15 Feb 2009 marked one year since I moved to the Sunshine Coast, and in that time, a lot of things have happened, good things, bad things, strange things, funny things......
Azheel, my housemate since May 2008, moved back to the Maldives on 12 February; got a new housemate now, Luk, who's also another security guard (used to go to uni with his mum); my house back in Brunei got flooded numerous times in January while I was back home; I met a girl that I though I could and would love till the end, and to an extent, I still pine for her when it's dark and lonely at night; I tried to move on with someone else that I knew, and with some help from another female friend, sent a unresponded-to-as-yet message, detailing how I felt (that didn't work out, from the looks of things, but being optimistic "no news is good news"); was privilaged to have been able to take part in World Youth Day in Sydney last year, meeting fellow St Johnnies from all over the world, and still keeping in contact with them; caught up with numerous old friends too from Bintulu, Singapore and Brunei, plus of course Bathurst (got to love Facebook); managed to be part of the group that assisted the Australian Federal Police protect the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd when he visited Nambour in July 2008; spent a night in Caboolture Hospital following a bar fight in Narangba; met with the member of the Hoodoo Gurus and GANGgajang through work, plus British India, Chin, and numerous other bands...and so many other things, but I cannot remember them at this time...
Looking back like that, I've been privilaged in being able to have been exposed to so many different opportunities and experiences...regrets, I've had a few, memories, a lot more...
Today also marks the first day of uni again, and having to buy $610 worth of textbooks...which I'm not looking forward to doing in the next week...:(
I've also found out that my unit has been sold, so I have to move out in April...which is a shame, I've finally been able to organise the place just the way I want to...but hey, such is life, move on and with, or be stagnant and die...kinda like what I used to do...it's just going to be messy, again...
I better finish up here, and give a sort of indication that I'll try to keep updating this blog again when I can, and not leave it for a year or two like I did last time...
Hope this finds you well.......
Be safe.
N
Who Is The Black Chinaman?
- Nick
- Kuala Belait, Brunei
- Saving someone's life is like falling in love. The best drug in the world. For days, sometimes weeks afterwards, you walk the streets, making infinite whatever you see. Once, for a few weeks, I couldn't feel the earth - everything I touched became lighter. Horns played in my shoes. Flowers fell from my pockets. You wonder if you've become immortal, as if you've saved your own life as well. God has passed through you. Why deny it, that for a moment there - why deny that for a moment there, God was you? I realised that my training was useful in less than ten percent of the calls, and saving lives was rarer than that. After a while, I grew to understand that my role was less about saving lives than about bearing witness. I was a grief mop. It was enough that I simply turned up. Living and working back in Brunei, after a 14 year absence... Also known as: Brunei, NASA, Bruise-Eye, Bru, Cheesecake, Nick, BruNick, BruMedNick, Two Step etc etc etc
Showing posts with label Sunshine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sunshine. Show all posts
Monday, 23 February 2009
Monday, 10 March 2008
I'm Falling In Love...
...With Microsoft Office OneNote...
This has got to be one of the greatest note taking programs available. If only I had a TabletPC, things would be so much different. No more paper notebooks, and I can just print off my notes if I wanted a hard copy, or email it to lecturers, or use the notes and research I've found in my assignments.........the possibilities are endless...:)
If you are not familiar with OneNote, click the title...
In other news, this morning was bucketing down with rain...it was heavy, heavy stuff. The back yard had about an inch of water in the lower areas, and most of it was submerged. All fun and games. It's actually becoming sunny now, a bit windy, but at least it's not raining anymore; I'd have to change the name of the blog to "Cheesecake In A Rainy Land"...
One of the simplest things I've made up thus far is the tomato and BBQ sauce marinade...it's great, and the sweetness really came out in the lamb I had last night for dinner...tom and BBQ sauce, garlic, some herbs, salt and pepper, and brown sugar...marinaded for 3 hours, and that's it...was really impressed with it...
I'm going to have to give those guys in immigration and HSA a phone call tomorrow...all today's been doing so far is transcribing notes to OneNote...
Boring, I'm sure...
Also, there's links on the righthand side of the screen to some of my friends that have blogs themselves. Fiona's currently on exchange in Finland, and from what I'm hearing, she's having a great time up there...then there's Rhi, who I haven't spoken to in a while, but she's still a mate of mine from a long time ago, so swing by her blog and see her artwork; she is very talented. Steph is a girl from Brunei who's currently studying in Melbourne. Her blog's password protected, but I'll see if you guys can figure out how to get it; the clues are all in the writing. And lastly, Steve, mate of mine from Bathurst, he's moving to Canada soon to be with Karyn, and they're both great people...
N
This has got to be one of the greatest note taking programs available. If only I had a TabletPC, things would be so much different. No more paper notebooks, and I can just print off my notes if I wanted a hard copy, or email it to lecturers, or use the notes and research I've found in my assignments.........the possibilities are endless...:)
If you are not familiar with OneNote, click the title...
In other news, this morning was bucketing down with rain...it was heavy, heavy stuff. The back yard had about an inch of water in the lower areas, and most of it was submerged. All fun and games. It's actually becoming sunny now, a bit windy, but at least it's not raining anymore; I'd have to change the name of the blog to "Cheesecake In A Rainy Land"...
One of the simplest things I've made up thus far is the tomato and BBQ sauce marinade...it's great, and the sweetness really came out in the lamb I had last night for dinner...tom and BBQ sauce, garlic, some herbs, salt and pepper, and brown sugar...marinaded for 3 hours, and that's it...was really impressed with it...
I'm going to have to give those guys in immigration and HSA a phone call tomorrow...all today's been doing so far is transcribing notes to OneNote...
Boring, I'm sure...
Also, there's links on the righthand side of the screen to some of my friends that have blogs themselves. Fiona's currently on exchange in Finland, and from what I'm hearing, she's having a great time up there...then there's Rhi, who I haven't spoken to in a while, but she's still a mate of mine from a long time ago, so swing by her blog and see her artwork; she is very talented. Steph is a girl from Brunei who's currently studying in Melbourne. Her blog's password protected, but I'll see if you guys can figure out how to get it; the clues are all in the writing. And lastly, Steve, mate of mine from Bathurst, he's moving to Canada soon to be with Karyn, and they're both great people...
N
Sunday, 9 March 2008
Caution, Bad Words Ahead...Lots Of Em...
-WARNING: Contents of this post are harsh and brutal...don't like it, fuck off-
This is fucking bullshit...
It's 1005 on a Sunday, there's intermittent rain and sun periods (so much for going to the beach), and I'm here updating my blog layout and all the rigmarole, and I can hear my landlord in the room next to mine discussing the following...
The installation of six...count them, SIX...bunk beds into this house in the next few weeks...there's already SEVEN of us here in the house on a week to week basis, not including the landlord and his two children (bringing the total to TEN!)...in a FOUR bedroom house...this is seriously fucked up....and I'M FUCKING STUCK HERE!
Regarding my post yesterday after my rueful absence, I still stand by my comments that the occupants of the house (during the week) are a great bunch, well, except one guy, but he's just strange to everyone (there's always one in the group....and it was normally me...hehe), but now, with this bloody, money grubbing, dogs vomit, imbecile of a man being my landlord, I'm in a tight spot.
TL:DR, Housemates Good, Landlord Fucking Shortarsed Greedy Condescending Idiot.
That's another thing that rattles my bones about him, he's bloody condescending....I really hate it when people talk down to me...and he's a bloody idiot...in the space of a conversation, with someone who's a prospective house occupant (after Earl left...more about him later), he asked me SIX times what my job was in the house (which is cleaning the toilet...everyone in the house is assigned jobs); even the person looked at his strangely, as in, "Dumb fuck, I know that Nick's cleaning the toilet, as probably does everyone else in the fucking house, so shut the fuck up..."
Yea, if you didn't realise, I don't like him much...which bring me to another issue...one that actually popped up on Friday...
I have to get a psychologist report from here for my current mental health status to provide to Health Services Australia (HSA), which will then provide a report to the Immigration department who will then issue me with a visa. The last I checked, I believe that I'm currently of sound mind and though, not currently on any medications, prescription or otherwise, except alcohol and nicotine. Anyway, I got a letter on Friday from the psychologists with whom I've got a referral for after a hell of a lot of phonecalls and talking and organising and all that, and they're charging me...
THAT IS BULLSHIT. $2200. TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS. I CAN GO TO A HIGH CLASS BROTHEL, AND ENJOY MYSELF FOR ONE AND A HALF HOURS, AND PROBABLY COME OUT WITH CHANGE FOR THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY!
They want to know my current mental health status. Yup, that's right, they can make a very, very good psych evaluation after talking to me for one and a half hours. I wonder why they didn't send Charles Manson or Ted Bundy to these guys? They must be that good at what they do...
I'm going to call Immigration and HSA and ask, is it really necessary? I can't get a job at the moment because I do not have a visa, so I can't pay for this evaluation (I'm not going to ask mum for some help for this BS), I can't get my visa without this evaluation...so, I'm stuck in an ever increasing circle of shit...well, considering I've been in worst spots, this is looking alright at the moment...but yea, bringing me back to my first section of rant for this wonderfully rainy Sunday, I can't move out unless I have a proof of income, so I'm stuck with the midget (I shall now call him Fuckwit).
TL:DR, Can't move out, no job. No job because of no visa. No visa because of no medical report. No medical report because of no job. Fucked.
Ok, enough for now...
N
This is fucking bullshit...
It's 1005 on a Sunday, there's intermittent rain and sun periods (so much for going to the beach), and I'm here updating my blog layout and all the rigmarole, and I can hear my landlord in the room next to mine discussing the following...
The installation of six...count them, SIX...bunk beds into this house in the next few weeks...there's already SEVEN of us here in the house on a week to week basis, not including the landlord and his two children (bringing the total to TEN!)...in a FOUR bedroom house...this is seriously fucked up....and I'M FUCKING STUCK HERE!
Regarding my post yesterday after my rueful absence, I still stand by my comments that the occupants of the house (during the week) are a great bunch, well, except one guy, but he's just strange to everyone (there's always one in the group....and it was normally me...hehe), but now, with this bloody, money grubbing, dogs vomit, imbecile of a man being my landlord, I'm in a tight spot.
TL:DR, Housemates Good, Landlord Fucking Shortarsed Greedy Condescending Idiot.
That's another thing that rattles my bones about him, he's bloody condescending....I really hate it when people talk down to me...and he's a bloody idiot...in the space of a conversation, with someone who's a prospective house occupant (after Earl left...more about him later), he asked me SIX times what my job was in the house (which is cleaning the toilet...everyone in the house is assigned jobs); even the person looked at his strangely, as in, "Dumb fuck, I know that Nick's cleaning the toilet, as probably does everyone else in the fucking house, so shut the fuck up..."
Yea, if you didn't realise, I don't like him much...which bring me to another issue...one that actually popped up on Friday...
I have to get a psychologist report from here for my current mental health status to provide to Health Services Australia (HSA), which will then provide a report to the Immigration department who will then issue me with a visa. The last I checked, I believe that I'm currently of sound mind and though, not currently on any medications, prescription or otherwise, except alcohol and nicotine. Anyway, I got a letter on Friday from the psychologists with whom I've got a referral for after a hell of a lot of phonecalls and talking and organising and all that, and they're charging me...
- $500 for the consultation fee (PER VISIT)
- $1200 for the report
THAT IS BULLSHIT. $2200. TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS. I CAN GO TO A HIGH CLASS BROTHEL, AND ENJOY MYSELF FOR ONE AND A HALF HOURS, AND PROBABLY COME OUT WITH CHANGE FOR THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY!
They want to know my current mental health status. Yup, that's right, they can make a very, very good psych evaluation after talking to me for one and a half hours. I wonder why they didn't send Charles Manson or Ted Bundy to these guys? They must be that good at what they do...
I'm going to call Immigration and HSA and ask, is it really necessary? I can't get a job at the moment because I do not have a visa, so I can't pay for this evaluation (I'm not going to ask mum for some help for this BS), I can't get my visa without this evaluation...so, I'm stuck in an ever increasing circle of shit...well, considering I've been in worst spots, this is looking alright at the moment...but yea, bringing me back to my first section of rant for this wonderfully rainy Sunday, I can't move out unless I have a proof of income, so I'm stuck with the midget (I shall now call him Fuckwit).
TL:DR, Can't move out, no job. No job because of no visa. No visa because of no medical report. No medical report because of no job. Fucked.
Ok, enough for now...
N
Saturday, 8 March 2008
A New Dawn, A New Layout
So...
I've just moved to the Sunshine Coast three weeks ago...after living in Bathurst for eight years...I've left Charles Sturt University...and am now at the University of the Sunshine Coast...
My paramedics are on hold for the time being, and I'm having to do a pathways course for six months, but I believe too that this would help me heaps...then, it's onto nursing...paramedics can wait I think...
Am I angry, happy, sad, excited? I'm a mixture of emotions; I mean, for anyone who has lived in a place for eight years after moving in, and growing into who they are there, there of course would be a sense of sadness. Well, for me there was. Bathurst was a place I called home. I lived in town longer than I lived in my own house overseas...
I was scared at the prospects of moving again. Not from one place to another within Bathurst, but to a new state, a new town, a new lifestyle. No more mainly Australians cowboys and cowgirls, ute musters, sheep, alpacas, trees, mountains, cold...I'm now a 15 minute bus trip from the beach, there are girls walking all over the place in bikinis, a lot of exchange students from Japan, Germany, Canada, USA, UK, France, Taiwan...they're from all over the place, to learn English, Business, Arts, Communications...new friends, new experiences...
But here I am.
I am now a resident of Queensland. I am now living in Queensland...although a few years early, but still, I am now here.
I live in a share house with 6 other people, who are all great people. The only person we all have problems with is the person we shouldn't have problems with...and he's increasing the rent for everyone by a bit...
For those that know, the area the size of my hallway is now the size of all I have, and I'm paying $520 for that little bit of real estate...but it's a bed, it's close to uni, and like I said, the people here are great.
I've been able to explore my cooking styles while here. One thing about Bathurst was that I was not able to really cook what I felt like cooking. I've made lamb and 3 types of mushroom noodles in a soy and sesame sauce, tariyaki beef and chicken, lightly crumbed salt, pepper and lime maki maki (a type of fish), salsa marinated beef steaks...there's just so many things that I can make to try...and if I'm not willing to cook, there's a pizza place just around the corner...normally order on Monday or Tuesday (2 for 1 offer), and the Greek Lamb pizza's pretty alright too...
But now, here I am, eating a bacon and sweet chilli chicken tender sandwich, which is going oh oh so well...hmm...if only I could find a girl, an apartment, a way to get my furniture that's still in Bathurst, and this bloody money for my visa, and things would be swell...but it doesn't have to be in that order...but it has to be done......so, let's see what happens shall we?
Oh, apart from the uni things, I'm also trying to get my security license; the TAFE here does it, but it's just not the right timing...so, going to reassess as required, and see what happens.
Right, that's about it....
N
I've just moved to the Sunshine Coast three weeks ago...after living in Bathurst for eight years...I've left Charles Sturt University...and am now at the University of the Sunshine Coast...
My paramedics are on hold for the time being, and I'm having to do a pathways course for six months, but I believe too that this would help me heaps...then, it's onto nursing...paramedics can wait I think...
Am I angry, happy, sad, excited? I'm a mixture of emotions; I mean, for anyone who has lived in a place for eight years after moving in, and growing into who they are there, there of course would be a sense of sadness. Well, for me there was. Bathurst was a place I called home. I lived in town longer than I lived in my own house overseas...
I was scared at the prospects of moving again. Not from one place to another within Bathurst, but to a new state, a new town, a new lifestyle. No more mainly Australians cowboys and cowgirls, ute musters, sheep, alpacas, trees, mountains, cold...I'm now a 15 minute bus trip from the beach, there are girls walking all over the place in bikinis, a lot of exchange students from Japan, Germany, Canada, USA, UK, France, Taiwan...they're from all over the place, to learn English, Business, Arts, Communications...new friends, new experiences...
But here I am.
I am now a resident of Queensland. I am now living in Queensland...although a few years early, but still, I am now here.
I live in a share house with 6 other people, who are all great people. The only person we all have problems with is the person we shouldn't have problems with...and he's increasing the rent for everyone by a bit...
For those that know, the area the size of my hallway is now the size of all I have, and I'm paying $520 for that little bit of real estate...but it's a bed, it's close to uni, and like I said, the people here are great.
I've been able to explore my cooking styles while here. One thing about Bathurst was that I was not able to really cook what I felt like cooking. I've made lamb and 3 types of mushroom noodles in a soy and sesame sauce, tariyaki beef and chicken, lightly crumbed salt, pepper and lime maki maki (a type of fish), salsa marinated beef steaks...there's just so many things that I can make to try...and if I'm not willing to cook, there's a pizza place just around the corner...normally order on Monday or Tuesday (2 for 1 offer), and the Greek Lamb pizza's pretty alright too...
But now, here I am, eating a bacon and sweet chilli chicken tender sandwich, which is going oh oh so well...hmm...if only I could find a girl, an apartment, a way to get my furniture that's still in Bathurst, and this bloody money for my visa, and things would be swell...but it doesn't have to be in that order...but it has to be done......so, let's see what happens shall we?
Oh, apart from the uni things, I'm also trying to get my security license; the TAFE here does it, but it's just not the right timing...so, going to reassess as required, and see what happens.
Right, that's about it....
N
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