Greetings, fans. I hope your summer/winter has been temperate. Mine has been hot and sweaty, like a towel fight in a sauna. Playing outdoor table tennis doesn’t help.

Since we last conversed I am garnishing an extra $9/week after passing yet another certification. I’m also getting a car upgrade, to a small car with 2 seats and about 100km on its odometer. I hear it even has good air conditioning. I’m thankful.

Christmas and NYE were fairly tranquil. Small lunch with a roast (I don’t like roasts) on the 25th, bucketloads of sweat with a few mixed drinks and a midnight swim on the 31st. Marika’s first day body surfing at Manly beach on the 1st. She loved it so much she’s now determined to hit the waves every day. I’m sure she would if we didn’t live so far inland in suburbia. Sydney’s beaches have shithouse public transport options to boot, so driving is the only decent option if you don’t already live nearby. Bummer.

Big Day Out is coming soon. I’ve been very lazy with my already lax exercise regime. I’m using the festival as a motivator to start doing some training again. I have no natural chest. It’s bizarre. If I don’t target it I just end up with a belly and little nipples poking out above it. Methinks that last sentence is going to generate a few hits from Google.

Today we’re meant to be visiting the Terracotta Warriors, since they’re on tour. It’s not a band. You know, those statues from China. I’m actually looking forward to it. I need a bit of culturing up. Somehow, cornflakes over the Daily Telegraph each morning doesn’t quite enhance life with regards to inspiration/perspective/reflection/education. I’m not sure if a few sculptures will either, but it can’t hurt.

If anyone’s concerned, my pokering has been going very well these last few months. I’ve worked on my game a lot and grinded my bankroll to 3x the size that it was. I’ve taken a bit of a mental break from it this last week or so, mainly due to being distracted by the shitloads of video games I bought over the Steam Christmas sales. A few treats for myself, indeed.

Marika’s visa application is underway but not yet submitted. We’ve begun the paper trail. I’m not really worried about the application itself, I’m more worried about my procrastination preventing its quick completion. We’ve made up a checklist and thankfully it’s not a very long one, so I think we’ll manage.

I don’t know why I keep putting off updates in this thing. I blame the fact that I have to actually visit my site to login and post. I tried migrating to Posterous but the import function kept timing out and their support staff didn’t respond to any of my emails. Well, fuck them. For now.