A byootaful Life

I just wanted to say thank you everyone for your comments on my previous post.  I was hoping I’d have some good news to share by now, but unfortunately Puddy is still missing. I’ve been checking my emails religiously, hoping to hear that it’s all good, she came home sheepishly and is now curled up on the couch enjoying a nap, but so far there’s been no updates. It’s been a week now and I’m trying not to let it stress me out but, being a worrier, it’s all can think about.

I think the constant worrying over the past few days has led to a cold because I woke up this morning feeling rotton and with a sore neck and a sore throat. I’ve tried to nip it in the butt by taking cold & flu tablets and Vitamin C so hopefully it won’t have the chance to take hold. I have to admit I am feeling a little miserable today and the cold wet weather isn’t exactly helping. Phill has been great, making me cups of tea and just generally being the wonderful guy he is.

Hopefully I get some good news soon – fingers crossed.

I logged onto Facebook today to read a message from K, Puddy’s babysitter while we’re away, saying that she had some bad news. The allergy issue immediately sprung to mind. I guessed that they’d confirmed her son’s allergies and she was going to tell me that Puddy had to move out. That would be bad, but I was sure we’d be able to figure something out. Then I kept reading.

I have some bad news… Puddy is missing.

My heart dropped.

She’s been missing since last Sunday – that’s five days.

I’m worried – she’s always come home at night, meowing like crazy to demand her dinner. Apart from one night when I accidentally locked her outside (it’s a long story), she hasn’t spent a night outside since she’s lived with us – she’s always come home and snuggled on (or under!) the doona with me, or slept on her favourite spot halfway down the stairs.

K and the boys are upset. They’ve done everything they can. K’s registered with the local RSPCA and animal shelters and has called the local vet to leave her details. She’s spent a lot of time in the street, trying to find her. I feel terrible being so far away – I want to go and help look for her, as if me standing there shaking a packet of Temptations is going to make Puddy come out of hiding. That’s if she’s even hiding. I can’t let myself think about the “what ifs”…

Please think positive thoughts. I am hoping that Puddy is safe and comes home soon.

You’ve got to wonder what Australia did to tick off Mother Nature because only a few weeks after the disastrous flooding in Queensland, a category 5 cyclone called Yasi is headed for North Queensland and it’s estimated to be the worst cyclone Australia has ever seen – even worse than cyclone Tracy that hit Darwin on Christmas Day in 1974, killing 71 people. Australia is really copping it in the natural disaster department, especially Queensland.

(image from here)

The radar image above shows Yasi bearing down on Australia’s North Queensland coast. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a radar image with the deep red patches of extremely heavy rainfall. Usually we’d see a few specks of yellow but that’s about it. This is crazy…

I grew up in a city that experienced a few cyclones from time to time and I have memories of the family gathering together matches and candles and taping big X’s across the glass windows to stop them from shattering when the storm hit. We’d sit together in the lounge room and wait it out, but we’d usually just get crazy winds and heavy rain, nothing too scary. Cyclone Yasi, however, is going to be on a whole other level.

Our thoughts are with the people in North Queensland, as they prepare for impact. Stay safe!

Today is Australia Day back home – Happy Australia Day! The general consensus from my friends and family is that they are spending it with a BBQ on the beach since it’s apparently a hot, sunny day back home. I got home from work about half an hour ago and Phill and I are now on the couch listening to Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown, which is a pretty strong Australian tradition. We’re streaming it online and so far so good, it cuts out every so often but not enough to get too annoying.

Tonight’s going to be a quiet one – tomorrow we’re going out to a local Aussie venue for some drinks with friends, which should be fun. I’ve already made plans with my Aussie work colleagues to have an Aussie lunch tomorrow – we’re going to bring Milo, Tim Tams, lamingtons and vegemite sandwiches to share. One of the Canadian girls grimaced when we mentioned vegemite – apparently it’s not her favourite. I think they made her eat some from a spoon before she was allowed to try a Tim Tam. Now that’s just cruel! (Funny, but cruel!)

Speaking of work, it’s going really well. After Christmas I was moved into a more challenging role (which I am loving). Oh, and as of Monday, my employer is taking over my contract which means I’ll no longer be working through a recruitment agency which means no more timesheets (yay) and I get a payrise (YAY!). It’s only $3 more an hour but it adds up to an extra $120 a week, which will definitely come in handy, especially since Phill is still looking for a job. He’s had lots of interviews and has more lined up but he’s just having trouble finding work in his expertise. He’s started branching out and applying for more general work, so fingers crossed he finds something soon. It’s been fun being the bread winner but now I’m ready for a two-income household again.

I spoke to K, our friend who is babysitting Puddy while we’re away and she said Puddy is doing really well. She’s settled in and her boys love playing with her. There is a concern that one of her sons might be allergic to her and they’re going to get him tested. She said if he is, they might get our friend S (K’s sister) to look after her for a while. I’m a little worried about this because S is the friend we “tested” Puddy out with before we came over and Puddy and S’s dog didn’t exactly get along very well. Hopefully it won’t come to that!

K sent me a photo of Puddy curled up on her bed:

The first thing I thought when I saw this photo was how awful it was that she’s probably getting her black fur all over the white doona. Seriously, her hair gets everywhere! Even though she’s a psycho shedding machine, I miss her like crazy. I got a little emotional over this photo (no crying or anything, just a little heart-flip and an “awww” as I felt a sudden urge to reach out and hug her) and it really is nice to see her relaxed and comfortable. I was so worried about that and I’m glad she’s settled in okay. I just hope she hasn’t forgot about us!

Anyway, Happy Australia Day to all my Aussie readers! Have a good one!

Ahhh, the New Years Eve celebration in Times Square! It was the reason we were in New York and the reason we were huddled in what was essentially a barriered-off mosh pit with hundreds of other people, rugged up against the cold night and preparing ourselves for the seven-hour wait until midnight, when the giant ball would drop, fireworks would explode and we’d kiss under the stars, welcoming in 2011 with a bang.

Even though there were estimated up to a million people jammed into Times Square, it wasn’t very loud at all. Or cold. I guess all the body heat kept us warm. We were too far back from the stage to hear the music from the performers on stage, so I put on my big lens and zoomed into the television screens to figure out who was singing. We came up with a random guy who sort of looked like Keith Urban crossed with Billy Ray Cyrus, the Backstreet Boys and Ke$ha. We spent most of our time playing a card game that didn’t require sitting down or a table. Some people had brought camping chairs and snacks but we didn’t plan ahead that well – we didn’t have any food or drink, which was probably a good thing since we wouldn’t be able to take bathroom breaks.

Six o’clock marked the raising of the ball ceremony, then every hour after that had it’s own mini countdown, complete with mini fireworks. It was actually a good idea, since it kept us all entertained and got us all practicing our ‘countdown chanting’. The time flew quickly, especially with our card games taking about 15 minutes each. With a couple hours to go, they released confetti, which turned the crowd into eager crazy people, grabbing at the strips to catch some. Yeah, we were being entertained with confetti – it showed just how bored we were!

This picture says it all – pretty much the same view and the same people, except this time there’s confetti, wooooo! Oh, and we either moved closer to the front barrier of our section, or I zoomed in. I’m pretty sure we moved closer. Apparently more than 1 tonne of confetti was dropped over us and we decided that whatever colour we caught was going to be our colour for the year. I think I ended up with red, so 2011 is either going to be really romantic… or really angry.

Phill was on video duty because he was taller and could get a clear shot of the ball as it dropped. Unfortunately he forgot about the ball for part of it and got distracted by the countdown screen, but well, you get the gist. Oh, and there isn’t an echo – for some reason there was a second countdown underneath the top one that counted a second or so earlier than the other, so some people were following the bottom one while others followed the top. Go it? Now enjoy!

We managed to leave Times Square without much fuss. There were rumours that the subway wouldn’t be operating and we figured it if was, it would be jam packed anyway, but we took our chances and headed down to the station and caught the first train that came through and it was thankfully empty. We all gathered together in one of our rooms with bags of chips and some drinks from the corner store, talking and laughing and letting the buzz calm down, before heading to bed, absolutely exhausted yet again.

I’m glad we did it – the atmosphere was absolutely awesome and we’ll keep the memories forever, but next year we’ll be watching the countdown on television from the comfort of our warm home, snuggled on the couch with our wineglasses in hand, most likely reminiscing about that time we spent new years eve waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square.

Stay tuned for day three!