It's funny...

Sometimes when I wake up to the sounds of gale-force wind and pounding rain, I forget I'm not still in Halifax...and groggily start wondering why there's no cat on my belly, and do I have a class?

It's pretty standard Dunedin-gross today. 14ish degrees, gale-force winds, whipping rain. In fifteen minutes it could be 22 and blazing sun, I'll keep you posted. Tonight I'm going to a pot-luck Christmas/Welcome New Guy party at Hamish's house. I made gingerbread cookies for the occasion, and I've remembered the presents for the boys this time. Hopefully my clothes dry out in time for me to get them soaked again on the way there tonight.

Days like this are made easier by the Countdown to Aus. Countdown is at seven days, folks. This time next week I will be....*checks itinerary*...probably packing and trying to sweet-talk Bastiaan into driving me to the airport. He doesn't like cookies, which complicates matters (cookies being my standard bargaining chip) but I'm sure I will manage. I'm very excited about meeting the rest of the family, and about actually *being* in Australia. The novelty of being in NZ is starting to wear off, but a visit to Australia is still the stuff of childhood dreams. I always planned on going 'someday' - but I never expected it to be so soon. Plus, I hear it's warm there...

I am bracing myself for the official death of my laptop. All signs point to it being lost forever, but I am fighting it. This weekend I'll take her to a repair place and see what (if anything) can be done. The upside of being laptopless is that it would force me to actually enjoy my holiday. Without it, I'll only be able to do work that is reading - reviewing biostats so I can be a decent TA next semester, reading programming manuals and more genetic theory, that kind of thing. Relaxing. Soothing. But still 'work'.

Speaking of work...that's what I should be doing right about now.