Sitting in a Motel Room

Here I am, sitting in a motel room in Murwillumbah. We're here for another exciting cricket match - not that I stayed long enough at the field to watch the first ball bowled. I hightailed it to the nearest coffee shop.

It's been an up and down week with plenty happening and not much blogging. Sometimes I don't want to write about stuff until a few days have passed. I need to wait until there's a bit of distance between what happened and being able to look at it rationally.

A chronological assessment of the week goes like this:

Monday
Worked - nothing unusual there.

Tuesday
Gibbo flew to Roma then Surat then back to Dalby (nothing unusual there either). I worked the am then Drew and I drove to Toowoomba for my ENT visit about my weird left ear. I dropped Drew at the movies then headed to my appointment. In short, my ear isn't blocked; there's something else going on with it; maybe a blood vessel trapped behind/near it or something more "esoteric" (a strange choice of word I thought). Anyway, I then had to make a booking for a hearing test and an MRI. The suggested clinic for the MRI couldn't fit me in until the Friday before we fly out which was way too close for comfort. After the appointment I went and bought a wireless keyboard (see below) for my ipad. Then I had a coffee at Coffee Club; then I walked to Maccas and had a burger and hot apple pie; then I read the paper and waited and waited for Drew to come out of the movie theatre. I was actually out of the doctor's surgery before the movie even started!

Eventually we got home and I set up the bluetooth so the keyboard would talk to the ipad. The process took all of 30 seconds; it was so easy - and it's so so cool to be able to type on my lap.

Drew knows about "sliprail". He came right out and asked me if I blog and I couldn't lie. He was surprised I'd been doing it for 20 months. I felt vindicated in one of my reasons for blogging (to remind us of the little things in our lives that would normally be forgotten). When I told him that the very first entry is the day in Nov 2008 that he and I went to the Cellar Door at Jimbour and had a Water Tower Burger, milkshake and cappuccino and that a butcher bird kept coming to the table he couldn't remember doing that. The reason he asked is because, last night, he was reading through the written diary that I had made of my overseas trip in 1986 and he wondered if he should make one of Canada. I suggested he make a blog; he went on to ask lots of questions (which I could answer of course). He wondered how I seemed to know so much about making one; so that led to the question which led to the "I cannot tell a lie" answer - Yes, I do blog. He asked me a few questions about what's in/on it - but he didn't ask for the name or address and I didn't offer it. No doubt it will come.

Wednesday
I rang the ENT surgery to see if I was able to try somewhere else for the MRI and they said sure - the only reason they suggest the clinic as per yesterday is because they bulk bill. I rang St V and got an appointment for tomorrow - as easy as that. In fact, I could have had ten appointments if I'd wanted them. This alleviated a little anxiety as at least I'd have a result well before fly time.

I finalised the Canada application - photocopied it and went to town and sent it off. I'm glad to have it gone; it feels right. This is something I really want Drew to do for his sake; it will be very difficult for me but I can deal with it.

I had to feed 9 visitors; Indonesians plus AR. I bumped them from the house to the feedlot though; it's a lot less work for me to have lunch down there.

We went to town to the R's to watch State of Origin. The girls made pizzas; Qld won again; I fell asleep in the recliner.

My older brother has been diagnosed with PC and will go in for an op next week.

Thursday
I had the MRI (take one); the technician showed the scans to the doctor and I had to go for another scan (take two). For someone like me, this was disconcerting. Was there something wrong that meant they had to look at it from a different angle? Gibbo's take on it was that the technician stuffed up (glass half empty vs glass half full). I waited for the scans and report then walked them across the road to Mr ENT - who wasn't in and wouldn't be back that afternoon.

So sitting on the couch at home that afternoon, Drew tells me about a new show starting on Fox 8 and that they were calling interested young people, 17-20 for auditions. To read what happened next, go to the next blog entry.

Gibbo's monthly reports were due today - I thought they were due tomorrow so we sat and did them at home and sent them off. Not something I felt like doing but a welcome distraction in the end.

It's a terrible feeling, wondering if there's something wrong with your health. After my lung scare in 2004 I can tell myself all I like that the mammogram/ultrasound/thorax ct/brain scan will be ok (after all, this is ME we're talking about - how could anything happen to me?). Yet, until I hear the words "all clear, no further action" there's a tiny seed of fear that sits inside, just waiting to be fed.

Friday
Went to work early to fix a couple of things, drag in some cattle and sort them (on computer that is) and wait until 9am to ring for the MRI result - which was, you guessed it, "all clear". What a relief. Well, at least my boobs, lungs and head are all ok. It still hasn't cleared up what's wrong with my ear but, for me, those three things are pretty major hurdles to have jumped.

Drew rang WEP to see if they received his application - and they were "processing it as we speak". He also asked about traveling - he will travel with a group of other exchangees to a central point from which they will split to travel to their final destinations.

Drew and I went to town for lunch with Kylie and Lydia. They brought up the Fox 8 audition; Lydia had seen it too.

After several changes in plan, the four of us finally got ourselves organized. Originally, Gibbo and I were heading off for the weekend (cricket in Murbah, trip meeting in Beenleigh on Sunday); kids staying home; Chris coming up for the weekend. However, because of the audition, we told Chris to stay put and organised someone to do the animals. We all headed off to Toowoomba and stayed the night at the Hodges.

Saturday
Gibbo and I left at 5am. The kids got up and left for Brisbane at 6.45. See next entry for the rest of that story.

We arrived at Murbah early and found a coffee shop for cappas and raspberry muffins. We found the cricket grounds and I left. I walked into town; not far, and just wandered as I often do on these days. I found a few nice little shops and browsed; bought a stainless steel water bottle to encourage myself to drink more water. I bought Coco a new food bowl for 50 cents at the Vinnies shop and just walked. I walked along the river for a while and took some photos

and kept in good touch with the kids. Drew was SO NERVOUS. I had another coffee and found our motel - and here I am, full circle, back at the beginning.

Tomorrow we head off to Beenleigh Bowls Club for the final meeting before our departure.