Sunday, January 22, 2012

Taking Control

So I took one more step in fulfilling my New Year's Resolution this week. I called TasRail and told them I'm not interested in the position anymore. Basically the past couple months I've felt like I've been in limbo and at the mercy of the Australian government, letting them decide my future. At this point, six months into this country, it's fairly obvious my original plan is shot to pieces, and the prospects of staying here for another year and a half, despite the good money I would be earning, doesn't appeal to me. Declining the position felt like the right thing to do, as does my plan for the next year.

Now I wanted to keep this secret for a while, but I might as well put it out there. The tentative plan for this year is to work hard and save up as much money as possible until May, when I will depart Australia. I found a great and very cheap flight route that seemed like fate when I discovered it. I will fly from Sydney to Hawaii (about $375), stay there for two weeks, then catch another flight to Anchorage, Alaska (about $400). I'll travel and trek around Alaska and the Yukon, then make my way back home. I'm sure I'll end up going to Vancouver to break myself back into Canadian winter, and work for a year, and do this all over again.

Another part of my logic was the thought of being away from home for another two or three years if I kept traveling after Australia seemed like too long, and a stop back home was necessary to visit family and friends, see the mountains I love, and get a dose of the country I'd live in over any other. And this route gives me a chance to see a piece of it that I've never seen.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Overtime?

So here I was, all happy and joyous about the awesome amount of overtime I've been getting the last week and a half (four hours last week, six hours so far this week), until I got my pay stub. That then forced me to look at my contract with the labour agency I'm working for, whereupon reading it I realized that I basically do not get overtime. As a prize for my extra hard work, I make a whopping $3.94 an hour more than my base wage. So basically all my overtime can by me a six pack of beer at the end of the week. That's as far as I can complain though, because more hours still means more money, and I'm happy to be saving it right now.

Now here's a cause for hope: I got a call from the Melbourne Police Department the other day asking me for the serial number of my stolen laptop. Apparently they had located a number of the same models through pawn shops and would run a search for my laptop. I'm not going to get my hopes up too much, as it is still a long shot, but if it is found the recovery of all my Papua New Guinea pictures is going to make me want to kiss someone. Hopefully there are no guys in arms reach...

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year!

My New Year's resolution for this year is to take control of my life once again. It's time to start making and saving money, and making shit happen for myself. I've decided to give it to May for that visa to be processed, and if it doesn't happen by then, decisions have to be made on what to do from there. I don't want to wait around feeling like I'm at the mercy of money, which has been the feeling lately. But this is a brand new year, and I'm going to make it a good one!

The second part of that resolution is getting this poorly used body back in shape again. I just purchased some protein powder and with a strict gym schedule, I should be able to put mass on quickly again. I'm weighing in at roughly 155 lbs, and my goal is to be up to 165 within two months.

Finally, happy New Year everyone! May 2012 be a great one for all of you!

And it's not going to end in December, the hell with the Mayans.