Hurl a lurl

Googling that won't bring you up any results in particular, other than hurling a url.

... I've been crying with laughter about it for a few minutes now... man I haven't had such an absurd laugh for a long time. I'm tired, it's late, I have a blogged dose (yay a cold), so I'm probably not thinking right. Anyway I thought it was funny.

It's quite an improvement on my day, really... apparently the assholes are not going to allow us to use earphones (of any sort - linked to the pc or ipod or walkman or radio) at the office. The one boss had a complete shitting-out session with colleagues who are working on a particular set of jobs that he oversees, and apparently the work quality is shit and we're all shit and everything's shit (his wife probably gave him a talking to the previous day or something, to put him in such a shit mood), so we're not allowed to listen to music. And also not allowed to use the work mail for personal stuff, nor check our personal mail during work hours, or abuse the phone (ie make personal calls), etc. So basically the asshole read a few pages of MANAGING FOR DUMMIES. So we should all become drones and die.

So my hopes of a simple countdown, given hope by the light at the end of the tunnel, have been dashed. I don't see myself lasting there WITHOUT MUSIC for another 9 fucking months. Hell, there is no way I'm going to be sitting folding drawings and doing shit filing without music... assholes.

So I've resumed my jobsearch. I dunno if I'll have any luck, I don't really care I'm just (again) ticked off with these pricks.

If they would ever find my blog - maybe they could read it and understand the world from a NOT-ONE-OF-THE-CLUB person's point of view. Why not just bloodywell block the internet? Or block sites like Facebook/youtube/etc? Why not CHECK all the PHONE RECORDS and get everyone to account for each one? Why just shit on everyone generally, and demean them and dispirit them more than they already are?

Whatever, like tossers like that would ever care anyway - it's all about their profit, their faux-'company cars', their comfort and happiness when the rest of us may as well sit in cardboard boxes and just type like monkeys.

ANWAY... enough VENOM (not even a fraction of what I feel)... for tonight. My head feels like crap and joy oh joy I'M RECEPTIONIST TOMORROW FOR THE WHOLE DAY. God I love my job.

Weekend wheeee

Thursday or Friday I started to get a scratchy throat. It behaved
itself until Sunday evening when it developed into a cold, so I'm now
sitting at work with a stuffy lopsided-feeling head. Yay.

Thankfully I wasn't too sick to go see Wayne Brady on Sunday!
Woweeee... it was a great show! That man has serious talent!

Because of my stuffy head, I can't really think of much to type into
this blogpost. I'm bored now, with nothing to do right now.

I have 169 working days left til end of Feb 2010.

Hopefully this evening I will be awake enough to play Diablo at least
a little bit.

Seeing as the visa processing time has been changing so much, we're
going to apply for the police clearance certificates this month. They
are valid for 6 months. If ACS gives the result in July, we will be
able to apply for the visa in July/August, which still leaves the
police clearance cert with 5 or so months' validity. Judging by the
processing times lately, they might assign us a case officer within
the 6 months, and even if they don't, we can apply (and pay the fee
again) for the police to send us another police clearance certificate
from the same application form, as they can do that if you ask within
6 months of first application. So, we would have 1 year's worth of
police clearance certificate! It's hardly expensive (R59), and I
reckon it's worth it having it on hand in case we get a case officer
very soon after applying for the visa. Rather be prepared! That
would just leave us with the medicals to do, which we HAVE to wait to
do because the case officer will tell us when to do them.

All in all, things seem rather straightforward.

Anyway - this is all for now, I have an email to type up and something
else to do now.

Friday AAAAAAHHHHHHHH

I AM SO BORED!!!!!!

I've been folding drawings just about the whole day yesterday and now the whole morning.  It's nearly midday.

I AM SO BORED!!

 

There are 133 days left for me.  It's given me such a burst of energy, this 'light at the end of the tunnel'!  Except now I'm more impatient... I even more badly want to go home and do stuff because work is so boring!!

 

I don't have anything wonderfully inspired to blog about.  bla bla bla bla bla

 

I'M BORED!!!!!

Scanning Sunday!

This weekend was so fun and relaxing!  Saturday, instead of going with G to the mall (it's become a regular Saturday thing due to meeting up with his parents for brunch there), I stayed home, and had a gentle start to my day.  Relaxed, unhurried breakfast, some tea and then I settled in to sort out my stuff.  Basically needed a bit of down-time to sit and figure out where I'm at:  I had a pile of paperwork to sort out, had to go through my to-do lists and prioritise things, etc.  It's given me a lot of peace of mind as there isn't that much that I *have* to do... I have to scan, I know that much!!

Apart from scanning the photos, I haven't got MUCH that I have to do... of course there still remains the mass of junk/junkblitzing to do at Mom's place, but otherwise, all I have to do is read through some Cosmo magazines (a last read before I get rid of them), and some other odds and ends but nothing MAJOR (slow, timeconsuming things like reading a pile of Cosmos or scanning photos).

The photos are still taking forever.  I'm not yet halfway through the 2nd box, and I still have 3 boxes, 1 packet and 3 albums left!!!  At least it's something 'slow' which I can double up on with doing something else which is dull:  clearing out my email box(es)!!  I won't be keeping my ISP-linked mailbox when we move so I may as well clear it out as much as I can before we leave.  And then there are LOADS of those stupid 'friendshippy' emails cluttering another mailbox (which I don't use anymore - it's just used to IM), which I have unbelievably left there for the past few years!  It's taken me ages, but I've whittled them down from 700 to 60.  My gmailbox is another story!! But, as they say in the classics, one step at a time!  I'm nearly done with clearing the friendshippy-mailbox, and then it's onto the ISP-linked one.  Yay!

Saturday evening we went out to Sis's G's birthday party/supper.  Man that was delicious food!  And we seriously overdosed on sugar!!!!!  All round a rather fun time!

That's all news for now that I can think of.

 

137 days left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday

This week has been very boring.  Work-wise, at least.  It hasn't been irritating, like last week... at least, the latter part of this week hasn't been.

I re-counted on my calendar and if I don't find anything else before the end of the year (and provided I LAST that long), I have 138 working days left.  That is, if the visa application runs smoothly and I don't work past the end of this year - it depends entirely on the visa application.  But at least it gives me a milestone to work towards.  It's already May, there are 7 months left, but only 138 WORKING days left.  That's not so bad.  I've counted down for much longer in the past (trip to India, trip to Aus, wedding), so this should go quickly - specially since it is ALREADY May!

I think 138 days... is not such a bad thing.  I cannot properly count down in weeks though as with the leave days I've put in, there are some not-full *working* weeks etc (and even a week off, if I'm lucky), so I'd have to count in calendar weeks, not working weeks.  But if anyone is wanting to know, I have 30 weeks until I'm officially free!  Days make it sound closer because I can subtract one each day - except over weekends.

YAYYYYYYYY!!!!

There have been promising 'discoveries' regarding the visa.  One of the forums I frequent has had a post - someone has put together some 'stats' regarding the application processing times etc, and it seems as if the number of people applying for the visa type we're applying for has dropped.  And they've apparently sped up with processing.  So, if we apply in (touch wood holds thumbs that ACS hurries up and gives a good assessment) say July, we might get assigned a case officer in September or so, which may even mean that we'll have the visa before mid-next year!!  I really don't know what it means for us - if all things work out superbly they might grant the visa before the end of this year but I'm not getting my hopes THAT far up!  But it'd be nice.  So, maybe my sticking it out at this co isn't all that bad, because I'll be able to 'sign off' here and PREPARE TO MOVE!!!!!!

It's just too exciting.  And, it means that I must SHAKE MY ASS and get scanning!  Eeek!  Too exciting.

Nothing much else is news for now... this weekend I want to stay at home as much as we can, and get to grips with stuff we have to do at home.  G will probably have homework to do, but that will enable me to batten down the hatches and get scanning.

Inspired

but nowhere to go.  Or unable to indulge in my inspiration.

We had a wonderful weekend - G's party on Saturday was fun... and Sunday after cleaning up we pretty much chilled: reading, relaxing, nibbling leftovers, basically taking a nice quiet break.

Because of the nice quiet break, I am now super-inspired to tackle things, like scanning those photos (I haven't for a week or 2 now)... because I WANT TO STITCH!!!!!!  Golden Ice is still in my cupboard, sulking.  I REALLY REALLY want to stitch, but at this time I really have to scan photos because we don't know how long the visa will take.

We're still waiting for the skills assessment - the website's status hasn't changed but that doesn't necessarily mean it hasn't been processed.  I'm going to keep looking in the postbox.

Once that's arrived we are SET to apply!  And because (depending on the skills assessment result) G's occupation is on their CSL list, it will hopefully be a prioritised application.  So they *might* take under a year to process it!!

WHICH MAKES SCANNING ALL THE MORE URGENT!! *trying to peptalk myself so that I SCAN and don't stitch*

Once the scanning is finished, I will have all the time in the world to stitch, read, play computer games, etc.

But of course, my IMMEDIATE problem is that I'm stuck at WORK right now, with all the energy in the world, and as usual, by the time this afternoon comes round, my energy and inspiration will have seeped into the ground and disappeared, to be replaced with tiredness by the time I get home.  Super-frustrating!!  But, I can hardly resign to go do stuff like that at home... because we don't know how long the visa processing will take, and I don't think it's wise for me to sit home for 1 year +.  It is still unlikely that I will be able to afford not to work as soon as we're in Aus, and having a gap of a year or more won't do me any favours when looking for a job!

One the 'once-in-Aus' side of things, houses are SO EXPENSIVE THERE!  A nice decent sized house costs at least about AU$400 000, which is in the region of R3m.  That would obviously be if we bought our dreamhome straight-off which isn't going to happen!  But there are some seriously awesome homes there!  I guess though that we will have to look at buying a house and paying it off - which is what everyone does - because we will be settling in Aus, not 'temporarily' residing there, which is what we're doing now while we're in SA.

I guess it'll be a large mind-set change, from everything here being considered against our limited time here, to having 'uncapped' time there to 'invest' in long-term things there.

Work is increasingly quiet here - the whole co is pretty much gearing up for 1 massive job, with all the small ones carrying on and being finished.  Hbbm's not getting anything new for now (it seems), so things are quiet.  Talking of hbbm, he's got (cancerous?) growths/sores on his nose... he says he's having chemo for it and it's from a lifetime of playing cricket in the sun without sunscreen.  Not good.

Anyway, no other news right now.  Crawling down to lunchtime and then hopefully the afternoon will go past quickly.

News

I checked the ACS website again (G and I each seem to check it daily) to see whether there's been any progress with his application.  There has been:  it now says 'in progress', where it used to say 'to be allocated'.  So!  There has been progress!!  Hopefully they RACE through it and send us the letter ASAP so we can apply THIS MONTH for the VISAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!  Yayyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!

In other news:  we bought a new fridge yesterday.  We'd decided on an updated one of ours, and the salesman asked whether we'd rather want a silver one because it was going for R500 less than the white!  Colour is no biggie (we only took the white appliances before because they were R500 cheaper than the silver ones!), but I have a feeling it'll look a little unusual - the oven, microwave and washmachine (and even kettle+toaster) are all white, and the built-in cupboards are white too!

It should be delivered on Friday, and we're seriously hopefully they do because we're going to need it well in time to prepare eats for G's birthday!

Other news:  my phone's 3G/3.5G/whatever is faulty - so I can't connect to mig or the internet to check facebook.  Great.  Now my work day is even MORE damn boring! 

Gmail's coherence - maybe a hard night's drinking last night?

An error message I encountered, while trying to get to Gmail:

 

The requested URL could not be retrieved

---

While trying to retrieve the URL: mail.google.com:443

The following error was encountered:

Unable to determine IP address from host name for

The dnsserver returned:

No Address records

This means that:

 The cache

Unsettled time

We have a "minor" setback with the visa application:

Home affairs does not have G's mom's ID number on the unabridged birth certificate.

I phoned them to find out how to get it fixed and it involves amending the birth register, which entails: a copy of G's mom's ID, R70, a particular form, and 3 to 6 MONTHS' WAIT.

Afterwards, he has to apply for a new unabridged birth certificate, which takes '6 to 8 weeks' (see previous post for comment).  So, if we are FORTUNATE, we should have his 'correct' birth certificate in JANUARY NEXT YEAR.  The soonest POSSIBLE would probably be October.

That, as you can imagine, is TERRIFIC.  We are currently waiting for G's skills assessment, which I believe is only VALID for ONE YEAR after issue, and if home affairs fucks up and takes over a year to fix this...

What we are going to do, and I sincerely hope/pray that it works, is submit the 'incorrect' birth certificate, plus a copy of the application for amendment of birth register.  That's the best we can do, I don't see how we can wait until home affairs has fixed this mess.  I just hope they don't throw out the visa application completely because of this damn birth certificate!

And I've just read on one of my regular forums that Aus Govt has reduced the number of skilled migrants they're accepting from 118 000 to 110 000.  That is EVERYone applying as a skilled applicant: people who are sponsored, people on the critical skills list (CSL), and everyone else who has an occupation they need.  I can only take comfort from the fact that the sponsored people (employer sponsored and state sponsored) and CSL applicants are prioritised (G's application would fall under the CSL category), and each state has a quota for the year of sponsored people, so hopefully we would still fit in.

Still, this home affairs setback isn't wonderful.  Hopefully, also, once this mess-up has been sorted, we will have no other need for home affairs EVER.  And to think that I was thinking that while we were waiting for the birth certificates!

In OTHER NEWS:  our fridge died on Friday afternoon.  We got home and I noticed INSTANTLY that it was wrong.  It made an unusual sound.  It gradually lost all its coldness and everything slowly started to defrost.  That night we had a sizeable supper: trying to make use of as much frozen food (from the freezer compartment) as we could - without leftovers because *drumroll* we couldn't put it back in the fridge!  Not too much of a catastrophe, we didn't lose much as the fridge/freezer wasn't very fully stocked, and all we are really missing is milk for tea/coffee.

The technician came and took a brief look at it and said 'there's been a slow leak, it ran out of gas and the motor ran dry and burnt out.  Save yourself a lot of hassle and buy a new fridge'.  A new motor = R1500, and has 3 months' guarantee.  A new fridge is maybe R2500 (not sure), but it has a 2 year guarantee.  Yay.  It wasn't even 2.5 years old!  Gone, it seems, are the days of buying appliances that last a good decade or 2.

Great timing, fridge, it's G's birthday on Friday, and we are having a party on Saturday.  I don't know that we will have a fridge in time (hold thumbs), so it's going to be interesting.

And on that dreary note I shall sign off - I'm at work, the weather is dull, I'm doing filing.  All-round dreariness it seems.  Yay for my saviour: iPod!

TAKE A FUCKING HINT!!!

I'm sitting at my desk, playing solitaire.  It is lunch time - I have my ipod going, earphones in my ears.  I'm sitting with a cup of tea and 2 slices of toast & peanut butter.  I am holding one slice aloft as I eat it.

..and yet, one dude comes and 'slots in' a printed letter with corrections NEXT TO my PLATE, WHILE hbbm is busy EXPLAINING work (thankfully for after lunch), and then shortly afterwards, another guy pops past and asks about some change in a short letter, which isn't mine = not on my pc = ask whoever else it's from (the typist)... and then comes back with a change in a letter I'd typed before lunch...

and then he phones down after I'd reprinted it, to change 2 words and reprint it

... and then another guy, while I'm eating (trying to eat) with my earphones blaring a bit extra, comes past and calls me through my earphones, to print a short letter on letterhead.

IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ME TO BE MORE OBVIOUS WITH THE FACT THAT I'M EATING?

DO I HAVE TO CHEW WITH MY MOUTH OPEN??!?!?!?

Home Affairs

Just NEED to rant for a moment:
We applied for our unabridged birth certificates at the end of Jan.  Were told that it takes 8 to 10 weeks, so I started phoning them at the beginning of April.  I have been phoning (the callcentre) AT LEAST weekly, sometimes even a few days in a row (I've been getting desperate).  I phoned Tuesday - G's is apparently ready, and has been since 3rd Feb (The fact that it took them a MONTH (since I started calling) to tell me this.... wtf????).  Mine is still lost in the system, waiting for a response from head office as to why exactly it is taking so long.

I phoned again yesterday to find out (confirm) that G's is ready - yes, and mine's still lost in the system.

This morning, I phone the branch we applied at, to make sure his is ready for collection before we go and waste hours on Sat morning.  The lady says yes it is but it's not printed yet - they will do that when we come to collect.  So, by chance (optimism beyond reality), I give her my ID no. to check.  Yes, she says, same thing - it's ready but they'll print it only when we come collect it.

?!?????????????!!!!!!!!!???????????

Waiting

The past week was successful, I'd say.  Mom seems open to the idea of getting rid of stuff, but it still is difficult.  But the whole roof-cavity is cleared out.  Next up: the garage.

I am ON THE CUSP of Act 3 in Diablo 2... I've finished Act 2 but haven't 'sailed east' yet.  I sincerely HOPE that I can buy 'mana potions' in Act 3 because I can't buy any in Act 2 or the areas in Act 1 anymore, and I haven't saved any.  It sucks because my stash is too small to store potions, gems, rings and all other things that I need to keep with me.  And I need mana potions in order not to die.  Anyway, I'm looking forward to playing more.

I'm also looking forward (haha) to getting our unabridged birth certificates.  Yay home affairs YOU SUCK!!

ACS - please hurry up with the skills assessment ;-)

No other news for now - other than YAYWOOTWHATEVER I'm back at work :-(

MAJOR PROGRESS

The past 3 days have been spent at Mom's place, sorting through stuff that has been stored in the roof cavity for the past 20 years (or so).

I think it's very reassuring to find that there isn't really that much stuff I've brought home with me. After going through MANY bags of stuff, mostly old school books and our baby/small kid clothing (why would anyone keep quite so much of this stuff I don't know)... I've picked out a few very special books and some super-special toys (not many at all). Mom really struggles with getting rid of stuff - it would seem as if every single one of our school books, from our whole school career, has been kept. And the amount of baby clothes - ok not quite HEAPS of it, but still more than I thought she'd kept. Baby-grows, small blouse-tops, basically baby clothes, and also pretty dresses, which I thought had been given away A LONG TIME AGO. But she wants to keep some special ones which translates into keeping a lot of them. I think she realises she must give up a lot of them, but it just seems a huge difficulty for her. I don't understand her attachment to the clothing, because a) we're still alive and it's not as if we've died/disappeared... b) we've grown up and it just is pointless keeping clothes we've outgrown and c) I don't see the fascination with baby clothes. Yes, they're small, maybe even cute, but to want to keep all of them simply because they're cute - to me it's like wanting to keep every cute thing I can find... just not possible or sane.

But, that's besides the point. We have cleared out the WHOLE roof cavity, so that all there is up there is 3 bags of Dad's clothes that Mom still wants to keep, 2 sponge mattresses, 4 chairs, a suitcase full of slides, Xmas decorations and a few pelmets which were up when they moved in which she wants to keep for when they move out and they take their 'nice' curtainrails with them (they've had the house for 35 years or so? I'm sure someone buying the house would not want that type of curtain-rail anymore!!!).

But... progress has been made. Next up is the garage, as there are things up there which haven't MOVED in 20 years. And my idea is to clear out those 2 major spaces, so that things which BELONG in a garage (like a gas-bottle) can GO INTO THE GARAGE, rather than be stored in the 3rd bedroom (my ex-room). Yes, things are so muddled and chaotic that there is a gas-bottle in my (ex-)bedroom. I think the garage is going to be hell because there are so many odds and ends which she is NOT going to want to throw away because they can be used to fix things. Shitty little offcuts of wood, or 3ml leftover paint in a tin, which 'can be used sometime when the money's tight, just to touch up something'... so they won't get thrown away.

After the garage, the next things to tackle will be: the outside toilet, the 2 wendyhouses/sheds, the cupboard/shelf in the bathroom, the built-in cupboards in Mom's room, my ex-bedroom, and then any other cupboards/clutter-collection-areas. Mom seriously hangs on to shit that everyone else would toss... but hopefully in freeing up space for her to put stuff that she's ORGANISED, it'll free up space so that she can organise more stuff, which will hopefully start a good cycle of organising... hopefully the organised house will get her to relax a bit and organise her thoughts too.

I have such bad allergies from all the dust... but I think it's worth it in the long run. I just wish I had a month more off from work to keep up the momentum on this junkblitz. The problem is, Mom's mind isn't logical right now... so she will waste time and energy with pointless tasks which only she sees the point of - like having many LITTLE dirtboxes/bags, which all get full and hang around, rather than 1 medium-sized dirtbox which EVERYTHING can go into and it can be taken out regularly. Her issue is that it would smell... so she divides the dirt into smelly/food stuff (which is more urgent to get taken out), boxes/containers/packaging/not smelly (not urgent to get taken out)... etc. So she ends up with subdivided rubbish which a) is a waste of goddamn energy and brainspace, and b) really is a bit pointless and it ends up never being taken out and driving my sister crazy having to deal with 'conditional dirtbins'. It's such a bizarre scenario, I can't even explain it clearly here!!

ANYWAY... time off would be nice - but isn't likely to happen. I'm just sad that this week has gone by so quickly - so much to do and so little time. Tonight we're going to M&J with sis and her G, for supper and games.

Right now, I'm going to play a bit of Diablo 2. At the moment I'm in Act 2, and I'm (if I recall right) level 21 Assassin. Yeehaaa!! I just wish that I had a bigger stash as I have already got too much gold (the limit for my level is 150 000 gold coins), and the other things I've collected have filled up my stash.

Ok, it's time for a bit of DIABLO 2!!!!

Unprogress

I have decided I'm going to phone Home Affairs daily to find out what is happening with our unabridged birth certificates.  It's been 11 weeks and counting!  This is ridiculous.  Tomorrow we are couriering the hardcopies of the ACS (skills assessment) application, and if that result arrives before the birth certificates, I will be very annoyed.  The birth certificates are the only things that we are waiting for apart from the skills assessment, and the moment the skills assessment arrives, we are supposed to be able to apply for the visa - but only if we have received our birth certificates!!!!!!!!

I've got another interview, next week.  I haven't heard from the 1st co yet, despite them telling me they'd let me know Thursday - I guess they're still going through the applications.  And the 2nd co will let me know next week whether I'm to come in for a 2nd interview.  The 3rd co is also in the city CBD, this time it's even closer to home than either of the others, or my current office!  I'm very optimistic as it seems that there are jobs out there!

Next week is BLITZ WEEK!  I hope that the weather is decent, so that we can comfortably sort through stuff.  There will be loads and loads of stuff to get rid of, I just hope mom doesn't pull everything that we've 'discarded' to one side and end up hanging onto it by not actively GETTING RID OF IT - the stuff (like toys) we want to give to a charity, for eg.

What else is news... not much.  I've been reading more up on the visa process.  It doesn't sound too confusing or difficult, it's just a case of sending our stuff through, waiting to be assigned a case officer, and then once the case officer requests the last remaining info (which we may not give until it is requested).  I think it's just the police clearance certificate, medicals, and might also be the australian values statement... might be a good-character-proof form or something else like that.  And that's it!!  And I've found out that the visa application fee is half of what we thought it was - the 2nd instalment is only for people who have less than functional English, because they would need English tuition once in the country!  Yay!!!!!!!!!  The only downside is that the actual application processing time is quite long.  I'm using 15months as a ballpark duration.

YAY it is FRIDAY TODAY!!!!!  Excellent - I can't wait to go home and CHILL!!!!!

Hiccups

I've been reading the SA2Aus forums, scrutinising the posts relevant to our application, and have found something that was momentarily disturbing.  We sent off our ACS application online at the end of March.  We did not realise that we had to courier/post them the hard copies of the documents.  So... we shall do that ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It sets our ACS application back by 3 or 4 weeks... but (still reading on the forums) ACS might take anything between 6 weeks and 6 months to assess the skills assessment application.  So 3 weeks might not make SUCH a big difference.  Specially if the Aus govt take a long time in assessing the actual visa application!  But... that all remains to be seen.

I think I shall rest (temporarily) easy once the actual VISA APPLICATION has been submitted... then after a short while (haha knowing me probably a few HOURS!), I shall be champing at the bit, wanting to go for medicals and apply for police clearance certificates etc.  I think I will truly only rest easy after we are actually in Aus and able to move forward and do things like buying a car, finding a place to stay, etc.  Maybe even after that.  I think between the visa granting date and the landing date, we will be exceptionally busy and stressed out... but SUPER-EXCITED!  There is just so much to organise and arrange.

Work is super-dull.  I sincerely hope that something changes ASAP so that I have a new situation to enjoy!

EEEEEEEKK

Super eek!!!!!!

Friday I had an interview with a recruitment agency.  The lady had phoned me on Tuesday and had a phone interview with me, and just wanted to meet me in person.  I will hear tomorrow whether they want me to come in and redo the typing/computer skills test, or whether they want me or not.  Eeek.  I believe the job is at the recruitment agency themselves, but I'm not 100% sure.

This morning I got a call, and now have another interview, 8:30 on Thursday.

On the weekend I got 2 calls about the same thing, offering me the chance work at a company which does transcription typing, mostly typing from dictaphone recordings of people who speak in British accents.  It sounds like it could be interesting for the first day or 2 and then insanely dull for the rest of the time.  I guess something for me to do if I resign (close to the time that we are going to move) and there's a delay and I need something to do to bring in more money.

So, all in all, it sounds promising.  I guess, even in recession, there is a need for a receptionist/admin assistant/secretary type person.  I will keep sending my CV out, there might just be something awesome out there.  There really is no need to mold over at the same place for 5+ years if you don't enjoy it.  I feel apprehensive (who doesn't when it comes to interviews!), but excited... anxious because of the unknown factor (what are they going to make me do, will I have to do invoices, will it be too hard, etc)... and also because of the newness of everything - getting used to a new place, new people, new rules and modus operandi, etc.  I guess it's the feeling of being thrust out from a safe routine into completely unknown, uncharted territory!

But, then, there's also the fact that something NEW will completely throw the leaves in the air and I think (hope) that it'll make the time go past quickly, so we won't notice how long it takes for the visa application to be processed.  I don't know how long it will take.  Apparently ACS can take over 6 months to do the skills assessment, but then they could take 12 weeks on the dot.  And apparently, with the new rules about the skilled independent visa, they have a STACK of those visas to process, and they've halted processing on everything apart from the state/regional sponsored applicants and those who have occupations in the critical skills list (CSL).  They're processing the CSL applications which have been backlogged since Sept 07.  Apparently they started processing the backlogged once starting from Sept 07 ones in (say) Feb 09, and had already reached June 08's applications a month later.  So, if they are hurrying everything up, we might get ours quite soon after we apply (if people applied in June 08 and got their visa in March 09 and they're speeding up with the processing).  Although, of course, one can NEVER set your watch according to ANY govt department, no matter how 1st world the country is.

On that note, we are still waiting for our unabridged birth certificates.  We submitted our applications on 26 Jan.  They only 'received' our applications on 5 Feb.  They said it'd take 8-10 weeks, it is nearly 12 weeks now since we applied.  SIGH!!!!!!!!!!!

Not much news

I got a parcel note yesterday evening, my Cardigans "Life" and A Camp "Colonia" albums have arrived.  It took 6 weeks to come from the UK.  Lovely.

I had a bit of an epiphany last night.  It finally fell into one sentence, what exactly it is that bothers me about my job (in a more broad perspective).  I do not want to be a PA.

I think that needs a little bit of elaboration:  in my 'occupation', at the start you are (for example) an admin assistant, girl friday or receptionist/switchboard operator.  Then you progress and become (say) junior secretary/senior admin assistant/senior receptionist or something.  And then, you become, after a lot of hard work and proving your ability, you become a PA, or executive secretary, personal secretary, etc.  And I don't want to become a PA.

I don't enjoy personal work like phoning to book tickets/sort out someone else's medical aid (or other personal shit like car-service/glass-replacement etc at home, stuff that THEY should be doing themselves, or their stay-at-home-wifeykins should do).  I don't particularly want to arrange meetings, take minutes, stuff like that, but that is in essence what the job entails.  So in all, I do not want to aspire to become a PA, even though I'm nearly there.  I'm essentially a very low-level PA right now despite the fact that it's not mentioned anywhere on my payslip.  I COULD become a PA - I might well take up a PA job in the interim before we move - but I have now realised that I don't enjoy it.

But, then there's the tiny little insignificant, annoying little problem of WHAT THE HELL DO I WANT TO DO!?

I don't know.

To totally sum up the situation:

 

When you devote your time and energy to doing things that you really want to do,

you will feel more confident, more valued and in control

and there will be less time to think ………

 

and that is now my problem:  I DON'T want to do it, and I'm losing confidence, feeling very unvalued and out of touch with where I want to be (apart from Aus and NOT SOUTH AFRICA).

I don't know what I want to do, so I don't know how to start and head off into that direction.  Don't know what it is to know what to study.

So yes, I've been feeling a little *low* lately.

Boredom again

Yay, boredom!  I'm currently having a quick teabreak before tackling one of the most boring jobs in this entire office - packing a job away.  It entails taking everything out of the lever arch files, replacing the file-dividers with a blue sheet of paper with the divider's title written onto it, putting a string-tie through it, making a note of it, and putting it into an apple box, and once everything is in the applebox, making a label for it, outlining the contents.  It is boring.  It takes a while.

It's great being part of a forum on a particular subject relevant to you.  I'm a member of a budgies forum and a SA->Aus forum! 

The budgies forum is (as would be expected) a forum with LOADS of 'baby' pics.  Lots of information and advice on how to look after your budgies best.

The SA->Aus forum is SO informative, also lovely and welcoming, but totally different as the members aren't KNOWLEDGEABLE like you feel like a complete n00b, they're in the same boat as you - trying to fathom out the immigration process.  By assimilating their experiences, trying to gauge how long each thing takes, it helps gather ideas and gain insight into how it all works.  I just found out that ACS is currently taking 6 months+ to do skills assessments.  That's not great.  Also, it's not recommended that we pack our stuff ourselves, as the Aus customs are apparently extremely strict and the shipping companies don't cover (with insurance) boxes that aren't packed by them.  So, this is going to be a long, boring uneventful wait.  I guess it means I can relax a bit more and actually cross-stitch at times.  Play computer games, read, chill.  I do still want to finish scanning the photos though.  At least that's a finite amount.  But damn, it's getting boring now.

I may or may not have mentioned in blog yesterday, but I have an interview on Friday - with a recruitment agency.  Hold thumbs.

The winds of change

have begun to blow...

I've been sending out my CV to job-ads... this morning I got a call from a recruitment agency - I have an interview on Friday at 07:00.  Eeeek!  So early.  But at least then I won't be too late for work that morning.  And I have received an email offering me the opportunity to send my CV - my profile on a career-resource site has obviously had a hit or two!

Other changes will happen, probably soon?  ... G's decided to sell his car.  Main reason: to save money on petrol+insurance, and by selling the car privately, he can use the selling price to settle the repayments and buy a 2nd hand smaller car.  A no-strings-attached (committment-free) car will be ideal for when we have to close up shop and leave.  No worries of settling repayments, etc.  So that'll be a significant change too.

Another change (sad)... G's grandpa passed away on Thursday night.  I'm so fortunate to have met him, and to have had him be part of our wedding.

~~

Long weekend bliss

It's LONG WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!

I've been scanning LIKE MAD since yesterday. I've finished the 1st box of photos. I really want this done and out of the way.

I've been reading up on forums, stuff about the visa application and move process. It's so exciting, but hectic and almost scary too. There is just so much waiting involved!

We have to wait until (roughly) end of June, for G's ACS skills assessment. By then, we will hopefully have received our unabridged birth certificates, and we will be able to apply for the visa. From what I've read, it'll take well over a year to get the visa. Most of that time is made up of the application just sitting in the 'in-tray'. Once it gets assigned to a case officer, it shouldn't take too long. The case officer then asks for us to get a police clearance certificate and go for medicals... and then once that's sent in they can carry on.

There's just so much info out there, but mostly speculation and people's individual experience and suggestions, about stuff like going for the medicals a few months after applying, so that there isn't much of a wait for the case officer when they request the medicals result.

Anyway, my job situation depends on the visa process. If it doesn't take very long, then there won't be much need for me to stay working past the end of the year. And, also, we will have so much to pack. YAY eeek!!

Thoughts

While on the way to work this morning, I heard the DJ on the radio saying he likes some Jewish/passover food, and that that food, and easter eggs, were the best part of this time of year for him.  Which led me to wonder, who 'judges' who may buy certain foods?  Our local supermarket has large selections of religious festival foods at the specific times of year, and although I've never had the urge to buy any religious food (like halaal dates for Ramadaan, or food for Passover), who would 'stop' me from doing it?

The ladies at the tills would.  The amount of scrutiny and discussion (in Xhosa) that our groceries get, at times, is quite perplexing and would be seriously offputting were I to buy anything 'judgeable' religious food (or condoms!).

"Ntoni le?? (what's this?)" *serious discussion between till lady and bag-packer*.  Me, defensive inner thoughts "It's NORI... um... I need it for... my fishtank!  I don't have enough um, algae in my tank and it's a.. um... for my tank!"

So, I'd probably get a nice tearing-apart by the till ladies who'd think it weird that a non-religious person* would buy stuff for a non-commercialised (ie Ramadaan/Idh/Passover as compared to Easter) religious festival!

 

* by non-religious, I mean not 'stereotypical' of that religion's followers:  ie not Jewish or Muslim 'looking'.  Yes, that's stereotypical and judgemental, but we're not in a perfect world where race has no bearing on religious group.  They are not my judgements/stereotypes.

Music!

This morning I received a pack of 3 CDs: Kelly Clarkson, Kelli Ali and Dead Can Dance.  Yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!

I hope this 'inspires' my other parcels to arrive.  I'm still waiting for the LR2 soundtrack, A Camp+The Cardigans CDs and The Cardigans CD/DVD.  Oh the joy of airmail.

The wedding dress and jacket are ready for collection at the drycleaners.  Funkiness!  I'm also going to pick up a copy of today's newspaper, for the job supplement.

 

I NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS FUCKING PLACE!

 

I am quite FED UP.  I need to get out of here.  The pettiness and shit, I've had enough.  I really have.  I have said so before, and I've been jobhunting.  And I still am.

 

Last night, while I scanned photos, G and I swapped RAM chips.  Mine I'd left in its box as my laptop just wouldn't accept it.  G's had no problem with his RAM, so we swapped.  Mine in his laptop seems fine.  His in mine seems fine.  I even had a bash at Diablo II, maxed out the CPU but the RAM was HAPPY!  At some stage (not while playing) I gave the laptop a couple of bangs/nudges/presses and typed very... roughly, to see if the RAM chip would move and crash the laptop.  It didn't, so hopefully it was a combination of a finicky RAM chip and a dodgy slot connection, and hopefully the RAM chip isn't as finicky and will work!

I can't wait for the weekend.  I want to sleep late.  I want to scan a shitload of photos, I'm tired of photos now and I really enjoyed Diablo II yesterday.  I want to do my own stuff now.  Stitch, read, play games.  I have 3.5 boxes of photos still, plus G's packet of holiday photos which is equal to another box.  *sigh*  And Mom has a few other photos (odds and ends) which I want to scan.  AND then my aunt has photos from Gran which I want to scan.  I think once I'm done I won't ever want to see another printed photo in my life.  And hopefully I won't really have to, cos they'll all be on CD :D

And then I can stitch.  Poor Golden Ice.  I was almost craving cross-stitch yesterday (at work) I can't remember, I think I was folding drawings *exceptionally boring*.

Fuck, I'm sick of this job.

Monday, day 1/4

This week is a 'short' week - Friday is a holiday.  And the following Monday is a holiday too - I CAN'T WAIT for this long weekend.  And, not forgetting: CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Ok... now that the chocolate-thoughts are out of the way... :D

 

This weekend was rather fun.  Friday night we went to M's place - she made an entire Greek meal (starter, main course and dessert)... which was EXTREMELY delicious and EXTREMELY filling.  I couldn't eat more than a teaspoon of the dessert.  Hectic!!  It was so yum though.

Saturday morning we finally (yes, it's taken this long to get around to doing it) took the wedding dress and the jacket to drycleaners.  And we fetched my new drivers' license.  My transformation is complete!  Then, we met up with G's mom and headed out to The Old Biscuit Mill - a shopping precinct, where you can find unique jewellery, antiques, odds and ends, clothes, beads, crafts... lots of stuff.  But it's more for tourists, and well off people, as the things are seriously pricy.

This week is probably going to be fairly boring, as hbbm is away.  The other guy has left me quite a bit of filing but it won't take long to do.  I have just overheard the receptionist asking someone whether they have filing to do, so he said 'lots' so I'm sure she's going to go on walkabouts doing his filing.  Like hell... you're RECEPTIONIST, even if there is nothing else for you to do, you have a phone, front door and fax machine to oversee.  I have nothing.  Piss off and leave me to do my OWN job, thanks.  Anyway, I'm going to do this filing I have quickly and then see about helping the other guy.

 

MAN I'M AMPED FOR AUS...

Impending boredom

As I blogged previously, I'm think I'm going to be bored next week.

Today, however, has been rather busy.  Yesterday was a total pointless dumb day (the saga of that friggin' document carried on!), but today is busy so far.  I'm probably going to be madly rushed today because of the 2 people going on leave needing everything done before they go today.  There are 2 of those LOVELY invoice-batches to go out today, and hbbm is stuck in meetings the whole time starting from 12.  So I suspect a rather bleh day.

This evening we're going to M&J's place, it was her birthday yesterday and we're having a greek supper.

 

Ok after pressing "save now" and going to do work before hbbm left... I'm back.  Bored.

Nothing to blog about now.  Bored.

Slow disintegration

Depressed.  I think that's what I am feeling right now.

I'm feeling caged, but not as a tiger.  I don't have the vitality, right now, to be called a 'tiger'.  I feel more like a potato, left in the dark, back corner of the cupboard, behind everything else.

I want to go out, I want to go out this evening in fact, but I don't want it to be a FORCED outing.  I don't want to go this evening because we HAVE to go this evening because there is no other time to go.  I don't WANT to go collect my drivers' Saturday morning beCAUSE we can't go any other time.  I'm tired of this hamster-wheel.

I just heard hbbm tell someone on the phone that he's on leave next week.  Instantly, I feel a dull dread because miss madam receptionist is probably going to be in her ELEMENT saying 'if you're not busy, I just want to...' so that she can be awol.  And, because he's on leave, I WON'T be busy so I will have to shut up and stand in for her.  Fuck I hate this powerless position.

I guess I have seesawing emotions, maybe it's my piscean nature or maybe it's because I'm a girl or maybe because I'm mentally unstable or maybe I'm too sensitive to sugar-levels or light-levels or hormone-levels or whatever, but I'm THRILLED because we finally got our wedding rings!!  They took a week and 2 days to make them!  I'm so so happy with mine, and I love G's ring too.  And to our EX-jeweller I say TAKE THAT MUTHAFUGAH!!  What a loser, I'm so glad he stuffed up in a way, because it means he didn't get our business!

Anyway... I think I blogged about hbbm 'scolding' me for something he gave me to do on Thursday and I wasn't sorting it out.  Well, about 20mins ago, he completely overrode what I'd accomplished.  The lady I was dealing with was trying to get their copy of the document back from the company they'd given it to, so that it could be exchanged for the uptodate version we have.  But now, hbbm says 'this needs to be put into an email so that when people ask about this, there's a formal written record of it'.  So, he dictates an email that *I* must send (as me), to this lady, saying that only 6 pages of the document had changed, and if she would prefer, I can email her the updated pages.  This, after I'd obfuscated and told her that 'the change affects the whole document' because I did not in fact know what *had* changed, and was trying to get across the fact that we do need the documents exchanged and not just updated pages sent out.  Because I thought it was VITAL that the old one be returned to us.  No, hbbm says 'as long as the date is on the updated pages, it's 100% fine to send them out'.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If you WANTED this whole thing done YOUR WAY, why not give me THE INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO DO IT YOUR WAY, FROM THE OUTSET!!!!

 

Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

How DUMB!!!!!

Lunchtime lethargy

GUESS WHAT!!  It is...... blog time again!

I'm bored, uninspired and frustrated, sitting at work.  I applied for 3 jobs last night, 2 have already replied saying 'sorry, but thanks for the application'.  I expect I will receive a lot of replies like that but I'll just keep trying.  It won't be easy, finding another job... but I'll persist.  I'm really fading, here.

This morning I phoned someone's PA regarding exchanging their (out of date) copy of a document (from us) with an updated one at our office... to remind her as I phoned her about it first on Thursday.  She gasps and says "I completely forgot about it... and the document has been issued" (ie given out to another company).  So, I relay the info (POINTING OUT the fact that *she* FORGOT) to hbbm.  His response?  "issued to who?  where is it?  why hasn't it been exchanged yet?  I gave this (task) to you on Thursday... just sort it out!"

Thanks.  *I'm* the one who forgot, I'M the one who is delaying the entire thing... I'm the one dawdling with this on purpose, so *I'm* the one you should rant at.

I'm really so tired of this place, tired of hbbm's responses to things, tired of MY irritability and annoyedness, which is triggered by this (yes I know I'm supposed to control things like that but damnit, I'm tired of this place), tired of the same, repeated, boring day EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Anyway, on a happier note - we should have our rings today.  Hopefully, FINALLY!

I don't know whether I've mentioned in previous blogposts, but 1 of the parcels arrived: my 2 LR CDs... I'm still waiting for the LR2 soundtrack, the Cardigans' Life, A Camp's Colonia, and the Cardigans' Super Extra Gravity (with bonus DVD).  And, I've placed an order for Kelly Clarkson's and Kelli Ali's latest albums... CAN'T WAIT!

I've nearly finished LR2.  I have to complete 1 level, get 2 map pieces to unlock the final level... and play the final level!  Other than that I have to unlock certain other things like stamp sheets, stamps, songs, etc.

No other news, right now.

Oh - forgot to add this and can't edit the previous post

... because I'm blogging via mail.

One of the MAIN reasons I'm desperate to leave this job is the fact that I am sick and tired of and fed up with the bloody receptionist.  Taking liberties, now that she herself is looking for a job.  Stuff like going to the toilet at 5 to 1, so I have to listen to the phone, when I AM GOING TO BE STANDING IN AT LUNCH FROM 1!!  Bitch, go to the toilet DURING lunch.  So, I waited for her to go to the loo, then while she was back at her desk I went to make tea so that I could have tea while sitting at the swb.  So she announces "it's 1!" and comes into the kitchen to put her cup down (so she could see I was making tea) and the PISSES OFF out the front door.  While I'm still making my tea.  Bitch.

Oh and another FUCKING REASON: I AM STILL NOT A FUCKING ACCOUNTANT!  Yes, accountant, your phoning my boss 'reminding him' to do an invoice for something, which ends up as him telling ME to make a note in MY diary to do the invoice every month... THANK you for palming off YOUR FUCKING JOB onto me.

I've done it!

I've taken a step FORWARD.

I'm reaching out, actively sending my CV out.

I'm bored, dying even, in this job, and it's time for a change, even if it IS for 1 year (approximately).

S gave me a clever suggestion: think of all the reasons for wanting to leave the job, and think of all the reasons to stay in the job.  Basically, work out why exactly it is that I'm staying.

I haven't really thought it all yet, but I did update my CV, and did a coupla jobsearches online.  I also applied for a job.

In other news:  we just need to get the copies certified (probably will do that this evening by going to the police station), and then apply online for the ACS skills assessment.  Can't wait!

Tomorrow evening L+S+C and some of L's other friends and I are going out dancing!  I've picked out a very cool top I've had for a while now (it just needs a stitch or 2 to strengthen the ties), and sandals I got a while ago to attend a wedding reception (the couple had got married secretly a while before!).  I tried the sandals on and was amazed at how comfortable they are - I'd quite forgotten!  So I spent the rest of the evening 'acquainting' my feet with those shoes - they get along quite nicely!  I'm looking forward to the outing!  Haven't seen S or L since just after the wedding - man does time fly?

In other news:  my LR2 soundtrack CD (I think it's that) has arrived - very late (it was supposed to be here by the 13th), but I am guessing customs hung onto it for an age trying to work out how much tax they can charge me on 1 CD.  Sucks.  But anyway, at least it has finally arrived!  Now I've still got the Cardigans CD/DVD to wait for, and the other 2 LR CDs.  Yay!!!!

Not much else is news... apart from the fact that I'm rather thrilled by the job application process!  I reckon it's a good idea, because I can't STAY at this job (I'm going nuts), so I can't just stick it out until we move because the visa process might take a LONG time.  And I can't just resign and stay at home until we move because the excitement and impatience for the visa would drive me batty too!  So a new job is a good idea.  Something new, and if I don't enjoy it I can look for another one.  And if I do enjoy it, I won't mind staying at it until it is time to pack for the move.  Hell, I might even learn something totally new which might open my mind to a new career path!

 

^.^

 

Happy Friday, everyone!

212 or 174

That is my dilemma, at this present time.

I am extremely bored.  I don't really have any work to do.  I am on standby... I am bored.

I've been thinking, reconsidering when I should resign.  At this rate, our ACS application will only be sent off this week soonest. Taking into consideration posting, assessment and sending out of assessment, it should arrive back in July.  Our actual visa application will probably not be in July (depends what we still need to gather before sending the application), it will probably be August.  And then, if the visa assessment takes 15+ months (rather be pessimistic with this date and be pleasantly surprised), we should get a yay/nay in October 2010.  Which gives me a little problem.

If we are only going to be moving near the END of 2010, my resigning in February 2010 won't really work out so well.  Even more so if I resign end of December 2009.

We can't really bank on the fact that because of G's skills being so desperately in demand our visa application would be prioritised and 'sped up'.  So I may have to keep on at this job past Feb 2010.

I don't think I can last that long.  Hell, I'm even considering only staying til end Dec 2009 because I'm slowly going insane (yes, I've been saying that ever since I started here!! HARHARHAR).

I desperately want a 'deadline', so that there is some finity on this boredom.  A light at the end of the tunnel.

hmm

It's 21:30, Sunday 22 March. I am busy scanning photos, I have 27 left in this particular album. I want to do them before I head to bed.

I don't know how I am going to go to work tomorrow. The thought kills me. I am so bored, uninterested, I just don't know how I can keep going there.

Resolve

I have decided, since it is often the wiser route to choose, that since I am unable to change the situation, I shall avoid it completely. The saying is something like 'realise what you can change, and change it, and realise what you cannot change, and deal with it'.

I am, therefore, going to forget that we have a garden, and it will be as if we do not have a back door at all.

That means: I will no longer water the garden, I will no longer mow the lawn, I will no longer clear the gutter in the corner.

I think I shall have incredible peace of mind doing that because I will no longer have to live with the fact that despite having a pretty little garden, WE CANNOT USE IT OR ENJOY IT IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER.

I cannot enjoy watering the plants as, more often than not, the neighbours come and smoke while I'm still busy. I will not mow because that is like an 'investment' of time to make the garden 'nice' and 'enjoyable', which is in reality A WASTE OF ENERGY.

I will no longer clear the gutter because I will not be OUTSIDE to notice that it needs clearing.

Therefore, I will have no more stress and annoyance from the garden, because it will be as if it does not exist.

Bad bad mistake

I had coffee at work this morning, for the first time in I'd say (by now) about a month. I've been avoiding coffee because it felt a bit stupid autopiloting and making coffee like a robot every single workday at 10:00. So I stopped. At first it was a small struggle, and I just told myself "TEA!". And it's not like I don't enjoy tea so it was fine. It has been fine - I think I had 2 cups of coffee, at home, in all that time.

This morning I decided that since I wasn't *feeling* like coffee, I would make coffee.

It was great. Milky coffee.

But now I feel like banging my head against my desk.

I'm exceptionally tired, having had a very late night last night (G played LocoRoco until midnight), and the previous night (we went to bed at 3am due to the horrendous fire all over the mountains near us), and very likely the nightS before. So I'm not feeling very alive right now. And the coffee is driving me crazy. Because I'm physically tired, and want to sleep, and am at work with nothing to do and with the INABILITY TO DO ANYTHING if I wanted to do anything ANYWAY. And, it is making me WANT to do stuff. Not sure what, but things at home, like scan photos, or stuff for the ACS/visa application, or packing, or ANYTHING. So I feel a bit like a tornado in a well - all the energy but nowhere to go!

Except, I'm tired, and want to sleep. I feel strange.

G's IELTS result arrived... now all he's waiting for is for his boss to sign a letter outlining G's skills/duties at the office, and then all the paperwork is to be put together (with certified copies etc) and THEN he can send it all off to ACS!

That will take about 12 weeks (add on a few weeks extra for posting it to Aus, and posting back?), so we'll only get the result in July earliest. So, our visa application is likely to happen in August. Add 15 months (approximately) and that's when we'll find out YAY OR NAY.

HOLD THUMBS!!!!!

In other news: we had a 'security breach' in the complex on Monday night. Found out yesterday morning as we were getting our gatebuzzers' codes changed that apparently our LOVELY neighbours (!*%^$&!#*^#) had left their house/car/gate keys in the doorlatch! Thank you, morons, you really are valuable members of the complex AREN'T you. For a moment (on Monday night) I felt a minor inkling of sympathy for them, what with their having just had someone almost break-in... but that soon vanished as they really don't HAVE any redeeming features. Smoking bitches, fag-hags LITERALLY! Thank you (again/still) for smoking us out in our home by smoking just outside our window, after our nearly being smoked out of the house by the MOUNTAIN FIRE.

Yah yah there I go again, rant again. I have 214 working days left here and I REALLY CANNOT WAIT until we can move, which sadly isn't a determineable date (YET).

I've been scanning a lot lately, and I have 5 photo albums left. Then I have 4 boxes of photos to scan, and then once I finally get them, I will have photos from Gran to scan. I can't wait to see them.

Can't wait to be finished scanning so I can stitch! And can start preparing/packing, too! That's a different kind of task though - it's 'closing up shop', where the scanning is a 'colossal task'.

Anyway, it's midday and I want to sleep but have another 5 hours left at the office.

YAYYYYYYYYYY*snore*

Birthday Boots!

For my birthday G gave me a 'voucher' for a pair of boots. After looking in loads of shops which had 'nearly' the right ones, I found the right ones! YAY, my very own, funky-real-leather(mmm leather smell)-boots!

Just a quick post

I was very busy at work today. But that's not the point of this blog post.

I am tired. I am irritated. I'm too hot. I'm fed up, and feel like I really am not going to last.

I'm not going to last the year+ living in this place, where we cannot enjoy the FUCKING COOL NIGHT AIR COMING IN THROUGH THE WINDOWS. I don't know whether I can last, stuck indoors like a bloody caged tiger, suffocating in the muggy, warm air because OUR BITCH NEIGHBOURS SMOKE, WITHOUT SMASHING THINGS AGAINST THE WALLS!

I don't know whether I will last the next 219 working days WITHOUT HACKING AT THE RECEPTIONIST'S FACE WITH A FUCKING STAPLE-REMOVER! Bloody busybody IRRITATING STUPID WOMAN getting up my nose doing MY WORK, on the weekend too, so that I have fuck-all to do all week long, apart from standing-in at the bloody switchboard !!!!

And I'm SICK OF HAVING A CREAKINGLY SLOW DAMN LAPTOP!! It makes checking email a test of endurance and patience which I DON'T FEEL LIKE THESE DAYS!

I'm sure I will have cheerful stuff to blog about sometime, but right now I don't. It's hot, I'm tired, it is late and I'm going to bed.

Inspiration

I was feeling a bit dejected and discouraged this afternoon.  I was thinking about our move, and what if there came a point where we'd settled in and then a feeling of "what now?" set in...

And then I realised:

I will be able to stitch until my eyes pop out...

I will be able to read, and play PSP/PC games...

I will have a terrarium, 2 aquariums (marine+freshwater), as well as a budgie cage to set up...

We will at some stage get a puppy...

And even if we already have a house, we will be busy setting up our dream computer set-up (like an integrated AV/PC set up...

And we will have an extensive furniture shopping-list too, as we will have only just moved into our own place...

We will also have a new car (either a shared car or one each?)...

We'll also have a garden that will need looking after (yay plants with flowers, maybe even fruit!)... as well as indoor plants...

And, if I ever do get bored, I can of course put my mind to work and think about something to study.  I'd love to study, but I don't know what and don't want to study just for the sake of completing something and getting a certificate (although that is, in itself, satisfying).

So, nothing to worry about.  Of course, it does all depend on our financial situation when we move, but that will just dictate how fast we can do all of the above, not WHETHER we can do all of the above!

Yay, now I'm all inspired again!

Amped and inspired...

...but stuck at work.

I've just been chatting to Sis and told her about my Blitz plan: tackling the old stuff stored at mom's place.  She sounds keen - it just depends on whether she can get leave.

I'm also amped to scan photos.  I haven't done any scanning for a couple of days now, what with our cooking adventures and having gone to the carnival last night!  So I'm eager to catch up and scan scan scan scan scan scan scan!

...not least because I want to FINISH scanning so I can go back to stitching *blushes* yes, I'm dying to stitch again.  I'm keen to finish Golden Ice (because he's really gorgeous) and I'd love to stitch Wedding Blessing... simply because it is a nice design.

I have (according to my countdown) 230 working days left.  I am seriously holding thumbs like mad that the visa application takes less than 15months, because if that is the case we'd probably only be able to leave at the END of next year.  The ACS skills assessment is our big 'delay' thing because we can only apply after they've sent the skills assessment - that takes about 3 months, give or take posting time.  Anyway, I'll hold thumbs regardless.

We watched A Fish Called Wanda on Monday evening.  It was very funny!  I won't go into much detail about the movie but I do feel this pedantic need to point out that the choice of 'tankmates' in the movie is very bad!  Angelfish, plecostomus, silver hatchetfish, neon tetras, among others.  A sad choice as either the tetras+hatchetfish or the plecostomus+angelfish wouldn't be happy, depending on the tank's pH.  Ok ok yes yes, I'm being a fanatic, but it was just an amusing 'faux pas' which I suppose they didn't give much thought to in the 'old days' in Hollywood!

Yesterday I took a walk to the post officeS to fetch my parcels.  It took a while but I went during office hours (i.e. not during lunch) because the messenger was off sick and I fetched the office's post at the same time.  I am now happy to say that I am the (very!) proud owner of a supercool LocoRoco PSP pouch!  I will put a pic (or pics) up on my blog sometime with the other LocoRoco goodies I've managed to find.  I'm waiting on 3 LR CDs... they should arrive in the next few weeks.

In LR2 I've managed to unlock the MuiMui crane mini-game.  It's more rewarding than the 1st LR's crane-game.  I've managed to get some useful parts in it, and my MuiMui house is almost complete!  I think I have about 5 things left to build.  And in the LocoRoco world map, I have only 1 blob of Moja-muck to find and clear out.  But, I will be good and SCAN PHOTOS instead!

 

*must... resist...  ...urge... to play... ...LocoRoco... ... ...*

The First Step

The first step has been taken: G has done his IELTS (english) tests! He should get his result within 3 weeks. I have been reading up on the Aus immigration site, and it seems his application would be a priority one, as his occupation is not only on their most in demand list, it is now also on their critical skills list. I don't think it means they will process it faster (although we can only hope that that's the case!!), I think it means it will be given priority over other applications if there are not enough visas available (quota for the year).

We're looking at making the skills assessment application next week. That should take 10-12 weeks, which works out that we MIGHT be able to apply for the visa in June. The actual visa application is likely to take 15 months, which means we would probably only get it in August 2010 (after the soccer world cup... bummer), but at least it's soon enough afterwards. I do have a feeling that those 15 months are going to be VERY LONG.

I have been scanning my little heart out of late - it is taking less time than I had imagined, I guess the big time-waster is actually procrastinating and "getting around to it". I mustn't get too excited about it though as I do not actually know how many other photo albums/boxes G's parents have!

In other EXCITING NEWS! I have managed to find a copy of the LocoRoco2 soundtrack and have ordered it as well as 2 other game-music CDs. The soundtrack should arrive in about 2 weeks' time, the others will probably only ship out after 2 weeks. My PSP pouch and Cardigans CDs should arrive very soon. And my Apollo 440 and Daft Punk CDs should arrive in under 2 weeks' time. Too much excitement!

Work has been exceptionally murderously dull, as always. But, nowadays I seem to be more irritable... I guess I'm becoming a bit fed up with the situation there: I have a boring, not quite busy job, and my desk is a few metres away from the reception desk. So, I get to 'stand-in' as receptionist, because I am not REALLY busy... and I don't feel that I am able to complain about it *because* I am not busy. I am, however, getting tired of it.

The receptionist, who is a little busy-body, just LOVES going on walkabouts, and uses any excuse to do so. Such as taking printouts/drawings/deliveries/envelopes/etc upstairs to people's (not just the bosses') offices - that's what the pigeonholes are for, or she could wait for the person to go past her desk as they HAVE to to go to the loo/kitchen/out the front door... OR she could PHONE THEM to tell them it's at her desk. Or she will all-too-willingly (so much so that she won't even phone upstairs to find out if the tealady/messenger is there) do stuff that there are people EMPLOYED TO DO, like make tea/coffee for meetings, or make photocopies for meetings. Other than those 'excuses', she likes to go to the loo "just for 5 seconds", and end up spending 10-15mins going to the loo, making tea/coffee, chatting to the tealady/whoever, etc.

I KNOW I don't have a busy job, but this is just... starting to get to me. All my job is now is 'standing in'. So much so that on Thursday, one of the guys, who had a MASSIVE roll of architects' drawings which needed to be sorted out, asked ME to stand in at the switchboard while the *receptionist* went ELSEWHERE to sort the drawings out!! Gee, thanks... I really appreciate that. I'm not a PA, hell, I'm not even an "admin assistant", I'm a 'stand-in' receptionist now it seems. Don't forget stand-in accountant (yay invoices). But, I am trying to calm myself by reminding myself that there are a limited number of days left: 234 working days, to be exact.

Let me savour that a while: 234 working days left.

Accomplished weekend!

Yay this weekend was a successful weekend!  I finished the bag - it is now waiting for G's mom to come back from visiting his gran, to help me assemble it :D

Sat morning we fetched my passport.  We also sorted out all our NB documents, putting them all together in one place.  That way, we know exactly what we have and precisely where it is, so that if there's any emergency at home we know exactly where to grab it and run (like if there's a fire/anything).

Talking of fires, the fires in Aus really freak me out!  Seeing pics.. it's so disturbing.  I haven't even seen many, but the ones I have seen are so terribly tragic.  I can only hope that the people who were killed in the fires died VERY quickly - although I'm not sure how it would work and they were probably in a lot of pain... one can only hope.  I have this feeling of "I don't know what I'd do in a situation like that" but there's no use saying something like that because there is nothing you can do.  I suppose that feeling is more one of "I can't comprehend or imagine it".  But anyway.  That is enough to give anyone nightmares!!

It was Dude's birthday on Saturday... we didn't celebrate it though.  I must admit I forgot!  The date is when he arrived in our life, not when he was hatched as we can't be sure when that was.  Can't believe my Bumble is 2 years old already!

I played a bit of LocoRoco2 this weekend, as a reward for finishing the bag and also for scanning 2.5 photo albums!  Somehow I'd stopped halfway through one album, so I finished that one and scanned 2 more.  It is SUCH A PLEASURE working on G's desktop after crawling through the task with my laptop.  Jeepers.  I think the scanning process won't take so long now, granted there is a box or 2 of loose photos but still.  If I can manage the albums, which is more timeconsuming because of having to peel the pics off the page each time, the boxes will be no match for me!  Ask me again in a month's time though ;)

G's mom has lent me her Gail Tsukiyama books to read.  They've become quite an institution between us.  I don't remember how it started, I think she mentioned wanting Samurai's Garden and G and I gave it to her for xmas/birthday, but we've since given her all of Gail's books!  And she's lent them all (except for the latest gift one which she hasn't yet read), and I must say they are really good books.  Her writing is so vivid, sensual and sensitive, emotionally involving and yet she manages not to put herself into the books.  She writes various characters' stories, not stories about characters.  Really lovely stories, I can heartily recommend them!

I've managed to find a LocoRoco PSP pouch on eBay - yes, I've bought it!  My stash is growing - it'll be so funky having a display cabinet for it one day!  Of course there are a lot of things I don't have and probably don't know about... but I'm very glad I've managed to get a pouch - they're very cute!  I STILL would LOVE to get my hands on a beanbag, as well as the little seat/footrest/pouffe thing!  I don't want to imagine what the shipping would be like for either of them... but I'm sure it'd be worth it in the end!

Ooh talking of buying hard to find stuff - I managed to buy a copy of the Cardigans' album "Other Side Of The Moon" which was only released in Japan & Australia apparently.  It, and also my LR stuff, should arrive quite soon.

Sometime soon there is going to be a Carnival - I really can't wait.  We missed out on it last year, hopefully this year's will be awesome as usual though!

I can't think of anything else to blog right now - I do believe it is coffee-time so I shall press 'post' and head to the kitchen to make a cuppacoffee!

Frustration

At the moment, here in SA, there's a taxi-strike.

Basically, the government wants to introduce a bus/taxi (mass transport) system for the soccer world cup next year.  These taxi drivers (individuals, there is no company governing them) have decided that this will lose them money because people won't use them but will use the mass transport system.  Despite the fact that NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND would VOLUNTARILY use a MINIBUS TAXI... they believe that they will be losing out on all the tourist dollars.  So they have decided to strike.  Strike meaning:  stoning buses/cars/trains, burning buses/trains/cars, throwing petrol bombs, cutting the electric cables for the trains, etc.  Basically terrorist behaviour.

These same ARSEHOLES 'protested' in pretty much the same way when the government "did away with the taxi-lane".  What the rest of the civilised world knows as a YELLOW LINE indicating the EDGE OF THE ROAD, is to them a dedicated taxi lane.  The traffic department was merely enforcing the law that no one is allowed to drive on the other side of the yellow line, but THEY'RE TAKING AWAY THE TAXI-LANE omg it's time to stone buses and burn things.

I really really really desperately think we need to get out of this shit-hole of a country as soon as we can.  This is basically terrorism: if the government does something we don't like, we're going to terrorise people.  Yay, MORONS.. way to go.

Anyway, on an unrelated (but also frustrated) note, I'm really fed up with where we live.  The security complex... yes our little haven of safety and security, with a garden each and dedicated parking/garage(s).  We may as well be living in a fucking high-rise with no openable windows, with underground parking bay.  We don't get to enjoy the garden, because of our neighbours who smoke.  Yes, I've griped about this before.  But it never ends.  We CANNOT have our back door open, to enjoy the balmy evening breeze, BECAUSE OF THEM.  They smoke roughly EVERY 20 FUCKING MINUTES, so there actually is no point having the door open if it's just going to be closed for 5-10mins EVERY 20MINS!!!!  But, as if that's not bad enough, THEIR STINK COMES INTO OUR LOUNGE!!!  Without fail, our entire lounge becomes a smokers' paradise with stink.  I'm sick of it.  I wish I could superglue the goddamn windows shut so that NO AIR can come in at all.

And, as far as enjoying our place AT ALL, even that we can't do with the KIDS (rodent-runts) running all over the place. YELLING AND SCREAMING.  So... we may as well live in a damn high-rise, with NO OPENABLE WINDOWS, so we at least wouldn't have this (un-????)realistic 'expectation' that we MIGHT ACTUALLY ENJOY our home.

I'm actually sick of it.  I'm sick of OTHER PEOPLE, with their INCONSIDERATION, INTERFERING with us.  We don't yell and fight, we don't play loud music at all hours of the day/night, we don't have loud sex, we don't braai (ever, nevermind constantly), we don't smoke, we don't drink and get drunk and cause hassles, we don't PLAY all over everyone else's cars and in front of their homes, we don't play tennis across the parking area, we don't invite loads of people over and have loud raucous parties, we don't hog all the parking bays, we don't PARK like idiots so other people can't get into their own bays, we don't SLAM OUR GODDAMNED FRONT DOOR EVERY TIME WE GO OUT OR COME HOME, we don't have a barking whining dog, we don't have a huge stinking compost heap in our back garden, we don't have a tree with roots digging up everyone's place, we don't have a garage door that we leave open to creak like a dead old tree every time the wind blows, we don't bounce netballs/soccerballs on cement or against buildings, we don't play drums or practise violin/piano, the LIST CAN GO ON AND ON!

What DO we do?  We go to work at regular hours.  We close our doors quietly, we park neatly, we water our garden, we take our dirt out, we occasionally mow the lawn, we clean our place, we cook and bath and sleep and do washing and play music loud enough for us but not loud enough to hear OUTSIDE with the doors closed (see above - they never ARE open!!), we have quiet hobbies, G plays guitar WITH HEADPHONES, etc.  Why is it, exactly, that WE (quiet people) have to endure OTHER PEOPLE'S INTRUSION with NOISE AND SMELL etc?  Why exactly?  It's not as if G and I can start BEING noisy because it's just... a bit... ridiculous.  I don't WANT to slam the front door.  I don't WANT to have loud parties.  I don't WANT to start smoking so that I can stink someone else out.

I don't know whether we would move between now and when we leave, but I'm not AT ALL as fond of our place as I was.  This stink is really getting to me now.  And NOT TO MENTION THAT BRAT SCREAMING ALL DAY.  God alone knows what is wrong with that child.

So I'm actually fed up.  Really fed up.  This vexation EVERY SINGLE EVENING is just getting to me.  Yes, things anger you if you let them but damnit, how am I supposed to NOT get pissed off if every bloody evening MANY times in the evening, I get burny eyes and a scratchy throat BECAUSE OF THE BITCH NEXT DOOR SMOKING?  I'm sitting CROSS-STITCHING!!  Why do I have to get a burny throat because of her?  Why does the inside of OUR home have to stink because they smoke outside so that theirs doesn't...?????

 

ARRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish I could have a blogpost NOT about boredom!!

But sadly this one is also about boredom of sorts - or rather DUE to boredom (at work).

On Friday evening I house window-shopped on the net.  Looking at houses for sale in Brisbane.  There are some nice houses out there - but they are rather expensive.  I suppose if you are paid in Aus$ it all works out, but converting from "Ront" it's very expensive.  Everything will depend on our situation next year, after February.

Speaking of which: there are 12 months and a little over 3 weeks left until my last day of work!!  My work-day countdown has it at 243 work days left!  Yay!!!!

We had a very cool thunderstorm on the weekend.  It was so nice to watch the sky go dark, and the dark mass of cloud coming closer.  It had been super-hot for the past couple of days before, and after the storm there was a very brief relief from the heat.

This weekend I played LocoRoco til I got PSP-hands: those achy fingers from playing for far too long!  I am busy going through all the levels of LocoRoco trying to get all 20 Locorocos, all 3 of the MuiMui etc for each level.  In LocoRoco2 I've already beaten the main bad-guy and rescued the planet, but there is still quite a lot of Moja-muck lying around for me to find and clear.  Once that's done, I can explore the entire place and find all 3 MuiMui, all the house-parts, etc.  I LOVE the MuiMui house, too.  They really are cute little things.

I worked on the Damask Rose purse too - it's really progressing quite fast.  I won't be able to stitch this evening because we're going out with M&J, sis+her G to have burgers.  Sort of a Syndicate-meet, sort of a birthday eat-out for sis.  She's turned the big 3-0... it's so weird to think of her being 'in her 30s'.  I guess it's not such a major thing, but there's this association with it.  I guess it's like the standards at school, and the associations/connotations.  Every standard is a new 'level', but after school you have 20s, 30s, 40s and so on.  Only once a decade do you progress to the next level.

Last night we met up with Mom, sis + her G for supper at a Thai restaurant.  It was incredibly quiet - we were pretty much the only table there.  The waiter was a bit... odd... very spaced out!  And, once again, G's order was 'forgotten'.  I don't think it's specifically G's order that gets messed up every time, just that G and I often order identical things and waiters usually hand food out to females first... so I get the food and he doesn't.  The food was interesting, new to me, with names that I wouldn't dare try to pronounce.  Thankfully each item has a number so you don't have to read out the names on the menu!

I've decided to put the PSP away during the week, and to stitch and scan photos on weeknights and then RELAX on weekends after chores and stuff that HAS to be done.  That way there isn't a chance for me to play the entire evening+night away and not accomplish anything.  On a weekend, there are far more hours available, so I can tell myself (for argument's sake) "after the chores, I will play a bit", and won't feel guilty for not being on track with my stitching/scanning.  That also allows us to have time to exercise too - we skipped it this weekend because it was TOO DAMN HOT!  Friday was 39C, Saturday was probably close to that and Sunday was only fractionally less hot.Today is murky and also a bit drearily muggy.

A week or 2 ago I ordered stuff online - some Daft Punk and some Apollo 440 CDs, they should be here in the 1st week in March.  I really enjoy Apollo 440... I'm not sure how to 'classify' my taste in music: Daft Punk, Apollo 440, Chemical Brothers, Propellerheads, Prodigy, possibly Basement Jaxx (but haven't really listened much and it hasn't grown on me yet)... but then I also LOVE A Camp, The Cardigans, Shivaree, Rammstein, enjoy the Sneaker Pimps, Joe Satriani, the list goes on and on and on!  Not sure what the common denominator would be.  No need for one I suppose!

It is nearly Dude's birthday.  He's going to be 2!  My sweet Bumble-bee :D

I'm not sure I have much more to blog about...

If everything works out we will be applying for the visa in July.  Our birth certificates and my passport should be ready at the beginning of April, G is hopefully going to apply for ACS assessment soon, which should take a couple of weeks.  His english test is on the 21st.

April contains quite a few public holidays and I've taken off 3 days at the end of the month.  I'm planning to go to Mom's place and go through old stuff.  Toys, games, books, etc, to go through everything and get rid of the junk/unwanted stuff and salvage anything very special or worth keeping.  It'll be good to go through everything once and for all and put all the odds and ends together, like my Cabbage Patch Doll - he's currently got 1 shoe (if I remember correctly!), and a substitute tracktop.  I'm SURE his full outfit must be somewhere, and his dummy too.  All the bits and pieces like that must be reconciled, and then given away or kept or whatever.  I'm actually looking forward to it, it'll be quite an endeavour, almost like a 'coming-of-age' experience.  I've already weeded out the teddies - there are some (very special ones) I'm keeping, although I'll probably have to go through the box again and take out the less than very special ones and keep only the VERY VERY special ones.  Ah, at least it's a start.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the toys again - going to keep my My Little Ponies - I think they're all mixed together with sis's ones.  I doubt she'd give me her ones!  It's strange actually, how the toys (like the Ponies) get personalities of their own, which are somehow partially "tainted" with the knowledge that they're HER ones.  Somehow, despite how I secretly wished they were mine, the fact that they were, in fact, hers made them not as nice.  Like, I'd have wanted them to be mine from the outset, because now that they had been hers, they had somehow picked up a bit of her negative 'aura' which always stayed in mind longggggg after we'd had a serious squabble!

Arrrrrgh, I'm bored now - waiting for invoices before I can send through my stuff.  I could be stitching now, and once that is done I could be scanning photos.  I really want to stitch and finish this bag because the scanning is such a huge task and really will take ages.  It'll thankfully be a quantifiable task because as I work through the albums, I can hand them back.  ARGH now I want to scan pics!

Ok let me try get back into work-mode.  YAY it's getting closer to payday!

Accomplished week

Well hello there (anyone?  are you reading this? :P )

The past weekend was so busy, but good busy.  We accomplished a lot of things.  Apart from the usual (chores), I finished the bookmark I'd been working on.  A little cross-stitch bookmark that a colleague had given to me, which I'd decided I had to finish before starting on the Damask Rose purse that G's mom had given me a while ago.  And........ I finished the 2nd HOSS.  So, mom's one is busy being framed, and G's mom's one is waiting to be sent for framing.  They are both delayed birthday presents.

I started the Damask Rose purse, it's very pretty and so quick to stitch compared to those hosses.  Man, I've made up my mind:  I am not going to stitch on linen/evenweave/non-aida again, and I won't use metallic thread again.  OH MY WORD they were so frustrating to work with (separately, thankfully!).

Poor Golden Ice is so neglected.  Once I'm done with the Rosepurse, I am going to sit my butt down and SCAN PHOTOGRAPHS!  All the time!  Until each and every photo is done!  While I was chatting to my aunt a while ago, I mentioned remembering Gran's little tin of photographs.  She doesn't have that one, but she does have another tin of photographs from Gran.  So, hopefully, I can borrow the tin and scan those photos too.  I'd really love to see Gran's photos again - the last time I looked at any of her old photos was when I was probably under 5, and the people in the photographs were all strange: at that age, Gran was Gran and always had been.  So it'll be nice to see the photos of her as a young woman, to see photos of mom and her brother+sister as kids, to see Grampa as a young man.

In other news:  there have been 3 fires in 6 days, just outside our complex.  The smoke was TERRIBLE, each of those times.  Coincidentally, I've run out of allergy tablets... great!  It makes me very anxious though, because we aren't at home... and because our home is under threat.  I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to Dude.

In OTHER news, we had an 'event' one evening this week - I probably have blogged about it... I'm at work now and don't have the luxury of checking what I've already blogged about.  I don't want to go into detail right now (I'm in a calm, sluggish frame of mind right now and don't particularly feel like being all revved up and amped)... but basically some bitch neighbour came and knocked on the door to come row at G for 'being rude' to her kids and telling them to play elsewhere.  Essentially, she believes (ahh, blind faith how we love you so >.<) that her preshis chyldruhn have the undisputed RIGHT to play everywhere (including near/against people's cars and directly in front of their windows/front doors) and disturb *everyone* else in the complex with their noise.  Sorry, bitch, your argument is so wrong in so many different ways that, had you actually been mature about it rather than bringing my (assumed) age as an indication of my (assumed) lower maturity level than yours (professed by yourself), it wouldn't even be worth arguing.  If you come to our place again to shout at us, I will bring up a chair with some popcorn, and watch you.

Ok... anyway!!

I am so unbearably sleepy right now.  All I've had to do this week (really) is filing.  I've worked on the usual invoicing-batches, but it's so dreary these days.  I really could just pick a clean area of carpet and lie down and sleep, right now.

I really hope the application to Aus doesn't take a long time - the way the country is going is a shitty, unfunny joke.  The elections are apparently in April/May/June... our (I love how it's so taken as fact) to-be president is possibly going under trial for various crimes in August.  It is just assumed that he WILL be our president, and his comrade in the party's youth league wants to prevent the trial from happening by saying it'll be embarrassing for our country.  Ah, no, moron, the fact that a CRIMINAL is going to run the country is MORE of a fucking embarrassment!!  It's not an embarrassment, it's a crying SHAME.  So, I sincerely hope that we can be accepted into Aus ASAP!

G's skills assessment application is nearly ready to be submitted.  He has to update his CV, fill in the application form and get the letter which outlines his abilities.  I hope ACS doesn't take forever with it, because as soon as he's got his IELTS result and his ACS skills assessment, we can apply... of course, I will have had to have received my new passport already!  Too exciting!

Anyway, this weekend is going to be busy.  Tomorrow morning we're going to brunch with G's parents and his aunt... Sunday evening we're going to supper at a Thai restaurant for Sis's birthday and Monday evening we're going to have burgers with sis&her G, M&J.

I'm so bored now.  I've been filing/folding drawings all day so far.  IT'S SO DAMN DULL.  There is actually nothing further to write about my job.

When we get home I want to iron the transfers onto my tshirts - I am so impatient to go home now!!

And on that note I will post this to my blog :D

Oh my god

I CANNOT believe the absolute gall of some people!

*warning - hard language in blogpost* (although you should expect that from me by now!!)

We live (yes, I'll explain the scenario AGAIN) in a security complex. Duplex units, with a garden each (say 3mx3m). We each have either a parking bay or garage - depends on what the owners of each complex managed to buy. We have a parking bay with carport.

Some kids have been playing in the complex. Riding skateboards all OVER the place, in the drive-way, within the bays that are not occupied, around the cars, or running around, directly in front of the kitchen window. All of the time, yelling, screaming and bellowing and making a god-awful noise.

We have on a number of occasions called out to them NOT to play near the car/s. Repeatedly. They don't stop. They give G's car a bit of a wider berth than lots of others, but they still run in front of our kitchen window and make a HELL of a lot of noise. Where they live in the complex god alone only knows because sure as fuck they don't play THERE.

This evening, after them making a SHITload of noise, but us not complaining at them, we get this bitch knocking on our door, wanting to speak to my husband... basically she goes off on this rant about how she's sick of our being rude to her children, this is a complex, it's a communal area, basically fuck us, they are allowed to play EVERYwhere, fuck our car, fuck our peace, they MAY play everywhere, as it's a communal area. Just going off at us. I give her a good piece of my mind (not swearing AT ALL), basically saying "excuse me, we are NOT rude to your children, they don't actually have the right to play EVERYwhere, this is not a playground" etc.

She just goes off, that her children have the right to play, there is nowhere to play, they come home from school, the garden is 1mx1m etc blabla.

Lady, excuse me. They are YOUR CHILDREN. If we had a large dog, and found the garden was TOO FUCKING SMALL we would have two options: TAKE THE DOG FOR A FUCKING WALK, either by going out around the complex or TAKING IT BY CAR. Or we would MOVE SOMEWHERE BIGGER. This is not a fucking playplace, bitch. Get the fuck over yourself... they are YOUR children, it is YOUR responsibility to see that they don't interfere with other people and disturb other people, they are YOUR children that YOU are to make provision for. This is (yes, as you said) a COMPLEX with COMMUNAL AREAS. Communal area does not equal playground. Their screaming interferes with our enjoyment of our ENTIRE FUCKING HOME, because they scream so fucking loudly that it infiltrates EVERY FUCKING PART OF OUR HOME. Whether we're taking a fucking piss on the toilet, washing the fuck up or watering the fucking garden. Even if we are listening to MUSIC, their NOISE INTRUDES!

Thank you, c**t, for displaying JUST HOW SHITTY, SELFISH AND INCONSIDERATE "PARENTS" CAN REALLY BE!

And, thank you, once again, for BEING MY CONTRACEPTION! I don't NEED children, because yours are MORE THAN ENOUGH!!!!!!

Bitch!