Nov 22 and 23

Well, Im a bit tired, but I will try to catch up here before I get too behind!

So yesterday (Monday) was a decent day.  Ive been re-assigned ALL of my Primary shots in Secondary, which is nice.  Thank goodness because I really helped myself out in adding a lot of breakdowns in my Primary!  haha.  It was a good day at work, but sadly not all that productive.  Ugh, sucks sometimes. 

I went to view an apartment too.  And let me tell you.... It was a NICE apartment.  Sadly, nothing is included in the rent (in terms of utilities), so instead of it being $330 a week like advertised, its actually around $550 a week.... WAY TOO MUCH.  Sucks cause it was in great condition and it was well furnished.  Definitely a small apartment, but it had a separate bedroom at least.  And big balcony.  It was also very close to the Vector Arena, which could mean very noisy.  I thought it would be farther into Parnell, but not at all.  It was definitely still downtown, so street noise could have been an issue.  Also no parking... at all.  SO it had its downsides, but looked really nice.  ARgh.  Oh well.  Keep looking! 

So unfortunately that took a little while longer than I had hoped on my lunch break.  Got back, did some more work, turned in and got another few shots approved, and then headed out with Mercedes.  We went back to her house (she lives with her mom at the moment), and proceeded to make dinner for the 4 of us (us two, her mom and Sam, her boyfriend), and do some baking for Matt's birthday!  He turned 23 today, so we figured we'd make some cookies and cupcakes for everyone to partake in.  That was really nice. 

I hung out there til we were done baking, and then they drove me home.  I was SO tired, so I headed straight to bed (thankfully the house was really quiet). 

Got up this morning early to go running with Ngaire.  GOT to lose these new pounds Ive gained... this is not allowed.  haha.  So anyway, we ended up running around 6 miles, which is AWESOME.  Up some hills and through a park over in Kingsland.  It was really nice!  She keeps a really good pace too, so we definitely had a good run.  Really enjoyed that.  I came home and was in a rush a bit, but whatever, the run was SO worth it.  I made myself some eggs and ham, which was FANTASTIC, made my lunch and rushed to get ready to work.  Made it in around 9am, got my coffee and was good to go.  I wasnt really motivated today though... even though in the end i got a good amount done.  We celebrated Matt's birthday too, which was nice.  Seems to me like he had a great birthday!  We got Carla to come early, and she went to pick out a cake with Kate and Tiffany.  Then we got a lot of the Animators in our office to sing and have cake :-)  It was nice!!!!  I think he really liked it.

I went to view another place to live today too during lunch.  This time, a house on Franklin road, which is about 10 minutes from my job walking.  Its a reall nice road, tree covered, and though its highly trafficked... its not downtown for sure.  I can deal with car noise, its people noise I can't.  It seems nice.  Good size house for sure.  Nice garden / back yard in the back.  Well kept.  HUGE tv, nice living room, good size kitchen.. two bathrooms.  There is a couple living there now, one is a chef, the other is a film student who just finished school (a married couple around 27 / 28 yrs old).  I didn't get to meet them, but I met Amy, the owner of the house.  She comes by often and helps to take care of the gargen and clean the house and whatnot.  She also uses the third downstairs room as a place to crash if she comes into town for one reason or another, since she lives around 40 minutes outside of town.  She was very nice, and I think this could be a good place to live.  Its relatively affordable, though its at about my MAX for spending on a place to live.  The bedroom is unfurnished too, but comes with a HUGE built in closet, storage, and a vanity area.  So I would need a bed and bedside table essentially.  Maybe a little tv considering it has a tv hook up in the bedroom.  A desk if I realy wanted it (which would likely be a good idea).  Furnishings wouldnt cost me a ton if I did things through Trademe as well, which is nice.  Its spacious enough.  Not a huge room, but also not tiny.  Just a bit of a downgrade from what I have now I think, but really not by much.  At least the rest of the house is furnished.  I need to make arrangements to meet the room mates sometime this week ideally.  Amy said she thinks I would get along with them really well (Kelly is the female tenant), which is good to hear.  She's become friends with them since renting it to them.  It sounds like a good scenario!  We will see.  I am going to hear from Mercedes tomorrow about what it might cost me to live with them in their house as well, so I can pick between the two.  The huge benefit here though is that this is 10 minutes from work.  Mercedes' place would be about 6 miles away or so, which is still not bad, but I would need alternative transport other than my two feet.  We will see for sure :-)

Anyway, once I got back to work, the day was alright.  I turned in two more shots in Primary, and started modifying a shot in Secondary.  Secondary makes me nervous... because this is the refining stage.  So this is what we would usually spend all the time on at AM, but now I have a week to do Secondary on 7 shots or so.  Its kind of quick, but I think I can pull it off..... I hope anyway.  This week is a hard one because I am juggling viewing apartments and working.  Luckily though, I already had in 100 hours in this pay period after today.  Only needed 90!  haha, 45 hrs a week.  Yea, last week was a busy one, so that helps to be able to take this week a bit more chill.  I still have just as much work though!  ACK! 

Anyways, the day was good.  I left around 8, even though I didnt work nearly that long.  I like hanging around there in the evenings.  Ive made a bunch of friends, so we end up hanging around and talking.  I usually stay at least an hour longer than I realy need to.  I'm ok with that :-).  Tomorrow will hopefully be more productive.   I'm running again in the morning with Ngaire, and then after work, she is going to pick me up and we are going to cook some Thanksgiving-esque dinner.  I believe she is cooking sides to take with her to a family gathering she and Chris are going to on Thursday for Thanksgiving.  She said we'd make dinner for the two of us as well.  Should be fun!

Unfortunately I probably wont be getting to celebrate Thanksgiving myself on Thursday, so I will just make Wednesday night with Ngaire my equivalent.  :-)  At least its something.

Missing everyone back home.  Hope you all are doing well!  Still trying to catch up on the communication with everyone.  My ipod died today too... its deciding that its not capable of picking up wifi connection anymore... Im not sure if this is a glitch or what.  Ive never had it happen til I got here, but its not a good thing at all, considering thats my only free messaging service to family and Kyle (aside from email which is harder for me to access). 

Oh well.  Hopefully I can fix it..... I was able to last time.  No idea.  ARgh.

Anyway, bed time.  Running early!