Yet another backdated roundup... (Part 1)

Thursday night (21/06) was work drinks. This one was an actual company sanctioned drinks night - not just the usual Friday afternoon piss up we have. It was at 3 Degrees at QV. Well, I intended to NOT get appallingly trashed and make a total fool of myself. Yeah, well that didn't happen... But the good thing was, everyone else was equally blotto, so nobody actually noticed :o)

So at the end of the evening, we wandered off to find another place to drink... along the way I looked around me and realised... I didn't know these people. I had connected myself to the wrong group and didn't even realise!

So I sheepishly crept off in another direction to try and find my friends. Wandering along Swanston St, my phone rings - it was LR from my team:

Me - "Hello?"
LR - "Hello?"
Me - "Where are you?"
LR - "Where are you?"
Me - "I'm on Swanston St, where are you!"
LR - "I'm on Swanston St, where are you!"
Me - "Where on Swanston St!!!"
LR - "Um...hee hee hee..."
*Click*

OK, so that was all I could get out of her. Obviously in worse condition than I was. Only thing to do, drunk to the point of almost not being able to walk, freezing cold (it was probably 5 degrees), I jumped on the Number 6 tram home. After about 15 minutes, I realised that the tram didn't turn into High Street like it's supposed to do. Shit Shit Shit Shit. Got off at the next stop along St Kilda Rd. I got on the number 5 tram instead of the number 6. Honestly the bloody numbers look the same when your eyes are crossed. So walked back down St Kilda Rd and waited for the number 6 tram - again. On the tram, it was a quick 5 minutes til I get off at my place - easy. Well, it should have been. Next thing I know, I lifted my head up to see where I was... didn't recognise anything. I asked the chick sitting near me "Where are we?". "You're at Glen Iris, hun"...

Shit shit shit shit shit. My 1 second head lulling was actually a 20 minute sleep. Jumped off at the next stop, crossed over and caught a cab back home. It cost more to get a cab from there than it would have if I had just got the damn cab from the city in the first place. Dick head.

Friday morning... oooooooooooh.....
Certainly not the best condition to herald in the most religiously significant date on my calendar, Cyndi's Birthday. The veritably ageless goddess of music turned 54.



Caught up with my mate Johnny who was down from Sydney for the weekend. Always nice to see him - one of only a few people that I have seen from Sydney since my move... Monday was brunch at Palate on Greville St with Johnny and a couple of his friends. Good company and conversation, great wine, a terribly long wait for our food, which wasn't that great when it did finally arrive (after I shoveled to the side of my plate the masses of shaved parmesan, there was very little actual pasta on the plate) - which is a shame, cos Palate has always been a great place, one of my favourites, which was why I took them there. If I stop going to every place that disappoints me, I would end up having no where to go... :o(

Brrrr......

Click your heels...

Do you ever hear people talking... can't quite hear or work out what they are saying, but think that maybe they might be talking about you?

What if you wish they were talking about you...

Finally...

I finally joined a gym. After weeks of putting it off, I walked into Genesis on Chapel Street and joined. No more stuffing around. I am determined to get back that bod I was so happy with last year...

Trash no more...

Friday night, I had a catch up with Jane (You might remember her from previous catch ups including "the skinny dipping / wrestling episode with her hot straight guy friend" and others...)

Anyway, it turned out terribly trashy, for which I have decided to take heed and avoid this one going forward...

Met up at my place, so she could check out my shit-hot pad - for which she was in total awe, but not really surprising since for a 20-something working girl she still lives like a uni student.... You know how that goes... milk crate furniture and crap lying around EVERYWHERE... Anyway, so after loving the new queer quarters, we headed out to Candy Bar on Greville Street (still my favourite street in Melbourne) for a bottle of nasty $8 red - at bar prices, made it a princely $36. Kinda looked like it had changed owners, cos the only people in there apart from us were new staff, and people that knew them... So left there and decided next stop was Dan Murphy's for a couple of bottles to enjoy in the warmth and comfort of home.

Liquourland had a special on $17 Jamiesons Run wines - 2 for $20! Woah! So grabbed 6 bottles before they realised that should have been 2 for 30, took off home feeling very good about my bargain basement booze.

Sat around listening to music, quaffing our cut price tipple... 1am, Jane decides to invite a friend around to join us... lovely. He arrives - no money. I had to go down stairs to pay for the cab. A further 30 minutes of chatting, and by 2am, we were sufficiently spastic to disturb the neighbours with our babble and so relocated to my bedroom which is blessed with shared walls.

Big mistake.

Within seconds, Jane flings her glass across the room, across my brand new white doona cover and pillows, across the silver grey carpet, and (which I discovered with total horror the next day) across 3 of my hot AG shirts...

The terror must have been too much for me. I then passed out.

Saturday morning, I cleaned up, threw out the trash, then disposed of the empty bottles etc... Never again. No class, no room... mean, ruthless, but definitely necessary.

I had just 2 hours to clean myself up, as I was heading to my FIRST live footy game! Sydney Swans against Hawthorn Hawkes. It seemed fitting that my first live game be not only my home team, but against my mothers team... needless to say, Swans kicked the Hawkes collective butts.

I have never seen my mother in the way I saw her that day. I saw sheer unadulterated hatred in her eyes. Her pure abhorrence terrified me. I could see that woman was capable of ripping a chair out of its concrete foundations... such was her passion for the 'almighty hawkes'... Personally, it made no sense... her passion didn't help them. Losers... :o)

Roses (not) Only...

So much happened yesterday, that this is gonna seem like a roller coaster ride...

So hang on, hold tight...

Early morning, I get this call from the concierge in the lobby of my work. "Sir, we have a parcel down here for you." I was expecting some software from JD, so thinking that's what it was, I went down to collect it. Nope, no software... it was a bloody big box from Roses Only.

So I take it back upstairs to my desk, with my whole department watching... "Ooh! Aah! Ooh!" "I never get roses!" "What did you do to deserve these? Put out?" Jealous bitches. So opened it up...

A dozen huge long stemmed red roses, a teddy bear, chocolates... and a card - not signed.

I knew who it was from, but I alluded to a secret admirer, just to keep everyone excited...

Roses, teddy bear, chocolates (which I can't eat!). JD is making it harder and harder to keep saying no.

I haven't talked about JD before - but I will leave it for another time.

So flowers aside, the rest of Wednesday was one of the most emotionally traumatic work days you could possibly ever have. Only one work day more traumatic, and that's getting fired...

It was training day. And not just any old training - that's generally not very traumatic - that's right folks, I am talking about... Role Play.

It was the second session of 4 hours of "how to be a better relationship manager" training... our hosts, Darren & Bruce. Bruce you might remember as the tall dark haired cop from Home & Away a few years ago... well, he now works for a company which provides "behavioural change programs empowering individuals, teams and organisations to achieve their full potential..."

Yeah... and you know what? You're right... We all thought the same thing...

So anyway, 4 hours of role play. Standing up in front of people, and improvising as only a true actor can... but we, as non actor folk, had to also do. We had to learn about how to communicate effectively, and stop using barrier words, and how to get results from open questions as opposed to closed questions.

Ultimately it was all about stepping outside your comfort zone... well, I didn't step out of it... I was thrown head first.

In my last role play episode, or should I say fuck-up, I just couldn't do it anymore. I was nervous, I was sweating, I thought I was going to throw up. So I am called up for my turn and the thing is I am generally a fairly quiet speaking person (unless I am drunk...) and knowing I am quiet, Bruce uses that as an opportunity to discuss how we should change our tone and volume to ALIGN ourselves with the person to whom we are speaking. And he chooses to do it in a soft, almost feminine voice... Like he was talking to a scared little 5 year old child. So I snapped at him... "I can see how changing your voice to suit could work, but to me I am finding you just a little condescending".... mhmm...

So moving on, I was so fucked up they basically had to coax me through the whole thing... and when I had finished, they applauded and congratulated me for "stepping totally out of my zone"... Yeah... what I wanted to do right then was step totally on his zone... the one surrounding his head.

I was an absolute mess. I sat down and all I could do was watch the clock.
Tick...
Tick...
Tick...
5pm came and I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

I swear if NCS sends me to another one of those sessions I will sue for mental anguish...

So being the fragile petal that I can sometimes be, I go back to work, bitch for 30 minutes with everyone else who had been dragged through the process earlier, picked up my gorgeous big box of roses, and headed home. Via Dan Murphy's. Me, my roses, some yummy soy cheese and crackers, and Cyn. Perfect way to wind down after a very emotional day.

Well, it got me thinking. It's been almost a year since I left Mark. And 6 months since Dean.

What was I so afraid of? I have spent 6 months saying NO. My determination to have a year without the stresses and dramas of a boyfriend? To what end? What really was the purpose. And it dawned on me... I'm scared. I'm scared of fucking things up again. I'm scared of getting it all wrong and hurting someone else. I have been making a point of not getting attached to anyone.

I have also spent the past 12 months regretting and hating what I did, and I needed some closure. I needed to be told that it was OK. We all make mistakes. I wanted to be told by one person in particular. And I wanted him to tell me that he is happy now. Most of all I needed to tell him how sorry I was. So I called Mark. He told me that it was OK, that yes people do make mistakes, and we learn from them. And most importantly, he told me that he was happy.

So where does that leave me? I feel relieved. I feel like I have been forgiven. I think I don't need to spend a year building this shield around me. And I don't need to keep pushing people away.

Maybe not quite time to let someone in, but we'll see what happens.

As if I never left....

So was thinking, since I have done bugger all blogging for the past month... it would be too hard to go back through and fill in the missing weeks... so I am going to pretend that I never stopped! :o) But first let me just recap...

Moved to Prahran. Love it here. Apartment is hot. Settled finally. Love it, love it, love it. :o)

Ok, so...

Good sleep again. Unusual considering we ate dinner at 8.30... Our first proper dinner we cooked since we moved in... And it being my favourite dinner, makes it doubly special :o)

A night of firsts actually. Finally getting the wall units finished, first cooked meal at home, and first unexpected phone call...

Sounds weird huh, but actually the whole time we have been there we have only had like 5 phone calls... and they were all us just messing with the new phones :o) not that we have no friends... just that we hadn't yet given out the number to anyone.. just parents...
So it was so funny, we were eating dinner, watching TV, and the phone rang, and we both thought it was on the TV, then we looked at each other like "what’s that noise?" and realised it was the phone... so funny...

Excited about the wall unit... I put together the final parts myself cos Dom was in the bedroom with his friend Mark working on his new wardrobe and drawers... it looks so cool. We decided what was going in it and everything. One part of it is perfectly laid out to use as a bar, complete with space for a 20 bottle wine rack and everything :o) so we are pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

Work sucked today.

In a team of 10, 4 were away. and the work I was looking after was really complicated, and I think the person whose work it was had 'planned' to be sick today, cos most of what I did came in on Friday and he had sent stupid questions back to the clients in an effort to delay response... cos he knew someone else would look at it for him on Monday... grrrr so anyway, I ended up walking out with the shits at 6.

My friend Darien came over for dinner and drinks on Saturday night. Sweet guy... when you get to know him... When he arrived, we wandered down to Dan Murphy's to grab a few bottles of wine, then stopped at a Nepalese restaurant to grab some food... at home, ate, drank, drank, drank, talked, listened to Cyndi (a fellow cyn-ophile! yay!) argued about what constitutes being a racist... the boy has serious issues I think... his whole opinion was weird, so weird that I really can’t explain it... so will leave it there... :o)

Anyway, Dom couldn't cope with the in your face discussion style and went to his room... After a while when Darien and I had finished off the bottles of wine, we shared a little choof. Oh - I have discovered that’s what they call it down here... well, at least the people who have heard me say "gonna choof now, see ya later!" in other words "head off / go / leave"... but after a few giggles, I now know what it means here...

Anyway, so after that, ridiculously smashed (doesn't take much for me anymore!), opened a bottle of sparkling, half a glass, bed, dead.

Definitely have to hang out more often - he's a lot of fun... once you get used to his humour, and his attitude... ha ha ha :o)

Good times...

Oh, one last thing... Andy, Craig, Baz, Pauly, Dove, Dionne, Hamish, Drew, Penny, Shane, Johnny, Mikey, Gav, Lu, Rob, Ken, Mario, Matt, Mark... and the rest :o)... Miss you... Talk to me soon!

Its catch up time...

OK, God... have I got a lot of catching up to do... I won't do it all in one post, since it will bored you all to tears.

So I have moved out of Hell's Corner now, well, 10 days ago. And guess what... furniture arrives today. Ya... Here's the story...

I booked CITYMOVE removal's. I did an online quote, and based on the fact that my storage unit is 20 cubic metres, but i was only using about 3/4 floor space and very little of the height, I guestimated 10 cubic metres. So the quote said $800. Bargain.
Site also said, backloads take 1-7 days to deliver. No problem. We were moving on the Saturday, and pick up was Friday. Since it is Sydney to Melbourne, should only be a few days, right? Wrong.

So rang up to arrange pick up - the guy says, $100 for living in apartment. OK, thats fine. Then he says Insurance is extra - $200 for up to $15,000. OK - now total is on $1,100...

I asked him about the time it takes, and he says - 'if you want me to tell you what day it will arrive, that will be another $350. Otherwise, we will let you know the day before...' Now, normally I LOVE surprises... just not on this occasion... but since I didn't want my costs to blow out anymore than they already had, I let that one go... I can organise the time off work when it does arrive...
So I ask about the general time, since it was Sydney to Melbourne... obviously a pretty common transport route... 'Yeah, less time than most other deliveries, so probably just a few days'.

No problem. That means move in my few boxes I moved to Melbourne with, and a few nights sleeping on the floor... not too hard to deal with.

So Friday they go to my storage place and collect my stuff. Pauly meets them there to be the removalist overseer... They tell him at the end of it all, that they agree, its about 10m3. Excellent.

So Monday comes... nothing. Tuesday comes... nothing... Thursday... nothing. So I call them.

'Oh, you need to give us $350 more. Your stuff came to 12.5m3' WHAT THE FUCK???

So I proceeded to have an all out argument with them on the phone. The guy was as arrogant and snide as they come. 'So basically you are telling me that you are not going to deliver my stuff until I pay you more money, right? You are holding my things while you extort more money out of your customer.... Is that how you guys do business?'

'UMMM, YEAH I GUESS SO'

WHAT THE FUCK?? I was so angry I was actually yelling through the phone at him. I was FURIOUS. Most people can vouch for me... I rarely raise my voice unless I am seriously drunk and getting over excited... but everyone in my department could hear me and I was inside a quite room...

So basically, even though when they picked up they confirmed the space, 10m3, they decided it wasn't enough and I had to pay more.

Worst part was, they left it a whole week to tell me this... AND my stuff was still sitting in Sydney!!! The explanation for the delay? 'Oh, the guy who does that stuff wasn't in for a few days...'

I can't begin to explain how angry I was... It was something out of a Today Tonight segment...

So I had no choice, pay the extra money, or I don't get my stuff. So I paid it. The guy says that it will be loaded on Sunday (9 days after being picked up) - and will be in Melbourne on Tuesday. I organise with work to get Tuesday & Wednesday off work.
Monday night comes, no phone call confirming delivery time... so I ring them.

'Oh, there is a two day delay with the deliveries from Sydney to Melbourne... So your things won't arrive until Thursday.'

I think it finally sent me over the edge... the3 veins were popping out of my temples, and I just couldn't talk anymore... I just hung up the phone silently... walked in a daze around the apartment... It was all very surreal... I was so calm and quiet that I (and Dom) thought I had finally snapped...

So went back to work on Tuesday. Get a phone call from them at lunch time. 'You are scheduled for tomorrow - between 1 & 5.'

And you wanna know what had me in hysterics yesterday? They actually sent me this email :

Citymove Service Survey
As a follow up service to your recent relocation with Citymove, we would like to offer you the opportunity to express your opinion on the general service you received.
In the best interests of our clients we are always improving our service to offer a budget price at a quality level. Your referrals are the only way to keep advertising costs down and allow for such good value. Your feedback keeps our service worth referring and that is important to us and our future clients.
Please take the time to complete the survey by clicking the link below, and help others have "The Complete Worry-Free Citymove"
Thankyou for taking the time to complete our survey.
Regards,
Citymove

Hahahahah - as soon as my stuff is here, I will be happy to fill it out... :op

So to finish up this post...

CITYMOVE removals - citymove.com.au : THE WORST REMOVALIST EVER. I have made it my lifes goal to make sure no one I know ever gets screwed by these guys. The most unprofessional, rude, useless, dodgy, dishonest removal company - ever.

So if you ever use them - don't say I didn't warn you.

On a lighter note - my stuff is coming today! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Mini Update

God, I have soooooo much to catch up on. Moved, still waiting for furniture... bastard removalist... that will be a post on its own.. and you just cant miss that one... no internet at home, thats another story again... and really not in the mood to sit here in a cafe and write it all out... and thats another story! ha ha ha so anyway, will try and get to it the next few days...

36 hours to go....

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! That's all I can say right now...

Countdown is on...

60 hours... eeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Going through the motions...

My last post (Woof...) was done in the middle of the most weird arse drunken episode...

Let me explain.

Sunday - I was supposed to go to a work 'family day' at Melbourne Zoo, Parkville. I woke up, and it was cold and raining... bugger that...

Mum and Russ were going to the footy, so it was gonna be an empty house from lunchtime... to fill in the time headed out to Northlands with my sis for some perving and shopping. Nothing to report out there... as expected.

Home at 3, nice and quiet... what to do, what to do... broke out the bottle of organic vodka (thanks craig!)I got for my birthday (which I will add, most people forgot)...

Pumped up the stereo, and danced around the house.

Somehow I managed to polish off the whole bottle, leaving myself in a pretty ridiculous mess...

Whenever I am drunk, I end up going over the past 12 months - what I did, who I hurt, etc etc. Although I have dealt with it now, it still creeps out every now and then. I am sure everyone has been there, done that.

So the last blog entry was me going through the motions...

:o)

woof...

Sometimes i feel like i am chasing my tail...



After 4 months, why do I still feel like I am losing something? Fuck....

Saturday morning... now what?

So actually got to have a look at the apartment yesterday... yeah... accepted "sight unseen"... :o) Well, DT and I had been looking at so many places for so long, we both knew exactly what we liked, and our tastes were the same. And since there had been a zillion places looked at after this one and it still held up as a good option by DTs point of view, then I was comfortable with it.

So anyway, took an extended lunch yesterday to check it out just to make sure, and it was HOTTER than the pics. So excited... Great living space, floating polished wood floor, sexy bathroom, stainless steel kitchen. My room has 3 double built in wardrobes... perfect for my upcoming frantic re-stocking (due mostly to my mass wardrobe culling before I moved to Melbourne). Plus since I hate clutter, plenty of places to stuff everything out of sight. :o)

Every Saturday has been up at dawn, to travel to the city to embark on what over time became a droll and depressing flat hunting expedition... So this morning, it was sleep in, up late, slow start, and now I have no idea what to do with my morning. Toast, coffee, read the paper... I have actually forgotten what I used to do on Saturdays... So I am gonna head into the city to catch up with DT (can't break the habit, I guess!) Check out furniture, and imagine how hot our place will be when we are in there... :o)

Eyecandy

About time... Part II :o)

Finally... I have an apartment! Yay! Hot apartment just off Chapel St, close to everything, shopping, bars, cafes, restaurants... but the best thing... GOODBYE HELL'S CORNER!!!!!!

Moving next weekend, then life can go back to normal...

And that will also mean I will finally have crap to say in my blog again... it's all gone a bit stagnant... there's only so much of Hell's Corner I can write about :o)

About time...

After chatting for a month or so, met up with Darien on Saturday night. Not really a date, but kind of a date... if that makes sense.

Arranged to meet up at Jam Factory on Chapel St, for something to eat and a movie.
We met up at Bogarts, a cigar bar... a couple of drinks and a good chat later, we decided to try a cigar. Never had one before, so it was kinda cool. Hate smoking, but technically it's not smoking is it? Well, you don't inhale, you just 'shallow drag' and appreciate the tastes... right??? :op

We talked for ages. We had never met before, but chatted on line often, and had spoken on the phone a few times. But we got along like old friends.

After drinks, we decided against a movie and chose to go for dinner at a restaurant at St Kilda. Drive to St Kilda Baths to park, and suddenly decided that Luna Park was the way to go... :o) So like a couple of silly kids, all excited, took off for Luna Park. $37 unlimited rides passes, and we were set. One thing missing... What better way to start a night like this? McDonalds...

Back over to Luna Park, ride after ride after ride... got to say, the ghost train was possibly THE lamest ride ever. It was actually so bad, that if it was pay per ride, I would have demanded a refund... the rest of it was great though. It was just so much fun to be a big kid - and it was even better to be a big kid with someone who was happy to be a big kid too. It's been a long time...

After the park closed we walked around a bit, sat down at the pier, talked about boys, ex's etc... some major revelations - I even surprised myself. So much came out that made sense. 12.30am, it was time to head home. Darien gave me a lift all the way back to Hell's Corner, even though he lives equal distance in the opposite direction. Sweet. It was a great night - maybe we will do it again one day.

If it had been the right time... who knows... but for now, a new friend.

Good times...

sounding stupid...

write, delete, write, delete, write, delete.... at least 10 times on the train ride home, more since i have been home... everything i was trying to write just sounded stupid...

How slack have I been....

Really haven't had much to blog about this past few weeks... I think since starting work...

Anyway, second week of work was good... busy as all hell... so the honeymoon period only lasted a week! But good thing is, I don't mind the stress - I kinda feed off it, so I always work well under a bit of pressure.

Enough about work...

Saturday, got up at 6am, to go flat hunting... again... it's getting kinda depressing... spending every weekend out flat hunting, and not getting any closer to finding a place and moving. So most real estates were closed for the long weekend, and the one place we did get to see was nasty... 2 storey 2 bedroom townhouse. Sounded nice, good location, good price. Got there, it was nasty - it looked like housing commission...

Met up with Dom Saturday night for a couple of drinks at Candy Bar on Greville St, Prahran. That couple of drinks ended up a whole night out... Diva, Heavens Door, XChange... Met up with Woz, Tan, Vin & Adam. Good times... Crawled home at 8am...

Good Times...

Oh, the reason for the drinks on Saturday night - Sunday was my birthday. So for all those who forgot...



Ha ha ha... just kidding... maybe...

So Sunday I was totally buggered, and not in the good sense. No time for sleep, since the family were all coming over for BBQ... By Sunday night I was shattered - 12 hours sleep... Noice...

First week over...

So, I'm over my little episode the other day... it's funny how many people asked if I found out who it was... Well, no, I didn't find out. But I really wasn't expecting them to show their face, so I guess it doesn't matter anyway! :o)

So moving along...

Finished my first week in the new job. The week went really well. So easy. People are fun. Everything was great. Actually looking forward to my next week!

We all finished the week with drinks at Marrakesh on Bank Place. Great place, like a series of caves draped with reds and golds, funky house music, great people, 2-for-1 Stella!!!

It's funny, one week at work, and I was already experiencing my workmates at their drunken best... ha ha ha. I think I behaved myself quite well... and ended up having to 'come out' to a few of them. They had no idea...

Anyway, I'm off. Suffering a cold this weekend, so just lazing around. Unfortunately, the human megaphone is visiting again (D+D you may recall)... but it's all good... I just stop and remember that I will be gone from here in just a matter of weeks. April 20 is my goal.

Looking at an apartment on Toorak Rd tomorrow. Hot, 2br, 2 minutes from Sth Yarra station and trams, Chapel St, Commercial Rd... Finger's crossed!!!