If there’s one thing that’s constant in my life, it’s change. I can always rely on everything to change, regardless of how much I want to settle down, or how much I think things have settled down. Change will always remind me that I can’t rely on anything to stay the same.
My contract finishes this week, and after 5 weeks of looking for another contract to move on to, I haven’t found anything. This has been a little disconcerting, as I had hoped to find another contract to either start with immediately, or at least in the new year. I haven’t found either.
I know that Christmas time is not a good time to look for work, and I’m glad that we’ve been preparing enough to accommodate a greatly decreased income for a period of time. I’ve worked out that I’ll be fine until the end of January, when the funds will start being drained, so I’ve still got a decent period of time.
Most people look forward to their holidays as a time of relaxation and rest. I think that’ll be the same for me, but I’m not entirely convinced. For me, relaxation and rest occurs when I’m doing my own thing, by myself, without anyone else bothering me. So let’s look at this holiday period for me….
On the 24th we’ll be getting up around 5am and driving from 6am through to about 4pm, to Berri in Sth Australia. After freshening up in our hotel room, we’ll have dinner with my parents and my brothers before collapsing into bed asleep. The next morning it’ll be Christmas Day.
We’re having breakfast at the hotel, and then joining my family for Christmas Brunch (for those who don’t know what that is, it’s a mix of Breakfast and Lunch – Brunch). This will start at around 10:30am, and will involve feasting and frivolity until about 2pm, when we’ll set off for Adelaide, arriving there about 5pm.
We’ll arrive just in time for Christmas Dinner with Deidre’s dad and his partner Janet. After more feasting and frivolity and drinking copious amounts of beer, we’ll collapse into bed asleep.
I think the next day will be the only period of rest and relaxation I’ll have for some time. It’ll be Dec 26, Boxing Day, and Deidre wants to go to the beach. It’ll give me time to chill out and relax.
On Dec 27, we’re going to the airport in the morning to pick up our friends Garry and Monique, who are flying in from New Zealand. They’re joining us as we drive north 3-4 hours to Port Augusta, where I grew up between 1978 and 1985. We should be there by mid afternoon. After doing a quick site seeing trip around the place, we’ll find our hotel, have dinner and collapse into bed asleep.
Dec 28 will involve going north for half an hour through the Flinders Ranges to Quorn, a small town of about 100 people or so, and where I lived for a year in 1977. Being only a tiny town, and half an hour away, we should be back in Pt Augusta soon after lunch, allowing us to do more site-seeing of the place.
My mate Dan, who I grew up with in Pt Augusta, will unfortunately not be able to come with me, so I’ll be taking hundreds of photos to share with him later.
My time in Pt Augusta is going to be quite emotional. I lived there when I was aged 11 through to 18, and they were some of my most formative years. The wild, emotional times of adolescence, and the music that went with it. The experiences I shared with Dan, and the experiences I keep for myself.
Revisiting it after 22 years is going to be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride for me.
On the 29th we’ll be driving 4-5 hours east to Berri, where we’ll stay overnight and have dinner with my parents, before continuing on back to Berri on the 30th Dec. We’ll try to leave Berri as early as we can, allowing us to arrive back in Canberra before dinner, after which we’ll collapse into bed asleep.
The 31st Dec – New Years Eve – will involve some site seeing for Garry and Monique as we take them around some of the best parts of Canberra, but we’ll have to be home before 4pm, as that’s when we’ve invited everyone we know to join us and celebrate the end of 2007, and the beginning of 2008.
We’re having an open party, where people can come and go as they please, bring food and drink if they want to, and stay as long as they want. At the very minimum, there’ll be Garry and Monique there with us, and if anyone else wants to pop in and join us at any point, that’d be great. I’ll have the BBQ going, and the food cooking, and the drinks fizzing….
And then after midnight some time, I’ll be collapsing into bed asleep.
Garry and Monique will be with us unil 3rd January 2008, so there’ll be more site-seeing as we show them the joys of Canberra. There’ll also be some relaxing along the way, as Garry and I shared a favourite pastime – sitting in Starbucks and talking about roleplaying games or Star Trek.
It’ll be good to revisit that with him after so long.
But then they’ll leave on the 3rd, flying on to Perth, and then on to asia where they’ll walk around for a few months before continuing on to Europe, where they plan on settling down. I really don’t know when I’ll see them again, or even if I’ll see them again, and the thought of that makes me sad.
With change comes sadness, as the old makes way for the new, ultimately bringing yet more excitement and happiness.
Deidre’s returning to work on the 3rd January, and so the 4th, being a Friday, will be the only day that I’ll have to myself for two weeks. I think I might enjoy that day!
Then there’s the weekend, and I hope that I’ll be starting a new job on the 7th.
I went for an interview yesterday with a recruitment agency for a Sharepoint Consultant role, and it went really well, very positive. As a result, I’ve got a second interview on Friday with the actual client. I’m hoping that will go really well too, and that I’ll start the new role on the 7th January. Wish me luck!
So that’s my life right now, and over the next 2-3 weeks. It’s going to be an exciting time! This is a heads up of what’s coming, and there’ll be more updates as they occur.
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