...and a partridge in a pear tree

My future at work is in doubt - our company is in the process of being taken over by a much larger & more carnivorous business. So I think I might find myself out on my tush in March, so I'm being pro-active and have updated my resume and am now looking for work.
Of course given the fact that there is only 3 days until Christmas, there isnt so much work being advertised & not many jobs on offer.

Hopefully my luck will change in January.

As well has trying to find a new 9-5 job I'm also contemplating my future and how at this moment in time I am career-less. I've been tossing up between focusing on my writing, and developing my skills in that area or whether to go down a completely new path and start my own small business.
I'm not so happy in dull 9-5 jobs. I want work where I feel some satisfaction at the end of the day, and am motivated to get out of bed in the morning - instead of hitting the snooze button as often as possible.

So...that's being mentally turned over & over in my head every day.

Bailey is growing into a bigger & more mischevious bundle of fluff. He is now big enough to get up on most of our furniture without any assistance. In the weeks to come I'm sure we're going to wake up in the morning and discover him curled up on the end of the bed instead of his own cushy little pillow.
He passed Puppy Pre-School last night, he got a Certificate and everything! Just to prove he knows how to sit, stay, drop & come when called.
He then tried to beat up the Labrador that's 6 times his size.

Christmas is rapidly approaching, I have ALL my presents brought, wrapped & under the tree. So at least I dont have to worry about that, and cooking on Christmas Day is all up to the grown ups of the family (I'm still considered a kid) so I just have to bring supplies.

However we were meant to go camping on Boxing Day, but the National Park we were heading to has been closed due to Bush Fires (or the threat of Bush Fires...or something involving Fires). So an alternative has been found.

And I think my Mum decided to wait a day or two until she told me about it all (until the alternative had been found & booked) because she didnt want me spazzing out like I did last year when my camping trip then got shortened dramatically.
Luckily I managed to keep it all together, my depression didnt overtake me like it did back then. I managed to keep it under control.

So I guess that shows you how much I've learned or changed in the last 12 months.

Anyways - enough of my prattling (well I could quite easily continue typing, as I'm bored at work with no tasks to do - and no work in sight until 2007).

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Safe & Happpy New Year

Love
Angela

Smoky Weather

I didnt notice this earlier in the day, mainly because I slept all the way into the city on the train and then had a zombie walk up to work.
But the entire city is covered in a yellow haze.

This would be due to the Bushfires currently raging across Victoria - there's even some rumours that some of the smoke hanging over Melbourne is from the Tasmania fires aswell.

From the Level 11 Office Windows you can normally view the city skyline all the way out to the sea - but today it's entirely shrouded. The sun looks like a giant red fireball in the sky as it tries to shine through the heavy smoke.
There is not even a hint of blue out there. It's all grim.

I went for a walk and had to hurry back into the office & air conditioning - my eyes got so sore from all the smoke I thought I was going to burst into tears.

Just makes you pause and think - if it's this bad in the city, imagine what the firefighters and rural towns are experiencing....