As Time Goes By

We've got some catching up to do, you and I. How have you been? Well, I hope. Happy. Fulfilled. Content.

Wait, hey have you lost weight?

So let me clear the air and say sorry for being gone so long. The past 9 months have been a bit of a rollercoaster. Scary at times, but thankfully more exhilarating than anything else. Lots of change, and lots of positive outcomes.

First off, Peter and I broke up. In fact we're still friends and he will always have a place in my heart. I saw him a few weeks back and he's doing well.

Then just a few weeks after we broke up (New Year's Eve, to be precise) I met a wonderful man, Martin. We met on a crowded dancefloor, but even though Martin didn't realise it at the time, it wasn't the first time we'd met. I'm friends with his older brother, and I also once chatted to him one drunken night at a pub. (I choose not to dwell on the fact that he doesn't remember, after all he was the drunken one that drunken night.) At the time we met I knew Martin was cute, funny, sweet and sexy... but what I didn't know was that he would steal my heart. Which he has, completely.

Martin and I, on a late night ghost tour.

In March I had to move out of the little cottage in Newtown that I'd lived in for 10 years, as the owners were returning to Australia and had decided to sell. (Which in the end, they didn't. But by then I had moved on anyway.) Cue a stressful search for somewhere else to live, populated with yucky houses, big rents, long queues of other prospective tenants and a very supportive boyfriend who was happy to drive me around, and listen to my kvetching and hand wringing. (I already told you he was sweet, right?)

After a chance conversation with a bunch of old photography buddies I hadn't seen for a while, I found out that one of them owned an apartment he was about to rent out. I was initially hesitant, it was a lot more than I was previously paying and a bit further out than my beloved Newtown. We took it, we moved, and it has been an absolute joy. Light. Spacious. Modern. Warm through the winter we are just finishing, and with a large balcony overlooking the city, and a large terrace on another side, it has enough outdoor space to make it feel less like a run of the mill apartment and more like a little penthouse. Spring is around the corner, and I can't wait to put the outdoors to full use.

Lastly, my work situation has changed for the better. I'm no longer contracting, but I'm now on a 12 month contract direct with the university I've been working at for the past 18 months. The plan is for it to be permanent, but for reasons to complicated to explain it was easiest to put me on a 12 month contract first. I still get all the leave and other entitlements that permanent staff get, and at the end of this year it will still count towards my long service leave etc. Oh, and a nice big chunk of change was added to my salary. Sick leave! Holiday pay! It's like a real grown-up job and everything.

That brings us up to the current day. Martin and I were away visiting my sisters a few weekends ago, and not only did we have a fabulous time but I now suspect they actually like him more than me. (Kidding!... mostly.) I've just gotten over a dose of bronchitis, the cold part of which Martin is now dealing with. But that's a minor annoyance.

I'm happy. I'm healthy (now). I'm in love, and loved in return. I have a nice roof over my head, and a few extra dollars in my pocket.

Actually, things are pretty great. :-)