Well it has been over a month since my last update and a lot has happened since then. First of all I finally got a full time job! I started work last Monday and what a great time to start. I loved getting paid for my days off over the long weekend. My dad and my sister came to visit which was really nice. Then my friend Jason came over to Sydney over Easter and Sara and I got to attempt to show our knowledge of this city and did so poorly. The NBA and NHL playoffs are well under way and the MLB season has started. We still haven't got a place of our own yet but that will come soon I'm sure.
So life is good, well besides two minor gripes. First Sydney needs to lift it's game. It's so ridiculous. No one here excepts card and if they do there is a minimum spend or a surcharge. The other day I even got charged 20 cents for using my savings account.
The other is the AFL. There just isn't any. It's never on and if you can find it in a pub there is never any sound. For a city that actually has a pretty decent team it's a little disappointing. I knew it would be bad coming in but it's worse than I thought.
Anyway so they are very minors things and I'm sure in time I will either get over them or get so fed up that I will move to Melbourne, so only time will tell. Hope everyone is well and I'll be in touch soon.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Perth!
And other daily happenings...
So unless you have been living under a rock, which knowing some of you it may be a possibility, Sara has arrived in Sydney! She has been in Australia for over 2 weeks now and I am loving every minute of it. We had a brilliant Valentines Day and a great trip to Perth. Having had the opportunity to meet all Sara's family and friends over Christmas and New Year (and thoroughly enjoying it) I thought it was time for her to do the same. I was a little worried that it might scare her off but she was going to meet them at some point in the future so why not now? It was great showing Sara around the city I grew up in. Perth really is a fantastic place, there isn't much to do and I ran out of ideas of things to do 2 days into the trip but still, I love it. Sara got her first taste of cricket and Australian basketball which I think she enjoyed. I had a great time introducing her to everyone and I hope everyone that met her enjoyed getting to know her.
So on my last day in Perth it was agreed by everyone (except me) that I needed a haircut. So during an unusually weak moment I bowed to peer pressure (I'm not proud of myself) and went and got it chopped. It was an interesting experience. First the hairdresser said my hair was too thin, but I had too much of it. Then he said I have lots of moles, then he told me I have a massive bump on my head that makes it hard to style my hair. Well needless to say this did not help me overcome my need to stay out of hairdressing salons. So next time you see me expect my hair to be down past my shoulders, possibly tied in a pony tail.
Sara celebrated her birthday yesterday! We went into the city and then got the ferry out to Manly. We got rained on and spent a lot of time on stake out outside a church. The day ended well when we went into Baker's Delight for 2 chocolate hot cross buns and left we so much free stuff as they were closing the store and wanted to get rid off it. It was nice to spend a birthday together, in fact it was nice to spend most of Sara Normand month (February) together. I look forward to spending the rest of our birthdays together, hopefully with a little more spending money than this one, but we still had a great time!
This week my focus will be on regrowing my hair and the continuing search for a job. I do have a job but I don't really wont it long term and I'm not sure I will get consistent hours. Hopefully one of these days I will get a full time job, it really would make everything so much easier. As for Sara, it is her first day of uni today! I hope she enjoys her classes. So I wish her good luck and for everyone else returning to uni this week I hope it all goes well!
Happy Sara Normand month to everyone and Happy Birthday (American time) to Sara!!!
So unless you have been living under a rock, which knowing some of you it may be a possibility, Sara has arrived in Sydney! She has been in Australia for over 2 weeks now and I am loving every minute of it. We had a brilliant Valentines Day and a great trip to Perth. Having had the opportunity to meet all Sara's family and friends over Christmas and New Year (and thoroughly enjoying it) I thought it was time for her to do the same. I was a little worried that it might scare her off but she was going to meet them at some point in the future so why not now? It was great showing Sara around the city I grew up in. Perth really is a fantastic place, there isn't much to do and I ran out of ideas of things to do 2 days into the trip but still, I love it. Sara got her first taste of cricket and Australian basketball which I think she enjoyed. I had a great time introducing her to everyone and I hope everyone that met her enjoyed getting to know her.
So on my last day in Perth it was agreed by everyone (except me) that I needed a haircut. So during an unusually weak moment I bowed to peer pressure (I'm not proud of myself) and went and got it chopped. It was an interesting experience. First the hairdresser said my hair was too thin, but I had too much of it. Then he said I have lots of moles, then he told me I have a massive bump on my head that makes it hard to style my hair. Well needless to say this did not help me overcome my need to stay out of hairdressing salons. So next time you see me expect my hair to be down past my shoulders, possibly tied in a pony tail.
Sara celebrated her birthday yesterday! We went into the city and then got the ferry out to Manly. We got rained on and spent a lot of time on stake out outside a church. The day ended well when we went into Baker's Delight for 2 chocolate hot cross buns and left we so much free stuff as they were closing the store and wanted to get rid off it. It was nice to spend a birthday together, in fact it was nice to spend most of Sara Normand month (February) together. I look forward to spending the rest of our birthdays together, hopefully with a little more spending money than this one, but we still had a great time!
This week my focus will be on regrowing my hair and the continuing search for a job. I do have a job but I don't really wont it long term and I'm not sure I will get consistent hours. Hopefully one of these days I will get a full time job, it really would make everything so much easier. As for Sara, it is her first day of uni today! I hope she enjoys her classes. So I wish her good luck and for everyone else returning to uni this week I hope it all goes well!
Happy Sara Normand month to everyone and Happy Birthday (American time) to Sara!!!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
7 and a half months down, 16 hours to go...
One of the pros of being in a relationship with someone from another country is that they talk slightly differently (some would say more correctly) to you. Sara told me she had a dream that I dyed my 'bangs' yellow. As far as I knew your 'baby boy bangs' was an African rapper who resides in Melbourne and his interests include meeting you on facebook and taking you to da movies friday night, thats right (for anyone interested I have attached one of bangs' finest pieces of music at the bottom of this update). But no I was wrong, apparently bangs are the same as a fringe. Anyway I don't know if people in Australia call them bangs but I'd never heard of it. Little things, like this seemingly boring conversation, are what you miss out on when you are so far apart and are what I'm looking forward to in 16 hours time when Sara lands in Sydney.
It has been a busy week but my focus all week has been on 8.25 AEST on Saturday the 12th of Feb! Not sure if I will be able to sleep tonight but if I do I can guarantee that I will wake more excited than I have ever been in my life, like all my Christmases have come at once! 16 hours...
In the time we have been together we have only been together in America. I have had a great time in the states and I absolutely love it over there but I am definitely looking forward to being able to show Sara my home ground. It will be funny for her to be the one with the cool accent (mine was more weird than cool) and for me to be the one with the exotic girlfriend from miles away (not that I'm exotic either). I will be taking her to see my teams play and explaining sports to her and people will be asking her ridiculous questions about the American equivalent of Crocodile Dundee. It's definitely going to be a lot of fun.
This week I also started training for my new job at the Menzies hotel Sydney. Job training is always boring and this was no exception. The thing I find most interesting is listening to the people that are also being trained. On this occasion I had one guy making up stories about how he had by accident, organised for both his foreign supermodel girlfriends to come to Sydney on the same day and another trying to see if I knew some secret code for some secret society. I'm really not sure what I've gotten myself into here but at least I'll always be able to have a laugh, actually it is reminding me of my work with the Autism Association.
It has been a busy week but my focus all week has been on 8.25 AEST on Saturday the 12th of Feb! Not sure if I will be able to sleep tonight but if I do I can guarantee that I will wake more excited than I have ever been in my life, like all my Christmases have come at once! 16 hours...Also I forgot to add in my last blog that I am also a Lakers fan!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
To all the believers!
... and to all the non believers (especially you Tom Jackson)
Monday, January 31st, 2011
Well here I am writing a blog. I never thought I would ever do this in my life but then again I have had a lot firsts recently so it really should come as no surprise. I guess the aim of doing this is to give people a chance to keep up to date with my new life in Sydney now that we can no longer talk about our lives over a beer in Perth or America or wherever you may be reading this from. So by all means sit down with a beer or a coffee or a glass of straight bourbon and enjoy or laugh or shake your heads in disgust at my first ever blogging attempt. Also if you read something in this update that makes no sense whatsoever, it is more than likely a joke and I am not a complete weirdo, just a medium one.
Ok so what has changed in the 7 months that Sara and I have been dating? (Yes I still refer to it as dating even though for the most part we didn't go on any actual dates, just Skype dates) Well for one I now support the Cleveland Browns, the Cincinnati Reds, Chelsea FC and the UC Bearcats. I have begun to watch new TV shows like Modern Family, The Amazing Race, the Bachelor and Jersey Shore. It would also be remiss of me not to mention reading Twilight, no matter the damage it will do to my tough guy persona. But at the same time I did grow a pretty good beard so I hope that wins me a little respect back in the 'real man' department. I have traveled to Hawaii, Cincinnati, Athens, Orlando, Cleveland and Chicago. I have attended live NFL, NBA and college basketball games. I have ice-skated, decorated cookies and celebrated Xmas away from my family for the first time. I have lived away from my family and friends in Halls Creek where, if it wasn't for a few good people I wouldn't have lasted half as long as I did. And now I find myself in Sydney trying to find a job and a house for when Sara arrives in less than 2 weeks! To say I'm excited would be an extreme understatement just as it would be an understatement to say that I'll be a little annoyed if the Steelers win the Superbowl.
My first impressions of Sydney, amazing. Just a great place where there is so much to do and so much to see. I am lucky enough to have some people here who have taken me in and looked after me like family. That has made the move much easier on me. I am excited to start my life here and explore all the things that Sydney has to offer.
But most of all I am excited to actually be able to see my girlfriend in person, just like a regular couple should be able to do. I'm looking forward to taking Sara to see my sports teams play, although I am also stuck with the unfortunate task of trying to not only explain cricket to an American but also trying to trick her into liking it. She once told me Michael Hussey was good at standing on the popping crease, so I definitely have my work cut out. I look forward to showing her my country, just as she has shown me around hers. Australia really is a beautiful place and I think sharing it with someone that doesn't live here will make me appreciate it even more. I look forward to watching the final Harry Potter movie with Sara when it is released, probably another X in the tough guy department so I may have to grow a beard similar to Hagrids to make up for it. I look forward to driving her insane with incredible amounts of John Mayer blasting 24/7 so that she has no choice but to learn all the words and sing along. And last but by no means least I look forward to our families and friends visiting us in Sydney.
My visit to Perth last weekend was a lot of fun. It was great to see everyone again and see that not much has changed. I hope I haven't changed too much either. It's nice to know that you can be gone for such a long period of time but when you return your family and friends make it feel like you never left in the first place. There were a lot of highlights but the conversation about Oolong certainly takes the cake. So I will leave you as I started, with some wise words from Jets LB Bart Scott. See you in Sydney?...
JD
(ps if anyone would like to explain to octavius what a blog is that would be muchly appreciated, although he may disown me after reading this...)
Monday, January 31st, 2011
Well here I am writing a blog. I never thought I would ever do this in my life but then again I have had a lot firsts recently so it really should come as no surprise. I guess the aim of doing this is to give people a chance to keep up to date with my new life in Sydney now that we can no longer talk about our lives over a beer in Perth or America or wherever you may be reading this from. So by all means sit down with a beer or a coffee or a glass of straight bourbon and enjoy or laugh or shake your heads in disgust at my first ever blogging attempt. Also if you read something in this update that makes no sense whatsoever, it is more than likely a joke and I am not a complete weirdo, just a medium one.
Ok so what has changed in the 7 months that Sara and I have been dating? (Yes I still refer to it as dating even though for the most part we didn't go on any actual dates, just Skype dates) Well for one I now support the Cleveland Browns, the Cincinnati Reds, Chelsea FC and the UC Bearcats. I have begun to watch new TV shows like Modern Family, The Amazing Race, the Bachelor and Jersey Shore. It would also be remiss of me not to mention reading Twilight, no matter the damage it will do to my tough guy persona. But at the same time I did grow a pretty good beard so I hope that wins me a little respect back in the 'real man' department. I have traveled to Hawaii, Cincinnati, Athens, Orlando, Cleveland and Chicago. I have attended live NFL, NBA and college basketball games. I have ice-skated, decorated cookies and celebrated Xmas away from my family for the first time. I have lived away from my family and friends in Halls Creek where, if it wasn't for a few good people I wouldn't have lasted half as long as I did. And now I find myself in Sydney trying to find a job and a house for when Sara arrives in less than 2 weeks! To say I'm excited would be an extreme understatement just as it would be an understatement to say that I'll be a little annoyed if the Steelers win the Superbowl.
My first impressions of Sydney, amazing. Just a great place where there is so much to do and so much to see. I am lucky enough to have some people here who have taken me in and looked after me like family. That has made the move much easier on me. I am excited to start my life here and explore all the things that Sydney has to offer.
But most of all I am excited to actually be able to see my girlfriend in person, just like a regular couple should be able to do. I'm looking forward to taking Sara to see my sports teams play, although I am also stuck with the unfortunate task of trying to not only explain cricket to an American but also trying to trick her into liking it. She once told me Michael Hussey was good at standing on the popping crease, so I definitely have my work cut out. I look forward to showing her my country, just as she has shown me around hers. Australia really is a beautiful place and I think sharing it with someone that doesn't live here will make me appreciate it even more. I look forward to watching the final Harry Potter movie with Sara when it is released, probably another X in the tough guy department so I may have to grow a beard similar to Hagrids to make up for it. I look forward to driving her insane with incredible amounts of John Mayer blasting 24/7 so that she has no choice but to learn all the words and sing along. And last but by no means least I look forward to our families and friends visiting us in Sydney.
My visit to Perth last weekend was a lot of fun. It was great to see everyone again and see that not much has changed. I hope I haven't changed too much either. It's nice to know that you can be gone for such a long period of time but when you return your family and friends make it feel like you never left in the first place. There were a lot of highlights but the conversation about Oolong certainly takes the cake. So I will leave you as I started, with some wise words from Jets LB Bart Scott. See you in Sydney?...
CAN'T WAIT
JD
(ps if anyone would like to explain to octavius what a blog is that would be muchly appreciated, although he may disown me after reading this...)
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