Winter is on the way

Another thrilling week in Q town has passed much like the last, I'm afraid. The job hunt is getting beyond a joke now and i am starting to believe that there is some kind of conspiracy against me working here. I have applied for a few more jobs this week and got replies saying they will contact me next week but from my experiences here, that could mean never. I am desperately trying to not get down about it and have established a daily routine that not only gets me out of the house but gets me fitter and has helped me lose 3 kilo's this week too. Just have to keep it up as the weighing scales in the Mall in Q town say i need to lose another 10 kilo's to get to my ideal weight! That's over 22 pounds, groan. I could do it too if i just keep up the running, avoid all the junk food and hope that my motivation actually keeps me motivated. I have that weird problem where my motivation has like a little whisper voice in my head. It seems to be easily shouted down or drowned out by the lazy voice or the part of my brain designated to Colonel Saunders! No, I'm doing OK. I could be doing heaps better but that requires way too much effort and like i said, the lazy voice in my head is ruling at the moment. I have impressed myself a few times this week though. I procrastinated and procrastinated yesterday about going for a run. I umm'd and ah'd for about 2 hours. The reason for this was the run i did the previous day which, for some unknown reason, nearly killed me! I have been back running for nearly 3 weeks and it should be getting easier. I have slightly increased my distances and slightly improved my times, knocking 4 minutes off my time to run into town, but for some reason that last run really hurt. So yesterday, the lazy voice in my head and the whispery motivation voice had a real duel. The motivation voice won out but even as i got my running gear on, i still had doubt over my ability to run which lead to thoughts of just blowing it off. However, i managed to get out of the house, run the frankton track and have enough in the tank to sprint the last 100 metres. I was so stoked. One for over coming the 'demons' in my head and for also blasting out the run and really enjoying it. I am even quite looking forward to running again today. Well, i would be if the weather wasn't so bad.

It has really taken a turn here. I had been wondering how soon the sunny days and clear skies would last, especially since the ski season here is supposed to begin in less than a month. This last week though it has all dramatically changed. Low cloud most days and a huge drop in temperature have also accompanied a massive amount of rain. It rained solidly for 3 days this week. I'm not that worried about the rain because when the low cloud disappears you can see the fresh layers of snow up on the mountains. Yes, rain in town means snow up on the hills. Shit, it even snowed down by the lake yesterday! It didn't settle though but again, it means the hills and the ski resorts are already getting good dumps of snow. And if this whole job thing doesn't happen, then i am gonna be spending a fair amount of time up there!

One thing that was awesome this week happened at one of the poker nights in town. Kate and I came first and second in a tournament! It had to happen sooner or later as we have both suddenly started playing really consistently. We both got to final table and knocked out the last guy so it was just us heads up. We decided to just call it a draw and take the first and second place prizes ($110 voucher). I think they awarded Kate the win as she had more chips than me, but to be honest i don't care. Poker was good this week as we seemed to be meeting more and more people. It's nice to sit down and be able to chat to people and find out stuff. This is a quiet little mountain town after all and it seems everybody knows everybodys business. Like how we found out this week that one of the guys we play poker with is on the sex offenders register for sex with a minor! That sort of thing. He's actually a really nice guy though and i think the girl was 15 so I'm thinking thats a big difference from being a paedophile, maybe.

Our neighbours have moved. Initially i thought that they were part of the mass May exodus but it turns out that they only moved a few doors down. I think into the flat were the naked guy greeted us. Maybe they got fed up of me screeching Rob Pattinson and John Frusciante songs on my guitar at all hours of the day. Or fed up with the smell of cooking lasagnes and fish finger sandwiches at 3am. Either way, it means that at least one side of the house is quiet. The Asian couple that live on the other side of us are no bother either though, well except for one drunken ruckus at 5 am the other night. In fact, it's really quiet here. When we moved in and found out that a lot of our neighbours were Brits i did fear that there would be lots of loud parties and that I'd wake up to find Biff covered in vomit. It's been fine so far.

I have made a start on a short story too. It will be rubbish i imagine but it is only to kill time. I wrote a preface and 3 pages the other day and that took up 2 hours. I am saving it for time when Kate is at work and think of plot lines and stuff when i'm running. I'll see how it all pans out.

Hmmm, my plans for today look like they are dashed. I had intended to run and then have lunch before going on a big long walk up the hill directly across from us on the other side of the lake but it is proper pissing it down out there. Groan. Oh well, as i said, at least it's snowing up on the hills.

Peace

D

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