happy easter!

It's about 2 hours away from Easter long weekend and I am HAPPY! Work has been so crazy lately I've forgotten what it's like to just relax. Been working late nights and weekends for the last few weeks and 4 days off just around the corner is more than a blessing. It's a freakin miracle!

(Can you imagine how many tapes I have to get through this weekend to catch up on my soapies?? Thank God Desperate Housewives wasn't on this week!)

Yeh so I've been working really hard, partly due to our company's end of half year, and also to add to my cause. So far I've had a chat to the Marketing Manager (more just for guidance) and also the HR Manager. Bottom line is that I'm not going to get anywhere until I speak to my own manager, so I've lined up a meeting next Thursday. This meeting is just to "talk" - a review will follow 2 weeks after that. I'm quite prepared for what I want to say.. I'm a nerd, I wrote it all down in case I forgot under pressure haha..

Good luck to me! On a happier note...

Leon's coming to Sydney!!! Yay!! I'm sooo excited! Leon's coming on the 4th of May and I cannot wait! I don't really have anything planned yet but hey who cares... it'll be fun. We'll definitely make a visit or two to Krispy Kreme though mmmmmmm... *drool* Krispy Kreme.....

And we'll be seeing The Lion King again! Well again for me, first time for Leon. It's all good, it was an awesome musical .. I definitely don't mind watching it for the second time.

home on a saturday night...

It's about 11.30pm on Saturday night and I've decided to pause after 1 hour of The OC and 2 hours of One Tree Hill. I wanted to give my eyes a break but I don't think logging online counts! Anyway, it's so relaxing to have a Saturday night at home. I'm usually at my boyfriend's house on Saturdays, and mostly we don't do anything, but it's different being home alone. I've managed to watch what I wanna watch, take a long shower, work out at the gym, cook slow, eat slow... and do my nails! Wow, the normal pleasures one forgets to take the time to enjoy.

Today I also watched House of Flying Daggers. A few people have said it's slightly disappointing following Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon but wow, I disagree. The story was interesting and uncomplicated, and the twists were pretty unexpected (unless I'm just slow ). The scenery was breath taking, although sometimes slightly unbelievable (for example the transition from warm autumn into a snow storm in err, no more than an hour at most?). And how gorgeous is Takeshi Kaneshiro (who plays Jin) ???

Ok anyway, boyfriend just called and he is at a strip club in KingsCross... ahhhh the fun of bucks nights hey!! I'm getting tired, eyes are very droopy from too much tv watching. I'm gonna go read - still stuck on Lovely Bones, and day dream about Takeshi Kaneshiro as well.

Good night!

Feeling down...

I've been feeling kinda down lately, which is a real bummer. I'm not really sure why either, I think it's a combination of a lot of things. I think it started with the death of the Forum, which I talked about a few blogs ago. That got me thinking about my career and my future... and it's all a little daunting. And earlier this week my housemate announced that she'll be moving to London for 3 years, hence I need to move out and find my own apartment soon - that's daunting as well as downright scary when you consider that I've always lived in nicely furnished places and now I have to buy my own furniture. With whose money?!?!?! I think I'll be paying "Fantastic Furnitures" a visit hey!!
Add to that I had an argument with my dad, who I haven't argued with in years. And also that work is stressing me out and I'm pulling in late hours. Low recognition, low pay... it's all giving me the sh*ts really!!

I've had meetings with one of the directors and also the national HR manager... but the scariest of all is confronting my own manager... Don't know what to do. I went and applied for some weirdo job online last night, I'm not even sure why and when I clicked "submit" I felt like an idiot because I've just sent my very rough resume to some recruitment agency who will probably keep it on file and not offer me any jobs EVER...

I think I'm just in one of those lows, get that sometimes... and feeling generally under the weather about everything. Oh and I am taking it out on my boyfriend too, which is not a very nice thing to do. Can't help it though!! He's just there. And he's nice. *sigh*

Incidentally tonight they are throwing a "Forum Wake". Does it seem strange to have a funeral session for an Event? I guess that's how much Forum means to all of us. I'll be heading down there soon-ish...

*sniff*

to ipod or not to ipod?

Lately I've been thinking about getting an ipod mini because a 256mb mp3 player is just not enough! But I'm getting a bit confused about what I actually get in an ipod pack - and it doesn't help when all the stores are sold out and no one can actually show me what is in a pack.

For starters... Leon tells me that the 2nd generation 4G ipod mini is $299 and does not come with a mains adaptor or firewall cable (these cost about $100). This makes good sense because Retravision was selling at $399 including all these cables. But when I asked at other stores (all of which are sold out) they insist that the pack does include mains adaptor and firewall cable at $299.

Huh??

What do I get for $299? Is Retravision just stupid and selling ipods for $100 more (hey, maybe that's why they actually HAD one in stock!!)... or am I being lied to by all the other stores....?

Why are they all sold out? Must be something pretty damn good about these little gadgets. I sooooo want one - a green one because as Leon said, apples are green I don't think I'll get one any time soon though because right now the only way to get one is to pre-order with a deposit. I'm not willing to place a deposit on it - not until I find out what it comes with. Knowing my luck I'll pay like $399 and then find out I gotta spend another $100 on accesories. Speaking of which, I would definitely get an arm band ($39).

I went through some old cd's yesterday and found some awesome stuff which I would love to have on an ipod.... I miss my cd's... listening to "Something" by Lasgo now - one of my fave's.....

Why is my birthday so far away?

my unhealthy relationship with the tv...

I'm beginning to think I have an extremely unhealthy relationship with my tv. Growing up, I rarely watched tv because my family owned one tiny tv for the entire house.. and this tv didn't even have a remote! Having my tv-watching monitored also decreased the fun in a major way and so... I didn't watch tv.
When I moved out 7 (wow, it's been 7?! ) years ago, one of the first things I bought was tv and BOY have things changed since then!!! I gotta make up for lost time!

This realisation hit me last night when I was watching X-Factor, followed by Desperate Housewives (and taping Law & Order), followed by the Biggest Loser, followed by The Apprentice. I was wondering when should I watch my taped L&O? Tuesday? Wednesday? Thursday? Stay home and watch it Friday??? OMG I'm an addict.

Well I can't watch it on Tuesday - that would be Survivor, then OC (tape CSI), then Rove (tape CSI NY)... and maybe some sleep? Wednesday is no good for me either, that's American Idol, CSI Miami and ooh I don't want to watch Battlestar Galactica but.. that Spaceman song's so addictive!!! Thursday... my favourite show.. SVU (tape Lost), and The Amazing Race (tape Medical Investigation).

So anyway as you can see, my problem is not when can I watch tv, but when can I watch all the stuff I taped??? I don't have enough hours in my day, seeing as I value sleep more than anything!!

And to make matters worse.... O N E T R E E H I L L...

I started watching One Tree Hill over the summer when all other decent tv goes on vacation. I got addicted to Lucas and his dopey smile, and the bastards took it off !!

My sweet sweet (yet sneakily misleading) friend Elaine however, downloaded the rest of Season 1 and Season 2 and sent me the dvd. DAMMITTTT.... now I'm hooked and spent last Sunday watching 8 episodes of One Tree Hill almost - almost - back to back. I needed a lunch break.

So now not only am I hooked on regular tv, and all the things I tape, but I am also at the mercy of another 30 odd episodes of One Tree Hill - that's until the end of this month when Elaine's sending me Season 3???

*sigh*

I have to be grateful for one thing. My boyfriend is equally addicted as I am *hehe*

carmen electra...

Carmen Electra was at our local Virgin Music store today at 12.30pm. As you would expect, at 12.20pm there were no males in the office! I don't blame them though - have you seen her new "work out" video? It is called Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease - does that give you a clue?

Parts of it was actually aired on Channel Seven last week and I found it really funny! She basically prances around the floor, lap dancing to an imaginary man - maybe she is lap dancing for you - and well, she looks like she is really enjoying herself too!

I think it'll be a fast seller because girls, why not work out and learn a few tricks at the same time? Hehe.. I'm sure men will buy it too. When we were discussing the video this morning, my workmate quickly piped in that "my wife has the dvd!"... and we later got him to admit HE bought it for her... but I think he watches it more.

Men... so easy to figure out aren't they?

crossroads...

Right now I'm at a crossroads at my career. I've been with the same company for 3 years now and everything is going ok.. I mean, as ok as work will ever get. There are times when I am so stressed I don't think I can make it through the day. There are times I am so bored I can't even FIND a new website to read. Most of the times I'm just busy enough to get me through the day. Lately however I've been pushed by my manager to take on a lot more responsibilities - some that are way way way out of my scope. Is he testing me? Just give me a damn pay rise already!!!

Anyway, I was close to quitting this job about 2 years ago but have been hanging in there to work on a major convention/project which was scheduled to be on in February 2005. I did this convention, called Forum, in 2003 and words cannot describe the experience. In any case I've been hanging out to do Forum again but as you would have it, the February date was postponed to May 2005. And the May 2005 date postponed to November 2005. And you'll never guess. The CEO issued an email yesterday announcing the official "retirement" of the Forum.

Having the Forum "retire" basically disolves any reason why I should stay where I am, especially knowing that my company is rather stingy when it comes to money. I did a quick search on Ambit's IT&T Salary Index and found out that I am worth about $15K more than what I am being paid right now. This realisation has started the ball rolling and this weekend I'm going to spruce up my resume and perhaps start casting the line around...

However, there is one reason why I would sacrifice a pay rise to stay with the current company. The company culture here is so so so good. I'm completely micromanaged by a National Manager who (a) I never hear from unless (b) I need him to escalate something for me in which case he will always have my back. We work on a basis whereby there is no 9-5, hours are flexible, dress code is flexible, everything is flexible! I have friends here who I would miss... and I have so much freedom (hence blogging at work).

Is it worth sacrificing quality of work life for a little more money?

Am I being irrational??

Can the only person who reads this blog help me out - come on mate, you know who you are...

Another thing which has occurred to me is that if I'm going to leave this job and start something new, I have to think long and hard about what I want to pursue. Before I was an IT Nerd, I was in Marketing and actually fell into IT by chance (and chance has kept me in IT for about 4 years). Should I go back to Marketing (I'd probably have to start as a Grad though!!) or should I keep going in IT?

I think the next choice I make will have a big impact on my career for the rest of my life. If I stick with IT, this will be my industry for life. If I move somewhere else.. who knows what doors may open.

Anyway, first things first - update my resume!!!

friends...

Last night I had dinner with another old friend who I've known since 1997. That doesn't sound like very long ago but he & I have been through a fair bit together and while our original group of friends broke down and moved on, we've always stayed fairly close. Anyway we both live in Sydney now and catch up every once in a while for lunch/coffee/dinner/drinks.

This friend is also someone who I consider particularly special. When we get together we can just talk talk talk talk talk and time seriously flies. It's good that we often catch up without our partners.. because that way we can be more open with each other and talk about things which involve our partners. Mostly good things but sometimes the bad things. But you know what? It is equally important to talk about the bad things as it is the good things.

Incidentally, we talk about more than just relationships. Last night I think we talked about music, politics, books, movies, fishes & ferrets, manga, travelling, the supernatural, work and um... we discussed what it means to be a "Global Serduct Manager".. heheh.. ok that's an industry joke. Not funny..

Anyway, we've decided to meet up at least every month from now on (sometimes time passes you by and I hadn't seen him since last September) so I'm looking forward to it.

More and more I'm able to pin point the people I call true friends. And I'm happy about that.

constantine...

Keanu still can't act.. The effects are a little questionable... but the Devil is pretty funny I give it 3.5 out of 5.

There are quite a few movies coming out that I want to watch. War of the Worlds, Episode 3, Batman Begins.. just to name a few. So many movies, so little time!! I used to watch at least one movie a week. Now I'm lucky to have one a month.

I wish Natalie Portman had won Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars though, I thought she was pretty damn good in Closer. It can't be easy to play the girl who's pretending to get played while playing everyone else?!