Here it is. The one you've all been waiting for. Well, maybe.
Bascially yes it is the new year (hence previous blog) but more than that, it is now the Lunar new year. So Kung Hei Fat Choi for all those in the know.
In other news I have been particularly busy at work lately, but still have managed to fit in time to cook some pretty decent meals at home. Some such successes include spicy veal mince & beans, scotch fillet steak, piri piri chicken and a nice tomato/chicken/pumpkin pasta sauce with gnocchi.
Hmm what else has happened... well I was rudely shaken one night at 1:20am when the local Nando's decided to explode... that was a bit of a shock. I wasn't exactly asleep yet but apparently the explosion could be heard from as far as Mascot... which is a good 8~10km away.
Other things would be having to endure my neighbours having loud music. Now I don't usually mind it - in fact, this is the first time I've heard their music so I assume it was quite loud. Perhaps they were celebrating CNY in their... uh.. bedroom? Anyways, I soon discovered the volume was there to cover something else... something that no neighbour should have to listen to. Now I'm not talking about Britney Spears or really bad country music (Ok, sure, their choice of songs was fairly crude at best) however it was a bit more than that. Something a bit more... well... human. Ah well. Life *cough* procreation moves on I guess.
I've been working on some steps at my place with Dad over the past few weekends which has been really good. We usually manage to fit in some quality DIY time as well as heading down to the pool for a swim in the afternoon. I basically have 3 steps which you need to walk up when entering my apartment, and I'm really sick of the way they look. They are just carpeted and I don't think carpet works particularly well on steps. So my Dad managed to find some blackbutt hardwood flooring at the right price at work, so I now have that on my steps instead! I have stained it lightly with Jarrah stain (rubbing most of it off with turps makes they look really nice). What's left is a few pieces of trim to make the steps look finished and a bit of floor polish. I've decided to polish them as I think the effect will look nicer in the end as opposed to lacquer.
I've been dabbling a bit in VOIP lately... which makes me feel like turning into Pete and yelling out "VOIP"! However, it's quite nerdy to be excited over such a thing. So moving right along it works quite well. I'm able to download at the same time and the calls aren't affected at all. The quality is so good that people I talk to don't even know I'm using it - which is great! Mum was complaining Andrew's sounds like he is talking underwater, but this seems quite good. Perhaps there are some settings to be tweaked...
On the Australia Day weekend I went with Lachlan to Steve's Hottest 100 Barbie which was quite a lot of fun. I took along some mad steaks which ended up not too badly at all I must say. I'm not a big steak expert but I guess with some practice and the golden rule of turning them only once anything is possible. I was a bit surprised at the number one song - Muse - because apart from not really sounding a lot like Muse (well I think so... it sounded more like Space Rock and Queen fused) I guess it would've been nice to have something aussie! One consolation in a way is Silverchair getting 2nd, which I supposed pleased some not-so-big Silverchair fans.
Recently I have also put up my paintings from my Great aunt which happen to match the colours of my walls perfectly. They are such a good match I could put them in any room in my place (blue, green or purple room?) but I decided to keep them out of the bright sunlight so they last a lot longer.
At the moment I am attempting to find some vintage instruments but happening to live in Australia seems to work at cross-purposes to that effect. I mean, how hard can it be to find a Wurlitzer 200A or Vox Continental Combo Organ here? If anyone has any idea of what I'm on about... keep a lookout. I think that would leave just one reason to actually live in America. All other excuses are void.
Well that's about it for the moment apart from this Saturday I get to finally meet Truong's baby boy! His name is Aden and he is turning 1 month old. I guess that is splitting hairs just slightly but at least it's a good opportunity to visit him.
Until next year, happy blog neglectance.
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