Rainy Day Almost-Autumn-Land

It's raining here today, and while I love that kind of weather (within reason), I don't like having to travel in it. But travel I must today. At least it's not also stinking hot, as it has been recently. That's a good thing. Travelling in HOT rain isn't much fun. Believe me. :-(

But I like the wet. It's rainy day reading weather. Which is what I did yesterday. I sat and read. Something I haven't done in ages, and yet it's something I seriously need to do, if only for my own sanity.

Though it's nice, this rain. Comforting. Something I could happily curl up in my rocking chair and listen to all day. With a handmade rug made for me by my Grandma, wrapped around me and a copy of Tolkein's Lord of the Ring in my lap. It's that kind of weather. Winter kind of weather.

But it's nice and I like it. I don't mind going out in it. Honesty I don't. It's just that's it's more stay at home kind of weather :-)

That said.....best start getting ready. Stay safe, warm, dry, etc...wherever you are in the world!

Welcome to My World

This is what greeted me this morning around 5am, when I looked out my back windows. For one, it means that cooler weather is finally on its way if the sun is slow in rising these days. For another, it means I'm due some rain potentially. Not necessarily the best of news, given that a great big swathe of Queensland is already currently being washed off the map in torrential flooding, but it might help the heat-wave temperatures we've been suffering in South East Queensland of late.

Nice view though, yeah? And the bird calls.....mmmmmm.....

There's something to be said about being woken to Kookaburras serenading you from your own back yard. That is something that rarely ever happens in Brisbane, and yet here in the Caboolture Shire, I get it every single day. It's one of the best things about living here, actually.

Anyway, stuff to do! Toodles. :-)

Choices.....

I have a decision to make, and fairly soon. I'm supposed to be a writer, afterall, so I should be writing, right? So how come I spend an inordinate amount of time doing everything and anything other than writing these days?

Is it from fear? From inability to find writing jobs that actually pay, or is it something else?

Granted, it's been a pretty shit year so far, but it's February now. Time to move on, surely?

And so, tonight, out of sheer frustration at myself for sitting on my bum for a month longer than I had originally planned, (plus also it might have something to do with a few bills that need paying, and the lack thereof when it comes to ready cash with which to pay said bills), I started looking at the prospect of doing paid jobs.

It's a bit scary out there, to be honest. But venture forth, I must. Especially if I want to go overseas any time this year....

I'm still unsure which path to follow at the moment, but I'm lucky to have people around me, willing to give their opinions, suggestions, and support in general.

Here's hoping the rest of the year gets better.

A Quick Post About Not Much At All...

I'm doing this blog post only because I was told to. So there. :(

I'm tired. I've been searching for a missing external hard drive that belongs to my friend who went to England last year, because he's over for a visit, and up until about four months ago, I knew EXACTLY where it was, only now it's vanished. So I'm searching for it. I've found loads of neat stuff, lots of crap (to put it bluntly, but not of the actual brown icky and rather smelly variety), heaps of memories (I did kind of wonder where my brain cells had been seeping to of late), plus way too much *stuff*.

Far too many dust bunnies in the back bedroom, for one. Too many scary boxes in that room all told, in actual fact. And I know that the boxes in the garage leave that back room for dead, in sheer numbers....

Gonna have to take care of all of that, aren't I?

So apart from looking through the Black Hole that is my house contents for something I should rightly know the location of, what else have I been up to? Hmm...lots of things in fact.

1. Australia Day - yeah, I know, that was LAST WEEK....but I get there in the end. I went out with a friend of mine to celebrate (supposedly) Australia's National Day. Yeah. Supposedly. What we did, in fact, was watch lots of people walk around with Australian Flag tattoos (temporary ones) all over their bodies, most of whom were also wearing Aussie Flags like capes, and lots of Aussie Flag tops. I felt rather out of place in my Australian t-shirt depicting Ayers Rock (Uluru, now), and a bunch of Australian wildlife. It also seems that because Australia Day fell on a Monday this year, the normal concerts and live bands and such that are always a big part of Australia Day festivities....happened on the weekend. So I was hard-pressed to find anything *live*. Eventually we wandered down to South Bank (and I got a good close up of the Brisbane Eye, or whatever it's being touted as), plus we saw a few live acts here and there, but no music as such. All in all, for me at least, this year's Australia Day was a fair bit dismal compared to what I am used to.

2. I'm being brutal and going through all my posessions, with the eye to a possible move (yet again). After the last time, back in 2007, I know I never want to go through that kind of hell again, so I'm being ruthless this time. Truly and honestly ruthless. And anyway, I have to be, if what I have planned eventuates. (More on that in later posts).

3. I'm going back to university at the end of February - one last time. Whether I finish the subject or not remains to be seen.

4. I'm in the process of realising a (somewhat) lifelong dream. I'm planning a trip abroad at the end of the year, so many things need to be organised for that. Including a passport. Eeep!

5. My writing has yet to start for this year, but I will. I promise! It's been a bad start to the year, all told, so I can only hope it gets better.

6. The weather here has been shocking. Parts of Australia are experiencing Heat Waves, other parts are in flood, yet more places are back in drought.....and then I see on the news that England has been hit with more snow than they've seen in 18 years! Oh for a little cold snap here in Oz just about now :-)

Anyway....best be off and looking for this damn hard drive again.

Grrrr....

Wish me luck!

The Horrors of the Brisbane Train Network

Somehow, I think it is time that Queensland Rail updated its train system somewhat. Having spent the best part of three or so hours today trying to accomplish what normally takes one hour on the train, I am less than happy at our public rail network.

Though to be honest, with the recent spate of people throwing themselves in front of trains this week, plus the two cars that went through boom gates this morning (one accidental, one on purpose) up this way, it is probably fair to say that Queensland Rail are doing their best, considering the circumstances. Add to that, the (also recent) couple of accidents with the long distance trains, up north, including the south-bound Tilt Train today which had to stop at Caboolture to transfer some passengers to hospital via ambulance (reason unknown as yet), and because they had to wait for the Queensland Ambulance Service to turn up, Queensland Rail requisitioned a local domestic city train and turned it into a makeshift express long distance train so that the passengers would get to Brisbane SOMETIME today....it's been a pretty awful start to the new year all round really.

Oh and did I mention also that due to our current heat wave, the older domestic trains (known to those who care or are aware as E.M.U's, not to be confused with the S.M.U's or the newer I.M.U's) tend to overheat when they reach a certain temperature, and simply stop on the lines where they stand. Given I was on one such train for part of my journey today, I know this to be true.

As it was, I sat at my local station and waited for a train that was supposed to arrive a few minutes after I got there, only....it took an hour to actually make it to us. After that, we didn't even get as far as the next station (about 15 minutes south of me by train), before we had to stop and wait for the train to cool down, before we could continue. The whole way we kept being given updates on the various accidents south of us, including the grissly details of the family that went through the boom gates on purpose and apparently smiled at the train driver while doing so.

This happened an hour or so after another car went through the boom gates at a station just north of that one (but still south of me), which caused my train and the one after it to be cancelled. Which is why I had to wait an hour for a train today.

It took me over two hours to get to Brisbane today. I left home at 10am. I got to town at 12.30pm. By the time I got what I had to get done today, it was 1.30pm, and they were cancelling south-bound trains and north-bound trains all over the place, so my visit to a family member on the south-side had to be cancelled (again). Needless to say - she isn't very happy with me currently.

It took me until 4pm to get back home. That means two hours - again.

This little chook is a bit peeved with Queensland Rail, but more so with twits who decide they want to kill themselves by jumping or driving in front of oncoming trains. Surely there are better, less messy, less intrusive ways of doing yourself in? Now that sounds callous, I know, but I've had enough of death this year - AND IT'S ONLY JANUARY...

My ONLY modes of transport are by train, bus, ferry and foot. When something happens to any of those, it means I am unable to get about, and in the process, I make other people who I promised to come visit, very unhappy.

Please, people - use a little common sense. Life is never so terribly bad that the ONLY answer is death. There's always - ALWAYS - another option, if you are just willing to go look!

Revenge of the Giant Loaf?

This is the giant loaf of bread I made yesterday in the breadmaker. It measures about 18cm long, by about 12cm wide at the base. It tastes rather good, and each slice is about the size of a large bread and butter plate.

The first few slices I had with marmite - just to make certain people happy :)

My Marmite Experience....

Here is proof that I had vegemite and marmite toast for breakfast this morning....

The dark one is good old vegemite, the light one is marmite.

While both have basically the same ingredients, the smell, texture and flavour are decidedly different. Marmite also has the added benefit of being REALLY good for clearing your lungs and sinuses.

I will be having it again, but only on weekends, I think :-)