February 26

**This is me with Laura when we were out a couple of weeks ago**
Work has been pretty great. There was another guy hired on at the same time as me who they had to let go yesterday. I guess he just didn't make the cut!! Oh wow, I suppose that means that I did make the cut, yeah!
On Friday night after work, I went for a night on the town with Laura and a couple of Aussie friends. We had a great time.. Japanese for dinner (I'm completely obsessed with sushi), out to a stylish club for a couple of drinks and then out dancing all night!
Saturday afternoon I went to a volunteer thing close to my house where basically we had a BBQ and a chance to chat with some of the less fortunate people in Sydney. The co-ordinator of the whole thing really stresses the fact that most of these people don't get a chance to talk with anyone, so part of our mission was to make them feel like they have a friend, even if it's just for a few hours. I got onto talking to this 65 year old Russian man who was So nice & so lonely. He was telling me a story about his wife and family who are in some communist country (don't remember what it was called as I've never heard of it before), and can't escape to come to Australia to be with him. As he was telling me about their unfortunate living conditions, he actually started to cry. It was so sad, but when I told him he didn't have to talk about it to me, he said that it made him feel better to share it with someone. AWW I'm pretty sure that made my day. After cleaning up and getting a little more training, I was off home to spend the gorgeous afternoon on our back patio with my flat-mates. Saturday night, we went to a movie, then out to a club for dancing again... Sydney is so much fun!
On Sunday, I went out to Coogee Beach to meet Matt and a couple of his other friends. It turns out that his other friends are Canadian too, and we had a great afternoon swimming, tanning and talking about home. After a day at the beach, I was super tired, and headed to bed early.
I'm just getting ready for work now. During breakfast I started reading a new book that I got by my favourite author. I guess I just bought it without looking to intensely at it, just because I know I always love the books by this woman. As it turns out, I've already read it, it just has a different name in Australia. That's seriously annoying.

February 19

**This is a picture of most of the people I live with from last Friday night. It's pretty surprising, but there's no one in the group that I don't like. We have Canada, USA, France, Japan, Turkey, Britain, India, Holland, Germany, Ireland, Vietnam, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia**
Last Sunday night at the Vinnies volunteer thing, I had a surprisingly nice time. We went to a couple of different locations where a lot of homeless people are and set up a table and just waited for them to come to us. It actually got really busy, but when it was quieter, we had the chance to talk to people. It was an enlightening experience. I could tell that most of them had some sort of mental issue, but they were all very kind and appreciative to us. The other people that I volunteer with are also very nice. I'm invited to a Vinnies Ball in April in a city called Wagga Wagga, about 5 hours drive. If we get enough people to go, we get to go on a bus and have free accommodation. This Saturday I'm going to a BBQ where I'll be helping to cook and serve some less fortunate people. Busy, busy, busy.
Work is still amazing. Today I had a meeting with my boss because I've been there for a week & we needed to go over my contract (and basically decide whether or not I was going to work there for a while). My boss told me that he's loving having me there and the progress that I've made in this past week is phenomenal. He said he can tell that I learn very quickly and him & the rest of the staff are really glad to have me on the team. How good is that??!? It's so nice to hear. I keep thinking that they might think of me as too new to the business or something, but I'm starting to realize that I'm MADE for this job. I had no idea it could be so good. Hhaha, Have I said that already? ok, sometime soon I'll quit gushing about work!!
I sent an e-mail to my old teacher, Rob, at Fanshawe. I just wanted to update him about my new job & what I've been doing since school. I got an e-mail from one of my old friends that's in his 3rd year now, saying that Rob read the e-mail to the class as a positive outlook for some nervous students. I hope it's an inspiration for some of them to travel.
Other than that, I've been spending my free evenings with my flat-mates. I really like them all, I totally love Sydney.

February 17

**Everyone in my house went out dancing on Friday night. This is my fave picture, behind me is my friend Kelvin**
I've been SO busy lately! It's fantastic!
My new job is stellar. I love it & never imagined how great it would be! The one minute walk to work is so great because I can come home for lunch too. Every day, when it's about time to leave, I'm always thinking: if only I could stay longer to do just one more thing on this website... I'm so happy about it! I've even got some extra work to do on the Widder Station website, so I'm doing graphic design work at home too.
I have been going to the cafe to confront my old boss from time to time. She just keeps telling me that she will not pay me. I've made a bit of a scene.. she's not too happy with me at all. It's a real inconvenience, but I suppose if that's the only down part of my life at this point, I'll just try not to think about it.
On Wednesday night, I went to the information and training session for the St. Vincent De Paul ("Vinnies Youth") volunteer stuff. I found out about a place that's down the street from where I live that does other 'feed the poor' stuff, so I've been in contact with them and I have a meeting scheduled for next week to see when I can start joining them. Tonight, I'm going to a Night Patrol thing where we make sandwiches and get in a van and bring the food to homeless people on the streets. I'm a little nervous, but also excited to see how it all turns out.
We had a big house party this weekend because it was one guy's birthday. We had SO much fun! Over the past couple of weeks, I've been starting to really get to know a lot of the people that live in my place and we're starting to get to be pretty good friends. After the party, we went out to a bar & danced the night away. I didn't realize that some of the bars here are open 24 hours, and when we left, I thought it was about 2am. It was actually 5:30am. HAHA what!! seriously, it was practically getting light outside by the time we all walked home.
Terrin e-mailed me a couple of days ago to tell me that her & her mom have booked tickets to come to Sydney in March! WOW how amazing is it going to be to have them here?!??! I'm excited to see them and to show them places near here that they would enjoy. I've put myself in charge of their trip planning. They'll be going to the zoo, the blue mountains, Bondi Beach, a tour of the city, and maybe I'll be able to find something that I haven't even seen yet.
I went to lunch today with Kathryn's friend Alyson (from Hamilton) who's in Sydney for a couple of weeks for her PHD. It was really nice to spend time with a Canadian again. And since it was a nice afternoon, we were able to sit out on the patio. The guys in my house are all going out to the park across the road to play rugby this afternoon. My friend Laura (she's from England and lives in my house) and I are going to be the cheerleaders.

February 12

Last night, there was a MASSIVE spider in our kitchen. It was grey and fury and one of the girls I live with swears that it was poisonous. We killed it, but ew.
Last Friday, I went into the Purpose Web Design place to remind them of me and make sure they still thought of me if they had any jobs available. The guy I was talking to who seemed really interested in having me work there LAST time, didn't seem all that interested this time. I was pretty discouraged, and ended up working the full weekend at the coffee shop. I had Monday and Tuesday off & on Monday GUESS who calls??!? The guy from the graphic design place to see if I can come in on Tuesday for a trial!!! So, I went in on Tuesday (it literally takes thirty seconds to walk there, sweeeet!) only to find out that not only do I have my own desk already, but I have an e-mail address too!! It's all very official & I HAVE the job. I'm seriously a graphic designer. A real job. No kidding at all. They had me making a web site already, it's for a costume shop in Canbera, and when I showed my boss my first draft, he totally LOVED it. Holy, it's incredible. I'm going back in tomorrow morning, stunning.
SO, when I got home from work, I called the cafe to tell them "I'm sorry but I can't work for you anymore." My boss there had a FIT!! She was yelling at me & calling me a liar and at the end of the conversation she told me that if I didn't go into work tomorrow that I wouldn't get paid for the three days that I worked last week. I told her that she had to pay me for the work I've done.. she told me "no, too bad" and hung up the phone. Now I'm out $260 and so unimpressed. I talked to the local police and they told me there's absolutely nothing I can do other than take her to court (too much cost & too much hassle for what it's worth). I'm trying to work up the nerve to go in tomorrow on my lunch break, but I'm not sure what I'm going to say. My roomies are trying to convince me to make a scene, but you know me.. I'd just cry or something really embarrassing. I suppose it's worth a shot, but I don't want to go through all that turmoil and not have it paid off. Should I just leave it? Or should I go and get embarrassed and possibly make a bad situation even worse?

February 7

Sydney's fantastic these days! There's a pool across the street from my house, so I've been going swimming a lot. I haven't heard much back from any of the MANY design agencies that I've been in contact with, so I'm biding my time at a local cafe while I wait to hear back from a better job. I've never waited tables before, and I'm actually really enjoying it. I'm meeting lots of new people and the cafe is really nice.
I've been spending my weekends out with the football guys & their friends. It's nice to have some friends, although they'll never live up to those back in London. The people I live with are great too, we walk around the city or go for drinks sometimes after work. It's a pretty great lifestyle