Passing Time

Well it's almost packing up my laptop time. As soon as I finish copying The Day My Bum Went Psycho onto my iPod to keep me company on the 14 hour journey I'll start rolling cables.

I'm at home with Zeus & Clio (the pugs) and Herman (the rat who needs a minder for a couple of weeks in September if anyone is interested) and it's pretty quiet now that everyone's at work. The sounds of snoring dogs, the dryer and my laptop fan is not surprisingly unsoothing.

My 55L travel pack is fairly full with my other carry bag keeping my travel pillow enclosed along with the ever popular mini-sharpies and lollies. Everyone should have a mini-sharpie. Happily my luggage is weighing in at under 20kg so I should still be able to do some shopping while I'm overseas :)

Dad & I have discovered (thanks to Fi) Skype which as he mentions on his blog should allow us to talk for free until he gets to China where Internet access could be a bit shady. Naturally we tested this yesterday. It's kinda funny hearing your laptop ring and answering. I'm still amused!

Last night we went to Dragon Boat for a delicious meal consisting of all my favourite dishes (salted egg chicken, salted fish tofu chicken hot pot, abalone mushroom, char siew). It would seem that I was craving salty food when I think about it. I promise the dishes taste much better than they sound.

I'm now just passing time until we leave for the airport in a few hours. Want to make sure I'm ready to check in early with all the delays that seem to be popping up lately.

Well, I'm up to the last disc of the five and this means it's time to double check all my packing! I don't think I've been this excited since I went to Japan!

Lists

Flight details have been received and I think it's starting to sink in a little just how much packing I possibly should have done by now!

Lists are being re-written in an attempt not to forget things.

Today's list includes vaccinations (scary twin barrelled needles... icky) and a hat for modesty's sake.

I depart Melbourne at 2130 and will arrive at 0540 on Saturday (Qatar Time). Then I'm off to my first day of work! Eeek!

Okay, have to run and do stuff. More later because I'm excited. Yay!

Early Morning Manicure

It's 7:21am. The scent of freshly baked bread is in the air. Zeus & Clio are snuggled up together in their soft basket, full from an early breakfast, slightly puzzled as to their early awakening. I woke up at 5am this morning having fallen asleep sometime around two. I think I'm a little excited and stressed about Friday. Not sure what I'm stressed about. Everything's going smoothly. Definitely excited though. It'll be good practice for the long days ahead I guess!

So with nothing else to occupy my time until 9am, I figured I'd do my nails (as girls do). I've decided to go with a French manicure because it's simple and subtle.

base coat dried, begin French ivory tips

I always wondered what made women pay what is sometimes a lot of money for a manicure. I mean you can do it at home (as I'm currently demonstrating). It serves no practical purpose other than suggesting that you pay attention to your grooming which, I'll admit, has it's benefits.

touch up French ivory tips having smudged a couple

A couple of few years ago my Mum treated me to a manicure at the hairdressers. It was such a pleasant experience! There I was sitting in the hairdressers with someone fixing my hair and someone polishing my nails. I felt like a pampered princess, which was wonderful after long hours of studying. Manicures have since become "me time". Particularly the ones I do myself at home. It's a self-indulgent activity which renders me useless (if it requires working with my hands) for as long as it takes for my nails to dry. There's plenty of time to ponder life, the universe and everything when you're waiting for your nails to dry!

On a completely different and non-nail related note, I can hear the sighs of relief from any boys/men reading this, it's amazing the things you discover when you're up early. Today I have discovered that sitting at my usual spot in the living room at the dining table early in the morning is a great place to work on your tan and be blinded.

first coat of French blush (pink) polish

Hmmm... what to write?

...

...

Oh that's right! I just uploaded some of the Brisbane pics the other day. Here's a few highlights.

Cancel that, Zoto are upgrading their servers so the pictures will have to wait. Sorry.

second coat of French blush polish

I have a dilemma. I'm about to go away for four months (eek!) and I don't have a book to take. Careful research has suggested that there are only two bookshops in Doha that sell English books and that it's best to bring your own. It's not that I'm not currently reading anything. It's more that I read quickly and need something that's not too challenging but something that will last. I usually take Stardust with me but, as Nick & Gene will attest to, I finished that on the flight back from Brisbane. It's a bit of a comfort read for me. Not too hard, not too light and it's funny. That's usually what I want after a long day at work.

brief moment of panic as a dog hair is discovered sitting on a freshly painted nail

I toyed with the idea of taking Lord of the Rings with me last night as it's something I've been meaning to read for years now. It would be optimistic though to think that I could get through it. I'd probably just end up writing more in my journal!

At the moment I'm reading The Eyre Affair which is great but I'm flying through it so it's not really an option. Something like Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell would be perfect.

So here I am. Departing in two days with no book to accompany me and only a day to watch season 2 of Battlestar Galactica with Mum & Gene. Life's hard isn't it? :)

top coat

Today I'm going to start packing. No really I am. I've already been mentally working out how I want to pack my stuff into my brand new red travel-pack. It's soooo pretty! It has a million straps to allow a customised fit and compression of your clothes. There's a wet stuff pocket for towels etc. There's even a camera section at the top so you have a safe water resistant place to keep it while hiking. The front section is detachable so you can use it as a day pack. It's just so well designed! Excellent harness too. Fits like a glove and has a 55L capacity. Dad got a black one with a 65L capacity. I figured that I'd go with the smaller one because I'm better off having a smaller pack that I can carry than a bigger pack that gives me back pain.

Packing is hard! It's going to be pretty warm while I'm in Doha. We miss the cool season by a month so it'll be 25 degrees celcius at the end of our trip. We are however considering going to Europe for a quick holiday after Doha. It's going to be cold in Europe. This could be problematic!

Well, my nails are done and it's time for me to get ready to go for my check up so I'll finish here for now. Thank you for keeping me company during my manicure!

Done and Doing

While I was planning on tidying paperwork today, I have instead completed a futher 10 rows of my Mum's sock instead. It's currently looking like she'll have one hand-knit sock to see her through to the new year at this rate.

Preparations for the upcoming trip are travelling well, if a little slowly, as I spent today purchasing more modest, loose fitting, natural fibre clothing with Mum. I now have an excellent selection of shirts, mainly white to help with the heat and a new pair of jeans to replace the pair that died in Brisbane.

My itinerary is likely to arrive some time tonight to give me a rough idea of what time to show up at the airport on Friday which is great. More details when I receive it.

Still can't quite believe I'll be in another country in four days time. It's a little mind boggling. I guess that's why I'm having trouble with the preparations today.

All that's left to do is:
- pack
- travel insurance
- osteo if possible
- tetanus shot (icky)
- notify the embassy
- procure a non-dodgy-looking hat for modesty
- leave contact details for friends/family

So far I've achieved:
- certified copies of my passport
- adding a pair of clocks to my blog so that I can see the time in Doha and Melbourne
- read the Qatar & culture sections in the Lonely Planet Guide
- added a blog subscription service so that people can still get email updates of my blog without necessarily having to check blogger regularly (if anyone does read this regularly)
- getting a conservative haircut/colour to fit in

Other good news is that Gene's joining me in two weeks time! Yay!
Okay must go make lists of things not to forget on my palm.

Ahhhh! :)

Wong Place

I'd like to welcome my Dad to the world of blogging. You can find him at Wong Place. Check it out and be supportive!

Flying Friday

I'm really not sure where to start this post. So much has happened since I last posted on the 9th August.

Thursday I sent off my resume, Friday I had a phone interview and today I received the exciting news that I might be flying to Doha this Friday. It's all happening really.

I'm really excited. So much so that I've moved past girly squealing stage and gone straight to shock. Tomorrow's going to be the start of a big day of planning. I've got paperwork to do, friends to catch up with and dancing to try and fit in too. Not to mention getting some QT with Gene.

Today I got my copy of the Lonely Planet's Guide to the Arabian Peninsula. It's full of useful information on Qatar and most importantly the culture. The Middle East is not really a place that I want to offend people. Not that I go places aiming to offend! I just want to get the most out of my experience there!

Looking forward to the food although it will be interesting to be in a culture where I can't go out without a male to escort me.

I'm so excited and shocked at how quickly this is happening that I can't even find the words to explain it. I've never flown this far away to a non-Asian country. It's also my first solo international travel adventure and I can't wait for it to start. I know I'm going to miss my friends and family. The great thing about this happening so quickly is that I don't have the time to think too hard about how much I'm going to miss everyone and the sights of Melbourne. I have a feeling that will make the farewell at the airport harder but I'm not going to let that get in the way of a great adventure! I'm also lucky because I'll know some of the people when I get over there.

Gene may also be coming to Doha which is wonderful for many reasons, mainly because I'd get to share an awesome experience with him!

So to all my friends that I haven't caught up with yet, give me a call in the next couple of days if you're free. If not I'll see you some time next year!

I may post in the next few days or I'll just sit at my laptop having lost the ability to post like I have since I first received word that Doha was a possibility.

Ahhhh!!

Grumblings

We're back in Melbourne and I'm marveling at how quickly we've settled back into life here.

Gene's back to juggling work shifts and I'm back to the job hunt. I think I might do some temp work while I sort out various jobs that may require some travel. It would be nice to know what the next few months hold for me but at the moment I'm happy just exploring my options.

I'm currently trying out blogging software called ecto and it's working well so far. I'm enjoying the templates and the WYSIWYG features. I also love that it supports multiple blog posts and it's just unfortunate that MySpace don't have remote blog posting capabilities. I've spent the last hour trying to find out info on how I can make this work for MySpace as well and even considered emailing MySpace about it but after my last run in with them regarding the Advanced Editor error messages that seemed to be inconsistent with my experiences, I decided against it. I was happy and disappointed all at once that someone else had tried to ask a question of the team and all they received was "how to change your email address" responses. Happy that it's not just me and disappointed for the same reason.

Aside from that there's nothing new to report. I've got a gig lined up at the start of September but nothing until Fringe after that. I'm still trying to work out what I've got in storage and what I've stashed in Mum & Dad's place... Mainly regarding the various yarns for knitting/crochet purposes (of course) but it'd be nice to know where other things are.

Pictures from our Briz Vegas trip are ready for uploading. That will happen soon I promise.

The Puppet Strings, Fruits and Vegetables Tour of QLD

Hello little blog, did you miss me?

I've been neglecting you I know, but I've had many intentions of updating you but never found the words to start.

Right now I'm tucked up on the couch in the villa that we've rented in Noosa. The boys, Gene & Nick, are off hiking in the Noosa National Park while I've chosen to nurse my cold today in the hopes of making the flight home tomorrow more pleasant.

I can't believe we're going home tomorrow! The last month has just flown past. The Fringe Festival was a great experience and we've made many new friends who are promising to come and crash on our couch soon. (Guess we'd better get our act together and get a couch for them to crash on!) The wrap party was at the Spiegeltent (of course) and it was a good night for all. Belgian beer flowed freely into our hands and stomachs. We danced "puppet string" style to ensure the rest of the festival was certain that we were the crazy Fringe crew until 01:30 when I called it a night (as they seemed to be kicking the last of us out of the tent). Gene stayed on until some much later hour as it turned out that they weren't kicking the stragglers out at all.

The day after the Brisbane Festival wrapped up we slept like there was no tomorrow and that took up most of the day. Once we were feeling guilty enough at having achieved nothing that day we went on a greasy chicken hunt (my bad). We were unsuccessful at finding greasy chicken in China Town, go figure, but had a great meal while the surrounding trees threw their seed pods at Nick. We've since been told that these trees are "Leopard Trees". I also discovered that the seed pods rattle when you shake them. Ah yes, still easily amused.

Speaking of which, that evening over a meal of instant noodles and pork balls someone posed the question, is pumpkin or chilli a fruit? I discovered some time last year that pumpkins are berries and yet I considered pumpkins to be vegetables. This was the start of our entire holiday’s conversation. We spent much of the night drinking wine and vodka drinks while discussing the classification of various fruits and vegetables. In short, a chilli is a fruit which we often eat as a spice. Pumpkins are berries and are technically fruits eaten as vegetables. Interestingly a banana is a berry (therefore a fruit) that comes from a herb plant (as it lacks a true stem, I think). Fruits seem to be able to be vegetables as well being fruits (eg. tomatoes are fruits eaten more often than not with/as vegetables) as vegetables can be non-sweet fruits. Nuts are technically fruit except for peanuts which are legumes. I think legumes are in their own category. It’s hard to say. Now I’m not saying this is totally correct, it’s just what our research and discussion has led us to. What would we do without internet cafés and Google?

On Wednesday we departed the world of backpacker hostels to visit the land of four star self-contained villas. So far we like this land. We’re staying at the Ivory Palms Resort in Noosa and it’s gorgeous. There’s something to be said for having your own kitchen and bathroom. Particularly when you keep strange hours. The first thing we did upon arrival was head to the supermarket for supplies. Okay, I lied, the first thing we did was check out the heated pool and spa so we knew where to find it, then we went to get supplies. We headed to the town of Tewantin where we had roast chicken for lunch before heading to the supermarket. I also managed to find the one craft shop in the area and have some pretty shiny beads to show for it.

All in all our days have been spent in the sunshine, poolside, in the spa or playing tennis. Nick’s the reigning tennis champ of our lot while Gene’s forte is pool. I seem to do well at Yahtzee. It just goes to show that everyone has their niche.

We went to the Eumundi Markets yesterday. It was a pleasant mix of tourist and local goods, leaning more towards the local arts and craft. There was a surprising lack of fisherman’s pants and juggling balls being sold, a market staple back home, instead there was an unusually high number of tie-dye and art stalls. I returned with a brown top, some black wrap pants and a hemp scarf. Gene bought me the funkiest pair of silver earrings which look almost impossible to put on but are actually really easy to wear. They’re just a simple silver wire twisted into a spiral with a straight bit down the middle. It’s hard to explain.

After the markets we went to the Ginger (Fun) Factory which was much less fun than it was made out to be. We did find Coulson Road though so we’ve got a few pictures of Nick under his road sign.

Today the boys played tennis and had a swim while I tried to sleep off my cold. They’re armed with a camera to take some pictures of the park which we visited long enough for me to take photos of a koala in a tree yesterday. I couldn’t help it, everyone else was taking a picture of it. I at least had the courtesy not to use a flash and scare the poor thing. It was pretty cute.

Tomorrow we’re going to pick up our bikes and have lunch with Mel before jumping on our plane home. I’ve got a job interview on Tuesday although I may have a potential job offer overseas so who knows where I’ll be in a months time! Life’s pretty exciting at the moment. For once I’m not worried about work and you know what? That’s a great feeling!