledge. There are plenty of recognisable names and I am happy to say that I remember what the discovered or what was named for them before Bill Bryson explains. I go through moments in my life where I feel a little dull in the mind but this book has been pleasantly reassuring that I'm not completely away with the fairies.
Speaking of books, Gene was saying that at the airport he had to keep himself from buying books. I assured him that Jarir Bookstore had a fair number of English books and that it even included a selection of Sci-Fi/Fantasy which had Pratchett but no Gaiman. I guess I'll have to wait until we arrive in London to get a copy of Fragile Things.
I must admit there is an impressive amount of USB adaptors for sale over here in Doha. USB to just about anything. Even phoneline plugs (CAT something?). I found some great looking iShuffle speakers at Jarir which as I have an iPod I probably won't buy, but I did find some cool and comfy looking wireless iPod headphones going for QAR120 (about AU$43).
It looks a little overcast outside but it's not actually going to rain. It's amazing how it can still trick your brain into thinking it might be cool outside. It actually seems cooler today but the temperature's still 37˚C.
On a side note I'm so happy that I've found the degrees symbol on my laptop. It was getting boring typing out the word! For those of you wondering how I found it... did I look at the keyboard map? No. I went `¡™£¢∞§¶•ªº–≠œ∑´®†¥¨ˆøπ“‘«åß∂ƒ©˙∆˚ ahah! Found it!
I thought I'd finish off with an example of why you should be patient while driving and preferably stick to the roads. You can see Khalifa Stadium, where I work, in the background.
This was there all day and took a crane to rectify. No one was hurt but you've been warned!
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Fully licensed. Will bring own boots
Today I am a fully licensed driver. According to Gene this makes me designated driver forever as I tend to have one drink and call it quits for a night which is fair enough.
In celebration of this, and the three inch hole in my right boot, in fine female form, I went shoe shopping today.
I love the Myer sales up here.
Gene is an amazingly helpful person at shoe shopping. He just looks at a shoe and can tell if it's my size... I need a reference shoe before I can tell if it's small enough. Sad but true. Anyhow within two minutes of entering Myer he had found two pairs of knee-high boots in my size. One of them was $70 and cowboy style and the other was $60 and Sarah style. It's soooo pretty! I went to the cashier and found that it was only $40 and on the way picked up a sensible heel (flat) pair of three quarter high boots for, wait for it, $15!. It's been a bit of a shoe hunting day. Like Gene says, I go through shoe hunting phases and hence all my shoes die at the same time. Armed with boots for all occassions, the "Sarah" boots have a heel on them for days when I'm feeling particularly short, and also a cute pair of strappy black heels for the more formal short days, I am ready to tackle any shoe wearing occassion. Well, as long as it involves black shoes!
In celebration of this, and the three inch hole in my right boot, in fine female form, I went shoe shopping today.
I love the Myer sales up here.
Gene is an amazingly helpful person at shoe shopping. He just looks at a shoe and can tell if it's my size... I need a reference shoe before I can tell if it's small enough. Sad but true. Anyhow within two minutes of entering Myer he had found two pairs of knee-high boots in my size. One of them was $70 and cowboy style and the other was $60 and Sarah style. It's soooo pretty! I went to the cashier and found that it was only $40 and on the way picked up a sensible heel (flat) pair of three quarter high boots for, wait for it, $15!. It's been a bit of a shoe hunting day. Like Gene says, I go through shoe hunting phases and hence all my shoes die at the same time. Armed with boots for all occassions, the "Sarah" boots have a heel on them for days when I'm feeling particularly short, and also a cute pair of strappy black heels for the more formal short days, I am ready to tackle any shoe wearing occassion. Well, as long as it involves black shoes!
Friday, July 07, 2006
Glow-In-The-Dark Mini Golf - Bad
So we probably should have realised that glow-in-the-dark mini golf was going to be a bit lacking... Call us optimistic!
Wednesday night saw us swing dancing in Glen Waverley. It was funny because we had been talking (and trying to dance our way through) the two moves we knew in tandem Charleston and the class was about tandem Charleston and we worked on those two moves! We also knew the instructor from the Shim Sham workshop we did last year. Now there's a fun dance! Originated from tap dancing I believe, the Shim Sham is a bit of a swing/tap line dance that breaks into a mad frenzy of partner-finding for the last third of the song. Fun for all involved! Anyhow, when we get back from Bris Vegas we're planning to go back to swing dancing and pick up our level 2 classes again to try and master the Lindy Hop. I think I'm going to give leading a shot at our next class too... although I definitely need to keep up the work on following.
Anyhoo, we decided to give glow-in-the-dark mini golf a shot after a bland dinner as a relaxing end to the night. Gene won by one shot so he's one up on the Melbourne Mini-Golf competition between the two of us. It was all in all a bit horrible though. The girl at the counter was, unsurprisingly, not thrilled to be there. When we tried to query the opening hours (the website said from 18:00-22:00 while the sign at the place said 10:00-22:00) she got all condescending and chose to express her displeasure by pointing out the first "tee" three times to us... It was also incredibly hard to see in their (so you couldn't actually see the holes sometimes. It should have been fun but they managed to make it rather lacking. Moral of the story? No glow-in-the-dark mini golf, got it? Okay, as long as that's clear...
Yesterday was a quiet day where we started to try and get ourselves ready for Monday's 09:00 start at Brisbane Festival. So the alarm went off at 08:38 (I like setting it for non-half-hour increments) and we got out of bed at 08:58. The first few hours of the day saw me knitting (I'm almost through Dad's scarf) and then we headed into the city to have lunch with Gene's Mum. We stopped off to buy me a new Palm (PDA) case and it's sooooo pretty! Surprise surprise, it's black! Aluminum with a belt clip. I was mainly after something black with belt clip so it works out well. Only thing I don't like is that there a widget that sticks out when you take it off the belt clip so it doesn't sit flat on a table unless you unscrew the widget and then it's likely to get lost. Poor design but pretty nonetheless. Gram, Gene's car, had a bit of a hissy fit as we were trying to find a park in town which was a bit of a pain, but she got us there and back so it's all good.
For the evening we went on our date to the Red Salmon in Knox and it was quite lovely. The service was a tad interesting (we asked for a dessert menu and instead of giving us a menu she told us that we had to pay at the counter) but not terrible. Food was okay, not the best in the world but pleasant to eat. After that we played a game of pool and a game of Time Crisis 2 at the cinema before heading over to good ol' Time Zone to pass our last half hour before the movie. We played on our old favourite, the rifle game where you shoot targets to make stuff move, and also tried a dodgy bowling game. A few games later and the half hour was gone so we went to the counter to redeem our e-tickets, apparently you don't get to watch the zillions of tickets print at the game anymore, its' all networked. We returned triumphant with a plastic yo-yo, a tub of putty in a toilet, a black bangle and two of those things that throw a ball in the air when you press the trigger and you have to try and catch it in the basket. All worth the $10 no doubt. Pirates was perfectly indulgent. It was all the cheese and humour that I loved about the first one with some nicely placed references. Same ridiculous and fantastic style and well, Johnny Depp. Mmmmm. I liked it. I liked it lots. It was fun and pretty good for a sequel to a film based on a ride. Yay!
Today is cleaning day. Time to re-box our stuff for the month in Brisbane and pack what we need because we're leaving tomorrow! Last minute purchases required include insect repellant, a bike light and some sunscreen. Tommorrow? Well we'll just have to wait and see.
Wednesday night saw us swing dancing in Glen Waverley. It was funny because we had been talking (and trying to dance our way through) the two moves we knew in tandem Charleston and the class was about tandem Charleston and we worked on those two moves! We also knew the instructor from the Shim Sham workshop we did last year. Now there's a fun dance! Originated from tap dancing I believe, the Shim Sham is a bit of a swing/tap line dance that breaks into a mad frenzy of partner-finding for the last third of the song. Fun for all involved! Anyhow, when we get back from Bris Vegas we're planning to go back to swing dancing and pick up our level 2 classes again to try and master the Lindy Hop. I think I'm going to give leading a shot at our next class too... although I definitely need to keep up the work on following.
Anyhoo, we decided to give glow-in-the-dark mini golf a shot after a bland dinner as a relaxing end to the night. Gene won by one shot so he's one up on the Melbourne Mini-Golf competition between the two of us. It was all in all a bit horrible though. The girl at the counter was, unsurprisingly, not thrilled to be there. When we tried to query the opening hours (the website said from 18:00-22:00 while the sign at the place said 10:00-22:00) she got all condescending and chose to express her displeasure by pointing out the first "tee" three times to us... It was also incredibly hard to see in their (so you couldn't actually see the holes sometimes. It should have been fun but they managed to make it rather lacking. Moral of the story? No glow-in-the-dark mini golf, got it? Okay, as long as that's clear...
Yesterday was a quiet day where we started to try and get ourselves ready for Monday's 09:00 start at Brisbane Festival. So the alarm went off at 08:38 (I like setting it for non-half-hour increments) and we got out of bed at 08:58. The first few hours of the day saw me knitting (I'm almost through Dad's scarf) and then we headed into the city to have lunch with Gene's Mum. We stopped off to buy me a new Palm (PDA) case and it's sooooo pretty! Surprise surprise, it's black! Aluminum with a belt clip. I was mainly after something black with belt clip so it works out well. Only thing I don't like is that there a widget that sticks out when you take it off the belt clip so it doesn't sit flat on a table unless you unscrew the widget and then it's likely to get lost. Poor design but pretty nonetheless. Gram, Gene's car, had a bit of a hissy fit as we were trying to find a park in town which was a bit of a pain, but she got us there and back so it's all good.
For the evening we went on our date to the Red Salmon in Knox and it was quite lovely. The service was a tad interesting (we asked for a dessert menu and instead of giving us a menu she told us that we had to pay at the counter) but not terrible. Food was okay, not the best in the world but pleasant to eat. After that we played a game of pool and a game of Time Crisis 2 at the cinema before heading over to good ol' Time Zone to pass our last half hour before the movie. We played on our old favourite, the rifle game where you shoot targets to make stuff move, and also tried a dodgy bowling game. A few games later and the half hour was gone so we went to the counter to redeem our e-tickets, apparently you don't get to watch the zillions of tickets print at the game anymore, its' all networked. We returned triumphant with a plastic yo-yo, a tub of putty in a toilet, a black bangle and two of those things that throw a ball in the air when you press the trigger and you have to try and catch it in the basket. All worth the $10 no doubt. Pirates was perfectly indulgent. It was all the cheese and humour that I loved about the first one with some nicely placed references. Same ridiculous and fantastic style and well, Johnny Depp. Mmmmm. I liked it. I liked it lots. It was fun and pretty good for a sequel to a film based on a ride. Yay!
Today is cleaning day. Time to re-box our stuff for the month in Brisbane and pack what we need because we're leaving tomorrow! Last minute purchases required include insect repellant, a bike light and some sunscreen. Tommorrow? Well we'll just have to wait and see.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
i think it's pretty i reply
Gene arrived home last night to find me with cold and flu tablets, garlic & echinacea tablets and a bottle of water in hand last night. Having figured I wasn't feeling 100% he decided to cheer me up with my birthday present (albeit three days early). He had been insisting over the last few days, since he'd purchased it, that it was not on his side of the bed. Indeed it wasn't. It was hidden behind the TV. After a brief discussion of how I was planning to put his in the fireplace, we decided to do an early exchange of gifts. We've never been good at waiting to give each other presents. You'd think four years of practice and we'd have gotten better, but nooooo.... Anyway, he brought out a bag and passed me the cape-coat that I'd seen about a week ago. It's soooo pretty. Anyone who knows me well will already know that it's black. It's 100% wool and fully lined and looks like a shift/tunic that goes down to my knees, with a cape attached that goes down to just below the knees. The collar is a mandarin syle collar and it buttons down the front with "hidden" buttons and had a belt to tie up in the middle as well as hidden pockets in the front. Did I mention that I thought it was pretty? It's kind of hard to describe but anyone who sees me in the next week... month... year... on a cold day will probably get to see it. It is a wonderful combination of two of my favourite items of clothing, capes and coats. Okay, I'll stop going on about it now. :)
Today is ANZAC Day and even though I considered going to the dawn service, I decided that I was as unlikely to make it this year as I was the year before last (sorry Nick). Apparently as I age I am getting better at discerning between optimism and delusion.
What I should be doing is making some dinner.
Today is ANZAC Day and even though I considered going to the dawn service, I decided that I was as unlikely to make it this year as I was the year before last (sorry Nick). Apparently as I age I am getting better at discerning between optimism and delusion.
What I should be doing is making some dinner.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Hey nah, hey naaah....
My boyfriend's back!
Picked him up safe and sound from Tullamarine last night. Admittedly if he hadn't scooped me up into a big hug I would have walked straight past him... but in my defense his plane wasn't meant to have arrived according to the screens and having come straight from work it took me 10 minutes to get through airport security because of my steel caps.
Spent much of yesterday pacing about the office and generally trying to keep busy. I had the best night's sleep knowing he'd be home soon. Also found myself distracted by the unsettled stomach caused by the mango yoghurt that I had enjoyed so much the night before...
Part of me felt a little bit ill right there and then. The other part of me decided the best thing to do would be to ride to the nearest supermarket and try and rectify this by spending more money on a fresh batch of yoghurt in the hopes that the new batch of "good bacteria" would combat anything less-good that I had just ingested.
I was a little fragile on the way home having rediscovered the still tender muscles in my left (twisted) leg on top of the slightly queasy stomach. I managed to convince myself that the queasiness was all in head for the better part of the night but have only just returned to normality. How do I know this? My appetite's back!
Okay. Must get back to work have procrastinted enough now and I want to go home to my sexy man while we're both still able to stay awake.
Hey nah, hey naah...
Picked him up safe and sound from Tullamarine last night. Admittedly if he hadn't scooped me up into a big hug I would have walked straight past him... but in my defense his plane wasn't meant to have arrived according to the screens and having come straight from work it took me 10 minutes to get through airport security because of my steel caps.
Spent much of yesterday pacing about the office and generally trying to keep busy. I had the best night's sleep knowing he'd be home soon. Also found myself distracted by the unsettled stomach caused by the mango yoghurt that I had enjoyed so much the night before...
The Tale of the Mango Yoghurt
Upon opening the tub of yoghurt from the variety pack that I'd bought only a couple of days earlier, I noticed that the yoghurt had settle a bit. Nothing unsual about that... it happens sometimes. I ate the yoghurt and it tasted like mango and peaches (as per the pack) but something wasn't quite right. I looked more carefully at the packet and noted the use-by date. 12/02/06
Part of me felt a little bit ill right there and then. The other part of me decided the best thing to do would be to ride to the nearest supermarket and try and rectify this by spending more money on a fresh batch of yoghurt in the hopes that the new batch of "good bacteria" would combat anything less-good that I had just ingested.
I was a little fragile on the way home having rediscovered the still tender muscles in my left (twisted) leg on top of the slightly queasy stomach. I managed to convince myself that the queasiness was all in head for the better part of the night but have only just returned to normality. How do I know this? My appetite's back!
Okay. Must get back to work have procrastinted enough now and I want to go home to my sexy man while we're both still able to stay awake.
Hey nah, hey naah...
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