kjp

So apparently I haven’t put anything decent up here in ages. I was going to try and put something up in November, but everything else (aka: life) got in the way. So heaps of things have been going on in the past while, here are some of them (not complete, not in order). Enjoy! (some of this was written in November, some in December – dates / timing may be inaccurate…)

Canberra
I was down in Canberra from Wednesday night to Sunday morning a few weekends ago. There were two reasons for going – one was to see mum and C, the other for my high school reunion.

Canberra - Reunion
My old high school has changed heaps – there’s been heaps of new buildings put up, lots of new facilities, which is kind of good to see. They’re building a primary school next door as well – growing big. The drinks in the evening was the main part – opportunity to catch up with people. It seems that a lot of the “cool” people in high school were still ‘cool’, and on the cliquey side; but that most other people were reasonably open / relaxed. I’d lost contact with a lot of my friends, so it was good to catch up with those that attended.

Canberra - Construction
I was slightly weirded out by the whole schamozzle that is Glenloch interchange at the moment… you seem to go all over the place – hopefully it will be sorted out soon. Also went to the Canberra Centre (extension) - it is just another shopping centre – but it looks all different – I’m still use to that big massive car park.

Canberra - Family
The trip down to Canberra was actually the first this year: all other trips away this year had been to Sydney. I had the good fortune to see a practice triathlon race of C. It’s pretty tops stuff – it almost inspired me to get my bike out… but not quite. I’ll stick to walking ridiculously long distances. The next walk is planned for 19th January, I think, then first rogaine on the 23rd of February.

Back at home, I was a bit confronted of the photos of dad around the place. I’m not used to that – at all. Well, save for one (tiny) at work. For some reason the photos I have around the place are of those family / friends in the land of the living…

The down side to visiting my family is that it highlights what I don’t have in Brisbane – family; and this goes along with the isolation / loneliness up here. Not that I want to live with them… there’s good reasons why I moved out (!), but living in the same city as your family would be good. Anyhow.

Apartment Buying / Dad
During September and October I was seriously looking for apartments to buy – put two offers in – neither of them were accepted. It was good to go through the process of sitting in the real estate agent’s office, signing documents, getting a lawyer, etc. So I’ll be better prepared next time.

I kind of was wishing that dad was around then. I think. Maybe just to show that I was (am) getting on with my life? Or maybe just to check that he was (is) proud of me? I dunno. I miss him greatly sometimes…

Anyhow, I’ll probably look around at apartments in February / March next year, but keeping a close eye on interest rates.

Beach
I’ve been able to get to the beach a few times… Haven’t yet been down south to the Gold Coast this summer… maybe wait for all the school kids to get out of there first. Last weekend (?) I was at the beach with a couple of guys – one is off to England for a bit in a little while. It was good fun – several laughs. I made the mistake of getting pulled out a bit further than I would have liked… I need to do a bit more swimming at the pool mid week, I think, and some more strength work. I also need to remember that the worst thing that you can do is panic / stress about things when you’re in the water. But the trip was good – the two blokes are both jokers.

Jazz
Jazz at the Zoo has ended – for ever. I need to investigate jazz at the Brisbane Jazz club, and some other places in town (which are less likely than the Brisbane Jazz Club to collapse into the river!).

QWAB
QWAB had out final major concert for the year last night (back in early December). It went pretty well – was joint with two local choirs. We played well… for me personally it wasn’t the best of gigs I’ve done – a couple of mistakes here and there, which was a bit annoying. One of the pieces – El Camino Real (by Alfred Reed), was my favourite, and is at risk of getting on my favourite pieces list.

Flatmate
I’m tidying / organising the flat in preparation for getting a flatmate in the next few weeks… It’s just a bit too much of a waste to have an empty room (and I’d prefer not paying the rent).

Presents
So one of the most stressful parts of the year has come and gone – trying to think of ideas for good presents…

Facebook
So I’ve become stuck in the world of Facebook. It’s kind of disturbing how many people are on it....

Mail
I don’t think that Australia Post is doing a good job for me at the moment. I know of at least one letter and one package not getting to me… I rang them up on Thursday night, the guy was going to ring back but didn’t. I’ll chase that up sometime.

Regret / T-Shirts
One of the issues I’m still sorting myself out of is that of regret and living in the past – “what if I’d done this…??”. This stems from the fact that I kind of think that I pretty much wasted my time for the first part of my life (not ‘engaging’), and that I want to get things right from now on. But I probably should understand that (a) I get things wrong occasionally; (b) I’m not confident in some things; (c) wearers of cool t-shirts don't see things similarly to me.

More Things
I also have a bit of stress about two other things that I can’t really put up here, and are more gossip worthy than anything above! Yes, really. Plus two other minor half things. Maybe another day…

A new year starts at work tomorrow.

Smile!