Week 63 - ATAR checking & Wardrobe sharing

Thursday #64 – I woke up at 7 this morning and headed straight to the front lawn to grab the paper and check if I could see The Scientist’s name in there.  With her HSC results released on Wednesday, she was driving me insane with her reluctance to check so I took matters into my hands and checked The Sydney Morning Herald to see if she made the honour roll for getting marks over 90 in individual subjects.  Sure enough, there she was with two subjects over 90 and I headed off to work excited to find out her ATAR at 9am.

I got there about 10 minutes early and found out that The BH&G Fan already knew The Scientist’s marks and was in fact the only person who knew them with The Scientist still refusing to find out.  The BH&G Fan filled us in and we tried to predict what ATAR she would get, agreeing that she should get over 90 as she’d hoped.  After claiming she didn’t have her PIN and the details she needed to check, we managed to find the email with the info and logon to the website before The BH&G Fan and I suddenly got nervous and assured The Scientist she really didn’t have to check right then and there if she didn’t want to.  We both breathed a massive sigh of relief when her mark came up and I honestly think the two of us were more stressed about it than she was.  Our hearts were beating a million miles an hour and we were super excited for her and proud of her.

At about 9.30 I actually started doing some work, albeit not very productively and before I knew it it was time for my lunch break.  I decided to head to the café and enjoy one last BLT as I knew that I wouldn’t be needing lunch on Friday given the morning tea that was planned to farewell me after 11 years with The Humphreys.

With DTM at Centrelink I headed straight to Maroubra after work and stuffed some more bags and boxes into the Mazda before driving back to Forestville.  We ordered some pizzas for dinner before heading back to The Bra to grab more furniture and crap as part of my never-ending move back north.  In theory the idea of gradually moving all my stuff each time I do a trip seems like the easy option, but in reality I rarely do trips there so instead I am just making the 45 minute drive much more frequently than necessary to slowly get a huge bedroom from the Eastern Suburbs to the Northern Beaches.

I spent the rest of the night unpacking clothes and trying to fit my massive wardrobe into DTM’s already full walk in robe.  It ended up being a pretty tight fit but I was expecting worse.  Not the best Thursday as moving house is up there on my list of most despised activities but next week should be an improvement.

Week 62 - Boozing & Waxing

Thursday #63 – woke up fairly early (for a non-work day) this Thursday as DTM had suggested (for a very long time) that we head to the zoo.  We got ourselves ready and headed off to the bus stop with plans to get off at Wynyard, walk to Circular Quay and get the ferry to the zoo – it all seemed so straight forward…

When we got to Wynyard we headed to the Coles Express there to pick up some supplies for the day and perhaps some lunch to take with us.  Before I knew it I had agreed to walk further away from the quay to some salad place to grab take away lunch.  As we headed down past town hall I wondered why we hadn’t just gotten off the bus there as I was fairly sure this was DTM’s plan all along.  We detoured via a post office (always a fun stop at Christmas time) and eventually made our way to the salad place at World Square.  It brought back uni memories as I was once again presented with dozens of ingredients and told to choose 7 to put in my salad…and just as I always did at the salad place at uni, I instead opted for the Thai Chicken salad which was one of the suggestions on the menu and didn’t require an additional 6 decisions.

As we were getting our salads DTM suggested that since it was getting late, perhaps we should postpone the zoo for another day.  I was a little confused as it wasn’t even midday but apparently 4 hours was not going to be enough to do the zoo justice.  Just how long he can stare at monkeys and seals I’m not sure…

So we headed down to Darling Harbour with a new plan to head to Madame Tussauds and admire the waxy celebs.  We ate our salads down near the water and as we wandered over to Sydney Aquarium/Wildlife World/Madame Tussauds it almost seemed as though plan B would be going ahead.  We’d decided to get a combo pass requiring us to visit the 3 aforementioned places in the next month.  I mistakenly thought we would now head into Madame Tussauds but instead we were off to The Star – because a casino at midday on a Thursday is totally appropriate…

We got ourselves some drinks and headed over to the computerised roulette so that DTM could throw some money away.  With that done it was time for another cider/beer as we sat in the sports bar and I judged the alcoholic gamblers in our midst.  With drink number 3 I started to wonder if I was in any position to judge.

We eventually left The Star and decided to continue our drinking at the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel.  Having just found out that I would be starting work on January 3 and not January 2, we had resumed looking at holiday options for the week between Christmas and New Years since we had an extra day up our sleeves.  Over a few more bevs we settled on Darwin on the basis of it being cheaper to get to than Queensland, having a pool, and somewhere neither of us had been before.  The fact it would be the middle of monsoon season didn’t even enter our minds.

We left the PBH to finally head to Madame Tussauds…but not before stopping in at Helm Bar for another drink or 2 and some fries.  The fries were very necessary given the afternoon’s binge drinking…the cider possibly not so necessary.  We finally made it to Madame Tussauds 6.5 hours after we had starting drinking and the photos really speak for themselves.  DTM had tried to defend his alcoholic ways by claiming “you can’t go to Madame Tussauds sober” and I wondered if this had been his plan all along.

After an hour posing with wax and props we headed back to Helm Bar (as you do) for one last drink before heading home on the 9.00 bus.  We managed to sneak in a trip to KFC and I grabbed a popcorn chicken snackbox for dinner before running for the bus.  When we made it home we were well and truly ready for bed after such a big drinking day.  A different Thursday and an enjoyable one but not one I plan on repeating anytime soon.

Week 61 - Forgetting & Celebrating

Thursday #62 – after a couple of days with a temperamental tummy, this day kicked off sans breakfast as I headed to The Scientist’s to pick her up on my way to work.  When I got there (5 or 10 minutes after leaving DTM’s) I realised I had tragically left my pasta in the fridge at his house and couldn’t be bothered to go back (and consequently be late for work) so accepted the fact that I would have to buy my lunch, despite driving all the way to Maroubra on Wednesday night to cook the damn food.  Bugger. 

Work was fairly unmemorable, though there was some confusion over whether or not we should be saying our goodbyes as my possible jury duty meant this may have been my last week day at work (still had a couple of Saturdays locked in – woo!) but all in all ‘twas fairly standard.  After The Scientist had whinged about her shortened hours I had thoughtfully offered to swap with her and left at 3 with her finishing off the last 2 hours of my shift.  I don’t even remember what I had for lunch; I just know it wasn’t my pesto agnolotti.

When I got back to DTM’s (after posting in my AHPRA registration forms to become a legit doctor) I may or may not have watched some TV or busied myself on my computer – this weird kinda part time work schedule mixed with his lack of employment means all my days tend to blur into one and only really stand out if there are exciting trips to Bunnings or The Tip!  Just after 7.30 we got picked up by The BH&G Fan and The Apprentice to go to dinner in celebration of my finishing uni and The Scientist finishing school.  It was a joint celebration but I feel it’s worth pointing out that one of us became an optometrist along with only 41 other people in the state, while the other sat some exams along with 73 396 other people in the state...just sayin’.

Dinner was in Terrey Hills at a restaurant selected specifically because of the inclusion of a pizza with fries on its menu.  Yes, fries.  I’ve long been a fan of the Nachos pizza down in Manly and have no problems tucking into a slice with some corn chips and guac on top, and don’t even get me started on the wedges pizza I ate on more than one occasion staying with The Weather Girl in Paris, but there was something very odd about this pizza.  It was nice, sure, but it really did feel like they had made a plain margarita pizza and then dumped a pack of McDonalds fries on top – I’m pretty sure the fries and the rest of the pizza were not cooked together.  It was tasty – and how could it not be, it was after all just a salty carb fest with tomato sauce – but I feel like it could’ve been more complete with just a bit of cheese on top of the chips or something tying them to the base.  Take that for a food review Matt Preston.  We shared a couple of these pizzas as well as a few more before heading back to The BH&G Fan’s house to share the nutella pizza The Marge had bought for dessert.

The Weather Girl then dropped us back at DTM’s while I attempted to remove her old Warringah Council parking sticker to replace it with the new one she’d just bought.  Apparently she likes to recruit her front seat passengers to help with her stickers – a gym friend had just recently sorted out her rego sticker for her.  I made an absolute mess of her windscreen and successfully removed maybe half of the old sticker.  Oh well, any Thursday with pizza AND fries is alright by me.