Saturday morning was spent chilling out before watching some more Game of Thrones for most of the afternoon. I'm not hooked on it yet, though it is very good, but I still think it will struggle to top Breaking Bad for me, personally. After making dinner, I got an early night since I was getting back up at 3am to watch the football, though once again I might as well not have bothered. United spent the entire game, in horrible windy conditions, lumping the ball forward and swinging in crosses against Stoke, who are one of the tallest and most physical sides in the whole league. We literally played to the strengths of the opposition and were beaten 2-1 in a worrying comfortable fashion. The misery was compounded by the fact that Charlie Adam scored the two goals; the very same Charlie Adam who couldn't get a game for the club formerly known as Rangers. Useless. (I know some people won't appreciate that Rangers joke, but it's funny winding folk up.)
Sunday was another quiet day, as I headed out to the supermarket around lunchtime to do get some well-needed groceries before returning to watch another handful of episodes of Game of Thrones in the afternoon. Later on, I caught up with home on FaceTime and was delighted to hear that there was a new series of Top Gear starting that night. Surely it's the best programme the BBC have ever produced, except maybe Match of the Day and even it has questionable guests and dodgy, incredibly simple analysis. Alan Shearer, I'm looking at you. Again, it was an early night, since the plan for Monday morning was to head down to Ivy for brunch and beers whilst watching the Super Bowl.
After a bright and early start, a group of us left Iglu and caught the free shuttle bus down George Street, jumping off just before Ivy. We had decided to book a table, in expectation of it being busy and it turned out to be a good decision, as practically all of the tables with a good view of the big screen had been taken. We ordered some American hot dogs and Budweisers and enjoyed an incredibly one-sided match, as the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 43-8, a result which was never in doubt, seemingly.
Whilst the game was very one-sided and therefore not a great spectacle for us neutrals, it's fair to say that the highlight in the eyes of most of the girls in attendance was the half time show performed by Bruno Mars, who was great it has to be said. Whilst there was also a guest appearance from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, they only played one song and it later transpired that they hadn't been playing their instruments live, which was a bit disappointing. We headed home after the game and I played football in the afternoon, before returning home and watching Top Gear at night.
Tuesday meant it was time for my interview at the mystery internet company, though after some strategic Google searching, I discovered that the company was called Netregistry and they sold domain names, website hosting, web design and web security packages. It gave me a bit of peace of mind having some knowledge about the company itself before the interview, so I didn't get caught like a rabbit in the headlights were I to be asked a tricky question. I had a long lie in the morning, before getting up and having breakfast. It was unfortunately raining rather heavily, which was untimely since I needed to head to the university library in order to print off a copy of my CV and references, just in case. With no real alternative, I stuck on shorts, flip-flops and a jacket and headed off to campus, plastic folder at the ready.
In the pouring rain, outside the library on campus, there was some kind of filming going on, though I didn't stick around to find out what was happening since it was so miserable outside.
Eventually, it turned out to be a good decision though, since the guy who interviewed me had misplaced the CV which he had been given. The interview itself went well and I was told that I had a job - doing outbound tele sales to existing customers - as long as there was enough space and budget for me. A phone call would be coming my way within a week if there was a job available; I left happy with how things had went but not totally sure whether I would need to continue my job hunt yet. When I arrived back at the flat, Claire was over visiting, after arriving back in Sydney. We chilled out in the afternoon, before having dinner and I then finished season one of Game of Thrones. Safe to say, I'm pretty much hooked now.
Wednesday morning started off with me lying in bed, scrolling through Twitter, when I saw a retweet by Kevin Bridges which mentioned tickets for his show in Sydney. Springing to life, I jumped out of bed, fired up my laptop and got on Ticketek to see what was happening. It turned out that he is coming here to play the Sydney Comedy Festival in April, so tickets were purchased and I'll be going to see Kevin Bridges for the first time, right here in Sydney! Looking forward to it already! Later in the afternoon, I received a phone call to offer me the sales position at Netregistry, which I was delighted to accept! Then, a few hours after that, I submitted my dissertation question proposal form - which seems like a huge step in my time at university. Freshers week in first year seems like no time ago at all. After watching some stupid videos on YouTube, I got off to sleep with an early start ahead of me the next morning. Whilst nothing remarkable happened, Wednesday had been a good day!
On Thursday, Emma and I had booked up to climb the Harbour Bridge before she flew home the next day, whilst Jessica planned to also do the climb, but not until her birthday in April. Jessica and Emma had arrived back in Sydney from their trip the day previously, having left around two weeks ago. We met at Railway Square, where Emma and I caught the bus to Circular Quay, before walking along the Rocks to the Bridge Climb centre. We had a safety briefing and everyone participating was given a breathalyser test, which just required you to speak, "One, two, three, four, five" into the machine. I could barely keep back the laughter as a Scouse bloke went first, with the thickest accent I have heard other than maybe Jamie Carragher. It was spectacular. Soon, our guide - who's name I can't remember, but he was a bit strange - had us all kitted up, ready to start our climb and we set off. Even though it was fairly cloudy, the views all the way up were spectacular and it was great to get such an amazing perspective on the city I had been calling home for the past six months. We stopped at various spots where we had photographs taken; nobody is allowed to take any loose items, including phones and cameras up on to the bridge, for obvious reasons, so you have to rely on the photography provided.
Emma and I with the Sydney Opera House in the background.
Myself with the CBD in the background. One of the more amazing bits of information we learned on the climb, was that at the time of the construction of the bridge, the general post office building was the tallest structure in the city. The building itself can be seen in the photo below, though it's quite difficult to spot. The tall glass tower just to the left of me is the Credit Suisse tower, then around half way down on the left hand side of that building there is a clock tower - that is the old post office building. The Sydney Harbour Bridge really was a piece of engineering brilliance when it was built.
Myself and the Opera House.
Along the way, our guide gave us commentary in the headphones which were provided, which started off really great, as we heard tales about the plans to build the bridge and the history the harbour itself. However, after a while, it seemed that every fact he was telling us centred on either someone being killed or severely injured whilst constructing the bridge. Very cheery!
Our group photo at the top of the bridge.
Here is me at the summit of the bridge, looking remarkably like a clown in the daft suit. It made my mind up forever against getting a onesie.
After the climb, we bought some souvenir photographs and collected our certificates, before heading back to Railway Square to meet Jessica and we headed for some lunch. Afterwards, I left the girls and went home as they headed off to Victoria Park for the afternoon. There was another Iglu event planned for that night, where the plan was to meet up and head to a karaoke bar in the city. I had my doubts about karaoke, but after a few beers and some peer pressure, I eventually took my turn and smashed a beautiful version of 'Wonderwall' by Oasis! Haha! There was also a great team effort at singing '500 Miles' by the Proclaimers - apparently my authentic accent really set it off nicely!
On Friday morning, Emma was flying back to Scotland, which meant she and Jessica had to say their emotional goodbyes at the airport, around 4am, quite literally the middle of the night. Several tissues and a few extra hours sleep later, Jessica and I headed out for some breakfast. We headed to the 24-hour French cafe, which I had never been to before, even after walking past it numerous times; I'm pleased to report that the croissants were magic and I'm sure I'll be back. After breakfast, we took the short walk along George Street to the Event cinema to see 'The Wolf of Wall Street' - second time in a week for me and it was equally as excellent. Later in the afternoon, I headed off to play football with the guys at St. Paul's College. I arrived home to a text from my mum informing me that Vidic wasn't renewing his contract at United, so he would be leaving at the end of the season. His leadership and experience will be sorely missed I think, not to mention his sheer quality; he and Ferdinand were comfortably the best centre backs in the world for around two years from 2008. Awesome defender when in his prime. At night, I watched 'The Conjouring' which was incredibly scary, so it was followed by 'Shutter Island' before I headed to sleep.
On Saturday, Jessica and I headed to the pool at Prince Alfred Park - my tan was seriously needing worked on again. Jessica claimed that she swam a few lengths, however I tried to suggest that walking around the shallow end didn't exactly count - she disagreed. After stopping by Woolworths for some shopping, we headed back to my flat and I cooked up an excellent stir fry. Chef skills. At home, Mum and Dad were off to Edinburgh with the new motorhome for a week or so, whilst Kerry was away in Paris on a school trip. On Sunday morning, a group of us from Iglu went to Pancakes on the Rocks for breakfast, which was absolutely fantastic but the portion was once again too large to finish.
After breakfast, we took a walk around the markets at the Rocks and Ghazi took an excellent group selfie.
Once we had walked off our breakfast, we caught the bus back to Railway Square, popped home for some water and suncream before leaving again to Victoria Park, for the Mardis Gras Fair. As expected, it was a crazy collection of people, wearing some mad outfits, including the shortest shorts I have ever witnessed.
Another strong team photo!
After dinner, I got off for an early night since I was getting back up around 4am to watch United against Fulham at Old Trafford. It was another crap game, as Darren Bent headed in a stoppage time equaliser to square it up at 2-2, which is how the game finished. In some ways though, I'm actually glad we're not enjoying too much of a vintage season, since I'm missing out on going to Old Trafford.
I awoke bright and early on Monday morning for my first day of work - to say I wasn't used to 7.30am starts was an understatement. I headed to the office, just off Broadway, with some time to spare and took a seat in reception. Shortly after, another girl arrived who was starting her first day at the same time as myself. The morning was mostly spent doing some training and learning more about the specifics of the job we would be doing; it turned out that we would mainly be selling website security packages to customers who already paid for website hosting with the company. The process seemed straightforward and after morning break, we were paired up with existing employees to listen in to their calls and get a feel for the way to sell most effectively. I was paired up with a guy called Charlie and after listening to a couple of his calls, he got me to take over and do one myself - which resulted in my first sale, from my very first phone call. I also made a sale on my second call and I immediately realised that I was very much looking forward to making some commission through selling once again. After I finsihed work, Jessica and I went out for dinner to the Italian place in Darling Harbour.
I worked again on Tuesday - whilst Jessica left for her trip around Asia. My job at Netregistry is Monday to Friday and 9 till 5 at the moment, which is great for making some pocket money whilst I'm not at uni, but it's a bit of a shock to the system After work on Wednesday, some of the guys at Iglu were watching Game of Thrones with a few beers, so we turned that into a drinking game. The night ended around 2am after a game of Twister and heaps of Jay-Z. Needless to say, work on Thursday wasn't a lot of fun, though I soldiered on and made a few sales regardless. In the early hours of Thursday morning, United managed a respectable 0-0 draw away to Arsenal - most seasons that would be a satisfactory result, though it really didn't do us much good in our current situation. I worked my final day of the week on Friday, before heading off to play football in the evening, which I had been looking forward to all week. The weekend was a fairly quiet one, though I did start watching the new season of House of Cards on Netflix, which kicked off with a truly shocking first episode - I won't spoil it, but ouch! On Sunday afternoon, a group of us from Iglu went to Max Brenner's Chocolate Cafe, where I had Belgian waffles with a chocolate and banana milkshake - it was sensational. Afterwards, we had a few drinks and ended up playing a few rounds of Kings, or Ring of Fire, or Kings Cup as people seem to call it here. It was another late night and Monday morning came around far too quickly once again. The only other news from the weekend was that Alex and I have booked up to go skydiving next Sunday - cannot wait!
It is now Wednesday again and I've been working on Monday, Tuesday and today as well. Also, rather unfortunately, since it rained for much of the weekend, the oval on campus was closed on Monday, which meant we couldn't play football on it. Tonight, after dinner, we've played some FIFA and table tennis, whilst having a reminisce over some mid 2000s British guitar music: Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, early Kasabian - top stuff!
That's me pretty much all caught up now, I apologise that it has been rushed and once again I shall endeavour to update the blog more frequently in future. The next post will include our sky-dive, so that should be something to look forward to! Either that, or this will be the last blog post you read from me...! Haha!
Until next time,
Jamie
