Have I got a blog for you!! I have been doing so much lately I'm not sure that I'm going to finish this blog prior to starting work!
April 5 - First day of work's National Convention on the Gold Coast. This means lots of stuff to be done, but all meals and accomodation (3 lovely nights at the Sofitel) and alchohol are supplied. Today we satchel packed, which is putting advertising materials for our sponsors into the delegate's satchels, and I designed these bags, so was very proud of the results! After a tough day working constantly at either the satchels or name tags (attaching lanyards and alphabetising them). We all headed off to our hotel to prepare for the welcoming cocktails. Because I spent nearly all my time on the door checking people into the event, I didn't get to sample nearly as many dacquiries and nibblies as I would have liked, but the seafood risotto for dinner fixed that little problem. One of our associates came along, and I'd only eaten a small portion of my dinner...someone suggested that perhaps he should eat the rest, he jokingly said yes, and before you know it, the wait staff were heating it up and serving it to him with a fresh set of cutlery!! Funniest shit I've ever seen.
April 6 - First day of convention. This morning I helped set up again, but then right at the most hectic part of everyone registering, I dissapeared! Where to? Well you see, one of my jobs for this event was to co-ordinate the tours for accompanying persons - they're the ones who come along, but don't go to sessions, usually because they have no tax background. I was my normal charming and amusing self, seeing these ladies, and one brave gent off to various locations around the Gold Coast. Then it was back inside to officially greet the remainder of this group with a lovely little morning tea and welcome speech from my boss! All going well, it was then back down to the bus to see off a Harbour Town tour. At this point in time, I was loving my job! Back to basics though when I was back to doing little bits and pieces around the place that made the wheels turn, can't remember any of those jobs now though - all I know is that I was exhausted at the end of each day! Anyway, I got my break just after lunch from 1:30pm to 3:30pm and then I was back to sitting at the registration desk for queries whilst everyone else snuck off the prepare for the social activities. We had Golf Under Lights, Barefoot Bowls, Sailing and, my event, Seaworld!! At 6:00pm, everyone was eagerly awaiting the bus to Seaworld. with 3 full buses, one with about 20 people, and one with just me and the driver, we all took off to Seaworld, keen to sample the rollercoaster! After the obligatory 30 minutes in Shark Bay, it was off, full speed to the Coaster. I must have gone on it a dozen or more goes... it was awesome, and I have now mastered the tricky rollercoaster ride manouvre - hands up, feet up!! Lovely buffet dinner, and desert on the terrace of Seaworld before the buses started to go... twice I had to hang around with disgruntled passangers who'd missed the bus - the second lot though had gone back in for drinks, so I paid them out, then began to entertain them with my good humour and wit!! :) No seriously, they thought I was hilarious! It was great, if I could go like that all the time, I could be a stand-up! The call of the night was "GAY"! It was back to the bar across the road from the hotel for a couple of nightcaps before going to bed, but not before ordering my breakfast!
April 7 - 6:45 Alarm goes off, turn it off, put dressing gown on, knock at door, "Room Service". Open door, kicking underwear out of sight quickly as the trolley of delicious breakfast feast is wheeled in. I eat Rice Bubbles, Chocolate Milk, Fruit Toast, Fruit and leave the pineapple juice and pineapple fruit. Mmmmm full as a goog! Getting ready, listening to Music Maxx and such classics as New Kids on the Block and other lost performers of the 80's I was in high spirits when I met my co-workers downstairs to walk the short distance to the Convention Centre. Another day of tours (which all went bad), breaks and registration desk. Highlight of today is Convention Dinner "Beach Ball". I get a warning for being too out there with the tax professionals (all I did was sit down at a table and say "Hello, my name is Amber... and I'm and alchoholic" - it was a great ice-breaker, but unfortunately some high-powered people were there, and the CEO didn't think it was such a great conversation starter...). So, because of this, I decide not to drink at the dinner, I don't feel good when I get dressed, and I spend the first hour of pre-dinner drinks avoiding everyone outside, and directing strays from inside. Then I see Dean, who is my cousin Shelley's (tax professional) partner. In all of my misery, I forgot he was coming, so my night took a turn for the best when I saw him. What followed was a night of eating, drinking, laughing, dancing, escaping from drunken committee members who fancied themselves svelt on the dancefloor, and generally having a ball! The only downside was when the waiters kept stealing food (my lovely desert) and drinks (my vodka) from the tables that we were stationed at. It was a fantastic night, I got home at the sedate hour of 2:00am and had a lovely rest until 10:00am the following morning....
April 8 - Convention last day, woke at 10:00am, Juliette and I were meant to go get breakfast, but we didn't (found out later that she'd had her breakfast with a nice man that she met out the night before). Got to the Convention Centre to pack up the QLD stuff and generally bummed around - ate some nice pizza buns with Avocado, Sundried tomato's and Mushrooms on them. Then Sam came to pick me up. I get my embarrassingly hugh suitcase out of the registration booth, and after some goodbyes to co-workers and members alike, we hop in the car and head down to Byron. The day is bright and blue, and our moods are high as we trvel southbound to catch up with Jacqui. Once there, and once we found Jacqui's home, we hang around and chat for a while before having Pumpkin soup for dinner and watching Gattaca. So tired, so we go to bed in our little tent in the back yard. Uncomfortable nights sleep due to one thin Futon mattress for protection agains the hip-grindinly rough ground.
April 9 - We woke up this morning and had some fruit salad for breakfast - I ate plums, and I never eat plums! Then we tripped off into the hippy hills of the Byron district to the markets at The Channon. I had no cash, so it was Sam's shout for lunch, a Falafel and he also spotted me some money for an Australian poetry book and one small piece of fudge that was our desert later... we then went to a dam where Jacqui pointed out some re-gen work that had been done before dropping in on some of her friends and Richard in Bagalow. We went home, got ready and went down to town for Sushi for dinner. It was lovely, but still not as good as some that I had on the Gold Coast a couple of months ago with Juliette. We went home, had our fudge desert, then watched Ace Ventura 1 and 2 (fell asleep during both of them). Got up, went to bed, and slept on a slightly thicker mattress!!
April 10 - Up to Lennox Heads for a walk with Jacqui, bumped into another of her friends on the walk. Hung around catching up for a while before heading back to town for organic Burgers - good but expensive! $25 for two burgers and a milk shake, although, have to say, that Milk Shake was awesome - the Chocolate flavouring was home-made, and therefore wasn't the standard syrup that everyone has... definately worth a go. Wandered around town, Jacqui got some Sunnies and paid some bills. Then home, after some deliberation that occured whilst I was napping in the tent (meant to be reading, but fell asleep), we had Steak for dinner. I made pasta salad, and Jacqui made a green salad - lovely, and apart from some cheese, a completely organic meal! Another movie and bed for us!
April 11 - Woke up early, earlier than any of the other mornings, and packed out tent and clothes, had showers and got ready to leave. Had some toast for brekkie, then it was goodbye from us! We headed into Byron and purchased some famous slmond crossoints - seriously, they must be a crossoint with sugar and fat poured into the middle. Sam polished his off once we were on the highway, then I started mine near the boarder. Felt so sickly afterwards, and we'd been eating so healthily too! Back to Brisbane, caught up with Bec at her friends restaurant for Indian, then home, and big chats for us until bed time (sometime around 2:00am).
April 12 - After some camping shopping with Bec, and finding ultra cheap meat and fruit and veg shops, it was up to Noosa with Sam to catch up with Art. We had Lamb Roast Stew for dinner, and I did my Suduko puzzle whilst Sam showed Art how to use Word and Excel. Bedtime after a while (I'd fallen asleep on the couch).
NOTE: The remainder of this blog is brief because I've already spent an hour on it, and still haven't covered everything that we did!! If I ever have another chance, and feel enthused, I will do up some words for you!
April 13 - To Palmwoods, dinner with Bec and Dad
April 14 - Landcruiser Park: long, dusty drive. Yelling whilst setting up camp. Boys left us girls to potter around the camp whilst they went off on a drive. Abuse while cooking dinner. All fun and games. :)
April 15 - Landcruiser Park: Another dusty day, trouble trying to find a pee place as campers moved into my old one.
April 16 - Easter Sunday with mum and dad and bec for lunch at Hogsbreath, then pizza and movies (Finding Neverland and Duece Bigalo: European Gigalo) with Bec at mum and dad's place.
April 17 - Easter Monday, head back to Brisbane, caught up with Wayne, Alison and Chris, then to a movie with these guys and Catherine - Scary Movie 4. Got home, watched The Upside of Anger and Bridget Jones 2 then off to bed.
What a fortnight - it has been full and adventurous, and I can't wait to do it again!!
April 5 - First day of work's National Convention on the Gold Coast. This means lots of stuff to be done, but all meals and accomodation (3 lovely nights at the Sofitel) and alchohol are supplied. Today we satchel packed, which is putting advertising materials for our sponsors into the delegate's satchels, and I designed these bags, so was very proud of the results! After a tough day working constantly at either the satchels or name tags (attaching lanyards and alphabetising them). We all headed off to our hotel to prepare for the welcoming cocktails. Because I spent nearly all my time on the door checking people into the event, I didn't get to sample nearly as many dacquiries and nibblies as I would have liked, but the seafood risotto for dinner fixed that little problem. One of our associates came along, and I'd only eaten a small portion of my dinner...someone suggested that perhaps he should eat the rest, he jokingly said yes, and before you know it, the wait staff were heating it up and serving it to him with a fresh set of cutlery!! Funniest shit I've ever seen.
April 6 - First day of convention. This morning I helped set up again, but then right at the most hectic part of everyone registering, I dissapeared! Where to? Well you see, one of my jobs for this event was to co-ordinate the tours for accompanying persons - they're the ones who come along, but don't go to sessions, usually because they have no tax background. I was my normal charming and amusing self, seeing these ladies, and one brave gent off to various locations around the Gold Coast. Then it was back inside to officially greet the remainder of this group with a lovely little morning tea and welcome speech from my boss! All going well, it was then back down to the bus to see off a Harbour Town tour. At this point in time, I was loving my job! Back to basics though when I was back to doing little bits and pieces around the place that made the wheels turn, can't remember any of those jobs now though - all I know is that I was exhausted at the end of each day! Anyway, I got my break just after lunch from 1:30pm to 3:30pm and then I was back to sitting at the registration desk for queries whilst everyone else snuck off the prepare for the social activities. We had Golf Under Lights, Barefoot Bowls, Sailing and, my event, Seaworld!! At 6:00pm, everyone was eagerly awaiting the bus to Seaworld. with 3 full buses, one with about 20 people, and one with just me and the driver, we all took off to Seaworld, keen to sample the rollercoaster! After the obligatory 30 minutes in Shark Bay, it was off, full speed to the Coaster. I must have gone on it a dozen or more goes... it was awesome, and I have now mastered the tricky rollercoaster ride manouvre - hands up, feet up!! Lovely buffet dinner, and desert on the terrace of Seaworld before the buses started to go... twice I had to hang around with disgruntled passangers who'd missed the bus - the second lot though had gone back in for drinks, so I paid them out, then began to entertain them with my good humour and wit!! :) No seriously, they thought I was hilarious! It was great, if I could go like that all the time, I could be a stand-up! The call of the night was "GAY"! It was back to the bar across the road from the hotel for a couple of nightcaps before going to bed, but not before ordering my breakfast!
April 7 - 6:45 Alarm goes off, turn it off, put dressing gown on, knock at door, "Room Service". Open door, kicking underwear out of sight quickly as the trolley of delicious breakfast feast is wheeled in. I eat Rice Bubbles, Chocolate Milk, Fruit Toast, Fruit and leave the pineapple juice and pineapple fruit. Mmmmm full as a goog! Getting ready, listening to Music Maxx and such classics as New Kids on the Block and other lost performers of the 80's I was in high spirits when I met my co-workers downstairs to walk the short distance to the Convention Centre. Another day of tours (which all went bad), breaks and registration desk. Highlight of today is Convention Dinner "Beach Ball". I get a warning for being too out there with the tax professionals (all I did was sit down at a table and say "Hello, my name is Amber... and I'm and alchoholic" - it was a great ice-breaker, but unfortunately some high-powered people were there, and the CEO didn't think it was such a great conversation starter...). So, because of this, I decide not to drink at the dinner, I don't feel good when I get dressed, and I spend the first hour of pre-dinner drinks avoiding everyone outside, and directing strays from inside. Then I see Dean, who is my cousin Shelley's (tax professional) partner. In all of my misery, I forgot he was coming, so my night took a turn for the best when I saw him. What followed was a night of eating, drinking, laughing, dancing, escaping from drunken committee members who fancied themselves svelt on the dancefloor, and generally having a ball! The only downside was when the waiters kept stealing food (my lovely desert) and drinks (my vodka) from the tables that we were stationed at. It was a fantastic night, I got home at the sedate hour of 2:00am and had a lovely rest until 10:00am the following morning....
April 8 - Convention last day, woke at 10:00am, Juliette and I were meant to go get breakfast, but we didn't (found out later that she'd had her breakfast with a nice man that she met out the night before). Got to the Convention Centre to pack up the QLD stuff and generally bummed around - ate some nice pizza buns with Avocado, Sundried tomato's and Mushrooms on them. Then Sam came to pick me up. I get my embarrassingly hugh suitcase out of the registration booth, and after some goodbyes to co-workers and members alike, we hop in the car and head down to Byron. The day is bright and blue, and our moods are high as we trvel southbound to catch up with Jacqui. Once there, and once we found Jacqui's home, we hang around and chat for a while before having Pumpkin soup for dinner and watching Gattaca. So tired, so we go to bed in our little tent in the back yard. Uncomfortable nights sleep due to one thin Futon mattress for protection agains the hip-grindinly rough ground.
April 9 - We woke up this morning and had some fruit salad for breakfast - I ate plums, and I never eat plums! Then we tripped off into the hippy hills of the Byron district to the markets at The Channon. I had no cash, so it was Sam's shout for lunch, a Falafel and he also spotted me some money for an Australian poetry book and one small piece of fudge that was our desert later... we then went to a dam where Jacqui pointed out some re-gen work that had been done before dropping in on some of her friends and Richard in Bagalow. We went home, got ready and went down to town for Sushi for dinner. It was lovely, but still not as good as some that I had on the Gold Coast a couple of months ago with Juliette. We went home, had our fudge desert, then watched Ace Ventura 1 and 2 (fell asleep during both of them). Got up, went to bed, and slept on a slightly thicker mattress!!
April 10 - Up to Lennox Heads for a walk with Jacqui, bumped into another of her friends on the walk. Hung around catching up for a while before heading back to town for organic Burgers - good but expensive! $25 for two burgers and a milk shake, although, have to say, that Milk Shake was awesome - the Chocolate flavouring was home-made, and therefore wasn't the standard syrup that everyone has... definately worth a go. Wandered around town, Jacqui got some Sunnies and paid some bills. Then home, after some deliberation that occured whilst I was napping in the tent (meant to be reading, but fell asleep), we had Steak for dinner. I made pasta salad, and Jacqui made a green salad - lovely, and apart from some cheese, a completely organic meal! Another movie and bed for us!
April 11 - Woke up early, earlier than any of the other mornings, and packed out tent and clothes, had showers and got ready to leave. Had some toast for brekkie, then it was goodbye from us! We headed into Byron and purchased some famous slmond crossoints - seriously, they must be a crossoint with sugar and fat poured into the middle. Sam polished his off once we were on the highway, then I started mine near the boarder. Felt so sickly afterwards, and we'd been eating so healthily too! Back to Brisbane, caught up with Bec at her friends restaurant for Indian, then home, and big chats for us until bed time (sometime around 2:00am).
April 12 - After some camping shopping with Bec, and finding ultra cheap meat and fruit and veg shops, it was up to Noosa with Sam to catch up with Art. We had Lamb Roast Stew for dinner, and I did my Suduko puzzle whilst Sam showed Art how to use Word and Excel. Bedtime after a while (I'd fallen asleep on the couch).
NOTE: The remainder of this blog is brief because I've already spent an hour on it, and still haven't covered everything that we did!! If I ever have another chance, and feel enthused, I will do up some words for you!
April 13 - To Palmwoods, dinner with Bec and Dad
April 14 - Landcruiser Park: long, dusty drive. Yelling whilst setting up camp. Boys left us girls to potter around the camp whilst they went off on a drive. Abuse while cooking dinner. All fun and games. :)
April 15 - Landcruiser Park: Another dusty day, trouble trying to find a pee place as campers moved into my old one.
April 16 - Easter Sunday with mum and dad and bec for lunch at Hogsbreath, then pizza and movies (Finding Neverland and Duece Bigalo: European Gigalo) with Bec at mum and dad's place.
April 17 - Easter Monday, head back to Brisbane, caught up with Wayne, Alison and Chris, then to a movie with these guys and Catherine - Scary Movie 4. Got home, watched The Upside of Anger and Bridget Jones 2 then off to bed.
What a fortnight - it has been full and adventurous, and I can't wait to do it again!!
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