Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Sleep Tight and Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite!

Easier said then done, that one is! It's been an impossibly crazy week...I'm surprised I can still function.

I moved into my flat on Monday of last. Spent Tuesday boozing it up with a workmate and finally unpacked all my stuff on Wednesday and Thursday. Another later night of work drinks on Friday and I woke up Saturday to discover I had six or seven rather large red bite marks on me. They didn't itch, but I was slightly concerned because, despite my state the night before, I was pretty sure I had no huge red bites when I stumbled into my bed. Of course, I know I've panicked in the past about bites and they've turned out to be nothing, so this time I didn't panic.

I went downstairs and nonchalantly showed my bites to my German roomate and asked as casually as possible if he thought they might be bed bug bites. The look on his face said it all and next thing you know, he's telling me that they did have a bed bug problem a few months previous, but that he'd used an over teh counter bug spray that killed them all. Uh huh. Apparently not. We went on a hunt and lo and behold we found a little red bed bug all alive and well - probably digesting my blood at that very moment. Suffice to say his life did not last much longer.

So, after getting my hair massacred (made the appt before I knew I'd be dealing with bed bug crises), I did a lot of research into bedbugs and determined that the only way to ensure they were gone for good was to get an exterminator. Luckliy my flatmates were on board - Jeanie's lived here for three years and never had a problem until one of the former flatmates came back from travelling and had bed bug bites and a sleeping bag she'd borroed from the German guy (Marco). So there you have it -that's how they made it in here.

We are getting exterminated tomorrow. In the meantime have had to launder and dry ALL my clothes and am sleeping on the pullout couch downstairs. I 'may' have sprayed bug poison in my room and it 'may' be a bit smelly in there....I figure it's no worse than the pesticides I've breathed in on PEI over hte past 20 years or so!!

Yep, so that's about all the news...the weekend was basically a write off due to bed bug infestation. I've started hardcore pretraining for marathon and so far so good (ie. I have not collapsed on gym floor from exhaustion).

SO yeah, that's kind of a boring post. What can I say - bed bugs are boring and bite.

Sleep Tight and Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite!

Easier said then done, that one is! It's been an impossibly crazy week...I'm surprised I can still function.

I moved into my flat on Monday of last. Spent Tuesday boozing it up with a workmate and finally unpacked all my stuff on Wednesday and Thursday. Another later night of work drinks on Friday and I woke up Saturday to discover I had six or seven rather large red bite marks on me. They didn't itch, but I was slightly concerned because, despite my state the night before, I was pretty sure I had no huge red bites when I stumbled into my bed. Of course, I know I've panicked in the past about bites and they've turned out to be nothing, so this time I didn't panic.

I went downstairs and nonchalantly showed my bites to my German roomate and asked as casually as possible if he thought they might be bed bug bites. The look on his face said it all and next thing you know, he's telling me that they did have a bed bug problem a few months previous, but that he'd used an over teh counter bug spray that killed them all. Uh huh. Apparently not. We went on a hunt and lo and behold we found a little red bed bug all alive and well - probably digesting my blood at that very moment. Suffice to say his life did not last much longer.

So, after getting my hair massacred (made the appt before I knew I'd be dealing with bed bug crises), I did a lot of research into bedbugs and determined that the only way to ensure they were gone for good was to get an exterminator. Luckliy my flatmates were on board - Jeanie's lived here for three years and never had a problem until one of the former flatmates came back from travelling and had bed bug bites and a sleeping bag she'd borroed from the German guy (Marco). So there you have it -that's how they made it in here.

We are getting exterminated tomorrow. In the meantime have had to launder and dry ALL my clothes and am sleeping on the pullout couch downstairs. I 'may' have sprayed bug poison in my room and it 'may' be a bit smelly in there....I figure it's no worse than the pesticides I've breathed in on PEI over hte past 20 years or so!!

Yep, so that's about all the news...the weekend was basically a write off due to bed bug infestation. I've started hardcore pretraining for marathon and so far so good (ie. I have not collapsed on gym floor from exhaustion).

SO yeah, that's kind of a boring post. What can I say - bed bugs are boring and bite.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

The 15 Minute Woman...

Phew. Life has been exhausting lately. Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely LOVING that my life now involves waking up to an alarm, going to a place of work, socialising and not having enough minutes in the day. Somehow it beats puttering around the house all day and spending countless hours on the Internet day in and day out.

So, what has this Shanadian been up to over the past wee while?

Well, let's start with the wonder of 15 minutes! I've finally moved into my new flat. It's brilliant in every respect - great flatmates (1 German guy, 1 Aussie girl, 1 Korean girl), it's super duper clean compared to the last place I was, it's got a great kitchen with an electric stove (no more fire hazard!!) and dishwasher. Best of all, however, is the location. I can step out the front door of my flat, walk for 15 minutes and be at the revolving doors of Citibank! Oh, how I heart walking to work and NOT relying on pbulic transit.

I had a few days of homelessness, but was fortunate enough to be offered the wonderful hospitality of Shannon Courtney. Ha - I still get a kick out of that and, apparently, so does he because he seems to thoroughly enjoy introducing me by my name(and his!). Anyways, it was nice to be out of the city centre for a few days.Shannon lives in one of the nicest areas of Sydney and, if it weren't for the travelling involved I'd love to live in that area.

Had a great weekend at his place, which basically involved doing a whole lot of nothing...aside from baking a carrot cake for the BBQ party he had on Saturday night. Good fun was had, cake was devoured and I made it through the night without doing anything too riske.

So work is going splendidly. I really should be leaving my temp position at the end of the week, as the woman I was covering is back from holiday BUT everyone seems quite taken with me, so they've found me another holiday cover for the next three weeks and after that I've been told I can move into another role for a few months thereafter. And all because I actually do things when people ask me to! Nothing I do is rocket science, but it does involve juggling a lot of different things. Anyways, I'm super happy to stay on with Citibank for the following reason:

1) 15 MINUTES!!!
2) FREE Gym access in the building (esp important given my plan - see below)
3) LOVE my fellow workmates (more about this later)
4) Will look GREAT on the resume
5) Steady income, steady hours
6) Lots of fun, social things organised - like last Friday when we were all given mini massages at our desks by professionals

Anyhoo, am so glad to finally be in a work environment where I can see myself becoming good friends with my workmates. Not that I haven't had brilliant workmates in the past - I've always been fortunate in this regard. This time, however, they are brilliant AND near the same age AND single. Went out for one drink last Friday night after work and left the bar three hours later. Last night we had an all-staff quarterly update at the Sheraton and many glasses of free wine, followed by more drinks at various bars in and around the city centre.

All the drinking is coming to an end though. More importantly, all the eating is coming to an end because I have a special announcement to make (this is where you insert a drum roll).....

I've Decided to run a Marathon.

I started training today. Acutally I am in pre-training mode because I am sadly, just that out of shape that I need to get back to a place where I can push myseld day in and day out without injuring myself.

Anyone who knows me well is probably surprised and more than a bit skeptical of my plan to run over 26 miles. Well, that's fine. I am doing this because I need to start challenging myself again. I've come to a point in life where I need to prove to myself that I can do something that seems impossible to me. I'm also sick of yo-yoing weight and not being careful with my eating habits.

I am giving myself 6 months to train. I've already found the marathon I will be running - it is in New Zealand. Actually they have a half-marathon option too, which I might consider if I think I need more training time. There will be a marathon in Canberra in April. Anyways, the NZ marathon is called the Buller Gorge Marathon - if you want to check out the website, go for it!

Well, me thinks it's time for bed, gotta get up tomorrow and start training for a marathon.

Life is Great. Remember that every day when you wake up.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

I've Done it All

Wow, where to begin? I've discovered the great cunundrum with blogging - when one has all the time in the world to write blog posts (eg. when one is unemployed and lviing with one's parents ), one has nothing of interest to write about. When one FINALLY gets a life (ie. job, new place to live and social engagements to attend), one does not have time to write about it all.But I digress, that is just my lame attempt to excuse my poor blogging habits of recent. I will try to make amends now...

When I say I've done it all, I am exaggerating, but not by much. The past couple of weeks have been laden with new experiences - some breathtaking, some hilarious, some embarassing, all absolutely brilliant!

Let's take AFL. AFL stands for Australian Football League. The Aussies have decided to creat their own game, endearingly called Aussie 'No Rules' Football, From what I gather, the basic premise is that the players are meant to kick the ball between the two goal posts and can use any means necessary to do so. Now, this in and of itself would make for quite an interewsting game, but no the Aussies couldn't stop there. They had to throw in a ROUND field and give the teams names like the Sydney Swans and the Magpies. The topper, however, has go tto be teh unifroms these tall, muscular, delicious male players don. Take a basic jersey, pair it with some satiny short shorts and finish off the look with striped knee high socks and voila you have yourlsef a uniform that is, if nothing else, a fashion statement in professional sports.

I went to my first AFL game last Saturday night with Shannon and some of his friends, as wel as a few of my friends. It was quite the mingling. I scored free tickets thanks to being employed with Citibank!! I didn't really get the rules of the game (or lack thereof), but I did ge a beer and a glass of disgusting wine. It was great fun!

The next night, in keeping with the sporting theme, I joing Brett , Garth and two English lads for Gay Bowling at Fox Studios. Now I know what you are wondering. What is gay bowling? How is it different from normal bowling? Well, it's not reallyTHAT different...unless you happen to be a girl and then you notice that you are very underrepresented as genders go. You also notice you have no worries whatsoever about how dorky you look in your bowling shoes cause it's not like there are any guys that you can impress. OK, but really - the main difference was the visual aids provided on the screens at the end of the lanes. Scantily clad men provided a constant distraction..

On Thursday I went to Mongolian BBQ in Darling Harbour to celebrate the fact that I am getting older. It turns out the promise of all-you-can eat stir fry made before your own eyes is not as great as it sounds, but I had the company of six men, so I can't really complain can I?

Friday night Shannon kindly invited me to se/hear the Sydney Symphony at teh Opera House. We went out for dinner first and I had a spectacular salmon fillet - my fisrt since arriving here! They are so bloody expensive. Anyways, after dinner we were walking to the opera house in a hurry when my shoe fell off my foot. I'd bought new heely shoes just four days prior and they'd already broeknn. So there I was digging through my bag for my spare pair (don't ask) when my mobile rang (it never rings). A few minutes later I was jumping up and down with glee on one heel and one bare foot. I'd just recieved news that I'd been chosen as the new flatmate for a flat I really really wanted to stay at!! Anyways - the symphony was brillant and the opera house as impressive on the inside as it is from the outside (well..almost).

Last night I was supposed to go out on the town for my birthday, but I just didn't feel up to it. Instead I hnung out with Brett and Peter - ate horrendously and watched a couple of movies.

Today we went to Bonid Beach - my first time there! It ws a typical beach town - with lots of tacky shops, restaraunts , etc. The beach, however, was quite lovely - the sand is sssoooo soft and the waves were huge .


Hmmm...other stuff has happened - I can't recall what though. Old age setting in...This weekwill be bus - I have to move twice and do other things like work and train for a marathon.

On that note, I shall hit the sack. I can barely keep my eyes open...

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Gay Bowling, AFL and Getting Older

I will make this post longer at some poin - so be prepared ! The title pretty much sums up points of significance since my last post. Today I am 26. Looking forward to the next few days - Mongolian BBQ tonight, Sydney Symphony at the Opera House tomorrow night and going to straight clubs on Saturday!!! Letting myself eat chocolate today too :)

Like I said, will update this asap, but priority is finding a new place to live and maybe some company . . .