D-day

Tuesday is D-day.

I am going to give the bosses my resignation letter...

I'm pretty anxious about it. After 6.5 years (will be, to the day) I'm RESIGNING. I don't know what their responses will be as I'm not quite a member of staff like one of the QSes are, I'm 'admin', office support, one of the 'background' people. As I was explaining to S (in the US), I don't really interact with the 2 directors* at all - nothing much more than "hi, good morning" each morning. The typist summed it up nicely when she said "they never tell you when you've done something right, but you will KNOW if you've done something wrong!" So, evidently I haven't been too unsatisfactory to them. Hbbm will probably be upset though (he's such a baby and needs his hand held for EVERYTHING)... but he'll just have to grab his big boy handbag and deal with it!

I won't speculate much what they will do once I've left - whether they'll get someone to replace me or give all my work to the typist - but I get the feeling they'll just make the typist do my job, as before.

I don't violently hate the place like I did a short while ago, I now just feel a constant resentment, I despise the fact that I'm still there. Everything about being there makes me so irritable and gets on my nerves badly.

Examples being:

* the receptionist has some sort of burp-disease: every 5 minutes or so (maybe even less!?), she burps. It just drives me nuts.

* the receptionist has some 'problem' where she ... I don't know if it's burps/sneezes/coughs/vomits, but she makes this sound that you'd make when laughing derisively at something someone's said. Like: "Joe bought a Lamborghini! And he's going to buy a private jet too, with a swimming pool in it!" "PFFHHHHHHHHHH (raspberry sound, but dry), sure sure, pull the other leg, it's got bells on it!". Now THAT sound is what she does, every OTHER 5 minutes. And it drives me nuts.

* the receptionist seems to think that her periods/bowel movements/digestion problems are OF INTEREST to me or are somehow relevant to my life. So, on an all too regular basis, she says, for example, "I'm going to loo, I've got a running stomach". Yay, I really need to know this, WHY?? Guhh! Do I even need to say that it drives me nuts?

* the receptionist, in every other way, is SO IRRITATING! Everything about her is just so irritating! Her high-heel shoes, the way she walks in her high-heel shoes (her feet/ankles kinda go \ \ wtf?), the way she yaks on the phone all day, the way she pronounces things, the way she gets 'he/she/her/his' mixed up, the way she says she's going to the bathroom, but then goes and makes her lunch while away from her desk (and I'm standing in for her)... etc etc etc etc etc. I'm tired of this woman now. And she's started humming/singing. Do I even need to...?

Hbbm... just by being my boss, sadly, is annoying. In a non-boss way he's harmless really, an old fuddy-duddy with quirks like the best of them. But, as a boss:

* he sits on the edge of my desk when he wants to dictate stuff at my computer, and I get the EEKS every time because I have visions of the desk breaking and me ending up with both legs broken... being rushed to hospital.

* when he dictates stuff at my desk, either he leans (see above) or he pulls up a chair to sit next to me at my computer (on either side of me) and he leans across my personal space. Don't get me wrong and think it's invading my space as in a sexual-harrassment type thing, it's just, plain old 'too close'. You know that trapezoidal shape area in front of you at the computer: your left hand has access to your mug/book/notepad/pencil/whatever, your right hand has access to the mouse/telephone. He comes and plonks himself down, and shifts things... unconsciously just pushes the phone out of *his* way so he can lean better... or he leans across between my mouse and me. Or he leans over and I feel paranoid and grossed out that he's breathing over my mug of tea. JESUSFUC....... It just DRIVES ME FUCKING BONKERS I JUST WISH I COULD STAND UP AND YELL AT HIM. Seriously, DON'T MOVE SHIT ON OTHER PEOPLE'S DESKS!!! Specially not IN THEIR PERSONAL SPACE!

* when he's dictating stuff and I'm sitting at his computer, he leans across to look at the screen to see what I've typed/what he's dictated... and he breathes. Ok it's not like, breathing all over me, but his face is maybe 1 foot away from my head and I get whiffs of tea-breath/toothpaste-breath/JUST BREATH, not stinky, but just breath... and he ums and ahs and dictates/edits... I just ... I just cannot wait until I don't have to deal with it anymore. "Um... ahh... um... no take that out... *points at screen* just put in there 'xyz blahdiblahdibla'..." fuss fuss fuss gahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

There are other things about that place which I'm tired of (such as being at a constant 4C all day, every day, regardless of season/weather/building-being-on-fire/etc), but I can at least console myself with the knowledge that in just over a month's time (I have to give a month's notice), IT WON'T MATTER ANYMORE IN THE SLIGHTEST!

On that happy note, I shall sign off this blogpost, and go sleep and dream happy dreams. Happy dreams. Happy, tickets-booked dreams!

* Hbbm is my 'boss', the 2 directors are the Bosses. I am employed by them, and I work for Hbbm.

It began in Afrika

Today we booked our one way ticket.

ONE WAY TICKET.

TICKET... going one way...

The enormity just hasn't sunk in yet.

We fly at the end of Jan. It has been booked...

Re-re-re-recalculation

I've shifted my resign date by a month. Yes, I'm the Queen of Indecision.

Round of applause please.

I've decided to finish working at the end of October. 29 October is a
Friday, which would feel better, rather than finishing work in the
middle of the week.

On the Sunday after we'd have 90 days til we leave, and on the Monday
it'd be our 2 year anniversary.

So, everything points to having ONE MASSIVE PARTY that weekend.

With that date as the T, I have T minus 67 days til I'm free. 48
working days left.

Main reason for delaying it is the fact that I actually need that
extra month's pay. Sucks. But also, resigning next week feels a bit
soon LOL!

I need to sit down this evening and make a countdown checklist, much
like the one I made for the wedding.

A momentous occasion - Athlone Towers' implosion

In the picture above, you can see the Athlone towers from the north-east (roughly). The road on the left is the N2, the national road from the airport to Cape Town city centre.

A few weeks back, I read somewhere that the Athlone cooling towers were to be demolished. Bit by bit over the weeks, it was revealed that they would be demolished by implosion, and the date was likely to be the end of July.

When we left for our Aus trip at the end of July, I sincerely hoped that it wouldn't be done in the week we were away. Luckily for us, we had 2 weeks to spare!

The date was set for 22 August 2010, at +-12:00.

A large portion of the local population had the same wish to witness this event as us, so even though we were heading out at about 10:30, we heard on the radio that the place we had been planning to go was already closed to traffic. We decided to try our luck parking in the University's lower parking area, and thankfully when we got there we found a virtually empty parking area so we parked and headed up on foot. This was +-11:00.

We walked uphill for a bit, intending to go past Rhodes Memorial and set up our picnic a bit higher up/away from everyone else. We really didn't feel like it at the time, so we made our spot on the road a few hundred metres before the Memorial. Most of the others in the vicinity were sitting on the edge of the road below us, us 3 were mostly alone on sitting on the ground above the road. It was about 11:15 that we settled in.

The weather wasn't really playing nicely, and it was very cold thanks to an gusty icy wind (the videocamera and tripod nearly blew over at one stage). The sun came and went, and at times we were drizzled on. I prepared the videocam and took a clip or 2 to make sure it was ready, then waited. At 11:50 I pressed 'record' and left it to run uninterrupted. At exactly 11:56, as everyone was idly waiting for the last few minutes to go past, I notice the towers starting to bend on the videocam LCD screen.

A lady nearby yells, "THEY'RE GOING!", and I realise that this is it, it has begun... 4 minutes early. My eyes are glued to the LCD, and the two massive towers, which a few seconds before almost filled the screen, buckle and fall towards each other, crumbling down, to be engulfed, hidden and finally replaced by a huge smoky cloud of dust...

It takes seconds, the cloud thins out and there's just emptiness where these two towers were standing. Just a gap, with the neighbouring building and chimneys remaining, untouched. It's all clear and empty, no destruction or damage, just a pile of grey is left. It's all over, the towers are no more, and I'm glad to have been there to witness it. A piece of history, and I was there. I caught it on video.

Sometimes it is a powerful feeling to say "I was there".

Chip Review Episode 2: Doritos vs Doritos

Contestants: Doritos - Australian (Cheese Supreme - 45g) and Doritos - South African (Cheese Supreme - 45g)





The above photos are of the front and back of the packets. Below is a picture of the chips, Aus Doritos on the left, SA Doritos on the right.



Observations:

At first glance, the chips are almost identical... the only noticeable difference being the barbecued appearance of the SA Doritos (blackened bits, as opposed to the grainy black bits which you find in Aus Doritos too).

The flavour is almost the same between the two, apart from the more dairy-esque taste of the Aus Doritos (like Twisties had in comparison to Niknaks), and a very slightly more tomato-ey cheese flavour, where the SA Doritos are a plainer tangy cheese flavour. The SA Doritos seem more thin and brittle than the Aus Doritos.

Conclusion:

The difference between Aus and SA Doritos is negligible. Hardly a substitute if it's virtually the same. I think when the chip-craving begins, Doritos will be Doritos, and equally satisfying!

Interesting tidbit/extra comment:

I'm fascinated as to why in SA we get smaller packets of chips: less in a 'serving' (such as Twisties/Niknaks, as well as smaller packets where the contents are the same (Doritos/Doritos)...

* all images/logos/copyright materials belong to their respective owners, I am merely using pictures to make my blog interesting.

Seeing the light....

... well, at least I've found the lightswitch!!

Watch this space!

Chip Review Episode 1: Twisties vs Niknaks

This is the first in a series of 4.

A bit of background to the experiment, first:

Just before jumping on the plane in Brisbane, I bought some packets of chips.

I brought them home unopened, and decided to do a comparison between the Aus chips I got and the SA equivalents.

TODAY'S EPISODE:

Contestants: Twisties (Cheese - 45g) and Niknaks (Original Cheese - 40g)

In Australia, they have Twisties. In SA, we have Niknaks, which apparently is the country's favourite chip. And has been for decades, too.





The above pictures are of the front and back of the packets.

The picture below is of the actual chips, Twisties on the left, Niknaks on the right.



Observations:

The first difference that is evident is the colouring used on the 2 chips. Niknaks are by far more artificial looking, colour-wise. They also smell different: Niknaks having a stronger smell, with a sweet/sour cheese-aroma. Twisties don't really have a strong smell at all, and that difference is carried through to the taste as well: Niknaks are sweeter and more 'cheesy', while Twisties' flavour is more dry and salty... there's definitely more of a milk-solids element to the flavour of Twisties.

Conclusion:

On the whole, what with having grown up with Niknaks, I would say that Twisties are not a substitute for or equal to to Niknaks. In time, however, I suppose one would become accustomed to Twisties as a replacement for Niknaks, but I would bet that regardless of how long a person has been living in Aus, they'd get a big-time craving for some good ol' Niknaks at least once in a while!

Interesting tidbit/extra comment:

The character on the packet of Niknaks is pretty old - over 25 years old. He used to be a dancing clown with painted face, but has evolved into a strange variation of a Rastafarian. Here is a picture of him from the old days:



* all images/logos/copyright materials belong to their respective owners, I am merely using pictures to make my blog interesting.

Evidence

This TV is the one we used to watch the SWC games.



Despite not having a TV licence, we used it this TV to receive broadcast television signal, but considering how terrible the picture is on this TV, AND considering that it's a black+white TV, I think we didn't really break the law...

87 more working days...

Ommmmmmmmmmmm

I'm trying to keep calm, and ignore this shit-hole. Things that
happen here, really, WILL BE OF NO CONSEQUENCE in 87 days' time!

I will be free.

I must, however, blog about it at least a TINY bit, to keep my sanity
a bit stronger.

I won't go into detail right now, as it's UTTERLY PETTY, but this
receptionist woman is SO FUCKING DISHONEST! A sneakier, more
conniving person I have NEVER EVER met, and hope never to ever meet in
future!

I wish the bosses would 'find her out' and fire her lame, sneaky ass! Bitch.

</rant>

This morning, we jumped in the car and while we reversed out of our
bay, I found a couple of loose hairs on my sleeve and so, as G was
manoeuvring the car out towards the gate, I let them go out the
window... As I was doing so, I noticed the car sounded funny, the
tyres in particular! So we pulled up near the front gate, and I
hopped out and voila, the back left-side tyre was down.

The security guard raced out to help and pretty much did the whole
thing, changing the tyre for us. I wasn't badly late for work, but
luckily for the hair on my sleeve!!

I might have mentioned in previous blogpost/s that we have shifted out
move-date forward by 2 months. What's silly is... our visa 'initial
entry by' date on the visa is February, and now that we've BEEN to Aus
to activate it (Aug), we've decided to move in Jan... thereby making
the Aug trip redundant... EXCEPT for the fact that we wanted to go
ASAP in order to activate it JUST IN CASE something happened which
prevented us from doing so later, in time before the 'initial entry
by' date.

It's all so exciting. We might be able to move out of our home by end
of Dec, because G's parents are moving to a house with a
grannyflatlet, which we could move into (G's already asked and they
said they don't mind), so EEEEEEEK!!! That'll allow us to a) spend 1
month's less rent money, b) close things more in advance of moving (we
can start already while we're still working), as we won't need our own
phone line/internet service (thereby saving a months' worth of
expenses), c) we can hopefully sell the car earlier as we could 'bum
lifts' from his parents or we could rent a cheap car in the interim.
ALSO, it means that we can get our STUFFS sent off in a container
early, so that we won't have TOO long in Aus without our stuff.

Too exciting. I'm looking forward to leaving here. I'm thrilled by
the fact that I don't need to put the 2 directors down as references
on my CV... but I'm still dreading giving notice and handing in my
resignation letter. Eugh!

87 working days til I'm free! 123 days total til I'm free! 18 weeks
til I'm free!!!!!

And 24 weeks, 166 days, until we MOVE!! Now THAT is hectic...

Recalculations...

G and I have been brainstorming, and we both think it'd be a good idea
to shift our move forward by 2 months... and leave at the end of
January.

That leaves us with 170+ days left here. The reasons for the shift are:

* safety: 2 months less living here = 2 months more freedom. 2
months free of being afraid that we'll wake up in the night with
someone holding a gun to our heads, 2 months free of a constant
awareness that ANY DAY we might get home from work to find our place
ransacked... this kind of worry plagues us DESPITE living in a
security complex with electric fence, 24hr security guard, motorised
front gate, laminated (strong) windows, security gate on the front
door, and close neighbours who don't seem to work 'standard' hours.

* money: if G and I resign to finish work at the end of December and
only move at the end of March, that leaves me not receiving any income
for 3 solid months, BEFORE even GETTING to Aus and facing a lack of
income due to jobhunting (apparently it takes a few weeks to get a
job). G was intending to use the 3 'unworking' months in SA as time
to begin with his software development, but he can be doing that while
in Aus and I'm looking for a job.

* fluid movement: we're planning on flying with Singapore Airlines,
and they have DIRECT flights in January, in February + March they all
go via Jhb. Although it's not a big issue, it'd still be nice to be
ON OUR WAY once and for all, without stopping ANYwhere apart from
transiting in Singapore. The airfare isn't more than the standard
flights, too.

* end of year wrap-up: we can close all our accounts in advance,
while we're still working in December. We might have to stay at Mom
or G's parents for a while, when our stuff has been packed, but it
would allow us to get going sooner. Also, I suspect opening accounts
there/joining things there (like medical schemes/insurance/whatever)
is better the earlier in the year we get there, as we'd only miss
January. I think we'd also be better off leaving before the end of
the tax year in SA, so that we don't have to file a 1 month tax return
the FOLLOWING year. It means we'd have to file half a tax return in
Aus but no worries there, I don't think.

Our concerns are:

* My pension/provident funds, our savings/fixed term accounts - will
they be released in time.
* Selling the car - will it be soon enough before we go that we can
transfer the money before we go.
* Missing birthdays/other occasions - not a MAJOR issue, but still,
it feels sad to think we'll be missing out on (for eg) my sis's, G's
mom's, G's uncle's birthdays, N&N's wedding, etc.
* Leaving Dude will be painful regardless of when we go, but he'd be
4 years old... we'd miss his 'hatchday' celebration date.

Hopefully by moving earlier, Mom+Sis and G's parents will be more
inclined to come over to visit us for Xmas 2011, too!

I've decided that I'm going to pack in a WHOLE STASH of SA chips and
chocolates... we'll probably only get our container a while after we
arrive in Aus, and I'm sure it'll be like a pot of gold, these tastes
of home!

We've also been reconsidering going on the river-rafting trip. G
simply won't be able to take a whole week's leave so soon after the
Austrip, and if we leave end of Jan, we'll really need the money
that'd be spent on the trip. If I don't take those 2 unpaid leave
days and 3 paid leave days, when I resign they'll have to pay me for
the 5 days' leave that I haven't taken, which would be a nice bonus
(even if only a small amount!). But the river-rafting trip just
doesn't seem like it'd fit into our timescale. If it had happened in
March past as planned it would have been ideal, but right now, it's
not great. I'll be sad to miss it, I've been looking forward to it
for ages, but... dunno... it's really a luxury. With the
river-rafting trip out of the calculation, I have 89 working days
left, which isn't a lot. Can't WAIT til I'm free!!

Ok now that I've got all those plan-thoughts out of my head, it's time
to go back to filing/playing solitaire/twiddling my thumbs. At least
I have my ipod...

Whoops!!

I pressed enter, by accident. D'oh!

Ah well, no hassle :D

This blogpost may seem like a real My News kinda thing, but ah what
the hell - it's MY blog so wahh! Hehe.

Saturday morning (31 July) we got everything ready, raced through to
G's parents to drop off Dude, then we headed through to the airport.
G drove, then at the airport we jumped out with our bags and G's dad
took the car - he was going to be using it for the week.

Had lunch at the airport, got on our domestic flight up to Jhb, met up
with Fe and his-D for supper (very yum sushi for me!). It was so fun
seeing them again - weird how time flies, we'd seen them last at the
wedding!!

Then we headed on to international and checked in. Went through
security check (we had a checked in bag, full of stuff for other-G
from his mom), then got on V Aus... it was nice, a new plane with
lekker entertainment system. The flight was nice too, but flying
overnight was a bit exhausting as it wasn't THAT late in our minds.
Got to Melbourne late in the afternoon (1 Aug), RAN AROUND like mad.
The connecting flight booking only allowed 2 options and we unwisely
chose the one with 1.5hrs in between instead of 2.5hrs.

First of all, we were delayed when the bag took ages to come through
onto the carousel*, then we were delayed badly by customs/quarantine.
We got to the check-in area, only to find about 5 different Virgin
Blue flights being checked in at the same time, so thank the lawd I
asked a ground-staff member to HELP!!!!!! And she got us to
queue-jump and got checked in 20mins before the plane was due to
depart for Brisbane.

We RACED through to the gates area, only to find ANOTHER long queue,
this time security for the same 5 or so Virgin Blue flights.
Thankfully we were allowed, once again, to queue-jump and so we raced
to the boarding gate. Only to find that our plane was delayed due to
the walkway-tube malfunctioning! We got on ok, and got into Brisbane
+- on time, late at night.

At Brisbane airport we had a short wait for our Coachtrans bus (very
handy!), then were whisked away and dropped off right outside the
hotel. We checked in, and G asked the reception-man whether he could
suggest someplace for us to eat. "The kitchen's only just closed!
Ah... Well, seeing this is Brisbane, and it's a Sunday night, not many
places would be open, but you could head into the CBD (5mins walk),
and see if you can find something...". The cook of the hotel kitchen
at that point walked past (having packed up for the night) so
reception-man called to him saying "these people want some supper..."
so he just replied "kitchen's closed, sorry", to which reception-man
amusedly turned to us and said "he didn't seem too interested in that,
did he!".

We eventually did head down into the CBD, and went to Hungry Jacks...
open 24hrs! There was a SERIOUSLY drunk man there, thankfully not
very hostile or anything, but the place was pretty busy so we bought
our (cheap) supper and went back to the hotel. I nearly died of
asphyxiation walking up the hill, and it took me about 10mins once we
got back to the hotel to actually regain myself. JEES I am so unfit!

We got to sleep pretty easily then, we didn't really sleep late though
as we'd made a hire-car booking and had banking to do. We strolled up
the road into Fortitude Valley and picked up our car - a cute little
Hyundai i30. We'd booked a lesser car, going more for cheapness than
driving pleasure, but were amused to find we'd got a 2l! Very nice.

We then drove back to the hotel, and were completely flustered when
parking when the key refused to come out of the ignition after
switching off. Only after nearly breaking the thing did we realise
that you need to... put the car into PARK first before removing the
key! And you can only put it into park if it's switched on (not
idling on-on though), and you have to put the handbrake up too.
Finicky, but I suppose safety over 'laziness'!

Then we headed down into the CBD again, to do some banking. This was
past 12, lunchtime rush starting to become evident because of the
number of pedestrians. Firstly I bought a simcard, registration for
that was painless. We then went into the bank, where it was quiet and
mostly empty. We were told to wait, and ahead of us in the queue were
3 people. We sat down, happy to wait. After about a minute a staff
member came to us and told us that they'd just asked more staff to
come in (presumably from lunch), and he reassured us that we wouldn't
have to wait long. I think we waited a total of 3mins! Incredible!

We were helped by a very nice, efficient and friendly lady, who, as
evidenced by the awards she had on her desk, is very good at her job
and is ALWAYS as friendly and helpful! She activated our account and
also opened a savings account for us, and applied for debit cards.
For the delivery of the cards we gave G's friends' address, and she
told us they'd arrive in about 4 to 5 working days.

After heading back to the hotel we arranged with other-G to go to his
place for supper. Raced out to buy a "refidex" (mapbook!), and,
jumping into our cute car, headed off that evening. It was so
painless driving across the city, and we got to his place quite
easily. His apartment is very nice, spacious and very modern and he
has a garage. Supper was very yummy too. I took a video clip of his
apartment to show his mom, I thought she'd like that seeing how she'd
made up this whole survival kit for us to take to him (the goodies for
him was the only reason we took checked-in luggage!), and specially
seeing how emotional she got when talking about him being so far away.

Tuesday we slept late, then walked up the hill to Roma Parklands. It
was a bit chilly with the wind, but lovely to wander around peacefully
in parklands and feel safe. After getting 'lost' we found our way to
Southbank, crossing over the funky bridge to get there. We lounged a
bit in the sun on the grass bank on the riverside, then walked on
further and had lunch near Streets Beach - a man-made beach (what a
strange concept!). On our way back to the hotel we went to the
internet cafe, then at the hotel had a very garlicky carbonara pasta
for supper. Much later that night G started to feel sick. We reckon
it's the hotel's food as he got sick last time we were in Brisbane,
and we were staying in the same hotel then...

The next morning he was still sick, but we attempted to head out to
catch the Mirimar boat to Lone Pine, but we didn't make it very far
and went treats shopping at Coles instead. When we got back to the
hotel, G had a nap and I lazed (ah what a life!) on the hotelroom
balcony. I bought a yum salmon+creamcheese sarmie from the coffeeshop
on the corner, and after having tea too, I dozed off briefly on the
balcony. What bliss!

That night, G mustered up all his strength and we went to our friends'
house (another G, weirdly! I'll refer to him as G/G, and his wife as
E and their daughter as little-E), to have supper with them and
other-G. Their 3 year old daughter is adorably sweet and she utterly
charmed our socks off. She's the most eloquent, well behaved 3yo kid
we've ever seen. Supper was very yum and I think it helped G to
regain a bit of strength.

Thursday we blobbed around again, G still not feeling up for a boat
trip to Lone Pine (he felt worse than the day before), so we went to
the internet cafe again and registered for a tax number. We bought
some eats too, to take with us to Lone Pine rather than buy there.
That evening we braved rush-hour to go to Westfied Garden City mall,
meeting up with other-G. We had KFC (I had a burger with bacon and
cheese... quite yum!), and just mallratted. Apparently Thursdays are
'late shopping' days in Brisbane. It's quite weird for us, being
spoilt by Canal Walk's 9am to 9pm hours daily! While we were at the
mall, G/G phoned and told us that our debit cards had already arrived!

Friday we drove through to Lone Pine and spent most of the day there.
I won't go into much detail about it, but it was lekker being there
again. I put my video camera to good use the whole time. Afterwards,
we popped in at G/G's place and picked up our cards and had tea with E
(and their daughter, little-E). All that was left for us to do was
pack, then, so we headed back to the hotel (had supper there) and then
packed, ready for our journey back. THIS time, we would have NO
checked-in luggage.

We got up at 2am Saturday morning, checked out and drove to the
airport. It took far quicker than we expected so we got there about
3:15am. Obviously no one was at the car-hire desk, so we had to
'express-return' the keys. The airport was almost empty until about
4am, when others started to arrive. After a bit we checked in (the
lady was rather icy/terse), and went to the gates. I bought some
chips which I stuffed into my bag (yay, souvenir treats!), and we
waited. The flight to Melbourne was uneventful but fine.

Once again, in Melbourne, we had an awful rush, only this time, we
weren't at fault for unwisely choosing a too-short connection, it was
the only one offered by the airline. While going through the motions
of checking in and all that jazz, we had to go through security check
again, which was different to usual. They had an MC-type guy standing
to the side giving information about restricted items and stuff you
may not take onboard, and after the long time standing in that queue,
both G and I felt quite stressed by the adrenalin and hype. It was
like being in a Hyperama on Jolly Trolley or Hypermania days...
exhausting and noisy!

We got onto our plane alright, but were over an hour delayed as the
plane had to refuel. I was particularly anxious about that because
our flight from Jhb to CT was only 1hr 15mins after the Melbourne-Jhb
plane was due to land, AND it was the LAST flight of that airline for
the night. Plus, if we missed it, it'd be such a waste of money. But
no worries, the pilots made up such good time that we were only about
5 mins later than expected in Jhb. It was a long and uneventful
journey, the biggest bonus being that G and I got to sit in a 2-seater
row, with no one but a flight-attendant sitting behind us during take
off and landing (and he was even facing the other way!). Lovely. And
the loo was right there too - super-convenient.

We RACED, again, to get to our next plane in Jhb. We got a bit
disoriented though, as we couldn't figure out where domestic
departures was, but we found it eventually and checked in hurriedly.
The lady there asked us why we'd just ran, to which G answered
'because gates close 40mins prior to departure, and it's now 38mins
prior to departure...'. Duh. We checked in ok though, raced to the
gate, and thankfully weren't the last people to get there: there was a
whole busful of us who eventually headed to the plane.

OH MY GODDD what a cramped dreadful flight! G and I were seated
separately on different rows, on opposite sides of the plane (at least
nearish) - I guess because of how late we'd checked in. Both of us
were in the middle seat, and neither of us had access at all to any
arm-rests. G was seated next to 2 interesting guys, I on the other
hand was seated next to a quiet, polite Muslim man and a white guy
with a FLIPPIN' LOUD Iphone/pad/tampon. And he kept nudging me in my
ribs as he turned magazine pages, but at that stage of the 'day', I
was beyond caring. I was trying my damndest to stay seated and not
run yelling to the toilet! I simply folded my arms, jabbed my elbows
into my handbag on my lap and tried to zone out. I think it worked as
I think I nodded off occasionally.

It was either that or watch the 'air-TV' which was showing, which was
HORRENDOUS! A business news-clip about the Gautrain and whether it'll
be ready for the 'football fans next year', HELLOO, SWC has passed?
And an interview with some golfer's wife. Both of the clips were
subtitled, but DREADFULLY: in a transcript, you don't PUT in where
the person ums and ahs, FFS! And you most certainly check your
spelling/grammar/word usage. Anyway, it was excrutiating but I
survived.

We arrived in CT early (yay!) and, wonderfully, CT didn't disappoint:
3 out of the 7 basin-taps didn't work in the ladies' bathroom.
WELCOME TO CAPE TOWN EVERYBODY!! Come to think of it, Jhb airport
wasn't much better (it smelled a bit grim).

G's dad was godsently there, waiting for us and G drove us to his
parents' place, to drop his Dad off before coming home. We weren't
sure whether we'd take Dude with us or not (if he was sleeping it
seemed a bit pointless waking him etc), but after a while of us 4
chatting he really perked up and started talking too. So he came home
with us.

All in all, a WONDERFUL trip. I wished and still wish that we were
able to STAY rather than have to come back... I just love it there.
So, maybe our ETA will change? Watch this space!!

* the story with my bag. Ah, ha. When I grabbed my bag off the
carousel in Melbourne, I instantly noticed that something was wonky
with the zip. I'd padlocked it, but it was 'off'. So we dragged the
bag to one side to inspect the contents, only to find that some UTTER
WORTHLESS SLUG ACSA/ORTIA employee had damaged my zip to steal: 3 x
peppermint crisps. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, 3 CHOCOLATE BARS. And
not only did they do that, they left one of the wrappers behind, AND
to add insult to injury, they RIPPED the ziploc I'd put them and some
jellytots packets in. Jellytots packaging being notorious for leaking
sugar (hence my ziploc'ing them in the first place!), my entire bag
was now covered in sugar. Lovely. What a bunch of fucktards.

Holiday stuffs!!

Back!

Back from holiday, and although I don't feel like going into detail right now, I'll just say this:

I wish we were already living there. SA just cannot compare.

Officially

I am now (ok as of 17:00) officially on holiday! Only back at work on 10 Aug... WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Jettin' off tomorrow afternoon - catch y'all on the flipside!

Stupid fucking...

inconsequential, insignificant life.

My life is utterly pointless. I don't get what I want, what I ask
for, I can't do anything for myself, I'm like a stupid baby that
should be in creche, forever oblivious to the outside world.

I'm so fucking wussy that I'm all TEARY AND CRYING upset (ok, biting
back the tears and failing, so not really CRYING crying), because of
some fucking short cunt man in a bag/shoe repair shop. Seriously,
what the fuck is wrong with me?

I phoned on Friday last week (when I was told the bag would be ready),
and the lady on the phone said she'll phone me back... she never did.
I phoned on Saturday, and that lady told me it wouldn't be ready,
it'll be ready on Wednesday (today). I phoned earlier, it's ready, so
I went out during the morning to fetch it and pay. I gave it a minor
check in the shop, paid and left. I got back to the office, checked
it more thoroughly and was horrified at their workmanship. Shoddy
stitching in the lining (where they'd had to undo stitching to affix
the new handles), there were glue splotches on the outside of the bag,
the whole thing didn't look wonderful (won't go into absurd detail).
I'd forked out R150 for this, and seeing how they didn't actually
phone me back after promising to (black mark already), I thought 'to
hell with this' and went back to ask for a refund. The man was so
bloody unhelpful, saying they don't do refunds, they will re-do the
work. I said no, I don't have the time (he argues 'but you have the
time to come back here..?') I want a refund so that I can get it done
somewhere else some other time, because this is unacceptable. So HE
starts telling me I'm being unreasonable, they don't do refunds,
they'll re-do it, which I say I don't want, so then he utterly
dismisses me like I'm some child that he doesn't want to speak to
anymore. "I'm sorry, I can't help you if you don't want to be
helped". Why the fuck do this shoddy work, making me pay for it in
the first place? Why should *I* have to come back anyway, why isn't
it done right from the word go, no, he says, they'll redo it, and
deliver it back to me, but other than that they can't help me.

So then this old fart man who is there with his old wife having their
feet measured or something is standing waving some shoe-stick thing at
me telling me that he's had many years in conflict-mediation
experience and I'm being unreasonable. Well fuck you too, you old
cunt. I don't see why their UTTERLY shoddy workmanship, bad work
ethic, dismissive cunt manager/whoever he is should be MY problem a)
*I*'d paid for it b) it should be done RIGHT the FIRST time c) where
the fuck are their standards d) where is their quality control, e) it
was late, f) I had to phone THEM back, g) their price was high but I
was willing to give it a try cos they were recommended by a colleague.

FUCK YOU you arseholes!

So anyway, I have a wussy stupid fucking life, where I am all lame and
unassertive and timid and get all bunged up after an episode like
this, totally disempowered and useless.

WHAT THE FUCK

I'm so dissatisfied with my ENTIRE LIFE!!

Oh but yay, tomorrow's payday at least.

And there are 2 more days until our visas are activated. So that's
ok, I suppose.

FUCK EVERYTHING!!!!!!

Dumb Friday

There are just 5 working days left... if you exclude today because
it's already started, there are just 4. I really cannot wait. We've
pre-packed to a degree: we've realised that with other-G's goodie bag
we'll need to take a checked-in bag, but that's ok, as we'll be able
to take non-handluggage things (like razor, etc) then. I just hope my
flippin' handbag is fixed ASAP, they promised it for Friday past, but
then when I phoned, the lady apologised and said they can have it for
me by Wednesday, as they need to build-up the handles.

Friday I was off sick. Phoned in and left a voicemail, made a
doctor's appointment. The typist then phoned and left a voicemail for
me at 9, saying madam has left a message saying she's 'coming late'*
and they can't get the switchboard open. Lovely. So I phone back to
give instructions, and when the typist asks where I am, I say I'm off
sick and I've left a message...

Today I get in and the typist gives me a rundown of what went on on
Friday: switchboard only got opened past 9, typist didn't KNOW
receptionist wasn't coming in until about 9 because she hadn't checked
her cellphone for smses. Director was all in a flap because the swb
wasn't opened, hbbm was all in a flap because typist was at swb and I
was away, etc. Apparently he went and ranted at 1 director about
receptionist being 'awol' and he said he doesn't mind when employees
have personal crises they have to sort out. That obviously didn't
satisfy hbbm, because he then went to rant at other director (the one
with empathy/compassion issues) and that guy told accountant to
request receptionist to put in leave for the hours she was away. But,
then when madam DID get to office, she then asked that boss whether
she could be away for a few hours on Tuesday (tomorrow) he said 'sure,
just ask (me) or (typist) to stand in' (no mention of taking the time
off as leave). Lovely.

Just to clarify: * On Thursday I overheard madam phoning to confirm
her 'appointment' at 8:30 on Friday morning, so I knew she wasn't
going to be in. But, being off sick (legitimately) surely trumps
going 'awol' and taking liberties (she didn't ask beforehand). But
anyway, I reckoned/assumed that the time off on Tuesday is for another
interview, and subsequently overheard her phoning someone who she'd
used as reference saying 'if they phone, please give them nice info'
etc. So, perhaps madam has a new job lined up? Then guess who will
most likely become receptionist-cunt in her place?!?!?!? ^.^ ME of
course!!!!!!!!

There are 90 days until I am free. I haven't blogged since finding
out but apparently I am unable to take leave during my notice period,
so I won't be able to skip the goddamned office lunch on my final day.
I'm currently weighing up whether I want to endure it or resign to
end at the end of November... but it's an extra paycheque for 11 days,
as opposed to 21... Dunno. I don't know anything anymore.

Weekend countdown

It's now that time when I can say NEXT WEEKEND! Not this weekend, but the next!

I can't believe... wow... but has time DRAGGED to get there... and
still so long now to wait! This week, and next week probably worse,
is going to be an ordeal!

Friday we watched Star Wars 6... good ending! Then Saturday we
watched no. 1. Totally different hehe. JarJar is so annoying... but
then the ewoks are too (pretend-cute), and somehow I can't take Yoda
seriously... he sounds like Jim Henson... a muppet! And C3P0 is also
silly... he sounds seriously gay and mincy :-P

But regardless of that, it's still fun to watch :-D 2 left! And then
it's Star Trek!

Jesus but this receptionist... she yaks endlessly with her friends, on
the WORK PHONE. And, while she's yakking, the other line rings, she
puts her friend on hold, answers, it's ANOTHER friend who she tells
she'll phone them back, hangs up that call and goes back to her friend
who's holding. LIKE SHUT THE FUCK UPPPPPPPP!!!!!! SHUT UPPPPPPPPPP
SHUT UPPP SHUT UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have under 100 days left... 96 to be exact... NINETY SIX DAYS UNTIL
I'M FREE OF THIS FUCKING MORBID, DEPRESSING, SOUL DESTROYING DUMP...
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9 WORKING DAYS TIL OUR HOLIDAY!

Saturday G and I went on our rounds, he collected his new drivers
license, bought a new wallet, I dropped my handbag in to be repaired
(should be back on Friday)...

Sunday we went to other-G's parents' place for lunch (picked up Sis
first), they had a problem with Skype which G fixed and we got to
video-chat to other-G :-D then we had yum snacks out in their
garden... soaking up the sun and chatting a lot... then a very
delicious lunch... apparently their 'usual' Sunday lunch. After
wonderful pudding his mom brought a parcel of stuff she'd like us to
take to other-G... a couple of warm, winter tops for eg. And some
JELLY TOTS!!! X-D We're going to try shuffle our luggage around so
we can fit stuff in, but we'll have to see how we manage.

Then on route to dropping Sis off we popped in at Te's... her aunt who
has been here on holiday from Aus is leaving 3 days before we're
flying... she swapped some notes with us! Was so lekker to see Te
again, it really had been too long since seeing her last. Weird how
time flies. Oh and we met Shadow, their big, boisterous black boy
Labrador! He's such a sweetie, totally opposite to Phoebe in regards
to size, colour and speed of movement (Phoebe is like a bullet, racing
around). When we got to Sis to pick her up earlier she had still been
busy in the bathroom and couldn't open for us so we rattled the front
doorhandle and heard an answering SNIFFFFFFFF SNIFF SNIFF
SNIFFFFFFFFFF through the door-frame and a tock-tock-tock-tock sound
of Phoebe's tail knocking the skirting board in the doorway!

Man I can't WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!! This week.......... it's so
dull!!!!!!!!!! This woman... this PLACE is driving me bonkers!!!

Reflection

I've been 'meditating' on my diary again - there are:

5 months (plus another 2 weeks which are not 'working weeks' so they
don't count),

exactly 22 weeks,

20 working weeks,

exactly 154 days,

exactly 97 working days

left until I am FREE!!!!!!!

14 days (10 working days) left until it's HOLIDAY TIME!!

I really CANNOT WAIT!!

8 months until we move...

I read the latest Fair Lady magazine last night - there's an article
there about being a 'workplace zombie', and it lists symptoms, causes,
suggestions, etc... and I am SO a workplace zombie. But, sadly,
there's nothing I can do about it except wait it out.

On Wednesday I took a sick day. I just called in sick. It was the
best thing I've done in ages. I really need a break from being an
autopilot drone, it's just getting me down. Things generally are
dull, everything's dull and same-old. I'm just not fulfilled now...
and don't know what to do about it. Need a break.

I think I'm getting a cold... I went to bed last night with a
gross-scratchyish throat, this morning it was a bit worse but it's
worn off a bit. It's coming back though. Yay. Rather this
weekend/coming week than closer to the holiday!

Yes, yes, I have already pre-planned how I'm going to pack for the
trip. I know there are still 2 weeks to go, but I'm so fucking bored
here that it gave me some 'escape' doing it. I've made lists of what
goes into which of our bags.

I'm taking a backpack and a handbag. I'll keep the NB stuff in the
handbag, so that during the flight it can stay with me while the
backpack (for my own stuff apart from clothes) gets put into the
overhead locker. The handbag can easily be stowed under the chair
during takeoff/landing and it can be shoved into my backpack when
traipsing through the airport or while travelling elsewhere. G's
going to take a togbag into which his stuff and all our clothes will
be packed. We aren't taking any luggage to be checked in as we don't
have time in between flights AND we're flying on 4 different airlines
on this trip and don't want to bother with the risk of a
logistics-failure.

Anyway, it's lunch now and despite not feeling like eating anything, I
should if I want to avoid feeling bleh later.

New home :D

Anyone looking for me now will have to ask me where I's at! Buahahahaha!

My Kfm mug

Struttin' its stuff, with a foamy Nescafe cappuccino!

Fun photos for today!

First up: a pic of where I am with Wedding Blessing.



It's slow going.

Second up is a pic of the 2 SA-flag-themed scarves I bought, and my Kfm vuvuzela.



The SA-flag scarf I want to keep as more ornamental/for special occasions, the stripy one I want to actually wear. I got G one of the stripy ones as well cos they're so funky and he's not so fond of the prickly-picnicblanket-wool scarf he has.

The vuvuzela came with a Kfm Breakfast mug which I bought about a month ago and just haven't had the chance to fetch (yah yah, there ARE only 2 matches left of the SWC and I only get my vuvu NOW! At least I can go crazy with it on the weekend *huff*). Thankfully there's an architect that our messenger regularly visits which is virtually next door there, so he fetched it for me! The mug is currently 'afk', sitting at the sink waiting for a wash. My camera batteries died as I took the Wedding Blessing pic so here's a pic of a Breakfast mug (taken from Kfm's website where you can send in pics of your breakfast mug in exotic places):



I must admit that I'm looking forward to something quite strange to do with finishing work at the end of the year: bringing my work-mug home and giving it a good thorough scrub! It's a cute brown grainy-coloured mug with 3 owls on the outside (no pic at hand to upload), and I noticed a while back that the brown grainy-colour on the inside had 'grown'. It was, in fact, a tea stain. I did give it a scrub at work, which improved things, but it's not quite right yet. So, silly as it seems, it's one thing I'm looking forward to: cleaning off the residue of the office from me and my things!

Our trip is in 22 days. REALLY can't wait! Want to get a '365 recharge' simcard when we're there, so when we do move in March, our numbers will still be valid and we won't have to worry about not having airtime when we arrive (in case of emergency). The only thing we need to organise is travel insurance. Otherwise we're READY!!

Work has been a bit dumb lately. A whole new switchboard/phone system has been installed, and it's... not really different from the old one. The only real improvement that I can vouch for is that the cord from the handset to the switchboard doesn't crackle and cut out anymore. And it's easier for individual extensions' voicemail/diverts to be set up and cancelled. Everyone was SO annoying when the technician was busy installing it, with a million questions and complaints. Like, people, stfu and GIVE THE MAN A BREAK! He's *NOT FINISHED*!! Chances are, the 'issue' you are wanting to yell about is a temporary consequence of having 2 completely separate phone systems going at one time! But anyway, it seems to be settling down now... (touch wood).

Netherlands beat Uruguay in the semi final (YEEHAAA), and Spain beat Germany. Germany has played madly in all their matches, but I have to be honest and say that I had a gut feeling all that day that Spain would be the winners... no I'm not making it up and also no, I hadn't heard of THAT octopus until AFTER the match :P The match on Sunday is going to be interesting - GO ORANGE!!

Tomorrow is Friday, thankfully! We don't have anything hectic planned for this weekend which means SLEEPING LATE! Woohoo!! Oh and chores... but they don't take longggg. Hope the weather rocks too. Yay sleeping late!

Contemplation

We leave soon for our holiday.

SWC is nearly over, it ends on Sunday, then life will hopefully return to normal. There are titters about xenophobic attacks, etc, which I hope are exaggerated.

I'm so uninspired lately. Life is really so meaningless lately, what with waiting for Aus etc, can't really *do* anything. Can't get out of the rut. Just waiting things out. It's not very fun really.

We need to buy a new microwave soon. Ours died probably a month ago. It hasn't been a major disruption for us, the thing we miss most is the kitchen-timer function. Its predecessor was the same make, just approximately 3 years older, this one was a few months over 2 years old. Don't think we're going to buy LG again. Strange how you can make do without something.

SWC LOLzors

HAHA it's been quite fun actually, watching some of the SWC games, and now it's down to Uruguay vs Netherlands and Germany vs Spain. I hope Netherlands and Germany win, so that when they play it's the Deutsch vs the Dutch!

Thought for the day

If you really put a small value upon yourself,

rest assured that the world will not raise your price.

(Author unknown)

Folding drawings

One of the 2 people here who are on contract has resigned, her last
day is Wednesday next week. That leaves just 16 of us (excluding
not-my-dept boss and his people). Weirdman is the only one (that the
typist knows of) left of the non-permanent staff. So, we *might* be
whittled down to 15... I'm just hoping that they don't do a whole
reshuffle until nearer to our leaving time, if at all. If they do
retrench me I would get a 'package' which probably wouldn't be much
but would at least be something, but I don't want to wait and see
whether it happens... end of December it is!

At the moment I'm folding drawings. One of the jobs has nearly been
completed, so I have hundreds of drawings to fold. It makes a change
from sitting here twiddling my thumbs, but I still feel as if I'm
sitting in a waiting room for an eternity. I'm surviving though, and
I at least have other things to keep me awake, like my iPod, and the
knowledge that we're busy making things happen - organising forex,
etc. Really not long now til our trip! And it seems that apart from
activating our bank account and buying simcards, we don't have
anything we *have* to do, so we can just relax and see the area!
We've hired a car and we're planning on driving around seeing what
different suburbs are like. It's not a long holiday but it's still
TOO exciting.

I've been slowly working on the Wedding Blessing, it's coming along
nicely. Hope I can finish it before we move! Want to get it framed,
almost as a 'seal' on our life here: one last cross-stitch framed
(matching the other 3), the rest to be done in Aus.

Mmm choc cake. It's a colleague's birthday so he brought cake. And
some soccer-ball-theme foil-wrapped chocolate balls! Mmmm!

24 weeks

6 months until I'm free... 24 working weeks until I am FREE!!!!!! I
can't wait. 6 weeks til our trip, which I also can't wait for!! 9
months left in SA. Hbbm is away until 28th, and 1 of the 2 directors
is away until 5 July - YIPPEE!!

SWC has started... Friday last week was phenomenal! Our office closed
at 13:00, which is a FIRST in the 6+ years I've been here. I wore
jeans and takkies with my Bafana shirt over my top. Out of about 20
of us there were only 9 of us at work that day, and only the typist
and I wore our Bafana shirts. One of the other dept ladies wore an SA
tshirt, and HBBM wore an Italy shirt. To add to the holiday-feeling,
the typist organised 'eats' for us: a soccer-themed paperplate with a
soccer-ball-pattern foil-wrapped chocolate ball, a packet of "Simba
Soccerballs" chips and a green+yellow iced cupcake with an SA flag
poked into it (the cupcake was DELICIOUS!!). All in all it was a
rather festive day and the vibe in the CBD was incredible, so
infectious it was hard to do any work at all because everyone was
blowing their vuvuzelas and hooting. And the weather couldn't have
been better!

We left at 13:00 and headed over to G's parents to watch the opening
ceremony and the opening match between Bafana Bafana vx Mexico. The
ceremony was nice (a bit short!), and the opening match was fun to
watch... pity it was only a draw, but at least not a loss! We had
supper at G's parents and headed quietly home afterwards - the roads
were quiet, but we passed 2 accidents which were probably a foretaste
of the chaos that would descend after the night-match in CT.

Monday, on the other hand, was a disaster. It was the Italy vs
Paraguay game, in CT at 20:30. The office *didn't* close early, and
everyone was already heading over to the stadium at 17:00. The
weather was dreadful and traffic was MAD! It took G over an hour to
get to me, which is usually a 5/10mins drive. While I was standing
outside waiting for him, not only did it rain on me, it hailed as well
- yippee!!! Luckily I'd packed my umbrella, but it was flippin'
FREEZING and I felt like an iceblock when he finally picked me up.
Tonight there's another 20:30 match but I'm walking downtown to his
office so we can escape the CBD without having to cross it.

Wednesday was a public holiday and the 2nd Bafana match, which they
lost terribly to Uruguay - 3:0. We play France next, and unless we
get an incredible score, I think we're out of this tournament.

This blogpost seems very soccer-oriented, which is typical of
everything nowadays, but I do want to point out that I am still not
happy that the SWC is HERE. I'm enjoying the vibe, enjoying watching
the games, which I would be doing anyway were it hosted in another
country, but I'm not enjoying SWC 2010 in SA. SA is not ready for it,
and we're going to suffer once the tournament is over and reality
floods back. We're in for tough times and it should have been
avoided.

In happy news, G's dad has got a job! After a stressful age sans
employment, he's landed himself an interesting-sounding job and starts
1 July. What better gift could there be for Father's Day? :-D

I can't believe we have only 9 months left here. It isn't time yet to
start closing things up, but at least with the SABC account it was a
good call to do in January - it took them FOUR MONTHS to cancel our TV
license! Way to go, people! At least that's DONE, and we must now
just wait to start closing the rest of the accounts/ending
subscriptions. For now, still, I'm trying to focus only on the
holiday, and all we have to do is open bank accounts before we go.
Then, once we are there, RELAAAAAXXXXXXXXX!!!! Enjoy touching down in
what is to be our new home country. It's incredible... I can't wait
to be in that plane, flying over Aus, looking out the window at 'our'
new land. It was indescribably moving looking down at Adelaide when
we went in Nov 08, thinking that this was one day in the future going
to be our home, but now it's FOR REAL!!

9 months though - an eternity, and yet so short. So much to do in
that time. At least the last 3 months we'll both be more or less free
with no work-day to hog most of the waking hours. Can't wait til I'm
free!!

For now, my happiness is that it is Friday. A chilly one but a Friday
nonetheless!

Progress!

Thought for the day

A lack of planning on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on mine.

Are you ready?!

On Tuesday we went to see the Masters of Rock concert... Wishbone Ash,
Uriah Heep and Deep Purple, in a 4.5hr session of pure ROCK! It was
brilliant, the bands had fun, Uriah Heep's singer seemed to be having
a complete ball! There were loads of solos from everyone and of
*course* Deep Purple played 'Smoke on the Water'. So awesome! There
really are so many hard-core grand-daddies of rock out there, the
crowd was made up of a good proportion of older guys with leather
boots, long ponytail and denim/leather jacket.

On a 'negative' vein, though, the sound at the venue was at times too
loud - so that it affected your ability to hear all of the song's
music/sounds. G and I both noticed it at Kelly Clarkson's concert -
the sound was so loud that you could hardly hear her singing
sometimes, and at this concert you could also barely hear the singers
at times. Another 'gripe' was the cameraman/camera co-ordinator whose
footage is beamed onto the screens at the sides. The dude just DID
NOT KNOW when to focus on which band members. Steve Morse was ripping
up the hall with a mean solo, and the cameraman was focused onto the
drummer who was just filling in with a standard background beat... and
only after half a minute of solo from Steve Morse did the cameraman
realise that the lights were beamed onto someone for a *reason* and
whip his camera around onto the right person. It wasn't just a once
off occasion - you can check the News24 'clip' from both the Kelly
Clarkson concert and see how she just disappears out of the frame for
a bit... is the cameraman too busy with Mxit or something?

But anyway! It was a once in a lifetime, awesome experience.

Other than the concert and being so tired (still, today) after getting
to bed only past 1am on Wed morning, there isn't really any news...
Work has been superdull, I've been learning more/same of the typist's
job, actually doing some of the things now... and GUESS WHAT!!
They're also dull!! It's pure data-entry. Jissie this place really
is a rave! I have 40 working days left til our HOLIDAY!!!!!!!!!!
Can't wait.

I am (for now) decided about finishing up at this place at the end of
Dec. January just does not appeal to me one bit. At this rate, there
are +-2 months til our holiday, then +-2 months til our next holiday,
then 1.5 months til I'm FREE!!!! Really can't believe how little time
we have left here... 300 days to be exact (yes I counted)... +-10
months, 10 months to do everything, finish up our life here, wrap
everything up and move. Hectic. Just really mindblowing. I can't
wait to get started!

There are 7 days left til SWC starts. Chaos for an entire month.
Can't wait... at least Hbbm's away for a week + a half!

Completely and utterly uninspired

I have been so uninspired lately... I'm not sure why. Work has been SO inSANEly dull... Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week I was receptionist. It's actually preferable being the receptionist for a full day, as I don't miss her. First thing Monday morning when she was back, she spent 50mins yakking on the phone to her friends. It gets a bit... dunno... just that you get sick of this almost incessant babbling away (regardless of language, but in her case it's Xhosa), almost all day. I know work is quiet, but work is quiet because there's no work coming in = spending the company's money yakking to FRIENDS isn't a great idea. But regardless, it doesn't change the fact that it's so boring.

Today most of my day was spent learning the typists job - certificates. It's a special program that's only loaded on her PC (I think), so I have to go up to her desk to do it. She's got shoulder problems, and is considering (or might *have* to) going for a shoulder op. Which means me being her, for 3 weeks (she said it takes that long to recover completely). I'm really not looking forward to it.

Just in 'idle' chatting with her, I read between the lines that if I were to resign to end at the end of December, I more than likely wouldn't get a bonus - i.e. they'd decide not to seeing as I'd be leaving, regardless of the fact that I'd worked the full 12 months and *should* get one. The way this year is with work coming in though, I'm not sure that any of us is likely to get any bonus. But anyway, I'm seriously (yes I always say that) thinking of finishing up at the end of this year. Fuck the bonus (to put it bluntly) I just can't take an extra month. We're thinking of leaving at the end of March, so we'd both need time to prepare.

My mind is in such a flipping annoying rut of thinking about things, not being able to do anything... and rethinking and rethinking and going in circles. It's not really fun. And despite work being SO DAMN DULL, I am *at work* for a full 8 hours, so when I get home in the evening I'm tired, which pisses me off because in the evening hours when I COULD BE DOING FUN THINGS, I'm *tired*.

Blegh. Nothing more to add really. I've been stitching... but because of the abovementioned tiredness plus a good dose of uninspiration, it's going slowly.

Here's a sexy man to keep you entertained while I try stitch at least a little bit:

First blog since they messed with the server

Woot, work has been KILLER dull, and to make it worse, they've done
something to the server, so MSN is now blocked, as is Gmail and
Hotmail in Firefox, so I'm battling with IE8. Sucks ass. At least I
can chat in hotmail in IE... not ideal but it's at least keeping me
sane. There are 52 working days left.

Saturday was G's birthday, and the weather was PERFECT! Since my bday
(which was on a weekday),I'd been holding thumbs that his birthday
would be sunny and fine, because you can go up the cablecar for free
on your birthday. Usually, even on the most spectacularly sunny say,
it's windy and icy up there, but Saturday it was hardly even breezy.
It was still a bit chilly, but it was stunning. Of course I took
videos!

Sat afternoon we went to G's parents for tea+cake. Sunday we popped
in for KFC with Mom+Sis.

We're still battling with SABC. The assholes. G got an sms (on his
birthday!) to call some upcountry number, with his TV license number
as reference. So I phoned SABC yesterday to find out wtf is going on,
the callcentremonkey says "it's been handed over to (lawyers' name)".
Gee, thanks, fuckers, for handing us over to lawyers WHEN YOUR OWN
FUCKING CANCELLATIONS DEPARTMENT HASN'T EVEN DONE IT'S GODDAMN JOB
YET!! Four MONTHS, and it hasn't been cancelled yet. THEY'RE sitting
on it, but have the CHEEK to hand his details to lawyers. This story
to be continued!

Work is so dull. I really keep saying that in my blogposts, but it
really never changes. Even the typist hasn't really got any work to
do. I'm going to see how things go towards the end of the year, if
it's still quiet etc, maybe I can just resign to end Dec... I could do
with the time off in Jan/Feb/March to catch up a lot of things!

87

There are 87 days left til our holiday!

Yesterday, whole day, and Monday, half day, I was receptionist.  I always dread it, but in reality find it far more tolerable than standing-in for her while she's HERE.  It irritates me immensely to have to stand in while she goes on walkabout.  But if she's absent, I can get on with it and 'be receptionist' for the day.

I've been stitching a bit, I want to finish the 'wooden frame' section of the design, as it's a natural 'frame' of the design itself.  Everything else can then be stitched within it, and with reference to it, so it'll be easier to work. 

I haven't been sitting down daily to stitch lately, somehow my mind is very 'busy' with thoughts about Aus, which I suppose is only to be expected as, like with the wedding, there are so many things to plan and prepare and do, which can only really be done in the month or 2 before the actual event.  So, I'm eager for the time to fly past so we can get going!  And make moves!  But... I wish the time could be longer, so that we could fit things in before we leave.  It's winter now, or almost winter, or late-autumn, etc blabla, essentially the weather has changed, so I feel that we won't have enough time to go on our sightseeing ventures to catch things on video.

I have a feeling it's going to be hard... stressful, when the time comes, to actually LEAVE.  On the one hand, it won't be MUCH of a change because, living in town, we don't see much of anyone ANYWAY, and we'll still be able to chat to the people we chat with already.  On the other hand, we won't be able to just pop in for tea at G's parents, or hang out at Mom+Sis, or bump into friends at the shops, or whatever.  Thankfully we'll still be able to phone and SMS and chat online though, which we do now.

Then of course, there's the leaving behind of an entire country.  A frame of reference.  Everything we know.  The value of our money, buying power, how things are done, how not to do things, how to avoid things, how to get things, where to do things, when to do things, the list can go on.  I'm really looking forward to the freedom though.  Not financial freedom, as I doubt we'll be stinking rich any time soon, but just the freedom to GO FOR A GODDAMN WALK in the evenings!!  To take a leisurely bike ride, to sit on a bench in a park without feeling anxious that someone might approach you with a knife.  To buy KFC without being worried that the streetkids will cause trouble.  I know that sanity and self-preservation would be required ANYwhere in the world, but just the constant anxiety of 'who is that... what was that (sound/shadow), what are they doing?'.  Also, I'm looking forward to the freedom of paying taxes and GETTING SOMETHING BACK.  Not stupid soccer stadiums, not luxury cars for MPs, STREETLIGHTS and PUBLIC TRANSPORT!  Road maintenance!  Water supply!  Getting your money's worth, paying your share but CONTRIBUTING, not being ripped off.

Ok this has turned into a very contemplative blogpost, but I'm back at my own desk today and I have, so far, got nothing to do.  I COULD go check the guy's filing, but don't feel like it RIGHT now.  Will check in a moment.

Right now I wish I could be at home, spending the entire day stitching.  Somehow this Xstitch isn't as 'gripping' as any of the 3 horses, I guess because it's a 'design' as opposed to a 'character'.  But it's still fun.  Simple, clearly defined colours, instead of blended colours.  The colour I'm working with now is a cheerful yellow.  Once I'm done with this colour I'll post a picture.

I want to go home now........!  And stitch!!

Back on form

I suppose I'm getting back to my usual form, if that is what I can call my state of being AMPED and IMPATIENT AND AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

Yesterday was pretty darn busy, and today has been busy too.  Yesterday was a KILLER with my stuffy head and seriously blocked, sore nose.  Today is much better.

It's only Thursday.  Thankfully payday too.  End of April too.  3 months til our trip I CANNOT WAIT!!

Long weekend, and what do I get? A COLD!!

It's a long weekend now... back to work on Wednesday, Tuesday is a holiday and I took Monday (today) off.

Last night, while having a relaxing evening with T + R and G, watching Star Trek (the prequel) and having pizza, I began to feel the onset of a cold. WHY, in GAWD'S NAME, does this happen on a long weekend? So, 2.5 days out of my 4 day weekend are doomed to be spent with a cold. Lovely.

I'm rather miffed right now, as there are a million and one things I'd rather be doing than wandering around like a listless zombie all day. So many yummy things that are waiting to be eaten, and I have NO appetite at all. And what's most dumb is that I'll get to work on Wednesday, still feeling crap, and mention it to colleagues, but it'll be like 'yeah sure, whatever... slacker'. I've been so bored at work lately, and all of a sudden on Friday I was given a KAK task to do (creating 52 reports... in LOTUS 95 WTF) but at least it was something... which I'm now going to have to do with a cruddy grotty head (because I won't be able to just call in sick cos this work needs to be done by end of day Thursday)... I can't wait.

I'm rambling. I have a cold, I have no appetite but I'm hungry, I have no desire to sleep but I'm tired...

I will have to blog again when my head has cleared.

Hospital-style wait

I realised yesterday that this boredom at work is like waiting in hospital.  Sitting in a waiting room, where there are no magazines to read, and I've forgotten to bring my own stuff.  I brought a book yesterday, but finished it before lunch.  The rest of the afternoon I whiled excrutiatingly lethargically away, reading old Noseweeks and Financial Mails (the office has a kinda 'library', most of the magazines being ENTHRALLING publications such as "Plumbing Africa" and "Plant and Equipment Monthly").

Today I want to get out during lunch and buy myself a junkycheap glossy gossipy women's magazine.  Or two.  And some snacks/eats... so that at least I can feel that I've prepared myself for an endless wait, much like the out-patient wait in an Xray dept.

I stitched a bit last night.  I've finished the first colour, I'm looking forward to the next colour because it basically frames everything.  It's going to look very cool.  I wish, as always, that I could stay home and stitch and take it easy.  Winter's in the process of arriving and it's getting chilly again.  Even more reason to want to stay home!

69 working days til the holiday!

SABC

BHAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH the most pathetic of companies ever:  SABC.

Why do I give them that title?  Because we sent through instruction to cancel our TV license in January.  It is now (look at date of blogpost) APRIL and they haven't done it yet.  They are sending SMSes and emails threatening G with legal action and being handed over to credit bureaux, despite the fact that every time I phone to follow up they say there's a note on the account saying that it's 'handed to cancellation department' and we won't be handed over.  Somehow, that note doesn't instruct them to STFU!!

THANKS GUYS, YOU ARE THE EPITOME OF EFFICIENCY!!

Anyway, apart from that:  THERE ARE 70 WORKING DAYS LEFT TIL OUR HOLIDAY!!  Woopwoopwooooooooooooooooop!!!!!!

Other than that, there's not much news... I've been stitching, slowly.  The threads included in this kit are cut very long, so it takes quite a while to finish a particular strand.  And they knot a lot.  Unfortunately the needle included in the kit (a 26) is about 2 sizes too big, and I don't have any apart from 24s, so every stitch has to be poked through.  But it's still enjoyable.  I've been working with just 1 colour for now, the next colour I'm going to do basically frames the whole thing, so I'll have a far better idea of just how little there is to stitch :D  Can't wait! 

Dunno if I mentioned in any previous posts but I got Golden Ice back.  Had to return him to the shop cos of specks under the glass and a skew frame... but he's back and BEAUTIFUL!  So inspiring, up on the wall above me as I work on the next one.

G's Gran is coming down for a month.  Hopefully we'll catch some of the visits on video :-D  I've also made quite a list of things to-do/see for my video-chronicle... hopefully we can do some this weekend (Tuesday's a holiday and G and I both put in for leave on Monday!), we just will have to wait and see what the weather does.

Work is so deathly boring now... still... even the typist is quiet and bored.  70 working days left.  I'm still not sure about when I can resign, it depends on the meaning of 'one calendar month'.  Problem is, I can't very well ask about it now because suspicions will be raised.  So if anyone has a definite answer as to what exactly 'one calendar month' means, please leave me a comment!

Anyway, that's all for now - I've been reading an interesting book and I believe it is now time for me to pick it up and read some more.

Chip crumbs

Ok, thanks HBBM, you are hysterically funny.  Wow, how could I eat chip crumbs and mess like that, you're right:  I need a bib.  Thanks.  Hilarious.

Excursions and adventures

I've been thinking a lot lately about things we see and do here that I need to catch on video.  I've made a whole list of the routes we drive and places we go, as well as things we have done and seen before that we will wish we had a made a record of once we've moved.  It's quite a list and, as always, now I'm superkeen to start!  It'll be quite fun, as there are some things we haven't done before (going to see the Noon Gun, going to Robben Island - G's never been), etc, as well as others we've already seen, such as Cape Point nature reserve, Table Mountain cable car, etc... I'm looking forward to it now, and of course I'm frustrated to be stuck at work on a perfectly good sunny day missing out on the opportunity.
THIS PLACE!!!  Guhhhh!!  It's so boring!!!!!  There really is NOTHING TO DO ANYMORE!!
74 more (eish) working days til we go on our Austrip.  I also considered resigning earlier (by 3 weeks) next year, but it hardly benefits me at all so I'd probably just stick it out til end of Feb so that I get that paycheque.  So, end of Feb 2011 is it, I guess.  So my workday countdown still stands.  Except, I'm not sure what the status is of our riverrafting trip.  K who has pretty much been the driving force/organiser of the whole thing has been retrenched, so it might not happen.  Dunno - no news as yet and October's still far off, so we'll wait and see.
Dunno whether there's something wrong with me physically, but I'm SO TIRED lately.  Maybe it's cos of work being so DEATHLY BORING that it's just making my entire being lethargic and tired.
Guhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh and I want Golden Ice back now, plzkthx!

Pony party weekend

This weekend was rather fun, despite going on Saturday to the framing shop to drop off Golden Ice - upon closer inspection I saw there were some specks under the glass, and the frame wasn't perfect.  The lady at the shop agreed wholeheartedly, so I'm sans Golden Ice for now.  The rest of Saturday we spent chilling, I looked at the rest of the slides, and just enjoyed relaxing.
Sunday we went through to SARDA to visit Majoor.  I'm enjoying filming the drives and 'events' so much and filmed the drive there, as well as the scenery - it's so beautiful there and was the most perfect day too.  We got there before M+J and Sis so we just hung around by the car til they got there, and I must say: I LOVED the sunlight!!  After the others arrived, and G and I had tried on hats, we had a 'pony ride'!  Majoor's saddle is currently 'out of action', so we had to ride bareback - I had a mosey around the indoor-arena, then it was G's turn.  G'd never been on a horse before, so his first ever pony ride was caught on camera!  Majoor's so mellow and relaaaaaaaaaaxed, he was hardly lifting his feet very much and just plodded around the arena.  M rode after G, and although she made Majoor trot, he was hardly exerting himself in the slightest!  Afterwards we had a mini-picnic and chatted for a while.  It's so lovely and peaceful at SARDA, and the view of the mountains is stunning.
After SARDA, we headed on over to G's parents for tea at 3.  I got the drive on video as well as we went a slightly different route than usual.  Caught Pookie (Dude's 'uncle' - an Amazon parrot) on camera as well, he's such a funny thing when he babbles at G.
Yesterday evening I made sushi, and just had a mellow time too.  I was meaning to clean the fishtank this weekend but didn't (it's only due next week though), and we didn't do our usual chores but somehow it's nice to just take it easy and ENJOY the weekend instead of rushing around doing stuff like chores.
On a less peaceful and relaxing topic, I'm seriously worried about the future of this country.  Or rather, I'm worried about our parents'+sisters'  futures in this country.  It's going to take quite a while for us to be able to sponsor them across once we've settled in.  The whole 'current affairs' scenario is extremely scary, and that Malema clown is the scariest person out there right now.  I really cannot wait until we're safely out of here, but will worry so much for everyone here still.  It really doesn't make for a 'stress-free' emigration, worrying about this and despite wanting badly to go, not wanting to go because of leaving family+pets behind. 
I think, under the circumstances, I'll resign as soon as the office opens in Jan 2011, so that we can leave earlier.  So it seems like March is going to be it.  G's work will likely finish end Dec, if I end work near the beginning of Feb, we should be able to go by the end of March.  That gives us time to sort things out THIS year, but not a lot of time once we've resigned.  Hopefully we won't need much time then.  It makes my list of things to see/do/video before we go even more 'urgent'.
I don't want to dwell on that right now, so let me post this and 'sign off'.

Golden Ice - framed

I LOVE how the thin border goes so well! It smooths the colours and makes them blend better. The frame-example they used on the chart's packaging really doesn't do the cross-stitch design ANY justice!

I'm taking him back to the framing shop though, as there is a speck of cardboardfluff under the glass, as well as a white speck or two which are distracting... I know it sounds finicky but when you're paying almost R500 for the framing, it's not insignificant!

Apache Wedding Blessing

Easter weekend 2010

The past (long) weekend has been nice and relaxed.  Managed to finish Golden Ice (see blogpost below), spent time with both sets of families (had a nice time both places), got lots of chocolate (no, we haven't even half-finished it - we're being good and not scoffing like mad)... and I borrowed the suitcase which contains all of Dad's slides.  He took thousands of slides, all dated +-60s/70s.  I'm not yet 1/3 of the way through, and there have been some incredible pictures. 
There are a whole lot of photos of his side of the family, including Grandpa and Grandma H, in COLOUR, no less, and loads from his travels through game farms as well as photos from plane windows while the plane was in the air.  He must have spent quite a good portion of his time taking photos, as the photos that have been turned into slides are (mostly) clear, steady, well-composed photos which must have taken time and effort and a tripod!!  I'm considering buying a scanner which can capture from slides (and negatives), because it'd be a damn pity to 'lose' these photos due to them being slides (and us not having a slide-projector), and I reckon it'd cost a small fortune to have them scanned by a photo-shop.  So... let's see.  Maybe a further project for me (but not sure yet).
I've been working on the Wedding Blessing - it's got such a different 'feel' to the other 3 cross-stitches I've done, as the fabric's holes are quite small and it's a light colour fabric.  The needle they included with the kit is too large so I'm using the only smaller one I have but even that one is 'pricking' its way through.  This morning I went to the framing shop (it's moved, now it's right near to where I work!), to get Golden Ice framed.  Took a while to decide, but eventually settled on a black frame with a thin strip of yellow backing/boarding... pics to follow!  I really can't wait, he's going to look STUNNING!!!!
I counted (yes, already), and there are 80 working days left til our holiday.  It's a HOLIDAY now, not merely a trip.  Hotel's booked, flights are booked, just gotta hire a car.  I'm thinking we should take it easy this trip, instead of rush around sightseeing.  We did a bit of sightseeing when we were on honeymoon, this time we've got a bank account to open and I want to get a simcard, other than that, we'll probably just drive around and see what the place is all about.  It'll be nice to go on drives, exploring further out.  Not FAR far... but still, not restricted to the CBD and immediate surrounds.
I CANNOT WAIT!  There isn't really much happening between now and then, apart from G's gran coming to visit for a month in May!  Looking forward to seeing her again!  Other things on our 'to do' list are:  G's license needs renewing, we have to get the washmachine serviced, got another dentist checkup and... oh and surviving SOCCER WORLD CUP woot.  That's going to be VERY interesting... not looking forward to the chaos and mayhem...
The weather's taken a definite turn... since 21st March (equinox), it's suddenly got a coolness in the air.  I've thrown another blanket on the bed... so winter's definitely on its way.
Man, now I (once again!) want to be at home stitching.  The winter morning/midday sunlight really streams in beautifully at home, and I wish I was there now lying on the couch lapping it up!  The place where G's aunt+uncle+cousin are staying currently gets a LOT of late afternoon sun, and when we were there on Sunday I was so envious of their dogs - lying stretched out absorbing all the warmth!  Hopefully one day when we have our own house, it'll get good sunlight.  Maybe Brisbane'd be too hot, and we'd be glad NOT to have any sunlight in the house... !
Nearly lunchtime, got a magazine to page through in the meantime - work is still so quiet.

Finished!!!

2 years in the making, and he's done! Jeepers, talk about shoulder ache (it's past midnight now).

Changes

G fetched our passports, and the visas are so pretty and snug in them.  Too cool for words.
Our $ was released yesterday, so yesterday evening we wanted to book flights.  Except, Singapore Airlines' site bombed out after we'd put in the billing details.  No seats on the itinerary.  So this morning I phoned the local office, only to be told by the lady that the online system and her system *are* different, but she can give us the tickets for R12 xxx, which was R1 000 more than the price we had been trying for.  She says the error happened because the flights back are full or something.  Our other option is to 'try and play around with dates til you find something suitable'.  Yes, lady, that's a GREAT IDEA, seeing how the thing only throws up the flipping error once you've clicked 'PAY'... think about that for a second:  the only way to know it HASN'T failed, is after you've already PAID for it.  Not a very smart idea.  So Singapore airlines can get stuffed, especially since their airfare is ALL now R13k+, regardless of what date you choose, when just yesterday, they were R10k etc.  Nice one.  We're thinking of flying on Qantas, with local domestic flights here just to get us to the departing airport.  It saves us R2k on the ORIGINAL Singapore airlines price (which is now not available).
It also allows us to choose different dates, which is better.  Our flights (for now) are closer than we'd originally planned, which is great.  Also, we miss out a public holiday lumped right in the middle of the holiday, which would waste a 'business' day there for us to sort things out.  The hotel rates are the same.
Today is BORING!!!!  Hbbm's not in today, it's a long weekend this weekend, so I'm ... waiting to go home.  Want to stitch stukkend this eve... and tomorrow... and and and...