2010 - 2019: The Decade That Was - Part 2

I am going to try and keep this one a little shorter than the previous but I will see how I go.

2013

01/01/13 @ 00:01 - at East Perth foreshore party with the gang, reasonably drunk 
2013 started at the East Perth foreshore with the gang and finished in Stu’s house in Viveash, playing on my phone. In between these two pivotal events there was also a lot of important stuff going on. 

2013, the year of the ressies grand final and East Perth Mantra Hotel. Everyday drive to work in East Perth and then rush out to try and beat traffic so can make Crossfit and footy training on time - tough.

Every night was busy, except for maybe Friday when I walk into the city after work and look at clothes. This was probably my favourite part of the week.

I loved working in the city and commuting between the East Perth and Perth hotels via the Red CAT. I loved walking through the city on a Friday night, looking at clothes etc before going home. I never knew the city that well before I started working at Mantra but by the end of this period, I knew Hay St, Murray St and East Perth really well. There were also a lot of parts of fulltime worked that I really liked but my organisation, sleeping habits / exercise habits needed to be adjusted. Sometimes I drink too much on Saturday night and feel the effects on Monday. Too much vodka. One time I feel like I’m going to faint when I’m in the Murray St bathroom on overcast Monday afternoon. Nick and Sull drink a lot too and I cannot help myself. 

June long weekend go to Villa for What So Not on the Friday. Kiel and I are late so we miss the taxi... Kiel convinces me to drive. Night is good, I try not to drink too much but drink more than I want to... am with Kiel, Nick, Yakk & Sull. Kiel convinces me to drive home but I’m like “I’ve been drinking, I can’t drive”, Kiel say “You’re fine”. Kiel and I walk outside Villa, walk 50 metres to my car and head home - not good but make it home ok. This was also the weekend that Nick pressured the doctor to take his cast off so he could go out drinking #hectic.

Finding it hard to balance work with everything else so decided it was time to leave. Last day was Friday the 6th of September. Went out for a bit later but night was hijacked by two unnamed friends from footy and next I knew it was 2pm on Saturday and I had missed our third last training before our grand final. I felt so bad.

Grand final was memorable for all the wrong reasons. We should have won but we didn't. I had an eight week break between jobs, I didn't know if I would ever go back to accounting, I just didn't think I was made to be an accountant. Worked in a container yard in North Freo for the end of 2013, this was pretty outrageous too but so be it. And that was how 2013 ended: working and not knowing where I was heading.

Other points: CrossFit was still going well; missed both seasons of Survivor; had decent visibility with women through footy, CrossFit and work.


2014

01/01/14 @ 00:01 - on a bed at Stu’s Viveash house, playing on my phone, hiding from life
The year starts and things pick up. I am still at the container yard and they offer me fulltime. I get offered two other accounting jobs at the same time and not sure which to choose. I answer my phone on the walk back to my car on my lunch break and say yes to the West Perth accounting firm. We moved in May to Port Coogee - 18 months in High Wycombe. Kept playing A Grade ressies but no trainings. Got dropped to thirds because of this.

The feeling at this accounting firm was a lot different from the 2013 jobs. There was no shouting. I had a good mentor so this was very reassuring. The office was vibrant and there were many young people and also maybe 50 people in our office. I still found aspects of this job challenging but was not going to give up. Had to give up CrossFit because we moved; started going to Coogee Surf Lifesaving Club. I could write a lot about 2014 but I will keep it simple. Was doing intense CrossFit workouts at the gym to stay fit for footy; started doing CPA in July #hard ; had a good night in Subiaco for our Christmas party.

Other points: going to Ya-Ya's a lot; Ya-Ya's closing down in November :( ; started sleeping in my car after nights out in the city.


2015

01/01/15 @ 00:01 - upstairs in my Coogee bedroom, trying to sleep
Friends seemed to dissipate post Ya-Ya's closing down, Jas was seemingly the only one that still wanted to go out. I thought I would give up going out for good but I drove and met Jas a few times to give him company. I really thought this was the end of my going out days.

Found myself in Seduction, Phuket at the end of June / start of July, thought this was no longer a part of my life but then I heard a song which I hadn't heard before. The sound was unique. It made me realise how much I loved music and how I had lost touch with music a little in the last couple of years. I decided I wasn't going to give up on nightclubs.

2015 was a CPA year so I probably won't write too much. Other important points: stopped playing footy because it was too much; kept going to the empty Coogee Surf Lifesaving gym most nights; slept in my car many times.

2016

01/01/16 @ 00:01 - back area of Tigerlil’s with Sull, JC, KC, Vesper & Derek (if he hadn’t already left 😂)

Wrote blog about this New Year’s Eve. Start running at Kings Park on Fridays. Year just do two CPA units and lots of intense CrossFit workouts at Coogee Fitness Club by ownself. I still uptight because I studying and working and most night when I go out I being careful not to drink too much. Sleep in my car like 7 times in the first 6 months. I remember in 2016 being at Lost Society late on a Saturday night until the lights come on. 

2017

01/01/17 @ 00:01 - walking the streets of Mt Maunganui, lining up for nightclub 

A few weddings, engagement parties, JC has girlfriend now. Oscar & Ellie have now both moved on, I get told by psychic that I should move out. Do another CPA unit in second semester. Have good nights out.

2018

01/01/18 @ 00:01 - at Brisbane Hotel in Highgate/North Perth

Finally finish CPA. When get to June I am so fatigued I think I have put on some weight, I miss the gym sometimes because it close too early. In Sept I check out Goodlife, I like this one a lot, I make the switch, start going hard on the rower.

2019

01/01/19 @ 00:01 - on the roof at Sull’s house watching fireworks

2010 - 2019: The Decade That Was - Part 1

It is the 28th of December 2019, three days before the decade comes to the end, deciding if I should write a blog or not, on a decade which I liked a lot. In the words of TE (Trav) "Sometimes it's better to just post it. Pretend you are in an exam. You've got 30 mins. Do your best." Wise words.

2010

01/01/10 @ 00:01 - Deen dance floor with KC & JC
The decade started off with me on the dancefloor of The Deen with JC and KC. We had gone to JB's house in Wattle Grove to see in the new year but had soon departed after Jas and Kiel decided that there might be more action in Northbridge. A few days later I headed south to Southbound with a lively Wattle Grove crew + JH & BB. This was a long trip: departed Thursday night and arrived back Monday afternoon. We camped hard with three tents and drank a bit. I had my wristband confiscated shortly after arriving and subsequently had all of the alcohol in my shorts taken away from me - not a good start. Apart from that, this was a good trip.

2010 was one of my favourite years of the decade but it started off shaky and I was once again put on conditional standing at uni after I failed another two units. This was another wake up call - post grad was harder than I thought and I have attention from women which is new for me. My drinking was probably out of control too *shakes head, but young Scott was a loose unit. The real narrative of 2010 for many of us was that of redemption. Cougars had lost all three grand finals in footy the year before and we had entered all three of those matches as heavy favourites. In that hostile environment on that ground that I don’t really like, we lost and I felt that I had let the club down. 2010 looked to be a much tougher proposition than the previous year, as we were always going to have to beat Scarborough to make it up to B Grade and they were effectively an A Grade club.

Towards the end of July and during September, I remember trying to apply myself more at uni and thinking to keep taking footy one week at a time because I did not think we could beat Scarborough - I didn't see any point thinking too far into the future. I also remember going out to Rubix and Capitol most of these weekends and these were good nights.

Our last five matches went LOSS - Scarborough (big loss), LOSS - High Wycombe, WIN - High Wycombe, Loss - Scarborough (even bigger loss), WIN - High Wycombe (only by about a goal - I had only had 1.5 - 2 hrs of sleep before this game because of a uni mid sem test, so hectic) and then somehow we were in the Grand Final. This was going to be a big game. The lead up week to this match was pretty intense and I knew how much it meant to everyone. I was going into this match prepared to get hurt, just to redeem myself... intense. The day finally came and I rocked up half time of the ressies match as usual. It was overcast which I liked and this time colts had won and ressies were ahead at half time, which was a direct contrast to the year before. The pre-game addresses were pretty deep and very moving, you could see this meant a lot to everyone. There was no mucking around like usual and it was pretty intense.

Ressies won and our game was about to start - the pressure was on. If we won, we would go up to B Grade and if we lost we would stay in C Grade for out fifth straight year. The match started and we were just managing to hold on, this continued on during the second quarter. He were down at half time but nowhere near as bad as our previous two outings. I still didn't really think about winning or even that we could win, I just kept thinking about focusing on every single moment and just trying my best in every contest.

The third quarter things seemed to pick up a bit in our favour and people started to believe that we could match it with S'borough. This was the first time in the match that I felt some level of optimism. The fourth quarter came and it was pretty tight and we were still behind. I was now thinking that we were actually going to run out of time and we would end up losing by less than a goal but literally out of nowhere Merce kicked a goal from a throw in and for the first time in probably two months, the idea that we might actually win was possible. I nearly messed up again with only one or two minutes remaining, if things didn't go our way they would have taken the ball that went through my hands and ran 75 metres into an open goal... this would not have been good. Fittingly though, the god that is B Baker was behind me, he kicked it to Toby and then Toby kicked it to Cory. Cory literally marked right on the boundary 45 metres from goal and yet he still converted his kick to give up a seven point lead. The siren went and it was crazy! I was so cathartic and was trying to hide the fact that I was crying - I felt so relieved, like an enormous burden had been lifted off of my shoulders, one that I had been carrying with me for 12 months. This was the start of a good period for me, perhaps my favourite of the decade.

These celebrations went on for at least three days. I was trying to focus on uni but Kal Cup came, so did Parklife and a few nights out and then it was late October and we were going to Phuket. This Phuket trip was one of the most enjoyable trips of my life - I guess drinking every night wasn't ideal but it was pretty amazing listening to music every night, having zero worries (except uni for me) and spending time drinking with friends every day and night for eight nights, in such a vibrant environment.

This good energy continued on for the remainder of the year. It was a good year.


2011

01/01/11 @ 00:01 - at Black & White party on Crawley foreshore with Lesmurdie crew 
2011, interesting. My sleeping habits perhaps the most out of control of all time? Lots of winter Saturday nights at Capitol? Have good fortune, can housesit in Freo for four months. Footy not going well, I have groin injury and cannot play, my sleeping habits became the most extreme that they had ever been. The worst it got was when I went to bed at 11am in the morning, woke up at sunset i.e. 530pm, had an afternoon nap anytime between 12am - 3am and then went back to bed around 8am or so in the morning. Sleeping in a big, empty house by yourself I felt like I could forget about time, live in my own world, fall asleep whenever and watch 150 - 170 Naruto Shippuden episodes undisturbed at night, thanks to Goat’s internet. One time I even tried to walk home from Hip-E club to Freo in May but only made it to the Perth Zoo - so cold.

My 5.5 year tenure at Curtin University finally finishes - I will miss this place. Decide to go to Phuket again so book holiday. I was basically out of money and this is when I signed up to "The Brotherhood" (Toll). My first shift was with T-Man at a refrigerated warehouse in Welshpool, loading and unloading meat boxes into trailers at 5am in the morning. This went for five weeks, along with work for two other Toll employers and I was ready to leave but thankfully I was offered work at the Toll Ipec depot in Hazlemere, which is what I wanted all along. I will never forget my first shift there on a Friday afternoon, it was like a ray of light had come into my life. I will try not to make this post too lengthy so I will cut things short.

End of September = Phuket. Phuket quiet, lots of rain. Go to nightclub every night. Some NRL players there, Dustin Martin too? One night go to nightclub, maybe 8 people there, then go on Saturday, now more like 200 people there... this definitely rainy season. 

After Phuket I vowed that I would stop drinking as much. This was an end of old ways in some regards. NYE for 2011 was not as lively as the one prior also. Where 2010 ended with lots of excitement, 2011 not as much. 


2012

01/01/12 @ 00:01 - East Perth foreshore Nautical Party with Noonty, Bird, Will
Year starts, low on money so work at Toll and unload trailers every morning. 5am starts are tough, 5am used to be my bedtime. Do this for a few months until I pay off debt with mum. Sometimes I drive to Spanish lesson after Toll - I am so tired, I make sure I not crash. Start applying hard for accounting jobs on Seek. First interview I go to in West Perth I get offered the job. This is a tax job but I have to set up my own ABN to do this? I think job market must be good so I hold off until I get another job offer, hopefully no ABN either... bad move, next job does not come for a long time, I must wait.

One night, walking to my car after footy training with KC & Coote, here about Coote’s secret fitness class, I am not sure what to expect but I am def interested. I have been searching for this for awhile, I need to get stronger. This is when I met CrossFit - intense! I am hooked.

In footy I am playing back pocket every week, not much going on, our team too strong, I go for a run Saturday afternoon after I get home from footy to make sure I stay fit for CrossFit. CrossFit had become life and ressies was all about staying injury free until the finals.

Somehow get knocked out of finals in footy, must not ever let this happen again.

We go to Ginger a bit in 2012, I feel perhaps that I don’t belong but perhaps what I really feel is that I really want to focus on getting a serious job.

2012 about YaYa’s, Northbridge, becoming a super Saiyan with Crossfit, running 17km’s home from YaYa’s in October, being in Phuket one night eating dinner in restaurant, it’s rainy and lively, Gangnam Style comes on again and young aussie guy with parents, siblings on holiday, gets on outside stage and starts dancing. These nights always seem to be overcast, 2012 is weird too because world is coming to an end?

To end it all, we left our beloved house in Wattle Grove - this was tough. One night week after, I wake up with strong dream about 22 years of memories from this house, I cry #tough very intense dream.

2019

It is November and nearly the end of the year (and decade) so thought I should write something whilst I still have time. I’ll start from where I left off.

Came home from Singapore and arrived back in Perth very late on a Sunday night. Made it out through customs after over an hour and managed to navigate my way to Mum and Dad outside (ETA time of pickup = 1am). The drive home down Roe Hwy was pretty cold and very contrasting to the previous 5/6 days in Singapore. Played on my phone (Tinder & Bumble) and fell asleep. 

The rest of the week I spent in Coogee and mainly slept, watched YouTube (AGT videos) and some SBS World Movies. Watched one episode of The Walking Dead after a 18 month hiatus (was pretty traumatic), read a little, ran most nights, did weights, went in the pool around 10/11pm before bed and played on my phone. I wish I had stayed in Singapore longer but so be it. I still had a lot of new matches waiting for me on my phone (Tinder & Bumble) so I still felt connected.

First week back at work I was sent to Moora (I could have said no but decided against it). This disrupted my workflow so it put me behind from the start. I was there for nine lunchtimes - it was definitely hectic but the isolation in the country made it bearable. I was hanging out for 5pm every day where I could close the office, get some food from the Foodworks next door, drive to accommodation on an isolated cul-de-sac and then exercise outside in the cold every night (skipping, chin-ups and modified Karen) before eating dinner and watching Tour de France / SBS World Movies. The tv was big but the house was cold. Was still good though.

Saturday nights have been mainly spent playing Daytona and NBA at Palace Arcade in Northbridge. I haven’t been to Tigerlil’s since early June and have only been inside Niche once. This whole period has been a little weird and I have been going to job interviews during my lunch breaks too. Job interviews that I’m not sure that I want. Maybe I will just stay at my current job and start being more proactive and start doing my own study, who knows. I have been enjoying yoga though.

It is 1815 on a Saturday now so I must go to the gym 😂.

Stay tuned, SD.

Saturday 02/11/19: Races, Belmont Tavern & Casino

Was tired and low on energy (no surprise for a Saturday), ideally just wanted to sleep all day and go to the gym at night to muck around and do a CrossFit workout. The plan was to go to the races and I was behind schedule like usual. Did the dishes, finished getting ready and caught Uber to Ascot. By the time I arrived it was about 245 and because I was so late I didn’t have to pay to get in.

The one vodka that I had hit me hard and my Ascot experience seems like a blur (lol not really). Lost $70 without even really leaving my chair. I would have been happy losing / winning $0 but this was not to be (quaddies can be so dangerous). After this passed, we found ourselves in a familiar position (the one where we try to work out of Jas can actually make it back to Lesmurdie for dinner and make it back to Sull’s by 7-8). We are all optimistic but still somewhat wary.

Went back to Sull’s and then Sull, Sheme, Ro, Kath and myself headed to the Belmont Tav. The BT was decent, had dinner, watched the end of ENG vs SA RWC19 final, had a few drinks, rendezvoused with Jas and made it out alive (lucky). Next stop, the casino.

Drove to the casino, I went in the boot - this was peaceful and brought back memories i.e. 2010. Ro & Kath departed, the four of us remaining went to the cas. S&S were next to leave, Kiel inexplicably showed up shortly after, I was low on energy by this stage so just wanted to go home. J, K and myself caught a taxi to Leederville, I departed and walked to West Leederville station... an interesting walk. Was home by midnight.

I’m so tired 🤦🏼‍♂️

SD

July 01/07/19: Singapore - Do or Die

The final week of June and the 2019FY was one where I was sick and feeling rushed. I still hadn’t decided if I was going to go on a holiday and if I really should be going on a holiday anyway. I didn’t really have anyone to go with so it was weird enough but I also was wary that if I didn’t at least try something, then I might spend another six months going through the motions, and waking up at Christmas and realising that nothing was really progressing in my life. This was a tough decision for me and the time restraints were giving me headaches. It got to the Friday (28/06/19) and I decided that it was do or die, just speak to the travel agent and make a decision.

Delayed my lunch and went to the travel agent, had to wait 20 mins or so again for my travel agent to finish serving another customer - this was going to be another long lunch break. Eventually the man left so I headed inside. 

I kind of wanted to go to Hong Kong because I thought it would be an easy place for a first timer like myself, to adjust to solo travel. This destination was deemed too risky so I sat there feeling dejected. My options were (the practical ones anyway) Bali, Singapore and a few places in Malaysia. Bali seemed cool but I thought I might feel left out as many people in Bali (Australians) would probably be out partying; Malaysia seemed cool too but the destinations may have felt remote and may also have been targeted for honeymooners and couples... it looked like Singapore may be the most appropriate option. So I decided on Singapore so then we checked the availability.

Three days earlier I had come in and the Singapore availability was no issue, this time it did not look so promising. Again I felt dejected and hopeless, I asked if the availability was better if I flew out ASAP - thankfully it was! We went ahead and booked it all and I would fly out for five nights and I would leave 1am on Tuesday morning. I left the agency and headed back to work to transfer the money before COB.

Walking back to the office, close to 3pm, I felt uncertain again if this was a good decision or one I would regret. I spoke to mum on the phone and her confidence was reassuring, YOLO it was. Went back to work with a headache, made all the transfers and emails and then I did my best to make up lost time by working at my desk until 6 - 630pm. Went home and went to bed and decided I wouldn’t deal with any of the planning until Sunday.

Sunday passed and I got dressed up and went to work on Monday 01/07/19 for our EOFY lunch. This was the cruisiest day and I ended up having a few drinks and staying at our lunch until close to 530pm which was way later than I had planned. I quickly ran to Watertown to see if I could buy some thongs but the shops were all closed! Hurried back to Jolimont to pack, tired and a little tipsy after having three drinks. I was definitely behind schedule and did not finish the packing and make it to Coogee until after 8pm. It all felt very strange and I really just wanted to sleep but I kept on packing and before I knew it it was time to head to the airport and yeah I was wearing shorts.

The airport was lively, even though it was so late. I still felt out of place and confused as I killed time before boarding. I felt so lost but managed to buy some thongs though. Eventually boarding came and I fell in and out of sleep during the flight and endured the discomfort of flying which I always do.

KL airport

The first bit of excitement that I felt during the whole ordeal was when I had to navigate through Kuala Lumpur airport to find the connecting flight. This was early in the morning and this started to feel like an adventure. The flight ended up being delayed and I think I may have been the only Caucasian person on the entire flight. I thought “Am I going to be the only Caucasian person in Singapore? Will people question me as to why I wanted to go there in the first place?” Many questions that I was too tired to answer. I decided I wouldn’t be able to answer these questions until I got there.

Perhaps my shortest flight ever and one of the prettiest too and we were landing in Singapore. My stomach was so bad at this stage so I had to spend a lot of time in the bathroom before I could go through immigration. I had no idea how long immigration would end up taking! Lesson learnt. By this stage it was getting close to 1pm and I was starting to fatigue; I jumped in a taxi and left Changi as fast as I could. Still felt tired and low on energy and still contemplating if I should have booked a holiday in the first place. Arrived at the hotel and managed to check in. I felt so tired and lonely - was this one of the most reckless decisions of my life? I saw a few solo white westerners in the lobby as well and thought to myself that the only caucasians here may be the type that were looking for a wife or casual encounters, so this did not make me feel great. I told myself to go to sleep and then you can reevaluate once you wake up. I fell asleep.

Chinatown at night

I awoke, I felt better and decided I would make the most of the situation regardless of how I felt. I looked out of the window too, it was almost evening and it looked prettier than it did before; I was relieved. 

It was dark now and about 8pm. I got dressed and took the leap of faith and left my room - (this always feels so strange when you have been inside / sleeping the whole day and you finally leave your unit / hotel room to visit the outside world to continue your day but it is no longer daytime it is dark). I caught the lift to the lobby and walked down a side passage way which led outside. I opened the door and headed outside; it was much quieter, dark with lots of lights but still nice and warm. There were lights, buildings and plants everywhere and cars / buses on the road below. I felt so free and just wanted to get lost and go exploring.

I was hungry though and needed food so I walked across the pedestrian overpass to see what was on the other side. There was a big shopping centre so I went inside. The shopping centre had maybe four levels but it was seriously like a maze and I was having trouble making sense of where I was. I also felt a little anxious as I was realising that I was in Chinatown and there didn’t appear to be many Caucasian people here (I don’t think I’ve really felt this before 😂). It was really busy, I had no idea where I was but I knew I had to eat so I went looking for rice or something easy that my body could handle.

I remember when we had been to Singapore 12 years earlier, that there were cheap places where you could get Chinese / Singaporean meals for dinner. The shopping centre had like a spiral part which made it even more confusing but I found a cheap restaurant. Had like a chicken / rice meal for less than $10 and sat at the restaurant by myself, looking a little lost and out of place but this is not unusual for me.

Just like the Jurassic Park SNES game where you have the realisation that the raptors are getting into the building from a secret tunnel which is linked to another building which is like over 1km away, I started to realise that this very confusing shopping centre also had some weird glitches and I had somehow managed to work out where the supermarket was. I loaded up on food and then made my way outside and across the overpass and back to my hotel. At this point I was so happy and was considering going exploring outside, looking for shops, making Snapchat videos, taking photos but once I made it back to my room at 10pm, I was tired and knew I had to sleep. For the first time in so long I felt alive and in love with life again, was so strange being by myself but it felt so meaningful and it reminded me of many meaningful perhaps forgotten moments that I had experienced from earlier periods of my life.

Orchard Road

Points of interest:

- Watching tv in my hotel room everyday, watching MTV reality shows, watching movie channels and local tv shows.

- Going to Gardens by the Bay and the botanical gardens. Going to Gardens by the Bay and realising there were other Caucasian tourists here (young Europeans etc).

- Using the MRT train system a lot and getting lost underground everyday.

- Going to the hotel gym and going for a swim in the pool for the first time in a long time.

- Getting lost in Chinatown every single day and night.

- Playing on my phone and having hotel WiFi.

- Being so far away from Perth and work.

- Going to Orchard Road and getting lost underground and in their shopping centres a lot.

SD

Waiting for the Weekend

My last post was at the start of March and since then I have been going through the motions pretty hard at work, even though I have been trying my best to stay interested. I finished basically all of my work by around mid May; I have just been filling in excel spreadsheets lately and general admin related stuff. It has been pretty good and relaxing but I will probably have to decide soon what I want to do for work during the next couple of years - I must progress.

Have not seen LS since the March long weekend at the very start of March. I’ve gone out four Saturday nights during this period: two to Tigerlil’s / city and two times to Bill’s / Niche in Leederville. They have been fairly good nights, all have been with JC & KC and one with LV as well. The most recent time that we ventured to Tigerlil’s it was pretty quiet at only probably 50 - 60% capacity. Niche has been good and I’ve even hung around until closing (3am) with JC, and then walked home as the last train leaves Perth Station @ 215am. The subsequent sleeps after these nights have been pretty lame though, only 4 - 5 hrs each. Not good! 

As well as pondering my employment future, I have also been thinking about holidays a lot. I have a lot of leave saved up and I’m thinking that going away on a holiday will probably help to clear my mind and wake me up in general! The year is almost 50% complete and the decade is almost over and I want to enjoy as much as I can of it. I might even book a holiday next week.

Other points of interest:

- Have been doing yoga for over three months now.

- Have been playing a lot of Pokémon on these Saturday night missions.

- Went to the gym last Saturday night after 11pm and there was basically no one there.

- Thinking about running home from a night out at some point during this year but I won’t force it.

Walking home from Edison

SD

Five Years in WP

I fell asleep and woke up and realised that I had almost been working in West Perth for exactly five years. I had also been using the stair well a lot and remembered in my first six months at this job that my mentor, whom I very much admired but his stories I did not always trust, had mentioned that the stair wells lead to the roof of the building. I was so excited when I heard this and could not believe four and a half years had basically passed and I had never tested this theorem to be true or not! I felt a strong urgency to finally check this for myself, in my final week of my fifth year of work in this building.

I am a slow walker in work clothes (pants are tight-ish on my legs and work shoes are not always comfortable), it was a Wednesday afternoon and I decided to test out the stairwell at the end of the corridor which contains the toilets on our floor. I slowly made my way up the stairs to the fourth floor and realised that this was where it ended. Disheartened but satisfied, I headed down the stairs and caught the train home from City West.

Two days later on a late Friday afternoon, I found myself to be the only person left in the office. It was past 6:30pm so I decided to head home. This was officially the final of my fifth year of work; the following week I would enter into my sixth year, Jesus! I honoured my intention and checked out the other stairwell. I made it to the fourth floor and noticed that the stairwell continued; this was unexpected. Excitedly, I continued on. When I made it to the end there was another door! This was it, the elusive doorway to the roof of this building that I had heard about all that time before! I couldn’t believe it! Cliff was telling the truth after all.

Feeling content, I went home. A few weeks later I discovered that I had access to another stairwell in the building. This was also a Friday night when I was killing time before I headed into the city to meet up with LS and KC for a few drinks. I was at the front of the building deciding if I should wait longer or catch the Red CAT into the city. I saw a fob scanner that I had never tried before so I decided to give it a try. It opened. A staircase which I was unaware of and which I had access to. Again I was shocked that I had never even tested this door. This meant that I had access to the basement floors which I previously thought were unattainable. I guess you never know.

2019 - The First Day

Last night was the last night of 2018 and I drank more than I anticipated. That is always the danger with vodka as the quantity can fluctuate as per the pourer’s discretion. It hit me hard and the train ride from Meltham to Fremantle was a challenging one. The 0315 fun run from Freo station to North Coogee was even tougher. Safe to say that I woke up today fairly dehydrated.

The good news is that everything seems quiet now that the Xmas -> NYE festivities are finally over... I can finally sleep in peace. This is the peace that I’ve been seeking for so long. The last few months of 2018 seemed like a never-ending loop of work and trying to catch up on sleep on the weekends, so in some regards I’m glad that they are over.

I was sad when the final few seconds of 2018 were being counted down, I’m sure there were plenty of reasons why but I didn’t really have time to think about these... I will miss you 2018! There were a few blogs too that I didn’t finish but this is nothing new. Maybe I will finish these in the future, maybe I won’t (I will prob finish one of them though - a Phuket one). Anyway, I will probably stop running at night after I’ve been drinking - the dehydration is just too much! I may start using my bike though.

Perth was pretty hectic last night, but that’s all in the past. Hope everyone had a good night. 

SD