Pretty Standard

I have been in Townsville for the past two weeks on a work placement, with one week left to go.  I’m put up at the pet friendly Robert Towns Comfort Inn that has a queen bed, sofa that I use to lay out my clothes I’ll never wear here, a couple desks and a tiny kitchenette.  I keep the air con at 25 degrees and Triple J playing quietly during the day for the hopeful comfort of my loyal companion, Benny the Pug.  I also leave the curtains open during the day in case he feels like watching the cars pass by.  I am quite certain however, by proof of a pug-shaped indent in my clothes left in my suitcase open on the floor, that he nestles in and sleeps most the day.   He’s such a good boy – never makes a mess or barks.  I get home each evening after work at about 615pm to the same routine – he greets me immediately at the door, little black pug face squeezing out impatiently as the door opens inwards.  He’s all squirmy and excitable – just like me....

I bought a diary today. I've just sat down and started writing in it, planning my next 90 days, and I finally had some inspiration to blog again. How great!! I've been going through a really transformative period (lots of ups and downs!) the last couple years, and I feel like it's finally all starting to come together. It's hard to explain the shift from feeling uncertain, unsatisfied, and unsure, to being confident, secure and certain, but when it happens, you feel it. You recognize the good things in your life and focus more on those, rather than the things that upset you. I feel more at peace. I have been taking a step back almost daily and reflecting on how far I've come, and feel like my hard work is finally paying off. Buying my unit a month ago seemed like such a necessity and logical decision, that I don't think I give myself enough credit for what a milestone it was. I've had a few milestones this year, and hope to hit a few more next yea...

Well, life strikes again. 11/5/13 11am - rehab coffee shop, Cairns. This morning I opened up Pretty Standard - to see if it still works! Yes, its been that long. Oct 2011 was my last post, talking about the Thanksgiving dinner I was preparing for my friends. I was excited about what the future held, inspired, confident, and marveling at the fact I had managed to get the permanent residency ball rolling. Now, a year and a half on, I am a permanent resident, and trying to regain my former self. The last year and a half have been a roller coaster, during which I managed to lose myself and hang onto a relationship I wasn't ready to give up on, even though I knew deep down it wasn't going to work out. I'm probably the first person on this planet to do this right??? Isn't it funny how we hang onto things we know aren't good. Coles notes: I met a guy, fell in love, moved in with him, did some traveling together, then hung around while slowly the relationship be...

8:30am, Saturday October 22nd. Blue skies are making their best effort to come out and shine for us today, however the clouds are definately lingering like a bad smell. It's been raining and storming all week - some welcome wet after a long dry spell. I am really hoping for more sun than rain today for my Thanksgiving dinner! I know my blogs have been few and far between recently; I blame work for this terrible injustice, draining my creative mental processes and all. But back to the hot topic du jour: today is the day for me to pull off the most thankful of all Thanksgiving dinners in all of Queensland. The idea struck me about 2 weeks ago when I saw all my Canadian friend's facebook status' about yummy turkey dinner etc, so I decided to have one here in Oz. How hard can it be? The fact I've never done one before, let alone for 11 people? No big deal. The fact that whole roast turkeys are about as easy to find here as the Yowie*, Bigfoot or Yeti? No big deal...

7:30pm, Wednesday September 7th. Sitting in the kitchen at the place I'm staying at in Freshwater, just north of Cairns. I have a green thai prawn curry simmering on the stove, with some fluffy quinoa to have on the side. Oh, and there's also a big glass of wine to my right with some Florance and the Machine soundtracking my night in. My roommate Bernie has gone to tennis so I'm home alone for a few more hours. Guess I haven't written for a month or so, so I have some catching up to do... Long story short, I have a job at Ireland's Mitsubishi/Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge as a service advisor working 7:30 - 5:30 Mon-Fri. It's a pretty good gig, although the management leaves a lot to be desired. I'm surrounded by a lot of winging (bitching) all day. All in all it's alright though - they're trying to have me stay longer but I've got to do some regional work to get the second year so we'll see how things pan out. (uh oh, this curry is too hot.....

10pm, Thursday July 21st. Finally said my goodbyes in Broome, and after a day on the road with Sasha our tour guide and just five other people, we've started the journey down to Perth. It feels a bit strange being away from Broome, but I am very excited about the next leg of my trip. Tonight, we're staying on Pardoo Station - a 500,000 acre chunk of land with about 8000 head of cattle roaming about. It's got a really nice vibe to the place - it is inspiring me to return to a cattle station down the road and see what I can get up to for work. The group seems really nice - I am thrilled that there is just six of us! The tour bus holds 20, so I've got a couple rows to myself which is just total luxury. Tomorrow will be a bit of a low key day - we'll be heading into Karijini National Park for 3 nights of camping around in gorges etc. I am really excited to see Karijini - everyone says how amazing it is! After Karijini we'll be heading towards Coral Bay and Exmouth w...