Absolutely Mean

Also "Clean"... a laundry. Not great. Last time we needed laundry done we went to the one near G's old place. We dropped the clothes off and were told they'd be ready by 7pm. They weren't. The lady incoherently said something - must have been an explanation which was like "I'm the only person here today". Which is all fair and well, but if you know that you're going to be late, let people know in advance. So anyway, we got our clothes back later. They smelled a LOT, from fabric softener. It was (and still is) awful because the smell stays in the clothes. We had to pay for that, which I don't recall us asking for.

Anyway, I needed some clothes washed, so G and I went to that same laundry again, only to be told they're full and they're only taking orders for tomorrow. So we left and went to one which is really near our place (which happens to be a branch of the first one we went to). After ringing the doorbell a few times, the lady appears out of another shop door and lets us in. She says they're full, and that we can come tomorrow morning. So I looked at G, totally out of ideas about what we could do about my washing. So then the lady chirps saying she can do it for us, but she'll do it slowly/won't hurry. So I agreed and handed the clothes over. She starts writing up the receipt and asks "you want to pay now?" so I say yes, so she says "R80". So G and I together exclaim "hey??" Cos the 3 loads we did at the other laundry including unrequested fabric softener came to R81, and this was 2 loads only. So she explains "it's cos you came late". Eh? We come at 2pm, and you fit us in, but we're late?? So G says "no, we'll go somewhere else". So then she backs down and says "ok R40". So then we agree again. Get the receipt, and make a note to come back at 4pm.

We go to G's parents' place to visit but can't stay long cos we have to rush off to fetch my washing. We rush back and are in the door at 4pm on the dot, only to be told it's in the dryer, we must come back 5:30.

That we do.

Collect the washing. We had to wait about 10 mins for her to unpack the clothes and fold them and put them in bags for us. We come home.

I discover a bit later (when I was about to start ironing the clothes) that they're damp. They are BLOODY DAMN DAMP! The bloody woman must have put it in for only a few minutes and then unpacked it because it's as damn damp as it would be coming straight out of the washing machine. I am still so angry about it! So at the moment we have G's old bed's "chassis" (no legs) propped up across from the windowcill to my chest of drawers that I pushed in to the right place. We're using that as a "clothes horse" and G's heater is busy heating away.

Damn them! I would so badly like to buy a washer/dryer myself, but no money nor credit card. Credit card wouldn't even help cos the limit I'd have on that would be laughable!

DAMN LAUNDRY!

Project Cross Stitch - status update:

The lady from 123Stitch! emailed me again saying they're putting the orders through for my stuff, but that their distributors don't stock Motion - Arabian & Swallow. I'll probably order the 'components' of that one through the designer of that chart.

So soon I'll be getting an email to say the kits are ready to be shipped!!!! Can't wait!!!!!!

Sleeping place

Here are sneak-pics of the little dude sleeping.

Weird little chap

The little dude has a very weird place to sleep: on his mirror. One foot clutching the top of the mirror frame, the other foot through the bars gripping the blanket. I managed to take 2 pics of him which was rather difficult since it was dark and the camera didn't want to focus.

Yesterday evening, I took his cage into our bedroom to take him out for a fly. He hasn't got the hang of landing just yet. He flies around and around, not realising that he can land on the top of the wardrobe, on the curtain rail, on the doorframes or anywhere along the wood strips that are along the walls. And he can't turn around midflight, so if he misses a landing place, he just flies around again and again til he gets exhausted. He isn't afraid of fingers (as perches), so he does climb onto my finger when I retrieve him.

Last night, he was particularly exhausted and I took the opportunity to touch him. Touched his neck feathers. Tried to scratch his feathers a little, and managed to get him to allow me to scratch his head. He loved that. He really isn't afraid of much at all, so I was able to hug him, kiss him and put my ear against his back and listen to his heartbeat as I used to do with my other bird (not Porky). G got to scratch his neck too and kiss him and listen to his heartbeat. It's so cute!

Going to visit T later. I'd wanted to visit her the week before but G was sick, and then that weekend couldn't either. Finally we are able to. Sis and I are going to go. Then later on, we're going to meet G and herG at M's place (J will probably be there too...).

It's my birthday Monday. I'll have to buy cake for the office again. I hate that. It's so superficial, so fake. No one there gives a damn that it's actually someone's birthday anyway, they're just glad they get something nice to eat. Such a waste of money - I really don't have enough for stupid things like that. I need to buy new shoes (mine's soles are coming completely apart from the shoes) and new pants (for work - sucks!).

Ok, now I'm going to go read in the sun for a short bit - sis and I are going to go soon.

Carnival!

Went to the Carnival last night, G and I met up with M&J, sis&herG and K. Met up at the bookstall, where else! G and I went straight for waffles, and then met M&J at the bookstall, and then a bit later sis, herG and K met us there. We walked around for a short bit, en route to China. G and I stopped briefly to put something in our bag and the others disappeared. We weren't hungry for supper yet, so we dawdled around and looked at everything first. Had hotdogs, then met up with the others in China. They'd already had supper.

Went on from there to (I think it was) Hawaii (we left M&J in China), where we had cocktails... sis, K and I got a Gummi Berry Juice and G got a Banana Boat. It wasn't as strong or as yum as I'd expected hehe.

Walked around some more, got an sms from M saying they were tired and going home. It was still (relatively) early.

The rest of us ended up at the rides, and bought tickets enough for swings, tornado and octopus (and G and I got extra for the swinging boat rides). Wanted to go on the tornado first, but there wasn't anyone there at the moment (they obviously wait for enough people to gather). We took turns going on the swing, so that someone was looking after the bags. Sis and herG went first, then G, K and me. It was so fast and I kept feeling as if my feet would bash people's heads or kick the light pole that was right near the swing fence! VERY VERY COOL!

Came away from the swings and hung around a bit, seeing if anyone was attending to the tornado, but nothing. No one around, they'd obviously closed that one.

Went to the octopus, and G and I waited with the bags while sis, herG and K went. G and I were standing at the gate after the others had got off, and the dudes operating the ride basically walked out the gate too and the one ignored us and the other shrugged. Basically 'we're done for tonight, we're going'! So G and I went to stand by the swinging boat ride while the others went to buy Lebkuchen and we waited. We watched the ride finish and the people get off, and then there was no one. The dude operating that one shut everything down and put the cover over the machine. We were quite pissed off by then, and went to stand by the bumper cars, cos our tickets might just possibly have bought us a ride on those. But no, the ride finished and those dudes buggered off too. So basically, we bought R66 worth of tickets, and got to use R12. The bloody cows at the ticket office didn't think to let us know that "hey look, it's 10:30, they CLOSE at 11! do you really want so many tickets?". That was rather shitty.

The others took forever to come back from buying stuff, while we waited near the entrance being pointedly reminded over and over again by the security people that the "gate is that way".

At least the waffle was delicious. And I bought an interesting book. And a R5 piece of posh cheese that the woman cut with a lot of difficulty. She had an expression of complete puzzlement at me who obviously can't "afford" such things would still want some and actually *ask* for a "budget" sized piece like that.

I want another waffle. And we didn't get any candyfloss cos there was a power outage in the area of the carnival that the candyfloss people were situated.

Bummer.

How to make your employees LURVE you

Toxic boss?

Speak to your friends – most people have had at least one boss who could have been the sole subject of a psychiatric conference.

A quick whip-round among associates revealed a story of a boss who put chocolates in the pigeonholes of his two favourite employees every Thursday – in full view of the rest of the staff. Another story tells of a boss who was only seen three times in the entire time the person concerned worked at that particular company. Then there was another one who liked to tickle his nose with a feather constantly and another who was seen doing his shopping in full drag.

And stories abound of unfair dismissals, bullying, shouting, favouritism, inconsistencies and just plain lack of professionalism.

But then fortunately there are also the stories about good and kind bosses, who encourage their employees, are fair and consistent and do not take out their personal problems on those who work for them.

Being a boss is not easy. Having to deal with finances, responsibility, a potentially difficult work force, having to be a mediator, dealing with other people's personal problems, retrenchments – the list is endless. And the stress can be enormous.

So are you a boss? What are the signs of your being a problem boss? The following signs, according to Ilse Pauw, Cape Town psychologist, could point to there being problems in your domain:

Large staff turnover. If people come and go without having good reasons, such as a spouse being transferred, or wanting to change professions, there is a problem. If your staff start resigning despite not having other jobs, there is something serious underfoot.

Negative assessments. Most companies have annual assessments of their staff. If you get thrashed the minute the assessments are anonymous, but to your face people seem to be civil, there is a severe problem with your management style or general attitude.

Passive aggression. This is usually shown in a lack of co-operation, such as a refusal to take part in staff discussions, non-attendance of staff functions, minimum compliance with orders, obstructionist behaviour and a lack of team playing.

Factions on the staff. In any large group of employees, it is inevitable that certain social groups will form. This is entirely normal. Some of your employees may even become friends with one another. But if there are bitter, opposing factions, it usually indicates a lack of trust in the judgment and fairness of decisions that come from the top. People are jockeying for position, because they feel they cannot trust their boss to treat them fairly. Where a boss is ineffectual or unfair and tyrannical, much of the energy, which should go into upping production, goes into infighting and staff politics.

Work-to-rule. If one person on the staff does the work-to-rule thing (This is not in my job description), that person is nursing some private grievance. If the majority of the staff does so, there is a larger problem – and it could be you and your management style. Not being willing to go the extra mile is usually only done when people feel that the company they work for is abusing them in some way – either underpaying them, overworking them, or subjecting them to unfair or untenable working conditions.

Low productivity. Frustrated and unmotivated employees are unproductive employees. If people are not happy in their jobs, they also feel resentment towards the company that employs them and they will not make an effort to up their production. Low productivity is a sure sign of autocratic and ineffectual management – or under-trained staff.

Frequent complaints. Happy employees do not complain about minor things constantly. Once vicious fights start breaking out about minor things such as the type of coffee bought for the coffee club or the type of toilet paper that is used in the staff toilets, there is usually a problem that is much larger. And which employees are hesitant to mention. And it could be you. If official complaints get lodged regularly, or members of staff constantly demand to see those above you, you need to take a good look at yourself.

High amount of sick leave. If there are constantly people taking a day off here and a day there and you are pretty certain there is nothing wrong with them, they either have personal problems of which you know nothing, or there is a problem or a person at work, which they are trying to avoid, because they find it upsetting. On every staff, there is usually one person who abuses their sick leave, but when more and more people start doing it, there is usually a bigger problem.

Sudden silence when you enter a room. It could just be a lull in the conversation, but it could also be that you were the topic under discussion. And people don't suddenly keep quiet if they've been saying nice things.

Unpleasant atmosphere at work. It could be that you have one or two bad apples among your staff, that are poisoning the work force. Or it could just be that people are unhappy with your decisions, with your appointments or with your management style. Work is not a social venue, but it is so much nicer when there is a pleasant atmosphere, rather than a polarised back-biting situation.

Little co-operation or teamwork. If getting people to do things or make changes feels like dragging a dead horse through soft sand, there is a problem. Have you spoken to the people who actually do the job to find out if they have suggestions? Did you take them seriously? Most people do not take kindly to top-down decisions. If people feel they have not been consulted, they are unlikely to be enthusiastic about a new decision or project.

Nervous employees. If people are jumpy, it is usually because they feel their boss is unpredictable and not to be trusted. They probably get shouted at – often for no justifiable reason and they don't trust whoever is in charge. If it's you, the time for some soul-searching and possibly a management course or two. The only way to manage people effectively in the long run is to get their willing co-operation. That doesn't mean that you're not in charge. On the contrary. But the way in which you do things is so very important.

Misinterpretation of instructions. If one of your employees keeps on getting things wrong, there may be problem with that one person. But if everyone constantly misinterprets what you say, it could be that you don't give good, clear instructions. Try writing them down – in this way there can be no confusion. Often managers have an idea in their heads, but are unable to convey it clearly to employees.

Disrespectful behaviour. If a large number of your employees are 'off' to you, or simply disrespectful, you need to find out why. Remember that respect is something that is earned, not something that is part and parcel of any position.

(Susan Erasmus, Health24)

How to drive your colleagues NUTS! part I

Are you an open-plan office pest? (from Health24)

It should be a basic human right – your own office. But in our downsized, open-plan, multitasked, working world, you’re likely to share workspace. You can hate it or thrive.

Work with someone long enough and there’s a chance you’ll either develop a crush on them or wish they’d leave the company. Most people fantasise about some of their colleagues and for many people working in close proximity to one another, those fantasies may involve buckets of wet cement and deep rivers.

That’s because people who work together tend to get on each other’s nerves. It’s partly because we’re all human and fallible, but also a matter of not taking some basic steps in office etiquette.

How bad can it get? If you’ve ever had a colleague who coughed incessantly for months on end, without getting better, or dying, you’ll know. Or a colleague who makes long and loud personal phone calls when you’re trying to negotiate some international deal with a hard-of-hearing Albanian who’s on a cellphone in a subway a thousand miles away.

Main irritants at work
A survey conducted by one UK recruitment agency found that nearly 40% of office workers polled had considered changing jobs because of a colleague’s irritating habits. The magazine ComputerWeekly report on the survey by Office Angels listed the top five irritants as:


Being e-mailed by people who sit a few feet away (85%)
People who listen to voicemails on speaker phone (75%)
People who swear at their computers (68%)
Colleagues’choice of radio station (68%)
Colleagues who don’t share tea-making duties (60%).
One problem with working close to others is that once you’re sensitised to their irritating idiosyncrasies, things that wouldn’t normally irk you become unbearable. Is so-and-so talking to himself or actually soliciting a reply? Nobody will begrudge you a muttered tirade at Bill Gates if you lose valuable work due to some sudden technological malfunction. It’s when a pattern of disruptive behaviour develops that people begin to harbour malicious thoughts.

Something that affects everyone – your computer network collapsing or the Sheriff of the court arriving to take away all the furniture – warrants some justified, even therapeutic exclamation of dismay. Hitting the wrong key on your keyboard doesn’t.

Habits that drive colleagues round the bend


Talking loudly on the phone;
Asking a colleague how to spell a word – and thereby disrupting their concentration - when every computer on the planet now has a spellchecker;
Talking to yourself or singing to yourself;
Interrupting others' work telephone conversations to make some further suggestions regarding the conversation they're having;
Chipping in to a discussion that strictly speaking has nothing to do with you;
When you’re stressed, assuming everyone else is, and when you’re not, assuming nobody else is either. Perhaps your workload only builds on Monday afternoons, while you have a colleague who has to file a report by midday. Ambling over to chat about the All Blacks and the Springboks can wait. Offering to bring over a cup of tea or to shoulder some of the workload might be better.
Breaking wind. Fumes travel. If your nether regions are noxious, pop some charcoal tablets. They’ll make the gas disappear quicker than Saddam’s WMDs;
Use of resources: if you print out a 60-page document, make sure the printer tray is still at least half-full;
Commenting on private calls or conversations. if you have a colleague who’s fighting with his girlfriend over the phone, commiserating with him after the call means you were listening in. Even if you overheard it unintentionally, pretend to be elsewhere. Saying “Ah, chicks! Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em!” might not get you punched on the snout or even told to mind your own business, but it might rankle, not just him, but the other chicks in the office. If your colleague wants to talk about it, he will. Similarly, if you’re in someone’s workspace and they have a phone call, at least offer to leave. It affords them the option of telling the caller “I’m in a meeting, can I call you back?”
Cleanliness. if your office has a communal kitchen, leave it cleaner than you found it. The same applies to meeting rooms or boardroom tables, which may be strewn with cups and sugar packets after meetings. Gathering up the detritus together will probably take about 20 seconds.
Respect privacy. Some people wear headphones to mask off the noise around them. Some of the headphones are even switched off a lot of the time, but the fact that the wearer has them on may at least stop people from asking them how to spell “pharmacopoeia” every four minutes.
Is all this tiptoeing around your colleagues a waste of time? Surely people must just learn to deal with lack of privacy and personal space? Surely all this pickiness warrants a retort like, “Oh, deal with it”?

Well, perhaps. But the Office Angels survey yielded some surprising results about people who behave badly in the office. Nearly 70% of those polled said they were more likely to gossip about people who indulged in loud personal phone calls. Around the same percentage felt that considerate colleagues deserved promotion and supported their advancement.

Perhaps the strongest advice is honesty. Rather than developing a tension headache and plotting to burn your colleague’s car because he punctuates his day with bursts of, “Oh chuck-a-chunk, break-it-down…” maybe it’s time for a one-on-one chat about honing his talents as a rapper at the office. (William Smook)

Timewasters Anonymous

It's annoying when you are "lenient" with someone, empathetic towards their situation, and they take advantage of that.

Every week the receptionist sits during lunch for one of us, in rotation. Today, the receptionist was to do lunch-duty in my place. She asked me if I would sit for her for 5mins just for her to get “a bite to eat”. I agreed, but at 13:00, hbbm asked me to do some emails. That took about 5minutes, and I came back and the receptionist hadn’t even stopped working ready to go out. I asked her whether she’d gone out yet and she said she hadn’t, so I said I was ready to listen. That was at 13:10. She only LEFT at about 13:15, and came back not 5mins later, 15 minutes later. G had been waiting outside for 15mins already when I got out at 13:30.

She is really one for taking advantage. She came late yesterday. She didn’t phone anybody. First I hear of it was when the door buzzer went and I thought to myself ‘that’s strange someone buzzing the door before 8:30’. I looked at my watch – “SHIT it was 8:35! Where is this lady??!!” So I opened the switchboard, and phoned the typist to hear if she’d been notified by the receptionist that she was late. She said that the boss hadn’t mentioned anything, and that she’d spoken to her about it already. As I finished speaking to the typist, the switchboard rang, and it was this lady. She was stuck in traffic it town and would be late. She only phoned at 8:40. She phoned the SWITCHBOARD. I asked her if I could put her through to one of the bosses cos she’s supposed to inform one of them, but she hung up on me.

I was very annoyed at that stage. When she got in, I was busy typing emails for hbbm, and only afterwards was I able to have a word with her about LETTING A BOSS & 1 OTHER STAND-IN PERSON KNOW that she is late. Even if she is only POSSIBLY going to be late. As long as someone knows that, they can open the switchboard in time. She argued about that saying she couldn’t phone before 8:30 cos the switchboard was closed, so I “reminded” her that the message on the voicemail says ‘welcome, our office hours are... if you know the extension dial it now or leave a message...’ so she “could have spoken to anyone in the whole company”. “oh”. Hopefully THIS TIME it will have sunk in!!

Anyway, where was I... yes, lunch time today. G was patiently waiting outside for me and we took a stroll down to a coffee shop nearby. Sat down and someone from another table passed us menus ‘else you’ll wait ages’. After a while, a waitress came to take our order: 1 cappuccino, 1 hot chocolate. She disappeared somewhere. Another waitress came past and asked what we wanted. Repeated our order. After a while the first waitress came back and said “erm, you wanted a cappuccino and a....?”

After about 20minutes, we got our cappuccino and hot chocolate. Slurped it down in about 5 minutes (because I only had 15mins left once we’d got the drinks). Sat waiting for 5mins, then a waiter took away our cups. Waited another 2minutes before we saw “our” waitress again. She served someone, joked with him, and went back into the coffee shop, all the time with her back to us. We waited another 3 minutes until she came back to serve the same person, and once again she kept her back towards us. She was about to disappear back indoors when G proclaimed “scuse me... SCUSEME!!” and the other customer called her too. G gave her the money and we left. We weren’t going to wait for her to prepare a bill for us.

The coffee shop in question:

NEARLY done with Part I

Warpony - the first half, the right half, the face half is NEARLY done!

I'm a bit too tired now to carry on and finish it. It's just past 1am. G's up late, working on something for tomorrow. I was stitching while he worked but I'm sleepy now hehe.

Just a few last confetti-stitches left, as you can see in the pic.

Project: cross stitch - chart kitting [Status - awaiting quote]

I've emailed 123Stitch! asking about charts I'm interested in and whether they have a kitting service. A lady from the company replied to my email and is currently compiling a quote for the charts I want kitted.

These are the ones I'm going to do:


Heremia - Character Creations


Motion - Arabian and Swallow - Character Creations


Golden Ice - Kustom Krafts


Gentle Strength - Dimensions

I've chosen different fabrics for Heremia and Motion, which the lady is incorporating into the quote.

It really is so expensive to kit charts here, what with 8m of a single colour skein of thread costing R6 (that's US$0.78 - non-sale price of thread is apparently $0.30 each), bearing in mind that each chart uses anything from 30 colours to 89. Then you have to source fabric, which I would imagine is no easy task if you want a different colour/type fabric than the standard plain aida. The price of the thread alone is more than the price of the whole kit from overseas.

Saw in a crafts shop nearby a very crappy kit of (say for eg) a watering-can with flowers on a table. That was R700 (almost $100). It wasn't a BIG design either, not NEAR the standards of Warpony and the others I want to do. All 4 of the 'kits' I'm ordering shouldn't come to more than R1000, which works out to R250 each which *I*'d say is a FAR better deal than paying R700 for a kit I don't really like. A R250 kit here makes a tiny little design of about 15cm x 15cm.

I'm eagerly awaiting the quote on the cross-stitches!

I've also been working on Warpy, the right-hand half is SO nearly complete! Tonight G probably will have 'homework' to do (overtime) so I'll sit up late with him and STITCH!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAh I'm so impatient to go HOME!!

Tomorrow we're going to go see T, she's back in the land of R S of A (much to her depression and frustration!!).

Thursday is the carnival, so G and I, my sis and (her)G and M and J are going to go have FUN! Can't wait for that either!!

Then it's almost my birthday!

I have time!

Friday afternoon I phoned the (S)watch shop to find out about my watch that I'd sent away for them to check if they can fix it. They can't. Why? Because it's a 'sealed unit'. WTF? They offered me a 33.3% discount off any watch I buy from them up worth R799 (my watch's value). Like hell. I don't want to have ANOTHER dead watch 2 years later, thanks.

G and I went to the mall earlier, and after brunch we went straight to the (S)watch shop and I collected my watch. (Heard after we got home that it still TICKS fine, it just doesn't move. WTF?)

Went around looking in shop windows at watches. Checked out Fossil, and any other brands in jewellery shops. OMG they are SO EXPENSIVE! A Fossil watch is CHEAP compared to most of them in the jewellery shops! Then after "liking" a Fossil watch (more like the best of not a WONDERFUL selection), we went to a shop which sells a LOT of brands. It is exclusively a watch shop. Checked out their stuff... There was one that appealed to me. It wasn't as expensive as most of the other watches in the whole mall, but it was more than the Fossil. So we went back to the Fossil shop where I took another look at the watch, and then (with not a lot of ease) got one of the assistants to take the watch out for me to take a closer look. It was alright. Didn't blow me away. I had become more impressed with the *other* watch in the *other* shop before leaving that shop to come look at the Fossil, so we went back to the watch shop where I could take a longer look.

The assistant came to me and asked if I needed help (which was far better treatment than in the Fossil shop - although the ladies in the Fossil shop had offered us assistance at first, but they hadn't actually come around their counter to talk TO us, they just called out across the HUGE 5m shopfloor, this lady had). So I got to take a closer look at the nice watch in the nice shop with the nice shop assistants. I liked the nice watch. It became nicer and nicer as I handled it. It became more mine too. So I decided to keep it. No, I didn't steal it!

I'm now sitting at the pc with MY new LOVELY watch... it's pretty and matte and shiny in tiny bits and it's metal and it is blue and patterned in the face and it has glow in the dark bits but it has no gold-colour and it has no faux-bling diamante crap on it ANYwhere ;) (that was one of the turn-offs of the Fossil watch)

It's so cool!!

Oh, and apparently the ppl from (S)watch decided that it was more of a virtue for their watches to be innovatively waterproof than for them to be repairable, so although my watch is broken, it will never ever be damaged by water!

Damn it!

Damn everything!

Damn everything ever! Damn it!

I hate work. I started enjoying it but it turns out it's shit. Bloody personal shit, like calling medical aid and getting stuff pre-authorised or finding out why they don't pay for something they did before. What the fuck does wifeykins do at home all day that SHE can't phone?! *I* have to phone MY medical aid when *I* have a query! It's MY medical aid MY problem. Damn it! Bosses' wives BLEH! Bloody lazy asses! Personal shit! Bugger it all!

I hate things damn it! I'm so FED UP with shit always. It's quiet at home. Routine and stable, the moment you have any interactions with anyone or anything, it turns shit. I'm tired from work shit. I can't deal with stuff like that now. I can't solve it. Problems I CAN'T SOLVE! Damn it, I'm not qualified to sort that out! There's nothing I can do to FIX things. I want to fix things. I can't fix anything. I can't do anything. She argues and goes off about things, I can't argue with her. She has a reason. I can't stop her having a reason. I can't FIX what she's angry about. I can't fix it.

I can't just BE, with you. Can't just, have a cup of coffee with you. We can't hang out together. It's always the same. I can't explain why, because it ends up that we argue the same way she and you argue. I can't talk to you because we would argue. I don't want to. But I can't just *be* with you, it exhausts me and drains me out completely. I want to. It's so simple. But it's too complicated, everything's too complicated that's why you can't ever just BE. I can't fix that. I can't. I can't be your self-esteem, I can't fix you.

I can't.

I want you to be fine. I can't fix it.

The LITTLE DUDE!!!

He isn't afraid of the camera which is EXCELLENT, but he was a bit shell-shocked after the flash went off.. poor little chap.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate you, you inconsiderate fucks

Yes, you, you loud ASSHOLES. You who had the TV on so loud that I heard all the news headlines from YUGOSLAVIA! And then you watched a sitcom and laughed LOUDLY too. As if I wouldn't already know when the funny bits are, since I can hear the studio-audience's laughter loud enough for it to sound as if they're in our lounge. Then, obviously, your show ended at 23:30, because you became quiet.

May I now go sleep?

Fuck you.

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The Little Green Man

I read this blog post quite a while ago (around the time when we moved in together)and I still think it's very funny! Ok not so funny, but ... well... it struck a chord, cos we had to experience the same thing. Exactly the same thing. With G's flat, they wanted to redo the floors. They wanted to redo the bath. They wanted to do so many things but how on earth is a person supposed to just take time off work to go supervise? ANYway... nuff said.

Valentine's was a strange day. We were actually going to celebrate the 13 Feb rather, that being our 6 months anniversary, so we met up for lunch during the day, but in the evening we ended up doing laundry. Gave G goodies though.

For Valentine's, we didn't meet up for lunch or anything. I went out and got some extra goodies for G for the evening, some yummy chocolates for us to share. We didn't get much time to hang out after work, G had a short band practice to get to, so I caught a lift home with the intention to hang out with my mom and sis. But they were out *hmph!* hehe. So I went online and checked my mail and stuff.

G came and fetched me and we came home again, and we were so hungry that we scoffed some chips almost before putting his band stuff down! Then I went into the bedroom to put something down, and on the bed was a cute little green budgie in a little blue cage! A sleepy little chap, all fluffed up and ready for bed! It was the cutest thing!!! There was a ribbon on the cage and a lovely card G'd made. It was so ... AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The little green man doesn't have a name yet, I have a feeling that "chappie" is going to turn into "Chappie" and become his name though! He's got a good place on my shelf in the lounge so he's able to watch TV with us and enjoy music and even watch the fishtank. He's too cute!

And the long story behind the surprise! Wow! So crafty!!!!!!!! When we went to G's parents' place to do laundry, he was apparently upstairs! Both times! And there was no short band practice, and G's parents weren't out (we were going to go fetch laundry that evening but couldn't because they 'were out'). Nor was S (W's S - all these initials are getting confusing HAHA) which was why I wouldn't have had fun at band. W played along with G's story of there being a short band practice that evening! G rushed around "during band" fetching the little chappie from his parents' place and taking him to our place and setting everything up and then rushing back to fetch me and driving back! HEEEHEHEHEHEHEH :D awww it's so wow!!!! :D Phew! Ingewikkelde tale!

This evening G and I are going toy-shopping! The little dude's cage is rather bare, so we're gonna see what all toys there are, and pick up a seed-bell and a cuttlefishbone or so. HE'S SO CUTE! He chirped this morning, as we were going out the door :D Awwww!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll take a pic later and post it asap.

A LITTLE GREEN MAN :D

The day Google became Googe

Pulled Google up this morning and it being Valentine's day, they have prettied up their logo. Except it seems they made a spelling mistake:

My Name According To Spam

I can choose between the following:

"Delicata Andrew" and "Satish Sehgal".

I think I like Delicata, it feels right plus it's a female-sounding name.

Had a nice relaxed weekend. Friday night G and I caught up on the sleep we'd missed out on the previous night (see previous post), then Saturday morning we went to the mall. G got two CDs and we had brunch there. We went to the ATMs before having brunch and there was a queue for the two of my bank's ATMs but one guy left the one ATM and said something to the guy in front of me, who when I asked what was wrong (because he wasn't going to that ATM and he was next in the queue) said that the ATM had swallowed the other chap's card. "no big deal, if it's swallowed it, it's in the machine now and shouldn't cause trouble with my card" I reckoned, so I went to use the ATM. Tried to put my card in, it didn't go in, instead it spat the other chap's card out! Credit card too, so I took it and looked around for the guy but he was gone. G and I had a nice trek to find the nearest BRANCH of that bank, cos strangely they don't have one in the mall (silly, really). Felt really strange to be walking around with someone else's credit card in my pocket!!

Went to G's parents for a bit while he did washing, then went out with sis and "her" G and my G for supper to celebrate her birthday. Had a lekker supper and stayed over. Came home Sunday morning and just relaxed. Not often do we get a chance to just BLOB. Sit lazily on the couch, or lie in bed and blob. So we did that. Went to the shop first, got the vital groceries, but then had a nap afterwards - LOVELY! Read and blobbed, G tried to fix his record player but the elastic has broken. We were going to "copy" LPs onto the computer to put on CDs in case the LPs get scratched or the record player (mom's) breaks. We'll have to kidnap mom's record player for a bit.

Back at work now. Still haven't had a chance to try out the DMC cross stitch program that I got from W/S :D Can't wait! Gotta do a waterchange too, and iron some clothes. Eish gotta go to the laundry today. This is a very boring part of this blogpost :P

Back work. It's cold and I have allergies and the state of being cold and sneezy is exacerbated by the fact that the painters have hbbm's windows open and are painting with varnish - cold and stinky. LOL. Today is still "new" so it's gonna be a loooooonnnnnnnnnnnnng day.

Thoughtful...

Seems I'm most likely to blog when I am thinking a lot. I guess that is what blogs are about hey?

Was going through my cellphone phonebook, and saw someone's name in it. It's strange how a person can embody the concept of 'could have been'. We could have been great friends, we seemed to get on very well, or at least that's what I thought. She was just 'biding her time', "letting" me keep her company because it (to her) must have seemed to make me happy, regardless of whether she actually enjoyed it. That knowledge somehow completely nulls any enjoyment I actually got from her company.

Ok the stuff above I typed a while ago, but saved it as a draft.

Last night the asshole neighbours were playing music very loudly. I couldn't sleep. At 1:30am I logged onto the computer, downloaded antivirus and antispyware updates and ran those. I went to the lounge and tried to sleep on the couch at about 3am. I managed to doze off til about 4am. The lounge is the only place where their music doesn't penetrate as much, cos their front door/lounge is right by our bedroom window, and the kitchen/computer room gets the noise coming through their rooms through our kitchen. Earlier I'd gone outside enraged and went around to see where the noise was coming from and the fuckers had their lights off and their door WIDE OPEN so that the whole fucking city could enjoy their music. After sleeping on the couch for a while, I went back to bed but they were still playing music and talking very loudly. I fell asleep (passed out) at 4:30, and here I am at work now half-dead at 11am after getting up at 7. Thank you, FUCKERS, for 2,5 hours of sleep!!!!!!!!!!

I just phoned the rental agency, spoke to the woman there. She said she'd get hold of them. I also told her about the lovely couple upstairs who get drunk and then argue and fight and throw things around.

FUCK YOU ALL! BASTARDS!!! 4:30 in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel like I'm an undead. I'm so irritated already this week, this just TOPS IT OFF!!

Hbbm's gone out for meetings and hopefully to enjoy some golf, if the weather holds. Hold thumbs that the weather holds, I don't feel up for much work today. This morning I was having my breakfast oats and coffee at my desk, so he calls me to type up an email for him, IN THE MIDDLE of my eating. He KNOWS I was eating, he even commented on the fact that it looked like kid's/baby's cereal (mush). But it doesn't matter, the email can't WAIT 3minutes!

I'm so tired of this place. Just when I thought things were going to be good and I'd have something worthwhile to do, it gets snatched away from me. I thought I was hbbm's PA, and I asked the accountant to confirm it (cos the job title is printed on my payslip), and she informed me that the bosses decided my job title is 'admin assistant'. What the fuck is an admin assistant???? Dogsbody? That's like even less of a job title than receptionist!!! How the hell will that look on my CV? "I have 4.5 years experience as a receptionist and x years as a ... well... um... I did PA duties but officially I was admin assistant..." Gosh, it's not allowed that someone actually feels proud and motivated in their job? "Heavens no! I mean, imagine, her actually liking her work? No, that's not on, by jove, she'll get a big head and think she's important and meaningful and appreciated *gasp*. Only us head honchos can get job satisfaction, you know. Along with our fat pay! Hehehe, go us!!!"

So anyway, I'm admin assistant, doing PA duties. It's so petty. I hate it. Just let me do work, and acknowledge it and allow me headroom to ENJOY IT and grow into it and feel motivated. To quote a graffiti: *fuckshitup!*

What is news. I miss my budgie. My fish (the congo tetras) are randy and lay eggs all the time.

I feel like a zombie. I want to curl up in bed and just sleep. It's cold and rainy too, so that is making me want to cuddle up too.

*yaaaaaaaaaaawnnnnnnnnnnnnns*

FINALLY ...

Pics of our place!!

I just stuck all of them here, so you can see the entire place. As well as G, unlocking the front door.

Love the place, but the neighbours are annoying. But love the place!!