January 2018
The first month of the year is almost over and it's the long weekend and I don't have a lot of energy or time during the week so why not write when I do have time and energy, even if the last few days of January are still to come?
It's my blog; I can do what I want :P
January was really divided into holidays and non holidays. I began the month in Maitland with the 3 Jess' and Elsie. It was great as usual. Came back to Sydney to prepare for Dad - which is always a bit stressful because the poor man has to live in my ferret-stink apartment.
We went to the cricket and on the second day my friend M joined us. It was really nice to have the time with Mark and Dad and particularly to watch the Aussies thrash the Poms. The night before the cricket I decided to cook Dad a really nice meal, and I had scotch steak, made ham, cheese, sour cream potato bake and yummy veges. Then I made custard from scratch (custard powder anyway) and apple crumble. It's nice to be able to just cook dessert from stuff you have in the cupboard.
The second night I impressed Dad by ordering pizza via the app which we picked up on the way home at the station, and the final night we waited ages for Thai food in a restaurant. The only reason it was a problem was Dad was driving north that night. He was fine anyway.
I caught up with Bek on the Saturday and went to the gym and pool. Had a good chat with a guy about the cricket in the gym. Sunday I decided I needed a break from church and it was the only Sunday in January I wasn't doing something, and it was 40 degrees, so I drove to La Perouse but ended up having to park illegally, and got a parking ticket for $110. That wasn't the best move.
Monday I was feeling pretty lonely and so I went to boxing class at CrossFit and then had lunch with my friend Anna and her friend and in the evening hung out with the R' family and played games.
Tuesday I drove to Katoomba and went to Summer School for the first time ever. Saw several friends from college I hadn't seen since the 90's which was really lovely. Because I had arrived halfway through the week, everyone had lunch plans though, so thankfully my pastor and his wife took pity on me and I had lunch with them and their 4 children, and watched them handle the grumpiness that comes from an empty bottle of coke. Then I climbed into the loft with their oldest girl, which was super fun to hang with her.
Thursday I hung out with M, who I'm going to be the Commonwealth Games swimming finals with in April and JG. We had dinner with JG's family, which was so great and then I drove home.
On Friday I met up with my cousin's daughter and picked her up from camp. We went to La Perouse for lunch and then saw the Greatest Showman together. I really enjoyed it.
Saturday was BBL day. I had used my ticketek voucher from Dad for my birthday to buy 4 BBL tickets to the Sydney Thunder/Sixers game. I invited J, a German tourist who'd been coming to our church and M and his wife and we had a great time. The BBL women's game was a chance for J to confirm his understanding of the game (he'd been studying the rules on Youtube in anticipation!) but in the men's game it was so loud we couldn't talk. It was a super close exciting match and the Sixers needed 2 runs off the last ball so J got a really good sense of the excitement of a good cricket game.
Sunday I went to church and then saw Downsizing with my upstairs neighbour B. It was a really weird movie that went in strange directions at the end. But I've written about that before so whatever.
Then it was back to work.
Life becomes much more routine once work started, but thankfully I had arranged for lunch with an ex-leader doing her PhD on my first day back. My boss handed over the reins, and left at lunchtime for a month, and I am acting boss now of the unit until 14 February.
Tuesday night I had dinner with the W family from church. I've been friends with the parents since uni so it's so nice to be invited over and get to know their 3 girls better. I really like their family.
Wednesday I had a chat to a student who'd applied for a subject that I was really struggling to get applicants for, and gave her the job on the spot. I can do that. She was excited but nervous. Thursday that week I had summer bible study which in retrospect I didn't need by then for company, and then Friday night I watched a bunch of year 10 students from SW Sydney show off their two week projects. Saturday I went to the Opera House with the L family and we all swam around the Opera House. They did the 750m swim, I did the 2km. I swam it in 41 minutes, which I wasn't hugely happy with, but I barely slept the night before as I had met a couple and had their ferret stay, and she kept me up half the night in the cage. The rest of the weekend was a write off because frankly, that was too much in one week.
Tuesday night 23rd January was the long-awaited Christmas present Muriel's Wedding, the Musical. Seriously one of my all time favourite musicals. I met my sister and her husband in the hotel but then they weren't ready for 30 minutes, and by the time we headed out we only had 40 minutes to get there. No worries. It's only 10 minutes. But of course, none of us know that area, and we ended up driving across the Harbour Bridge and back. I was driving because I was going to park the car so I could drop them right outside the theatre (they are both fairly disabled in their walking). Of course, my sister's car is a lot bigger and has a left handed turning signal, so I was super stressed. I found a parking spot on the street but in the right hand side, and couldn't reverse park. I ended up begging a group of people to help, and one of the guys offered to park it. Thankfully I made it into the theatre and laughed and cried and I've been listening continuously to the album ever since. So clever and funny. Although I'd prefer it if there was no swearing :P
All week I felt ill and I still feel a bit ill, but I still went to PT and thankfully B was much gentler than normal and just got me to do a bunch of cardio.
Yesterday was Australia Day. I'd posted in the church's FB group asking if anyone wanted to come to the pool's Australia Day pool party with no response. So I contacted my friend with 4 kids who had posted about it, and she and her family met me. We had such a great day. It's so much more fun going to the pool with kids.
Usually I swim alongside the Oper House on Australia Day and I kind of feel that's pretty iconic. But instead I spent time passing beach balls back and forward with a super smiley SE Asian lady with no English (about 55 years old?). Then her husband joined in. Then I gave her a swimming lesson on breaststroke with absolutely no common language. Definitely a very special moment.
And that is January so far.
It's my blog; I can do what I want :P
January was really divided into holidays and non holidays. I began the month in Maitland with the 3 Jess' and Elsie. It was great as usual. Came back to Sydney to prepare for Dad - which is always a bit stressful because the poor man has to live in my ferret-stink apartment.
We went to the cricket and on the second day my friend M joined us. It was really nice to have the time with Mark and Dad and particularly to watch the Aussies thrash the Poms. The night before the cricket I decided to cook Dad a really nice meal, and I had scotch steak, made ham, cheese, sour cream potato bake and yummy veges. Then I made custard from scratch (custard powder anyway) and apple crumble. It's nice to be able to just cook dessert from stuff you have in the cupboard.
The second night I impressed Dad by ordering pizza via the app which we picked up on the way home at the station, and the final night we waited ages for Thai food in a restaurant. The only reason it was a problem was Dad was driving north that night. He was fine anyway.
I caught up with Bek on the Saturday and went to the gym and pool. Had a good chat with a guy about the cricket in the gym. Sunday I decided I needed a break from church and it was the only Sunday in January I wasn't doing something, and it was 40 degrees, so I drove to La Perouse but ended up having to park illegally, and got a parking ticket for $110. That wasn't the best move.
Monday I was feeling pretty lonely and so I went to boxing class at CrossFit and then had lunch with my friend Anna and her friend and in the evening hung out with the R' family and played games.
Tuesday I drove to Katoomba and went to Summer School for the first time ever. Saw several friends from college I hadn't seen since the 90's which was really lovely. Because I had arrived halfway through the week, everyone had lunch plans though, so thankfully my pastor and his wife took pity on me and I had lunch with them and their 4 children, and watched them handle the grumpiness that comes from an empty bottle of coke. Then I climbed into the loft with their oldest girl, which was super fun to hang with her.
Thursday I hung out with M, who I'm going to be the Commonwealth Games swimming finals with in April and JG. We had dinner with JG's family, which was so great and then I drove home.
On Friday I met up with my cousin's daughter and picked her up from camp. We went to La Perouse for lunch and then saw the Greatest Showman together. I really enjoyed it.
Saturday was BBL day. I had used my ticketek voucher from Dad for my birthday to buy 4 BBL tickets to the Sydney Thunder/Sixers game. I invited J, a German tourist who'd been coming to our church and M and his wife and we had a great time. The BBL women's game was a chance for J to confirm his understanding of the game (he'd been studying the rules on Youtube in anticipation!) but in the men's game it was so loud we couldn't talk. It was a super close exciting match and the Sixers needed 2 runs off the last ball so J got a really good sense of the excitement of a good cricket game.
Sunday I went to church and then saw Downsizing with my upstairs neighbour B. It was a really weird movie that went in strange directions at the end. But I've written about that before so whatever.
Then it was back to work.
Life becomes much more routine once work started, but thankfully I had arranged for lunch with an ex-leader doing her PhD on my first day back. My boss handed over the reins, and left at lunchtime for a month, and I am acting boss now of the unit until 14 February.
Tuesday night I had dinner with the W family from church. I've been friends with the parents since uni so it's so nice to be invited over and get to know their 3 girls better. I really like their family.
Wednesday I had a chat to a student who'd applied for a subject that I was really struggling to get applicants for, and gave her the job on the spot. I can do that. She was excited but nervous. Thursday that week I had summer bible study which in retrospect I didn't need by then for company, and then Friday night I watched a bunch of year 10 students from SW Sydney show off their two week projects. Saturday I went to the Opera House with the L family and we all swam around the Opera House. They did the 750m swim, I did the 2km. I swam it in 41 minutes, which I wasn't hugely happy with, but I barely slept the night before as I had met a couple and had their ferret stay, and she kept me up half the night in the cage. The rest of the weekend was a write off because frankly, that was too much in one week.
Tuesday night 23rd January was the long-awaited Christmas present Muriel's Wedding, the Musical. Seriously one of my all time favourite musicals. I met my sister and her husband in the hotel but then they weren't ready for 30 minutes, and by the time we headed out we only had 40 minutes to get there. No worries. It's only 10 minutes. But of course, none of us know that area, and we ended up driving across the Harbour Bridge and back. I was driving because I was going to park the car so I could drop them right outside the theatre (they are both fairly disabled in their walking). Of course, my sister's car is a lot bigger and has a left handed turning signal, so I was super stressed. I found a parking spot on the street but in the right hand side, and couldn't reverse park. I ended up begging a group of people to help, and one of the guys offered to park it. Thankfully I made it into the theatre and laughed and cried and I've been listening continuously to the album ever since. So clever and funny. Although I'd prefer it if there was no swearing :P
All week I felt ill and I still feel a bit ill, but I still went to PT and thankfully B was much gentler than normal and just got me to do a bunch of cardio.
Yesterday was Australia Day. I'd posted in the church's FB group asking if anyone wanted to come to the pool's Australia Day pool party with no response. So I contacted my friend with 4 kids who had posted about it, and she and her family met me. We had such a great day. It's so much more fun going to the pool with kids.
Usually I swim alongside the Oper House on Australia Day and I kind of feel that's pretty iconic. But instead I spent time passing beach balls back and forward with a super smiley SE Asian lady with no English (about 55 years old?). Then her husband joined in. Then I gave her a swimming lesson on breaststroke with absolutely no common language. Definitely a very special moment.
And that is January so far.
A full month! Good that there were so many nice things in it.
ReplyDeleteToo much. Hard to find a balance.
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