Thursday 1st April – April Fools
Morning
I got to work on time… just. I dropped Bronwen off at work first, which meant I didn’t have enough time to eat breakfast, which is somewhat of a problem because I’ve also not had dinner last night, and am forbidden from eating breakfast at work, at least during work hours.
Lunch
…was a salad roll, no onion, mayonnaise.
Evening
My flatmates have gone off on a sailing trip. I picked Bronwen up from her parent’s place, Maz dropped over, we walked to Umart to buy two 2 TB hard drives, then to Halim’s for curry.
Friday 2nd April – Stanthorpe & Technical Issues
Bronwen swinging people from the roof
9:30am
After a small sleep-in, I got up. In retrospect, this was my first mistake, but as I’m still being positive about everything, I’ll rephrase that—after a lovely, refreshing sleep-in, I jumped out of bed to find the birds singing sweetly, the weather perfect, my iced coffee satisfying, my argument with Bronwen thought-provoking and challenging, and the subsequently delayed drive to Stanthorpe invigorating.
Bronwen swinging from the roof
Evening
Arriving far later than planned at Stanthorpe, Bronwen and I found that the scout hall—which is just outside the township, down a dark unsealed road past the cemetery—is quite large, and there’s lots of gypsies camped in the field outside—fruit pickers that huddle around their communal campfire, sharing the warmth and playing their banjos, before getting out their laptops to adjust their television antennas for optimal signal. A few of Bronwen’s climbing friends were already there, and a few more arrived shortly after us.
Bronwen fire-twirling
Night
A pleasant, albeit somewhat cold night was had—I may have forgotten to take any long pants, or even a warm top. People drank. Being climbers, they set up ropes, and swung from the ceiling. Fortunately, no one died. Once everyone was exhausted, we set up mattresses in the little rooms off to the sides of the hall, and slept.
We played lots of card games
Losing and winning
Late Night
I got the first of many work calls from America. They’re having what we in the industry call “technical issues”, and unfortunately, my boss is also having “technical issues”, and can’t be contacted. I got several calls throughout the night, waking me regularly.
Saturday 3rd April – Girraween & The Pyramids
Underground creek, Girraween
Morning
The main group went off to Sundowner, to do climbing things. Bronwen and I drove to Girraween, where we explored an underground creek, climbed up the absurdly large, steep and impressive granite pyramid, fearing for my life while children ran past seemingly unaware of the death-defying slope, saw a granite arch, had a picnic lunch, lay on rocks in the sun, swam, watched large ants, chatted to people, and so forth.
Rock wave at the underground creek, Girraween
Evening
After Girraween, we drove back to the scout hall, ate dinner, and stayed up late playing cards and fooling about. Bronwen managed to run into a large rock in the dark, nearly knocking herself out and hurting most of her appendages.
View from near the top of the pyramids, Girraween
Late Night
Continuing on from last night’s failures, I again got woken regularly by phone calls, and once again was unable to contact my boss who should be dealing with this, and had to call America several times myself, even though there wasn’t a lot I could really do. It’s quite cold at three o’clock in the morning, while trying to talk someone through UNIX commands, on a line with lots of delay, that fades in and out, and occasionally drops out entirely.
Go-karting in the scout hall at Stanthorpe
Sunday 4th April – Cider, Pittsworth & Bonfires
The scout hall at Stanthorpe
Morning
We all visited an apple farm and apple cider brewery, where Bronwen picked some fresh apples—and a liqueur selling castle, where I bought some fudge.
Afternoon
Bronwen and I drove to Pittsworth, meeting Maz at his parent’s place, and had a large bonfire. The air was cold and clear; there were lots of stars visible before the moon came up.
4am
We arrived back at my place, in readiness for me to go to work tomorrow.
Monday 5th April – Working
Ned & Bronwen on top of the first pyramid, Girraween
8:30am
I arrived at work, having had a few hours’ sleep last night, and perhaps a few the nights before, in between the calls from America. It’s not really the ideal way to spend a four-day weekend—one day at work, another two nights taking calls about work, and not getting any sleep.
Day
I managed to survive, somehow. Being a public holiday, nothing was open, so I couldn’t buy any food or drinks. Bronwen left her keys in my car, so I drove home during lunch to give them to her.
Night
Bronwen and I had left over curry for dinner, watched some TV, and went to bed, quite tired. I’m not sure you could say we had an Easter, and I think I need a holiday—or perhaps a new job.
Tuesday 6th April – Normalcy
Bronwen & Ned on top of the first pyramid, Girraween
7am
…and I’m up again, back to work, back to normal, having not had four days off, like everyone else did.
After Lunch
I would just like to say that, while I am maintaining my positive take on things, it does bother me, just a tiny bit, that I have been kept busy for long enough that all the shops around here have now closed, meaning I can’t buy any explosives, lunch, or drinks—and I really feel like a drink, or lunch, or some explosives…
Night
I drove home, had a short snooze, drove down to Kangaroo Point, watched people climb, brought Bronwen back home, ordered pizza, drove to Bronwen’s parent’s place, got pizza, drove home, ate pizza, drove to Bronwen’s place, dropped Bronwen off, drove home, drove to Maz’s, went for a walk, drove home, and went to sleep.
Wednesday 7th April – Easter Eggs
Day
I’m quite sleepy. I managed to get up in time to eat breakfast, and get to work on time, but now I’m tired. This isn’t that good, as I have to get up at four o’clock tomorrow morning, to drop Sabine to the airport, then go in to work.
On the way home, I stopped off at Tom’s Confectionary Warehouse and bought Bronwen, Sabine, Valerie and myself some Easter Eggs.
Night
I drove Sabine and Valerie to South Brisbane, then drove up to Bronwen’s parent’s place, gave her her Easter Egg, then drove to Maz’s, then on to Chez Tessa, where I had a typically bad Chez Tessa dinner, dropped past Maz’s on the way home, and drove home.
I then picked up Sabine and Valerie from South Brisbane, then drove to Maz’s, went for a walk, drove home, and went to bed. Sadly, it’s got to midnight—and I have to get up at four.
Thursday 8th April – Kick Ass Sleepy
4:30am
Sabine got up. I was just about to wake her. I woke up at four, when my alarm went off, but it seems Sabine’s didn’t. She managed to get ready in about a minute, and we drove off to the airport.
5:30am
I drove home and went back to bed, but strangely, had trouble getting to sleep.
7am
My evil alarm went off. I snoozed it a few times, but eventually got up and went to work, arriving on time.
Day
I’m tired and sick, probably unrelatedly. Not hugely sick, just hay fever or allergies or a cold or the galloping lurgy or similar. Either way, today is the kind of day where I need to call in sick, but I can’t, because everyone else is in America, meaning I’m critical.
Night
I drove home, chatted to Valerie, drove and parked at Kangaroo Point—picking Bronwen up from her work on the way—and walked to South Bank Cinemas, where I watched “Kick Ass”, which kicked ass—though I can’t approve of corrupting children that young, just for the sake of entertainment. Or any other reason I suppose, but it’d seem more obviously wrong if it was in a seedy little alley lit with smoky red lights.
Friday 9th April – Insanity
Morning
Well, so far today, I’ve… woken up, showered, eaten nutri-grain, driven Bronwen to work, driven myself to work, drunk a third of my coffee, and am now starting to work. All in all, a very normal morning… so far.
…and now, insanity ensues. Everything has gone crazy. I went to the toilet to find my desk underwater, two different, but same named, people being arbitrarily transferred around the phone system, and nothing much else making any sense either.