The birthday celebrations

Not to toot my own horn, but it was my birthday on Monday. It was a landmark one, my 30th, so I think I'm allowed some horn tooting. Thank you to everyone who sent me emails wishing me well! It was really great to hear from so many friends.

The birthday itself was rather quiet, due to it being on a Monday. During the day I went to the Botanic Gardens, which I'd been to before, but they are gorgeous. And free! The weather was beautiful in the morning, very sunny, but clouds blew in later and it got quite gray and cool. No rain though! So still better weather than I likely would have had in Amsterdam. Actually, in the weekend it was really warm, 30 on Saturday and 28 on Sunday. So I almost had summery weather on my birthday and I'm still kind of bummed that it wasn't warmer so I can say "it was hot on my birthday!" but it wasn't bad, so I can't really complain.

I got home and Wendy was there and we went on a long walk along the river with Molly, all of us getting some needed exercise. It was the farthest up the river I've ever walked, which still wasn't that far. Then I got some people together for dinner at Tiamo 2, an Italian restaurant in Carlton. A couple of people I know are out of town, or were busy, so it was only 4 of us, me, Wendy, and her friends who had the party out in the country. The food was excellent and we sat around chatting for quite awhile. A rather mellow, but definitely memorable 30th...

Friday was the slightly rowdier birthday celebration. Wendy and I went bar hopping in the city. If you look at a map of Melbourne, you'll see a lot of little lines in-between the bigger streets. These are the many alleys and laneways the city has. Some really are just an alley, with dumpsters and employees on smoke breaks, but a lot have hidden restaurants and bars. We hit a few of these hidden bars, finding some interesting places. The first place we went to wasn't in a laneway, but it had a great name: Spleen. We had a fun time there and I got a free birthday massage from a guy who was from a company doing on-the-spot massages in the bar (so, no, it wasn't as dodgy as it may sound).It was very much like the chair massages we got at Excerpta. One of the laneway places we found, I didn't even catch the name of it, but it was very cool and alternative and it looked small and narrow in the front, but the back had a dance area and that was packed with people. I liked being back there and not having much of a clue of where I was. We ended up at a great place called Gin Palace, very laid-back but classy, and we were there till they closed up at around 3. I was happy to have gone to quite a few of Melbourne's bars, since it's such a thing here, and we met some interesting people.

As a sort of birthday present, I got a job! A more long-term one this time, at least two weeks, but possibly until I start travelling. It is in the offices of one of Australia's main department stores, right in the center of the city. My first day was today and, despite starting later at 10, I am totally knackered. A lot of stuff to learn and my brain had to work too much. But the people I work with are really nice, so that's good, it makes such a difference if you at least like the people you spend the day with. It does suck though that we're in this old building and there's like no natural light. I try not to think about it, or else I start feeling depressed and claustrophobic, though it's a big space. I miss where I worked at my last job that had lots of windows and was on the 16th floor with views over the city. But I'll only be at this current job for at most 4 weeks, so I guess it'll be ok.

I thought I had more to say, but I can't remember it. I didn't do much in the weekend, partly cuz it was pretty hot. And I've found out how hot the house gets in weather like that. Stifling. Well, upstairs at least, while the bedrooms are downstairs and kept naturally cool. It's really like my parents' house and it reminded me of the times we'd hide in the bedrooms downstairs on hot days because it was so hot upstairs. Oh, and I finally managed to get some photos of the lizard that lives at the front of the house, but I don't have time to post any now. Perhaps something to look forward to next time. =)