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I think I might create a new blog and keep it private, just so I can express how annoyed I am and get it over with.

A friend from Kenya

Still thinking of a name

Breathe

The business and the stress and annoying people and early dusks and busy streets.

Breathe...

The field season from the 4WD

It's been busy.

It feels a tad unfair to keep saying that, but it's true. It's no excuse in itself, but it's definitely a reason. When I'm back from a field trip, or even simply tired from a long day at work, I simply have to get lost.

Lost in bad TV, in eating junk food, in playing games online. Yes, very unhealthy and unproductive – and that's the worst part. It took me long enough to start doing something actively, but even riding my bicycle has become quite hard with all the bad weather, as well as some technical issues.

Excuses, I know – but let me slide for a bit longer...

I spent most of the day yesterday lazing around and eating. Yes, eating. I had to pay my parent back, so I was down to my last 12 dollars for almost 10 days. As you can imagine, it turned out into a daily going-through-drawers-looking-for-coins ritual. But I survived.

Preparing cottage cheese with sour cream, spring onions, radishes and garlic, including fresh bread, made me think of Croatia. Well, Bosnia in fact, but you know what I mean. Being that Saturdays are usually the busiest on Skype, I used the time to talk to family and friends.

There's a lot of planning ahead: first of all, I'm going to Croatia for my annual leave in August, so there's a lot of excited people with ideas in their minds. Exciting as hell, as I'll only have three weeks and I don't even want to lose an hour I don't need to. On the other hand, it's hard to organise things from half a world away, but luckily the people are awesome, so they're coming up with options.

Secondly, my sister is going to be coming over for a visit in December/January, which will be exciting. I don't really go out as much as I'd like (and should), so it'll take some more preparing and planning to go to some nice places. That'll hopefully get me out of the house as well. She's working on booking a flight, applying for a visa etc.

Exciting times.

I also talked to my mum, who asked me if the time's running fast. It took me a couple of seconds to analyse that, after which I realised that it actually isn't. The last nine months just flew past, but the time has slowed down in a way – of course, only in my head – let's not get philosophical.


The next couple of weeks is going to be busy. I spent the last week on a very long, but fun survey. We went down to an area where I haven't previously been, so it was exciting to see emus, kangaroos, a snake (scary!), drive over sand dunes, revving through the sand etc.

The next week is going to keep me busy at the office; finishing up my report, preparing for the upcoming survey, and then reports following after that. I'll need a couple of weeks to wrap up all of that, which will make it mid July and it'll almost be time for my annual. Yay!

Oh, and I got myself a new phone – a smartphone – so I'll hopefully be able to update on the go easier. Another yay!

Here's a couple of photos from the last trip (it's very hard to choose), so take a look at what it's like (hover with your mouse to see the description text), have a nice Sunday and simply enjoy...

Good morning!

Show in the crazy

It's about to begin.

The season.

It's that crazy time of the year in the organisation, which I partially got to experience last year when I started.

The white-board calendar is packed. You can't fit a full stop in there. I've got three trips coming up before the end of the month, and I'm not even as busy as others are.

Last call...

But that's just the way it goes.

Instead of people walking past your office, you hear a whoosh. Casual how-was-your-weekend chat is reduced to a quick grin, not even long enough to hold as we pass each other in the hallway.

The printers are bustling, the phones are ringing, all the meeting rooms are occupied. You see heads sticking out of cubicles, and you scan them, hoping that at least some of the people you need to talk to are among them.

As the day passes, it doesn't get any quieter and calmer. The clock ticking only makes it livelier – and crazier. I almost-run into someone at least five times a day. Sometimes I feel like making tid-tid-tid noises while walking around the office. I don't know exactly how stealthy the people in my office are (and why), but it definitely is food for thought.

Yesterday was spiced up by a couple of drink after work. A couple of major things have already been finalised, and everyone very well deserved it.

It's nice to chat to people about something other than work – although that happens rarely. People are so involved that no one can actually let it go. Don't get me wrong – it'll be funny stories, crazy situations, wild trips and similar – but it'll still be about work.

Being that I basically couldn't find the time to take a day off (as I planned), it was a nice break from the reality, especially after we went to a BYO Vietnamese restaurant (BYOs are restaurants where you Bring Your Own drinks), laughed about embarrassing situations, talked about future plans, discussed thing you don't discuss at the dinner table, went through my backpack and flashed half of the restaurant with my boxers etc.

All-daily stuff. Nothing unusual. Kahem.

So yeah, today is Saturday – and the only day of my weekend. I'm flying out again tomorrow, and to a crazy one. A big project, a crazy company, an intense situation, wild environment.

As soon as I finalised all the preparations and made my peace with it, I got a couple of good lucks from people, including the boss, some managers etc.

If you pull this one off well, you're going all the way up. Wear big boots [followed by a growing-taller gesture].

I guess we'll see what happens.

Bush