Aussie LI

[brook]

Plus even if I was tempted I'll just get 90% of my pay directly out into an untouchable account that my olds will look after, so I'll be on minimum wage.

I wish I'd had the brains to do that back in the days when I actually had money.

My last week or so hasn't been great, a few weeks back my grandmother had a fall and absolutely shattered her shoulder, the doctors really didn't want to operate so they strapped her up and have been hoping it would start to heal but scans have confirmed that isn't going to happen and last weekend they decided that they are going to have to operate.

They are spending this week doing everything they can to try and build her strength up to increase her chances of actually surviving an operation (which still aren't great) and they plan on operating this weekend.

[Luce_Magoose]

Brook, that's not good at all. I hope everything goes well. Is she one of those sweet grandmothers who still posts birthday cards to you? Or is she one of those grandmothers that likes to get tipsy at family functions and say inappropriate things? They're both cool. I've never met my grandmother and my other granddies have passed away. I've missed out on the grandmother goodness.

Ski, a friend of a friend works at Port Hedland and loves it. He's been there for about 4 years now, I reckon. Apart from that I don't know anything else about mining industry. Although if there's heavy demand then I imagine they wouldn't care that you were going on holiday ... ?

Jeor, if I had any musical talent whatsoever I would totally buy a $20k violin. I love strings. My partner's sister had a string quartet at her wedding and they were friggin' awesome, playing Coldplay and Michael Jackson and whatnot. And someone has just introduced me to Apocalyptica. kenawesome

How is everyone's Christmas shopping going? I've gotten into these websites: Cudo, Spreets, Jump On It, and they're pretty cool. Okay, the first three things I bought were for me, but since then, I've been good. Got my brother a $100 voucher to use at an online cricket store, and it only cost me $49.

[brook]

Brook, that's not good at all. I hope everything goes well. Is she one of those sweet grandmothers who still posts birthday cards to you? Or is she one of those grandmothers that likes to get tipsy at family functions and say inappropriate things? They're both cool. I've never met my grandmother and my other granddies have passed away. I've missed out on the grandmother goodness.

She is a bit of a mixture of both to be honest, she doesn't need the alchol to say inappropriate things and her temper tantrums are legendary (I still remember the Christmas that she threw everyone out because my Dad and mums cousin were winding her up singing 'love me tender, fill my script' over the elvis record she had put on).

But she never misses a birthday, spoils the kids (and buys deli meat for our dog) and is the only person alive who has ever thought I had no flaws.

I have been lucky with grandparents, I never knew any on my biological fathers side (and dads mum died when he was young and his father is, if not the devil, on very good terms with him) but I knew all my great grandparents on mums side (my last great grandmother passed away 2 years ago) and Nan and Pop have been a huge part of my life.

How is everyone's Christmas shopping going? I've gotten into these websites: Cudo, Spreets, Jump On It, and they're pretty cool. Okay, the first three things I bought were for me, but since then, I've been good. Got my brother a $100 voucher to use at an online cricket store, and it only cost me $49.

I finished yesterday which was wonderful and got 90% of it online which was even better. I also did a bit of shopping at Spreets etc but most of that was for me so probably not helpful. Amazon and ThinkGeek have been my best friend this christmas though (and I *mostly* resisted the temptation to buy too much for myself) so I'm loving the strong Aussie dollar.

[Ski the Swift]

Luce, my problem is:

I wouldn't be starting anywhere until maybe mid February, so then I'd work for maybe four months before I go into a two month holiday and then come back. Maybe it's just me but I wouldn't want to be a hassle and give a bad impression of my work ethics if I'm on and off.

[Luce_Magoose]

Well Ski, you can always be upfront and mention it at interview stage. I mean ... Newcastle.

[Ski the Swift]

Well yeah I would always be honest with them about it, I just didn't want them to think I'm some guy who takes holidays and expects to get his own way all the time.

I just remembered that we have family friends who own a labour mob over there, I might give him a buzz.

[brook]

Just to bring in some off-season footy talk...

What the hell have the wests tigers done to our jersey? The new ones are even worse than what they came out with in 05 and I cannot imagine why they would have chosen to switch to that ghastly shade of orange from the classic gold

http://www.weststigers.com.au/site/_content/image/00010054-image.jpg

[Ski the Swift]

To be honest brook, I'm a Balmain supporter and not much of a Wests supporter :P

So all I want is the classic black and orange horizontal stripes.

[brook]

Yeah well my anti-magpie rants are pretty well known among league-supporting friends. I'll always be a Balmain fan first.

For now though I think I'd be happy enough if they just didn't make the NRL team wear fluero orange (and stopped trying to kill Balmain by merging the state cup team).

[Ski the Swift]

Well we could be doing worse. Parramatta has lost seven players from last seasons team, including the likes of Growthe and Cayless. They will be struggling.

[adamsputnik]

Hey Ski, they need any cartographers out there in WA? Surely it wouldn't be so bad to live in Port Hedland and make six figures making maps... Not sure how the wife would feel about that though.

[brook]

Well Parramatta struggling does always make me feel better :)

I actually think our team is looking really good next year, some of the kids like dwyer and fifita are going to be better for the experience and we'll have Tuiaki back which should even up our wings. If Benji, Farah and Galloway stay fit we'll be in with a good shot.

[Luce_Magoose]

*blank look*

TENNIS *clap clap clap* TENNIS *clap clap clap*

[brook]

*blank look*

TENNIS *clap clap clap* TENNIS *clap clap clap*

Well thats better than cricket - even if my knowledge of Tennis is kind of restricted to really enjoying slow motion shots of Roger Federer ;-)

[adamsputnik]

*blank look*

TENNIS *clap clap clap* TENNIS *clap clap clap*

Come on, leave the token New South Welshmen to their chatter about rugby ;)

[gryphon strike]

Ski if you want to do the holiday thing I recomend looking for a job that offers a basic 2 weeks on and then 2 weeks off and then offer to work through till you leave?

remember that is no weekends at all generally 14 hr days etc but mate the money would also be massive.

Cartogrophers I am not sure. Could probably find work out there for a good amount.

You better like tropical desert though.

[Ski the Swift]

Griff, that's the sort of work I need to do. It has only hit me recently how many hours I really did work a few months ago and the amount of money I saved. I worked out I was doing minimum 80 hours a week at 12 hours each day, that was the minimum. Let's face it, it's that sort of working that has allowed me to save so much and be able to travel in the first place. Head down and arse fucking working.

This change of work needs to happen. Let's just hope I don't do the other wrist :P

[Ski the Swift]

Totally unrelated to this line of discussion but due to MinD's Beer Ad thread I just watched all the VB ads. Dear God they are comedy gold, these should go down in some sort of "Best ever viewing" ever catergory.

"If you think that watching the VB series with a miniature talking Boonie isn't the greatest way to spend an Aussie summer, you're probably a Kiwi or a Pom"

Carry on.

[Daemrion]

Just checking in to say that I may have gone completely crazy. I'm conceivably about to fork out up to $20,000 on a violin that I like. I'm not a career musician (I'm a maths teacher). I still play a lot on the side though (note that I'm already starting to try and justify this hit to my bank balance / mortgage). My current violin was okay for my student days but not really up to the rigours of proper performance and man this one I'm currently looking at sounds so good. I tried about 30 different violins from different shops/luthiers, and inevitably start to really like the one that is amongst the most expensive. Yay me. :P

I used to play the violin, but I had a $300 one. Though I do know my mate's teacher has like a $10,000 one. Not necessarily the more expensive the better, though that's generally the rule. I think you could probably try a few more maybe a less expensive one will sound even better to you.

[brook]

Five minutes in the backyard unsupervised and I just discovered the redheaded demon sitting in the dirt painting himself with superglue while the older demon (who would have been the one to get it down off the high shelf for him) and the little demon looked on.

Thankfully I found them before body parts were stuck to other body parts but he does have a large amount of dirt stuck to himself and we're going out tonight before I'll have the chance to buy nail polish remover.

Luckily its only to my besties and he knows my boys well enough to not be surprised.

My question is, is it acceptable to superglue the older two to the corner?