Saturday 27th October – The Valley Fiesta
Morning
I got up, drove to Francy’s Patisserie in Rosalie for my veggie patty, and then drove to Officeworks to look for pencil holders that might fit my stylus. Sadly, they only had one type, and it didn’t fit. I had planned to drop off a tent and sleeping bag for Natacha to use at Island Vibe, but she decided not to go, so instead I drove back home, then to Woolworths and Target—where I bought no less than twenty five foam pencil holders (that being the smallest amount they had) for 93¢. I’m fairly sure this is wasteful and should probably be illegal—what kind of person wants 25 pencil holders? Bronwen then cut one of the holders in half and put it inside another, and now I have a stylus holder.
Night
Bronwen and I drove to The Valley, where we had a quick look at the various Valley Fiesta activities. Unfortunately, due to the rain, the Rooftop Roller Disco had been moved to a nightclub, which had an immense queue of people trying to get in, and we’d not have managed to get in before it ended—or at least, before the night club began charging for entry.
After wandering around The Valley for a while, we made our way to Tara Thai—which was also very busy—and had Thai for dinner.
Sunday 28th October – Sunnybank & The Valley Fiesta
Morning
I got up late, and spent a lazy morning avoiding doing my tax. It is another grey day, with a few sprinkles of rain here and there.
Afternoon
Having failed to get further than finding my group certificates, and having basically wasted all morning doing nothing, Bronwen and I drove to Sunnybank to look for textured vegetable protein (TVP) in the Asian supermarkets there. This was, as it turned out, much more difficult than it sounds—they are full of things that might be TVP, or might be dried shrimp, or conglomerated radish for all I know, and short of being able to read Chinese, it’s impossible to tell. After wasting quite a lot of time wandering around supermarkets that didn’t always smell all that nice, we finally found what we were pretty sure was what we wanted—only to find out that the minimum EFTPOS purchase was $15. So, we drove home, angry at all the Asians and their silly shops, and happy in our superior Western ability to easily find and buy the things we normally use, in a normal supermarket, with or without cash—but sadly, without any TVP.
Evening
After our abortive attempt at shopping in Sunnybank we drove to The Valley Fiesta, ate Subway for lunch, and watched the last few acts. Then, as the festival petered out, I dropped Bronwen in the city (on her way to a Matchbox 20 concert with Odin), and drove to Maz’s.
Night
Maz and I drove to Kenmore Nandos for dinner then chatted for a while until I picked Bronwen up from her work around 1 AM, and drove home for a relatively late night.
Monday 29th October – “Muffins” for Lunch
Day
It is another overcast day. Amanda “Muffins” and I had lunch again, at Govinda’s again. I stressfully found out that waiting until the last minute to book a hire car and my return flight from Cairns during the absurdly rare eclipse was a very, very bad idea. After many phone calls and much stress I ended up with a $356 flight from Cairns to Brisbane, and Bronwen managed to book a hire car for two days (even though we only need it for one—most people wanted four or more days) from a place which didn’t have a working website, for around $65 a day plus $15 insurance. This trip up to see the eclipse has proven to be much more expensive than anticipated. I hope it’s not overcast!
Night
I picked Bronwen up from her work as her bike tyre had gone flat. I then finally got around to doing my tax.
Tuesday 30th October – Pizza
Day
I drove to work, worked, had lunch at Govinda’s, worked some more, and then drove home. All in all, a normal day.
Night
Bronwen finally got home from climbing, and we drove and got cheap Tuesday pizza from Dominos.
Wednesday 31st October – Bogan Bingo
Day
I worked, had lunch at Govinda’s with Gavan, and worked some more.
Night
I drove to Rosalie and met Bronwen at The Burrito Bar—which actually managed to get our order to us in a reasonable amount of time, and they might have even been the right things we ordered—though it was a bit hard to tell. After a taco, we drove to The Paddo, and the Sit Down Comedy Club’s “Bogan Bingo”. Everyone seemed to enjoy it—I heard one guy saying “I’ll have to come again” on the way out, and everyone else seemed to be laughing… but I didn’t find it at all amusing.
Thursday 1st November – Opera
Day
I worked.
Night
Bronwen spent the night attending an opera, then at her parents’ place to go for a ride in the morning.
Friday 2nd November – Solar Film
Day
I worked.
Night
I dropped Greg—all suited up—at the train station, then drove to Bronwen’s work, got Bronwen, and drove to Astro Pete’s—a café full of Star Wars and astronomical things like telescopes and Stormtroopers. I had been wondering why an astronomy shop near Garden City had opening hours until 9 PM on Friday and Saturday—but they do astronomical viewing sessions outside, which makes a lot of sense in retrospect. We bought a handful of Rainbow Symphony “eclipse shades”—glasses for watching the upcoming eclipse—and some Baader solar safety film, which we got for a very good price because Bronwen was wearing a QANTM t-shirt, and the guy serving was (or had been) from QANTM.
After buying our eclipse supplies, we drove to the Diwali Festival at King George Square—which was full of lots of Indians, unsurprisingly—and then to Halim’s, where we ate a large, very yummy basmati biryani, and some paneer pakoras.
Once we’d finished our dinner, we drove up to Bronwen’s parents’ place—finding them to be in an especially good mood—and had some cake and tea, before driving home and going to bed.
Saturday 3rd November – Silas & Liza
Morning
I slept in, and then drove to Sizzler’s in Toowong, where I bought $100 of Sizzler’s gift cards, thus getting myself two Sizzler’s vouchers, and then ate too much.
Afternoon
Bronwen spent the afternoon packing—or mostly not packing—for her trip to Cairns, while I also avoided doing anything I should have been.
Night
Bronwen and I drove into the city and picked up Silas and Liza from their hotel, and then drove to Mondo Organics, where we had a delicious dinner and a lovely chat, before dropping Silas and Liza back at their hotel, Bronwen at her parents’ place, then her work, then her parents’ place again, and finally, me home.
Sunday 4th November – Brisbane Grass Roots Music Festival
Morning
I got woken by Bronwen calling, far too early, and got up, packed her things into her bag, and drove over to her parents’ place. Once there—and awake—I had a yummy breakfast. After breakfast Bronwen, her Mum and I drove down to South Bank to have a look at the markets, where I bought a yoghurt soft serve. Once my soft serve ran out, Bronwen and I walked to GoMA—which was in the process of converting to new displays, so we drove to King Ahiram’s Lebanese Food and had ourselves some felafel rolls. It was very busy there, so we drove down to the river to eat, and ended up watching people trying to impress their girlfriends on jet skis.
Evening
After lunch we drove—via Milton IGA for two litres of half-priced iced coffee—to the Mount Coot-Tha Botanic Gardens where we lay in the grass and enjoyed the Brisbane Grass Roots Music Festival until the botanic gardens shut, at which point we drove home—once again via the Milton IGA, except this time for two litres of normal milk—and had dinner (Bronwen cooked a nice pasta using some of our newly found TVP) and went to bed.
Monday 5th November – Getting Sick
Day
I had a normal day at work, having lunch at Govinda’s with Amanda “Muffins”.
Night
I had dinner at home, and almost immediately began to feel sick—but not tummy sick, as you’d perhaps expect after eating. I got an immediate sore throat, and my head began to feel bad. As Bronwen and I drove into town and went and saw “The Intouchables” at The Palace Centro (which is a fantastic movie by the way—highly recommended. It made me think of the people I’d met in Africa, and how nice it would be to be able to help some of them; and also how someone like Bill Gates may well be one of the best people living, while people like Steve Jobs are perhaps incredibly selfish and should be looked down upon by the rest of us.) my throat got worse, and by the time we got home, I was quite sick and went straight to bed.
Tuesday 6th November – Sick
Morning
I woke up with a terrible sore throat and feeling generally bad all over, so sent an email to work saying I wasn’t going to be in, and went back to sleep.
Midday
I awoke again at midday, to eat a numbing throat lozenge.
4pm
I awoke again at four o’clock, had another numbing throat lozenge, and ate a few biscuits.
6pm
After snoozing fitfully for the past couple of hours, I finally got up, and decided to make the journal entry of my trip up Flinder’s Peak.
9pm
Bronwen got home from climbing just before nine o’clock, and we rushed to Woolworths to buy some drinks, then to Dominos to get pizza, watched some Top Gear, and went to bed.
Wednesday 7th November – Not Feeling Well
Day
I went to work, still not feeling entirely well, but much better than yesterday.
Night
Bronwen and I had quick and easy food—I had two minute noodles, while she ate canned soup—and watched Top Gear.
Thursday 8th November – Walking
Day
I went to work, had lunch at Govinda’s with Gavan, worked some more, then drove home. Such is life.
Night
Bronwen and I went for a walk through Griffith Uni’s Mount Gravatt campus, then up Mount Gravatt. We then drove to Woolworths—which had no bread rolls at all—and had vegetarian sausages and salad for dinner.
I still have a sore throat, which is annoying, but nowhere near as bad as before.
Friday 9th November – Parking Restrictions
Day
I worked. As there is apparently a cricket game on at the Gabba, and that means extra parking restrictions, I squeezed my car in between two other cars at work, and couldn’t get it out again for lunch—so had to walk through the oppressive heat and just the tiniest bit of a sprinkle to Govinda’s.
The afternoon was mostly uneventful. Ian (the new project manager) has chatted to Justin (the new recruiter who is apparently responsible for me), and from next week we’ll be using what are effectively itemised timesheets. Sarah’s laptop arrived. Other than that, another normal day at work.
Night
Bronwen went out to the pub with Odin, while I sat at home and enjoyed the rain, driving in to town around midnight to get Bronwen.