Just a quick note for those of you who only know me through this silly blog. The interview on Friday with Immigration went well and while nothing is official yet we were told that our case looked like a “straight-forward approval.” We just have to provide a couple more documents and see if I need to do a fingerprint criminal records check. If I don’t need to do the fingerprint thing then we could hear in a month or two whether I’ve been granted this visa. So yeah, that’s pretty much it. Thanks everyone for the comments/emails.

I don’t often delve into my personal life all that much here. I’d much rather talk about a spider scaring me in the hallway than boring crap like what I’m up to on Friday. But there is a time for it, and this is one of them.

On Friday Amanda and I have an appointment/interview with the Department of Immigration. The current visa I’m on expires on Saturday which, if you’re playing along at home, is not a good thing for the two of us. So I am applying for a de facto spouse visa which will give me temporary resident status for the next two years when I will, if we continue to meet the requirements, become a permanent resident visa. In other words, if I am granted this visa in the coming weeks (I assume it will take them some time to process the application) I will be able to stay in Australia more or less indefinitely and I won’t have any restrictions regarding employment (like I have had for the past year).

Needless to say the past couple weeks have been stressful. We’ve been busying filling out forms, having letters written by friends and family, having everything signed by a JP, and gathering evidence to prove that our relationship is genuine and continuing.

So send us all your good thoughts and wishes!

I’m sure I’ll have a spider story or something soon.

Well all the videos are working now in the post below if you care. They’re mostly there for me, but hey, whatever floats your boat. And now for some photos.

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Sydney weather forecasters suck which means I was unprepared for a pretty interesting afternoon today. How they didn’t see this storm coming I have no idea. At about four this afternoon the temperature dropped nine degrees in half an hour and I sat inside and watched the craziest hail storm I’ve ever seen. Thunder and Lightning made many appearances as well which livened things up a bit. When all was said and done it actually looked like it snowed here. Just before the storm let up I quickly put on a coat and ran outside (the opposite direction of most people) and took some once in a lifetime photos of Glebe (it seems the Glebe/Pyrmont area was the hardest hit). The streets were covered in a blanket of white and sirens blared from every direction. I watched drivers struggle with conditions they had never experienced before; I think I looked at them the way people from Eastern Canada look at Vancouverites when it snows 10cm and our SUVs become extravagant bumper cars.

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When I ventured out into the street I figured I’d see a bunch of kids taking the opportunity to have a snowball (or iceball as the case may be) fight. Alas, the Glebe kids let me down. There lack of enthusiasm/preparedness will be punished by an iceball to the head in mid-summer (I made a few iceballs and stuck them in our freezer). On the news I did see a bunch of men in their early 20s having a snowball fight. In their underwear. Not sure why they felt the need to disrobe before playing in the “snow.” I think they need some lessons on how to best pelt your good friends with globs of rock hard ice while not actually succumbing to hypothermia yourself.

This video I shot below is pretty crazy. At the beginning the patio below is pretty grey. A minute later it’s pretty white. YouTube is currently down…so these aren’t going to work yet.

The Sydney Morning Herald has a story and some photos here. Below I’ll just post some more videos if you have the urge to see more of winter battering Sydney. I’ll upload some more photos tomorrow.

This was the first video…notice the lack of white.

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This was the second video…again still not too much.

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Video #3 is the first one I posted above.

Video #4 was taken just a couple minutes after video #2. SNOW!

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This last one was out on Glebe Point Road. The hail blocked a lot of the storm drains (ha!) so there was a river of water rushing down the street.

Robert Frisk
Glebe, NSW
Associated Press

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Citizens Rejoice In the Streets

After two days of chaos we can now report confidently that the OttoSean Empire, led by the Leader of Infinite Knowledge, has destroyed the Spider. Independent sources report that chemical weapons were used to remove the imminent threat posed by the Spider. If true the OttoSean Empire will likely face strong criticism from the international community. Mystery shrouds the actual details of the operation; apparently the attack took place two days ago but all reporters have been kept back from the front furthering speculation that chemical weapons were in fact used.

The OttoSean Empire, backed by its unwavering ally the Umiked States, has come out in defense of its operation by highlighting the danger posed by the Spider. “If these threats are not dealt with immediately, democracy everywhere is under attack. The OttoSean Empire is not only acting in its own best interests, but in the interests of all nations in the region,” a spokesperson from the Umiked States said. “And besides, it’s not our position to question anything.” In the OttoSean Empire itself there were screams of joy and dancing in the streets the likes of which had not been seen since the failed World Cup qualification run of 1986. One shopowner stated that, “Our Leader of Infinite Knowledge is never wrong so whatever he did I agree with.” When asked to elaborate further the man repeated that sentence over and over without looking this reporter in the eye.

Below is the last known photo of the Spider before it was destroyed.

Robert Frisk
Glebe, NSW
Associated Press

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After 24 hours the situation here in Glebe is just as dire as it was yesterday. The stalemate has continued with neither side making any progress forward. The Spider has retreated about 18 inches back from the front but he’s still there. Still disgusting. Still waiting to pounce. It seems the OttoSean Empire has constructed some sort of poor man’s Maginot Line: a towel was placed at the base of the door to prevent any incursions into OttoSean-Controlled Area; there have also been reports that chemical weapons were brought up to the front. The situation is in fact escalating and it’s only a matter of time before one of the two sides does something incredibly rash.

Would someone mind coming over to our apartment building and removing the rather large and frightening looking spider from the hallway? It looks like this! Disgusting.

I was assured that I wouldn’t see any of these beasts in winter.

What do I do? Engage it? Leave it alone and pray it doesn’t crawl under our front door into our apartment?

Amanda should be home from work any minute. Maybe I’ll make her do it.

Stay tuned.

Friday Afternoon
2:21pm

Attention Sydneysiders.

This weather is what Vancouver is like from October to March (minus the thunder). Rain so loud you can feel it on the roof. I love it.