Moved house again!

Quick blog post - just to let you all know that I have moved house! This one I will be in for at least 6 months, possibly longer. It's right on the coast in Cottesloe (one of the more affluent areas), and the view from my house goes right out onto the beach. I will post some pictures when I am done unpacking stuff.

Long time no see

So it has been another long while since my last blog post - mainly because very little has actually happened. Actually, to be fair, quite a bit has happened in this last week. Most of it to do with me spending money.

I got my tax return which I had intended on saving most of, but I ended up paying a fair bit out on bills and rent, and also paying for my new phone. Oh, and buying some new clothes. And some more new clothes.

On the bright side my income will be increasing since I just got myself a job at the Leftbank pub, working as a glassie (click the link and have a look around!). Hopefully this will go well and I can get a few more hours in, rather than just on sundays. We shall see. It's a pretty damn nice place, perhaps not to work, but the times I've been there before as a customer it was good - from what I can remember that is.

In other news, my housing situation is up in the air at the moment. I had anticipated in moving into a house on marine parade, but Simon's housemate has already told his brother that he can move into Simon's room instead. Which clearly causes some problems. I'm hoping that Simon manages to explain my situation, in that I need a house to live in, I wouldn't just be room sitting for 5 months. Anyway we will see what happens, I can always try and find somewhere else to live.

That pretty much sums up everything for the last month - I was out for dinner tonight and happened upon a second hand bookshop. Lo and behold I found some Robert E. Howard books that I hadn't even heard of before! For those of you that don't know he wrote the Conan books (hence Conan the Australian) and is my favourite author. Needless to say I bought the books, but I won't be reading them until I have finished my current book.

Bye for now, I'm off to bed.

The process begins

What's been happening recently? Lots!

A couple of weeks back I went back to the UK to visit family and friends, as many of you probably know. I had an awesome time, if not slightly hectic. Having my nice 18 hour flight + timezones, getting home and going out to the pub the next night after catching up with family, and continuing the trend most days of the week. It was lucky I received compensation for my nose, it funded my holiday and I spent an ungodly amount of money! Shopping with Mum, hanging out with mates, going on a road trip with Dad - very productive holiday I think.

The latter part of my holiday was spent at a music festival, Sonisphere. It was incredible, mainly because of the guys I was there with, we had an awesome time and drank lots of beer, albeit warm. WARM! Anyway, the bands were incredible, highlights of the festival were Skunk Anansie who definitely had one of the most entertaining live performances - their singer is crazy! Also Alice Cooper was good, had a very amusing stage show, I think he died about 5 times. Rammstein, who were the band I was most looking forwards too, were also very good, although they had to cut their set short by an hour. This was due to people being trampled at the front (apparently) so that was very disappointing. Oh well, maybe they'll come to Australia.

Now I'm back in Australia (seems like I never left) everything is pretty much the same. Main news is that I'm applying for University now - hopefully getting into the University of Western Australia. I slightly misunderstood the application process, which I will now clear up for the rest of you. I was under the impression that I had to apply for 4 different subjects, similar to the A-Level structure. What it actually is, is 8 units, and they recommend that you take 4 units from 2 different subject areas (effectively doing 2 degrees if you followed it through). This makes things a lot easier, since I am hoping to do either Psychology or Philosophy. I sent my certificates off today to the office and hopefully they will send them back with some good news. I have no idea how long this process takes.

Anyway, I must be off, I have an early start at work tomorrow - damn these infernal sales, they never end!

New house

So, the move has been completed and I am settled in to my new house, albeit rather chilly. In fact, I woke up this morning and the house was freezing. I went outside and found that it was actually warmer outside my house than it was inside. You can imagine what it's like at night. That's by the by anyway, it's an awesome house. I love it! It helps that I've got a huge TV set up in the lounge, and a bar fridge right next to the sofa.

It definitely has been lived in - about three of the doors actually shut properly, the other ones can be slightly wedged in the frame, or have to be held in position by rocks. There is fake brick on (part of) the rear of the house which is hilarious, and the front foundation wall has fallen over so the balcony is wonky. There's no inside toilet (dunno if I mentioned this before), and there's a big shed in the back which contains most of the unused furniture.

The garden is an overrun mess, both in the front and rear - however there's a nice collection of half-rotted post in the front garden. The interior walls are fairly sturdy though. Overall it's a good house, considering the location and price ($300 p/w for 6011!!).

Click here for photos

Jumping ship

So, in two weeks time I am moving house. To which house I am unsure of at the moment, but I am sorting this out next week. Hopefully. My current housemate Gareth also needs a place to stay, and since he is a FIFO worker he is going to apply for the lease and pay the bond. I'll just be the housekeeper and we'll split bills and rent 50/50. There seem to be a few places fairly local to here for around $250-350 per week, so between two of us this should be fine.

I shall take photos of the house that we get so you can all see my new house! It'll be a big effort moving though, I've managed to claim some furniture, but I'll need to buy sets of cutlery, pots and pans and God knows what else. Should probably make a list. I've already got myself an iron and ironing board, so I'll still look good even if I have nowhere to keep food and nothing to eat it with.

So half of 2010 is gone!

Seems to have gone by rather quickly too. It feels like it was just yesterday that I arrived in this country, and now 8 months have gone by and I'm halfway through 2010! How time does fly.

Finances seem to be the main topic of the last week or so. Everybody is after my money! I have to pay a contribution to have the house professionally cleaned since we are moving out, which is fair enough I guess - not that I spend enough time here to make a mess as it is but that's by the by. The mechanic wanted $750 to fix my car, after charging $115 to have it serviced. The service on the car was fine but I'm not paying out more than half the price of the car to have it fixed. Apparently I can fix most of the problems myself anyway. I'm also having to pay out money for things that I'll be needing when I move out, such as an iron and ironing board. Not sure quite what else I'll need yet, but I've got a couple of weeks to find out. Hopefully 'semi-furnished' means that there's a fridge where we are moving to.

That's another point, it's not definite that we (Gareth and I) are moving into this place in Cottesloe yet. I hope we are though, since it's in a good location for work, and jogging too. Speaking of which, I went for a decent jog up and down the beach today. Very nice.

Not much else to report other than I'm BLOODY EXCITED about going to this music festival. I cannot wait. Can. Not. Wait.

COME ON JULY!

Done and dusted!

I went for my 14km run today! Lots of fun, even though I managed to get a blister on my foot. Thankfully the rain held off and we had a fairly clear run. I got up at 6am this morning to get ready (after going to bed at about 9pm oddly enough). Drove up to the street that it was on, hopped out and let Orlando drive my car home. Which was lucky because he filled up the radiator fluid for me.

Anyway, start of the race was slow, since everyone was packed into a small area, but once we were out on the road things picked up a bit. It took me about 15 minutes to find the right pace, but once I was there I was motoring along. I ended up completing the run in about 1h 15m ish - can't remember exact time. But I am satisfied with the time, and I really sped up towards the end, perhaps the last 5km, since I found I had lots of energy left and there wasn't far to go. It was extremely satisfying too, running past everybody - whereas at the beginning of the race it was me who was being run past!

I guess the advice that you shouldn't start off at such a fast pace paid off, since I maintained a regular pace throughout the whole run.

Anyway, now I'm back I have to mow the front lawn, edge it and pull up all the weeds between the paving slabs. House inspection on tuesday, so it has to look pristine.

Pictures of me before the race here and here

New shoes!

Bought myself another pair of shoes yesterday. I've spent like $350 on shoes this month, it's worth it though. The work shoes are nice and comfortable and the most recent addition are my running shoes. I went into a sports shop and got some expert advice on what sort of running shoe I need. They're pretty much perfect for my feet, supporting them properly and allowing good airflow.

Pictures: #1 #2 #3 #4

Charitable stuff!

So, the biggest news as of late is that I have decided to join the HBF Run for a reason. It's a fundraising run that goes from East Perth, in a loop, through a tunnel (which they are shutting off from traffic) and ends up back in East Perth. Since I have never been in a run before, I thought I should start out small and go for the 14km run. Perhaps in the future I might venture out and try a marathon, but for now I'll keep it simple. If anybody would like to sponsor me, here is the link:

http://www.everydayhero.com.au/conantheaustralian

I also joined another charity recently, called friends of the bush. I got talked into joining by one of those people in the street, but I am satisfied. I tried to offer my services but it doesn't seem feasable unless you apply for a job on one of their ranges, so for now I will have to donate every month instead.

Other than this rather charitable news, not much else has happened. I bought a new pair of work shoes (which seems to have done wonders) and also gave myself a haircut again. It's a little better this time round. Also after being paid rather a lot at work, I finally paid off my computer debt and now can focus on saving up money for when I return to the UK so I can pay off Mum and Dad!

We just had mothers day over here, which I found amusing since mum gets to have two mothers' days a year now.

It's haircut time!

See here

I dun it myself! Should save me a few $$$ each month.

More money please!

I handed in another of my CV's to a pub/restaurant in Fremantle called Little Creatures. They brew the majority of their own alcohol and it's a pretty quirky place (apparently they only hire weird people). I mainly applied for the job (assuming they have some) because I do want to experience some bar work and it's also a good way to meet people. Would also give me some extra money, which would be useful since I seem to owe rather a lot of money.

No matter, life goes on. I do need to book a couple of driving lessons though, to touch up on my parking and maneuvering before I take my test. Driving in general is a breeze, just need to get those handy tips that could make the difference between pass and fail (2nd gear, foot off of clutch and break for corners?). I don't know, hence why the lessons.

Only three months to go until I'm back in the UK for crazy party times (and seeing the family!) - all very exciting and can't wait to go. I do need to save up some money though before I go, so I'm not scrounging every last penny. If the exchange rate stays the same I'll be laughing, it's bloody cracking at the moment.

Just spent the evening trying my hand at Adobe Premiere - a video editing program. Never before used one, but managed to get the swing of it after about half an hour. Trial and error is the way forwards, especially with computers! Once I have finished editing these videos and have uploaded them to youtube, I shall link everyone - they are awesome videos.

Looooooooooooong update

Not updated for a while, been lazy I guess. What's been going on for the last month you ask? Well, let me see.

Job has been going good. We've had a change of commission structure so I earn money based more on turnover rather than profit, so sell sell sell is the motto at work now. Which is good, because it's much easier to sell when you're not too fussed about losing commission. I've found that I also enjoy talking to people. Just random customers who come into the shop, having a chat while they're looking to buy something - it also helps sales when they like you, which is all the better for me. I'm also thinking about looking for a second job in a bar somewhere, so I can earn some extra money after work. Hopefully it will be cash in hand so I always have some money on me, which means I can leave the money in my account alone. Which isn't much - I have about $9.22 to my name right now. Thankfully rent is due on payday so all is good.

Still in debt, although it's getting paid off fairly quickly. I borrowed $2k, I don't know if I mentioned before, but I spent it all on components for a super awesome computer, and it certainly is super awesome. Also in debt to my parents, they graciously paid for one of my plane tickets back to the UK later this year. I'm off to the music festival Sonisphere - and apparently lots of my mates are going too but I have no idea who. Anywho, it should be amazing since the lineup is truly epic - even seeing Rammstein on their own would be crazy, their pyrotechnics are insane not to mention the awesome music. I'll also get to pick up the rest of my things when I return, making my move to Australia final! I can offload my CD collection to Liam (who I'm sure doesn't have the space), and drink my Sloe Gin that I've been brewing since I left. I also plan on stocking up on a few bottles of wine because there are a few that I can't get hold of over here that I quite like.

I'm also going to be moving house abouts the middle of July - the landlady here is going to end the lease and move elsewhere, so that leaves Orlando, possibly Gareth and I to find somewhere new to live. Which is fairly exciting I must say. Not sure where exactly we might move to, but I'm hoping it's not too far from where we are the moment because I'm in a pretty good spot - not far from work, and when I go to Uni next year I'm right on the bus route too. Which leads to my next update! I'll be going to the University of Western Australia next year. I did want to just do Philosophy, but from what I've found out you have to do something similar to A-levels (structure-wise). So rather than doing only Philosophy, I'm going to have to do foundation units in Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology and a fourth subject. I'm tossing up between Linguistics (which interests me), and Anthropology, which will tie in a bit better with the other subjects. I've got until August to decide though, so that's a fair while. I can pick up my notes from my A-levels when I return in July which will help me study when I'm doing Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology.

Driving is going well. I think I'm a competent driver now, Orlando often gets me to drive him places and comments on what I'm doing wrong which helps - I now take corners at the correct speed and gear. I can change gear fine, and rarely stall. However I did stall the other day, and it was amazing! I managed to put it in neutral, switch the engine off, switch it back on, get back into gear and move off all in about two seconds! I felt like a rally driver or something, it was so damn quick. Anyway, I shouldn't be stalling as it is. All I feel like I need to do is book a couple of driving lessons to get my parking sorted and I should be good for my test. Which doesn't get me off my L-plates, only onto the logbook which I have to have for a couple of months, then I have to take a theory test, THEN I get my P's. They last for two years, and have certain constraints that you have to follow, like not driving after 10pm with other people in the car and other crazy things like this. Anyway, I'll get there in the end.

Not much else to report, which is good because that was quite a lot. I guess it builds up after a month.

05/03/10

So what's been happening? Not much to be honest. Work is the same as ever, however I've been given extra responsibility so I have a few more things to do in the shop. All good though, I do enjoy my job, however it's never-ending. But that's life I guess. I went to a few release nights of new products which was cool - I even won a DSLR bag at the Canon 550D release. It was pretty amusing when I went to pick up the bag, since I forgot to put my flip-flops back on and went up bare-footed. Which was ironic since I work at Peppermint Grove which is the richest suburb in Australia. There was some jibe which I didn't pick up on, but I guess that was the gist of it.

I've been debating whether to take out a small loan in order to get my computer sorted because I'm getting tired of trying to save up then having to pay out for things and being back where I started. There are a few options open to me, so I'll have to do a lot of thinking before I settle on anything, but the most likely option will be a loan though. Still need to save up for the plane ticket though, however I've got a few months so it should all be good.

In other news, I just got back from what I guess was the first date I've ever been on. However I am unsure whether to call it a date. Who knows. It was good fun though, had a good chat and a laugh and some nice food too. I am very tired though (from going to the gym) so I expect I will sleep well tonight. It's also a fairly cool temperature so that's good, it's been too hot to sleep recently, makes things a little difficult when it's 30 degrees at night.

Not much else to report, I'm off to watch Dexter (Damn it's a good TV show)

Wax on, wax off

So, I finally got my car today! I paid for it a while back but had to have bits fixed and it's just come out of the garage. Drives pretty well, now I just need to get back into the swing of driving so I can pass my test the first time through! I had planned on cleaning the exterior and interior today, however the interior will have to wait since I have run out of time and patience today. I spent a good three hours applying some sandpaper-esque substance to the bodywork to remove all the grime, gave it a general clean with some water then applied the wax. Now it looks nice and shiny parked down on the road outside the house.

It was quite a challenge reversing the car down the driveway though - it's only just wide enough for a car, and there's a brick letterbox on one side at the bottom. I think I did quite well to get it all the way down, then park it on the side of the road (albeit under a tree). Now all I need to do is pay the mechanic, pay the government, pay some insurance association and pay the RAC, and probably some other person who requires my money. I expect having the ability to drive will be worth it though.

Other, non-car related news - well, there isn't much. Work is going well, should be getting a few bonuses next week, and I have ordered my business cards and name tag! Cementing my place at work. It's actually a really enjoyable job, since all the guys I work with are great fun, and I'm working with computers which is another thing that interests me. I've been going to the gym every day after work and am feeling a lot better because of it. I managed to jog for a good 12 1/2 minutes the other day, which I've never been able to do because of my asthma. Seems like everything is getting better over here!

Not much else to report, now I must go and satiate my hunger.

Go time!

I've bought a car! It's a Hyundai Xcel - See picture here. Cost me $1250 which isn't bad, and it's gonna cost about another $500 for registration and fixing. Not bad for a first car, should last me a few years if I take good care of it. Richard and Dianne (the people who housed me for the first 4 weeks of my arrival) used to run a garage. A mechanic that they used to employ, and still retain a good friendship with, goes to car auctions, buys cars and sells them on after he's fixed them up - and he has done the same for me, except he's selling it for what he bought it at and I'm paying him for fixing it up. IT HAS AIRCON!! Pretty good aircon at that, we took it for a test drive and it was nice and icy in the car. I can't bloody wait to get started on this car driving business.

Not much else has happened besides that. I bought a $310 watch and then saw an actor on TV wearing the same watch! I bought a 5.1 surround sound set-up for $33, reduced from $199, so pretty stoked about that. See picture here. I also managed to make about $170 in commission last week, so that'll be a nice bonus when I get paid in a couple of weeks. Also, I signed up to the local gym and went to a Body Pump class (I am unfit I realise, or overdid it, one of the two). My legs are still aching and it was two days ago. Still, the more I do it the better it'll be. Got my first gym session with a personal trainer on monday after work.

Got a day off tomorrow, no idea what I'm going to do. Not much else to report.

Over and out.

Update

So it's been a while since I last updated my blog, I have been very busy.

I have settled well into my new job - the guys are all great fun to work with, the job itself is fun, and it helps that I'm selling things that I'm interested in and enjoy playing with. So the job is paying well and the rent isn't too steep, although I am having to rent two rooms so I have a place to stay when the resident of my current room returns. Once I've got enough money, which shouldn't be too long, I'm going to book a ticket to the UK so I can go to Sonisphere festival (provided Liam gets round to booking tickets).

Anyway, the place I'm staying at is good, my landlady (I guess that's what she is!) is awesome, she reads a lot of sci-fi/fantasy so I have about 5 years reading available to me. It's a 2 minute walk from the beach, which is a freakin' good beach too. Very sandy, so it's nice to go there and lie in the sun, and it gets very warm during the day. I spend most of my time inside though, since I work five days a week.

The police found my stolen bike, which was good. Amusing that they found it in a cash converters, but it's the most likely place for it to end up. I dunno if I mentioned in a previous entry that my bike got stolen - that's how long ago I last updated.

Christmas here was very odd, mainly because it was hot and it felt psychologically wrong to be walking around in shorts and t-shirt on Christmas day. New years was damn good though - I had free tickets to go to a Festival, which had some hip-hop acts, and some drum and bass and dubstep. Needless to say I went and saw all the D&B and Dubstep acts and they were bloody amazing. I did wander over to see Bliss & Eso but wasn't in the mood. Was a brilliant night out, can't wait to do something like that again.

We won a competition at work, so we have $1500 to spend on a night out, so we're gonna go to a restaurant in the evening, then spend the rest of the money on booze. Should be fun.

I have a wonderful day off tomorrow but I have no idea what I'm gonna do. Probably nothing, since it's such fun to do so.