The Simple Things

• Someone dinging the bus to stop when it is approaching the main city busport. (Cheers to the ignorant bus passengers)

• Two nights after a girls night out, you cacked yourself so hard when they told you of hilarious but probably embarrassing (if sober) things you did and you don't know whether to feel; guilty because you had a bit too much (1 Corinthians 3:17b) or to conclude it as one of those memorable (?) nights out. (Cheers to Sook, Jenny, Monica, Carol who reminded me of those moments Julia and Jacqui to be part of the group that night, and Jacqui for hosting pre-drinks at her place)

• Reading a book within a month when only read during bus trips to work (Cheers to morning peak hour traffic to extend the bus trip duration)

• Catching up with a friend over a post midnight supper to talk of interesting life prospects (Cheers Try!)

• Internet Banking

• Opportunity to meet freely with friends in particular Christians to study God's word and not be persecuted. (Thanks Lord)

• Free events that finishes with food

2 years 8 months

Perth Hyatt Regency, Lower Lobby, Joes Oriental Diner

I thought I'd finally add some pictures to my postings. I don't usually (at all) have a digital camera with me (as I don't own one) however I managed to find the only picture I own of me in my uniform when I use to work at the Hyatt in Joes, Lower Lobby. Someone must have used my camera phone the one time I had my mobile in the restaurant after work. I think it was Bec. I know there are other photos of me that exist because we've had customers that take pictures with us when they are staying in house. They must either really like our service or perhaps that it's like having Singapore Airlines look alike uniforms in the restaurant.

So there has never been a single word (perhaps one) about Hyatt since I started my blog. Why? Because officially a week after I commenced blogging was my last shift at the Hyatt. To be exact 28th April, Saturday night. 2 days before I commenced work with GHD. A lot of significant changes took place since I commenced work with GHD. Since I started blogging.

Last shift at the Hyatt..perhaps (hopefully) in hospitality forever???....
It was a memorable night. I suspected that Puneesh asked me to work that night even if I wasn't rostered (surprisingly not rostered on a Saturday night?!) on so that I'd be working with the Joes girls one last time (the old crew that were left). They were really nice and presented me with a card and gift at the end of that shift. $100 ColesMyer Voucher. I didn't know what to say but thanks in a stupid way because I honestly did not expect anything.

With the voucher I managed to purchase bargain pants from target for $30 for work and used the rest to pay the balance of a $150 boots from Myers I recently got last Thursday night after doing some errand shopping.

I worked for a total of 2 years and 8 months at that hotel since I commenced in August 2004. I've gone through 3 free staff balls, 2 managers, 6 team leaders, and a lot of various team member staff. The ones I will remember are Daniella (Mexican), Michelle (from China), Michelle (Brunei, but studying in Adelaide), Jovy, Bec, Ee, Li-Wei, Jess. And the boys, Aaron and Brian (when I first started work) and when I left, Sukit and Lakmal.


I think the two things I may be most notoriously remembered for are:

• Getting wheel chaired out of the staff ball in 2004
• Smashing the lamp hanging over the large round table (aka B1) with the lazy susan during a busy night and very full restaurant.

This year when I commenced looking for Undergrad Engineering work experience I remember yearning so much to "get out of there". But when I finally got the confirmation from GHD I was to be employed I got that tingling feeling. I had become fond of the place, people and even the work...I was going to miss it.

• Nibbling on left overs over a rubbish bin at the wash up area.
• Hording food from the buffet, when we had specials on at the end of night shifts.
• At one point every Joes staff's surname began with an 'L' before Li-Wei, and (then) Jess got employed.
  
• Getting verbal abuse from the chefs over the food pass (perhaps I may not miss this one, but it was significantly Joes culture).
• Crawling on all fours to reach that last bottle of Cab Sav from bottom wine shelf.
• Chatting with staff about incidents and stories that occurred during shifts I wasn't rostered on.
• Free drinks from Plain St. bar after work even when offered to pay. The privileges of being Joes staff.
• The accumulated TIPS each month from customers.
  

The above are only a few of many many little things I can remember.


Things I won't miss are:

• Getting back my Saturday nights to be free to do what I want and/or able to go to events I'm invited to without significant prior notice.
• I would be getting back my Friday nights however now that's filled up with spending with kids from Youth Group.

Ye good ole' days

Testing http://junjet.nomadlife.org

Will my original template load?

Stepping Outside My Comfort Square

Three were baptised on Sunday night at Rivo. It was nice as I hadn't seen a baptism in awhile now.

Revin was one of the three boys that I knew. Another guy for some reason reminded me of Stuart Goh. But he wasn't Chinese. Perhaps it was the way he spoke.

Michael Lloyd made a significant point at the end of his testimony. He described himself as a shy person and hence would have been a main reason for not getting baptised.However he took the leap to outside his comfort zone standing in front of the church that night. His last statement really sunk in for me. It was something along the lines of "my commitment to God is to step outside my comfort zone".

Very often Christians fall in the trap of norming with this world. We avoid conflict to stay inside what we're comfortable with. Afraid of what people think of us and forgetting what comes first. Pleasing God, not man.

3 Days Dead

Quite a while ago my mum mentioned to me that one day as she was leaving for work in the morning she saw a girl (in her twenty's) sitting on the curb across the street from us and was crying. An elderly (parents age) woman was comforting her and one of the neighbours (Carolyn) went over to see if they needed help and also because she was a nurse.

Today my parents went to a Pizza Fairwell party organised by one of the neighbours on our street. Mum came home much after Dad did, even after I returned home from church. She found out more to the story I mentioned earlier. The incident she encountered weeks/months before links to the story like this.

The girl was crying because she must have found out that a person had been dead in the house across the street for three days. He (she?) was locked inside the room where he was found.

A locksmith had to be called to unlock the locks which were some kind of special lock (even more suspicious to have locks on room doors). Carolyn found out that there was a deceased person from the locksmith and he was quite wary when mentioning this fact.

Incidents such as the ambulance, police, detectives arriving at the house across the street occured.

The above was seen by the neighbour Carolyn.

Mum said that she did remember seeing an elderly Chinese looking couple coming a few days/weeks(?) later to clear things out from the house. There was also a large rubbish bin to dispose of things (such as a bed?).


How does this effect me?

To my understanding the person that lived across the road was a Chinese looking guy called Tom. I only knew that because early this year when I had to take out the license plates from the yellow Corolla to get them replaced with new ones since the car got yellow stickered, I had a lot of trouble with the tools we had at home with the rear plate. I went across the road to ask for a tool such as a large screwdriver. Anyway we introduced ourselves and that was our first encounter.

Our second encounter was when I came home one afternoon and found a few people in his front yard moving things from car/s to inside the house. I went over to chat to find out who these people were and whether they lived there as well. They informed me that the only person who lived there was Tom and no one else. Tom and I briefly exchanged conversation and I inquired what was with all the computing hardware equipment that was being moved. He mentioned that he use to run a business and if our computers needed fixing he'd be able to do it. Probono. I at the time definitely needed a computer to be fixed and still do! I was planning to call in again a week or so later but only to notice that the house seemed unoccupied or more like there was no sign of life inside.

We have no facts on who exactly is the dead person, but can only speculate as to who they were.


Other opinions to add suspicion.

Mum also mentioned that the roller shutter the house has is only install on the front windows and not the side. Usually roller shutters are installed in all windows. Perhaps to just hide from the street what was really going on inside?

Chinese version of the Mafia?

Overdose?

However all this is speculation and we must respect that it may have just been a case of something "normal".


My feelings:
A bit creeped out because it is so close to home.
Feel a bit odd that I had met this Tom guy however cannot conclude whether it was him.

My immediate thoughts in order:
Was it suicide?
Murder? (inside a locked room, hence staged)
Natural death?...

Beginning of a new lifestyle

Full time work began on 30 April. Employed by GHD (ghd.com.au) as an Undergraduate Engineer. I am not located at their Perth office but in the Southern Gateway Alliance (consist of GHD, Leighton Contractors, WA Limestone and Main Roads WA) project office in Osborne Park. WA's single largest road project, the New Perth to Bunbury Highway (NPBH) is under the design process. Construction, or whatever the term is for them to start earthworks has commenced from what I can gather.

About the office

1. Staff kitchen has bonuses (other than the standard) such as coffee maker machine, sandwich toaster.
2. People are generally friendly and helpful and I've met more than enough amusing personalities.
3. My supervisor Robin Connolly was very helpful the first day showing me around and introducing me to the right people and showed me basic things I'd need to know.
4. I knew one person from a couple of units we did together, Michael Smith.
5. I meet at least one person I haven't met before everyday.
6. Cubicle space is relatively big, generally shared by four people in each corner.

So far so good. I'm not sure what I'll be like in a few weeks from waking up between 6-6:30am everyday to get to work by around 8:15am.

Public transportation enlightenment

Generally leave home at 7:10am to catch a 7:15 bus to Perth Busport then walk 10-15mins to the train station and then catch a train two stops after to Glendalough. After that I catch another bus to IKEA on Scarborough beach road, and walk about 2mins to SGA which is behind/next to IKEA. I spent about 3hours during the weekend engineering this route instead of following exactly what the transperth.wa.gov.au journey planner decided for my destination (duration of 1hour 40-50mins).

By Tuesday I found out that catching the 7:28 bus from home is not worth it as it takes another 15-20mins later to reach the busport due to increased in traffic and I end up arriving 30mins later to work.

By Wednesday I figured that it was faster to walk to the office from Glendalough station.

I decided to walk when I saw someone I recognised from the office and started following them. I ended up catching up to them, pulled out the earphones to my ipod and started conversation "do you work at SGA?". His name in short is Sunda, a Sri Lankan from GHD in Sydney. His role in this project is the geotechnics (engineering) related stuff...I'm using this word because I'm still gathering the correct terminology for all this.

By now the mastered route to work takes only just over an hour from the time I leave home. I also get a bit of exercise done everyday. Only con about it is I have to breath in pollution from the traffic.

Weekends

The weekends are still the same in terms of my sleeping habits. Well it's my first weekend since starting full time work. Today I slept in till around 3-3:30pm. Disgusting isn't it? The only difference now is that I don't have to work Saturday nights! Puneesh called today to let me know about the details of Hyatt's Lower Lobby Team building cruise tomorrow. His first comment "when can I start tonight". That made me laugh.