Alex

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you had a great time and ate far too much food!

I had another decidedly un-christmassy Christmas again – this time me and Sooji went to the beach and swam in the sea, something unconceivable (other than perhaps a very brisk stroll) in the U.K.!

Mum sent me and Sooji stockings (which was a first for Sooji) so we at least had a resemblance of Christmas. She was so excited by the prospect of presents that I was constantly being asked every day in the run-up to the 25st if it was ok to open them yet!

Once we’d opened the stockings and had a play with the toys we fell back asleep until 1, by which time the sun was fully up and it was very hot trip to the beach.

We a lot of fun in the water and ate some very runny trifle, some well-done pigs-in-blankets and ice-cold fruit juice. The trifle and sausages were my ‘creations’ – I ran into a couple of hiccoughs making them, namely buying runny custard so that when I tried to pour the whipped cream on top it disappeared into the depths. Getting the cream to a whipped state was a feat in itself with no whisk too! After an hour or so of fruitless fork-bashing I taped half a chopstick to the end of another and beat the hell out of it for ages in a giant saucepan. Got there in the end.

Christmas Day at the beach!

A few days ago we went to a huge IMAX cinema nearby and saw ‘Avatar’ in 3D – what a film!

(Sooji just said we had to wear stupid glasses) It was the first movie I’ve seen in 3D and it really makes a difference. Apart from a couple of moments were an arrow shoots towards the screen and then carries on far more than usual, or someone was creeping through the jungle in the background and the whole scene had a visual depth to it, 3D sort of became a background effect. Most of the time you forgot it was there and the film was just more visually engaging. The actual film itself was awesome – I really enjoyed it – I think it cost around $400 million so no doubt you’ll be seeing a lot of advertising around. If you get a chance, it’s well worth a visit to the cinema.

The other day we sat down and tried to come up with a travelling plan too for the next part of the Ozzy adventure. We sat down in front of a big map, said we wanted to go there, there and then fly to there and got very excited. Unfortunately we then went through and checked flight prices and tours… put a little dampner on our spirits.

We’ve figured out a rough plan now which should be really good – we just have to work a few months to save up enough!

I hope you all have a great time over the holidays and a great New Year too, all the best, much love, Alex x

The Ginormous Trifle!

…..starting in three weeks.

Oh well! That means I’m free to focus all of my efforts and energy to some hard graft – namely watching Simpsons and attempting to make pigs-in-blankets.

No, I’ll be doing some promotional work for my business which made its first profit yesterday! A very small profit admittedly but as it’s about 6 weeks before expected I’m very happy!

As for the job – well it’s a similar story as last time really. Out of work for weeks and weeks just checking the internet and occasionally handing out a CV – and then when money is at a seriously critical level I actually looked properly and get a job! Hehe.

I saw an ad in the paper, gave them a ring and made arrangements to meet today. I actually scoped the place out last night to see what they wore and then bought the stuff this morning. The interview went really well and the manager seemed to be a sound guy (hopefully no repetition of the last hell-hole). So, come the New Year I’ll be a waiter in a plush Italian restaurant on the outskirts of town.

Looking somewhat out of place in 36 degree weather...

Also, I finally made the very short trip up to Freemantle to meet up with Joe and Anna Kelly (and Tat, Max and Ollie too!) for a day which was really good. Me and Joe went for a couple of WA beers first at the pub he works at and then I was treated to a barbecue of Mahi-Mahi (Dorado) which was absolutely delicious.

Max and Ollie are great and they have a really nice house and garden – seems a great setup and lifestyle. Right next to the bottleshop too.

I’m not sure what I’m up to for Christmas yet as Sooji doesn’t know if she’s working, but even if she is we’ll be sure to make it to the beach at some point and have a barbie!

Take care everyone, much love,

Al x

A Nemo Fish - less commonly known as a Clown Fish

Hello everyone!

Would you believe it?! December is here again and it’s coming up to my 2^nd Christmas here in Oz. It still feels as strange as last time, walking around in shorts and T-shirt scurrying from shade to shade surrounded by Christmas decorations.

All is well though, I’m still unemployed although actively searching now.

I tried to surprise Sooji with a day trip last weekend – a day out to a huge Aquarium just outside of Perth – but the surprise was spoiled by Firefox’s no doubt well-meaning but inconsiderate habit of saving the sites I was last looking at. Despite it not being a surprise we had a great day out. They have an absolutely HUGE tank there with a tunnel chamber running in a large circle underneath, so you can stand on a conveyor belt and gaze around as big sharks, manta rays and turtles glide around you an inch from the glass. While we were there some divers went which drew the interest of the sharks – there were too many people to get a good photo sadly.

RUN AWAY!

.........?........

There were tanks full of deadly jellyfish that looked like aliens, sea-horses that were indistinguishable from seaweed and even some crocodiles. We spent a while wandering around the beach and sea afterwards (eating fish and chips) too.

It was really good. I have about 10 or 15 good pictures but here’s a taster.

As I said above I’m still job seeking, when I’m not distracted by working on my new ventures or else getting drawn in to a gaming session with the house owner and Shane.

I’m about to run my first big ad campaign for one of the ventures, so I’m quite excited about that.

An exhibit from Jurassic Park

Fancy a dip?

I’m not sure what I’m doing for Christmas yet, Sooji may be working, but a day out to the beach and some drinking in the evening seems to be on the cards!

I’m just off into the city now, so I hope you all have a great Christmas and keep in touch,

All the best,  Al x

P.s. Just a quick brag… its 39.5 degrees today hehe

A little too far to pop home for Christmas