Restlessness v. 2

I'm sure I have many blogposts titled "restlessness" or something.

Hbbm is out now... he was due to come in at 11 and probably would have given me more work. I have finished the work he gave me, and now I feel too restless for my own good. I have tried to see what I can do about a particular job's accounts for this month but I'm already stumped and don't want to try go further in case it's messed up already and I make it worse.

Yesterday evening we met up with A&C, they're in the country for their wedding - next weekend. So exciting! Makes me realise that our own wedding is getting closer! So much still to organise and things are just getting more and more busy, at G's work mainly.

The problem I was going on about previously is still going on. Person X is in the wrong, but person Y is not in the right... or isn't alright... and it just compounds the problem. I don't know what to do. Person X needs to grow up/take responsibility for themselves and leave person Y alone. Give person Y a bloody break already... person Y already HAS so many problems, so so many problems... last thing they need is person X getting stuck into them for NOTHING! Bullshit!

I am tired of pretending, seemingly tolerating person X. Being friendly with them, spending time with them, because they are friendly to me and confide in and "commiserate" with me about person Y's problems... that is essentially condoning their behaviour. I am tired... I don't want to anymore. But will it cause more trouble if I say "I won't spend time with you"? I get "confided in" by both X and Y. It is exhausting. Y is angry with X so I get all the angst and depressed outpourings. *sigh*

On a totally separate note - and only really thought about since I just got the phonecall now - we're going to get our unit pest-controlled soon. It's not too expensive, and for the relief it'd bring, I'm SURE it is worth it. NO MORE COCKROACHES!!!!!!! The lady just phoned me now and we had a rather in depth conversation, I wrote down most of what she said, I'm going to discuss it with G later and hopefully they can come around soon and BUST SOME ASS!!!! I wonder if I can slip them a $ to take care of the kid next door HAHAHAHA!!!!

Heehee, another amusing happening: G got a parcel-note in the letterbox on Tuesday. He wasn't going to be able to get time off work to go fetch it, so I collected it during lunch on Wednesday. I said to him that morning that I'd be very tempted to open it but would control myself as it's for him and not me ... When I got the parcel at the post office, it WAS for me... otherwise it was G's "craft frame". It was my Qsnap frame extension set that had arrived. Very impressive! I still recommend www.123stitch.com if you need ANYthing to do with crafts/needlework/cross stitch, etc. Prompt service, reasonable prices, assistance with things that they don't stock but will get in for you... Just... THEY ROCK!!

Can I go home now? Heremia is calling me........

This weekend we're going to get a quote for the security gate to give to the owners of our unit. Then we can get it and install it. They're going to transfer the money for it to G at a later stage. Can't wait! It'll be so good to feel safe with a functional security gate! YAY!!

I've been thinking more and more about Aus... and I must say that I am rather excited about it and impatient and very eager to make moves! I'm still (deludedly?) holding thumbs that by the time we move they will have amended the import rules so that we can take Dude with us.

Can't wait - S&L and I are going to have a stitchathon in 2 weeks' time! I'm really amped to finish Heremia... things are just so busy lately... AAAAAAHHHH Maybe this weekend I can get some stitching done!

I have a problem

No, nothing major, like a drinking problem or a disease...

I have too many blinkies and buttons that I want to put on my blog... GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH................

So many icons, so little erm... time... patience... webspace....?

My new house

I have got my new house!!!!!





G went and fetched it yesterday morning...

It's so lovely! It's got secret spaces ♥♥♥♥♥♥ !!!!

And G got me a window! Since the house doesn't have any ;)



And once again, I took photos of Dude:




In the last one, he's blinking - as so many people do when photos are being taken!

Thought for the day... and more

I got a Thought for the Day this week, which made me think:

24 January 2008 – Thought for the day

Everybody always says “I don’t have enough time” or “ There is not enough hours in a day”

Well, look at it mathematically!

You have 24hours in a day right, times 7 days a week
24 x 7 = 168hours
from which you sleep an average of 7.5 hours a day, average travel 1-1,5hours a day to work and back, & work time of 8 hours a day.

Thus
7.5 x 7 = 52.5 hours of sleep.
1.5 x 5 = 7.5 hours of travel to work.
8 x 5 = 40 hours of work.

So
168 -52.5 -7.5 – 40 = 68 hours of free time!!!!
Remember sleep has already been counted!!!
So what does this mean… you have 1.7 times more free time than when you are at the office!!
68 hours!!!

People, this is a serious wakeup call!!!
Manage your time properly!!!
You DO have enough free time!!!
Stop complaining & MANAGE & USE IT WISELY!!!

I sat and thought about it quite a bit, and did some calculations of my own:

The problem is that you have to take off eating time, cooking time, bath time, chore time, “homework” time if you have a job like that, which if you take it as 1hr per day and not including homework time takes off another 35 hours...

= 33 hours per week... divided by 7 which = an average of 5 hours per day...

Bear in mind that most of those hours would happen in the weekend, say 12 hours per weekend day (for people who sleep late/take naps/etc), and you’re left with 9.

That works out to about an hour of free time each work day. Not really much time to do anything. Also, bear in mind that some of that daily hour will be eaten up by getting up and getting ready for work.

Ok so, on weekends you have 24 hours. That’s the only time you can do things, and even then it gets eaten up by catching up on weekly chores and doing things you can't do during the week (banking, shopping, doing more intensive cleaning, washing etc) Also take off time that you spend doing more infrequent chores like cleaning windows, mowing the lawn, cleaning the car. It doesn't leave you with much time.

And people wonder why they get so fed up with working their entire life away, and don't get to do the things they really want to do.

Now for the rest of this blog post. Hopefully more cheerful things...

I'm currently on medication for h. pylori... a bacteria that causes ulcers. The doctor asked whether I would like to try the medicine first and if there's no improvement go for a scope or just go for a scope. I decided to try the medicine, because a scope sounds a bit... hospitaly. Don't particularly enjoy it. Anyway, I'm enjoying the side-effects of these medicines... or I would be, if I liked such things as an upset stomach, no appetite, exhaustion and a horribly bitter taste in my mouth. It tastes as if I've let a painkiller dissolve in my mouth... really gross. There are 4 days left of my treatment, hopefully this sorts everything out and I'm back to my old self because I can't remember what that was like. I hope it is the same as the way I felt when I was on the acid-pump inhibitor medicine... that was utter bliss.

Tomorrow at 07:30 I am having a driving lesson. It is inhumanely early, but that's the only way the driving instructor can get to me, his other lessons in the day are elsewhere and where I am is pretty out of his way. I will be starting to learn the parking/yard manoeuvres... they seem quite daunting but I'm game to give it a try. I just am a bit annoyed by his car's indicator lever, it just makes this irritating, timid sound as you push it up/down/off. It might just be that I'm annoyed with myself for repeatedly indicating BEFORE doing observations, which would be quite an issue doing the test. I hope I get it right and keep it that way!

Tomorrow we are going to get my house. I will post pics once it is mine.

Right now I am really enjoying a comic strip: www.metro.co.uk/nemi. Love this strip! She's so unusual, I really love it! I also admire the way the artist draws, her facial expressions are classic!

All the bosses are out of the office this afternoon. It is a GORGEOUS Friday, and they're all going to the cricket. Least they could do is say we could go home early, but no. They really don't care about staff morale and happiness and earning loyalty from the staff... whatever.

I'm so tired. I want to go sleep, lie down and rest... shouldn't be sitting or standing upright... do... not... want..........................

How

How does a person know how to deal with things... I will not go into detail. I seriously don't know what to do. I don't know whether to be angry, to be sad, to be upset, to withdraw, to engage and argue, to put up a defensive shield, to try help, HOW even to help. I just DON'T KNOW!

I don't think there IS any way to help. No way of "curing" it, or fixing things. Can't try demonstrate solutions so they're easier to picture and attempt. I can't keep being the ear. I can't keep being the one on the receiving end of all the SHIT and outpourings and ranting, I'm not CAUSING such upset, why am I subjected to the full blast of vented anger/frustration/hurt, when I am not the one causing it?

I'm tired. I don't know what to do. I tried to help. It's exhausting being the sensitive, patient, tolerant one. I suggest things to try, but it can't work. It's not working. There's always grief and shit flying inwards from the other side and it flies out and in my face.

I don't know what to do. I didn't sleep last night because of it. Slept maybe 3 hours. Not even, more likely 2.

I'M FINISHED! FUCK IT I'M FINISHED!

And you, bitchnextdoor, your KID IS A FUCKING BRAT! Grow the FUCK UP AND DISCIPLINE HIM! Fuck sake, what is wrong with you, ALLOWING your BRAT to scream the fucking neighbourhood down FOR NO FUCKING REASON! You're BOTH IN THE FUCKING KITCHEN! WhereEVER we are, we CAN HEAR YOU goddamnit! Give him a bloody good smack! Bastard.

Yes, I ranted. Woot. Whatever.

I feel like I have something to blog about,

but I'm not sure what that might be.

I'm really enjoying the new CDs I got. The Cure is awesome! Love Beck's Odelay CD, as always I'm enjoying the Cardigans. A Camp hasn't grown on me (yet) and the Chembros' AmericanEP is more like a set of remixes.

Had another driving lesson on Saturday. The instructor says my driving is coming along well. He asked whether I'd done any driving during the week and I had to come clean... but I didn't tell him about the snapsnap incident! Next week I'm learning the yard-manoeuvres. During this lesson past, I was driving in a rather wooded shady area, and the sun reflecting on the window from the dashboard was dreadful. I could hardly see a thing.

G and I raced through to mom's to pick up a parcel note - Mo had mailed me something for Xmas. A funky car calendar, a card and some plastic sheets/sleeves used to keep paper money in files (to protect them). Then we raced to the mall to meet G's mom for coffee. Walked around a little bit afterwards and I found replacement sunglasses. Polarised Raybans! There is just about NO reflection from the dashboard in G's car (remains to be seen in the instructor's car!), it makes the sky look a little moody because the sky looks darker and everything is brightly lit against this darker blue sky. Anyway, I'm enjoying those. Then I found 2 work shirts and a pair of black pants for work. So pleasant wearing pants that fit!

Then we met up with a girl from college, haven't seen her apart from in passing a year ago while G and I were waiting for the ride to start on the swings at the carnival! Had a yum lunch, caught up on a lot of news and just had a great time.

The rest of the afternoon G worked and I caught up with stuff online. Then rather late we watched Fantastic 4 (the first one). I'd seen it before but it was still very entertaining! Friday evening we watched Hairspray! It was very unusual but also rather fun to watch! John Travolta in drag - 'nuff said!

Sunday we slept late - or tried to. Someone must have given a kid in the complex a basketball for Xmas. Yay. Things like that should be illegal in complexes. Things that deserve to be banned are net- and basketballs, plastic ride-on motorbikes, anything else that makes a disturbance. It doesn't go on for a long time - and for that I am MOST GRATEFUL! But it is really quite a nuisance because the sound carries for the entire complex. The whole complex is joined by tar/concrete paving, so it bangs in your head wherever you are. Not the nicest wake-up but not as bad as that little shit next door.

On that note - I AM SO GLAD WE ARE CHILDFREE! It's so weird how almost every day yet another reason why not to have children is brought to our attention and we are thankful every time! The poor woman next door CANNOT EVEN TAKE A CRAP IN PEACE! This little swine brat went ABSOLUTELY INSANE this morning, bashing furniture/banging things/dragging things/going MAD (woke me up!), then I heard their loo flush, and then silence. Lovely. What a charmed life this poor woman must have.

On THAT note: Thought #1 for the day

COUNT YOUR MANY BLESSINGS AND YOU’LL SOON LOSE COUNT.

Count your many blessings money cannot buy.

Don’t brood over the riches of your neighbors but focus on the many blessings you actually do possess.

So let’s focus on the wonders of grace, training ourselves to make a spirit of gratitude pervade our lives.

That’s the way to experience joy and to be forever joyful.

(Vernon Grounds)

After taking the movie back, we headed off to G's folks' place. We'd invited them to lunch, at Tibet. A very inspiring restaurant/gallery along the coastline. It was rather busy (with a very noisy birthday party). I got to see something there that I've been keeping my eye on, more out of admiration and appreciation than with the plan to buy it, but it's really grabbed me now and I've decided. I sent an email off this morning to the gallery owners, asking if they can keep it aside for me, I'm just waiting for the reply. *holds thumbs*

EEEEKKKKKKKKK I guess I'm obsessed with it now but I really have fallen for it ^.^

*breathes*

*obsessively checks email...*

Ok while I wait for the mailbox to open I shall carry on.

Yesterday evening we did a little sorting in the study. It's not quite a proper study as yet, it still contains a bit of unsorted boxes, so it's a jundy room... half junk-room half study-room. Heehee! Threw out some boxes, packed things a bit better in the wardrobe, but there's still a good deal of stuff to go through. It'd be good to go through it and find better places for it but we don't really have the storage space/cupboards for it. We have to get rid of the junk-junk which is under the stairs, that'll free up space where we can store stuff like the bicycles, the weights (which would be more easily accessible there for our to-be daily exercise session) etc. That would in turn free up space in the jundy! I still have to fetch stuff from mom's place to sort through. *sigh* we'll get to the end of it yet! It will not beat us, we will conquer it!

On THAT note, here is Thought #2 for the day:

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.

(Mark Twain)

Anyway, let me leave this post at that for now. 45mins til work's over for this day!

Excitement

Our oven is coming into its own - G made a first for "us": banana bread!



We had no vanilla essence but we used vanilla fudge syrup (which can be put in coffee) instead.

And here's a pic of Heremia at present:

No News

Just blopping in to make my presence felt in the blog-world.

My head is fuzzy and my sinuses are burning up. All I want to do is go sleep. And I can't. Yet. Soon though! ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'm in the Audi, hogging your rear-view mirror!

More like I'm in the Audi, driving at roughly 70 for most of the trip!

Yesterday morning, I had my 2nd ever driving lesson. I drove around a tiny bit at the station, and then onto the open road! I'm not sure where all we went, I just drove. I'm not very good at pulling away from a stand-still (like at a robot), I stalled a couple of times and at one particularly short-lived green light, I missed it completely and had to wait for the 2nd green... apparently that'd be an instant fail for obstructing the free flow of traffic. Uh-oh. Got to drive home from wherever we were, on the freeway and all the way to our front gate - I managed to drive fine on a particularly infamous bit of road called "Hospital Bend" (so named because of its proximity to a hospital but I'm sure it's quite appropriate considering how many accidents happen there!) But other than that, I think I'm doing ok. Billy the instructor says I'm doing fine... I'm sure it'll all be revealed when I do my test!

Had only a short bit of time at home after I got home, G shaved his hair quite short! And then we were off to G's folks' to have brunch with his family from Durban and to say bye, as they are leaving (today) after their week-long holiday. Went for a lovely drive all around, even on Chapmans Peak. The weather was stunning, perfect for an outing like that.

Got home, chilled a LITTLE bit, then headed off to mom's for her birthday (supper) and to watch a movie.

G drove up our road, and stopped the car. We swapped places. He said if I felt fine driving down the long road linked to our road, I could drive. I got to the robot and somehow was stuck... we couldn't change places NOW, so I ended up driving all the way to mom's!

I drove G's 2l turbo Audi all the way, averaging about 70kmph. The drive was luckily uneventful in a hazard-related way, but it was quite eventful otherwise! I stalled quite a couple of times when stopped at robots... One of the robots near home changed as I was quite close to it and I wasn't sure whether to stop or go through, and because my mind was full with remembering the steps to take when coming to a stop (brake+clutch+handbrake+neutral etc) I didn't actually accelerate when (we) decided I should just go through. So I got snapped by the camera for going through a red robot... HAHA erm... I got my first traffic fine... or to be more precise *G* got one.

Later in the drive, I managed to wheelspin... I'd managed the DREADFUL main road along the coastline without any problems, and then the 2nd robot out of the tricky part of the main road went red. I stopped and when I was trying to pull away the wheels SHRIEKED and the car stalled. It felt so crazy!

Pulled away alright the 2nd attempt, and got to the road to get off the main road, managed to turn right across fine. Trundled along, got to the circle at the corner at mom's place, turned sharply left, didn't straighten up enough and mounted the pavement and promptly stalled. It was as if I'd intentionally parked across the road from mom's place! The mag wheel wasn't too scraped - there were scrapes already. But GAHHHH hahahah... I got from our house to mom's house! A 30km trip, averaging 70kmph, taking 45mins to get there. What a trip! Literally and figuratively!

Today is going to be pretty busy. Gotta do chores, then going to mom's - we're eating out at a steakhouse. I'm gonna post this and then get to it! Vacuum, where AAAARE YOUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!

As promised!

Heremia, as of tonight:

Kussingkussingkussingkussing

If you say that ^^^^^ fast without really saying the vowels much, it sounds a bit like percussion ^.^

Last night I had rather strange dreams. They were angry dreams, I ended up shouting and swearing at and hitting people who had dome horrible things which had shocked me.

In the first dream, the dude I went out with in high school had met G and written something down which really really upset G. I'm not sure what that was, but it really made G very upset and I went up to the two of them (G was sitting at a small table and this guy had approached the table and put a hand-written note on the table), and started seriously shouting at this guy! I flipped my lid and was swearing and cursing him to hell and gone, and then I started slapping him and hitting him in the face, basically I was trying to beat him up.

The second dream was also weird. In reality, Mo (in the US) posted something to me, to mom's address. It hasn't arrived yet which is weird but not out of the ordinary for the postaly system here. Anyway, in this dream, I went home to visit mom, and when pulling up in the driveway, noticed the next door neighbours' dirtbin was overflowing. And in the rubbish were envelopes tied together. They had my name but the neighbours' address. Like 43 instead of 45, so it was delivered to them, not mom. I started pulling out these envelopes, to find quite a lot of them were mine, just addressed to no. 43! And these bastard neighbours who have lived next to mom had just tossed them in the bin, despite the fact that they KNOW our surname (sis and I grew up there), have known us for nearly 30 years and would definitely know it was a mistake and should have put the envelopes in mom's letterbox, and not thrown them away like "receiver unknown"!!! I grabbed all these envelopes, and went into mom's. The neighbours were visible over the fence, all of them out in their garden and stuff so I started yelling at them and cursing them and shouting and swearing and just going OFF at them about how horrible they are and that I'd been waiting for these letters for ages and surely they could have had the decency to give them to mom etc etc etc. I was practically lunging at them over the fence trying to hit them.

I don't know whether I was lying in a strange position and wasn't able to move, causing me to get subconciously angry, but I certainly would have been pissed off if the neighbours had done something like that.

What else is news. Can't think of anything right now. I've been working on Heremia again, I took a pic the night before last but didn't upload it for some reason... will do that tonight most likely :D

Can't think of anything else right now - I will blog again when things come to mind.

New pole

I have a "scratching pole" now, I doubt it'd take over from my clawing post, but we'll see.

I know there's something wonky with the layout of this page, it's going to be sorted out - G and I have to tweak it a bit so everything fits!

's all for now folks!

Belting up my armour and heading off to the salt-mines tomorrow

So much has happened since I blogged newswisely - I had my first driving lesson yesterday morning. The instructor fetched me from home, drove to a quiet, residential kinda area and then explained a whole LOAD of stuff about the drivers' test. The pre-trip inspection, the manoeuvres I'd have to do and other things. Then I got to drive! Very funky, I didn't stall or jerk the car cos he showed me the right things to do. My steering isn't as great as it could be but hell - it's my FIRST LESSON!! Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!! He said afterwards that he usually tells his pupils to drive home, but he didn't feel I was ready yet - no kidding, I haven't driven before at all apart from around in circles in an empty parking lot outside a supermarket one Sunday evening!

I bought Dude some new toys - a set of "Olympic rings" and a car. He loves both of them. His favourite toy, however, is a piece of string! He will sit for HOURS on end, silently munching it. It's very strange. Whenever we want to watch a movie and he starts babbling and translating into Budgie, we just give him his ball+string. Here's a pic of his car(sports model, please note!) with his cat ball-toys in the passenger seats, his Olympic rings (they aren't as clear - there is another toy behind it) and a pic of him doing his pre-trip inspection.







While I was snapping happily I took some blackmail shots of my fish:





I will most likely blog some more tomorrow (hopefully work is quiet), but for now, I'm gonna sign off as it is 23:24 and I still have to go sleep before the Saltmine Shift begins!

Great article!

Ann Landers' famous "The Childless Couple" (http://www.childfree.net/potpourri_annlanders.html)

There is nothing sadder than a childless couple. It breaks my heart to see them relaxing around swimming pools in Florida, sitting all suntanned and miserable on the decks of their boats -- trotting off to Europe like lonesome fools. It's an empty life. Nothing but money to spend, more time to enjoy and a whole lot less to worry about.

The poor childless couple are so wrapped up in themselves, you have to feel sorry for them. They don't fight over the child's discipline, don't blame each other for the child's most obnoxious characteristics, and they miss all the fun of doing without for the child's sake. They just go along, doing whatever they want, buying what they want and liking each other. It's a pretty pathetic picture.

Everyone should have children. No one should be allowed to escape the wonderful experience that accompanies each stage in the development of the young -- the happy memories of sleepless nights, coughing spells, tantrums, diaper rash, debts, "dipso" baby sitters, saturated mattresses, emergencies and never-ending crises.

How dismal is the peaceful home without the constant childish problems that make a well-rounded life and an early breakdown; the tender, thoughtful discussions when the report card reveals the progeny to be one step below a moron; the end-of-the-day reunions with all the joyful happenings recited like well-placed blows to the temples.

Children are worth it. Every moment of anxiety, every sacrifice, every complete collapse pays off as a fine, sturdy adolescent is reached. The feeling of reward the first time you took the boy hunting -- he didn't mean to shoot you, the lad was excited. Remember how he cried? How sorry he was? And how much better you felt after the blood transfusion? These are the times a man with a growing son treasures -- memories that are captured forever in the heart and the limp.

Think back to the night of romantic adventure when your budding daughter eloped with the village idiot. What childless couple ever shared in the stark realism of that drama? Aren't you a better man for having lived richly, fully, acquiring that tic in your left eye? Could a woman without children touch the strength and heroism of your wife as she tried to fling herself out of the bedroom window?

The childless couple live in a vacuum. They fill their lonely days with golf, vacation trips, dinner dates, civic affairs, tranquility, leisure and entertainment. There is a terrifying emptiness without children, but the childless couple are too comfortable to know it.

You just have to look at them to see what the years have done: He looks boyish, unlined and rested; she's slim, well-groomed and youthful. It isn't natural. If they had had kids, they'd look like the rest of us -- worn out, wrinkled and exhausted.

And another one: http://www.childfree.net/potpourri_selfish.html - questions to make you THINK!!!

HAHA erhh.... hah.. ah.. ah... uhh

Such retardation, all under the guise of trustworthy, "for me" banking.

I finally closed my account with A BSA yesterday. The consultants there were not particularly interested in greeting me or speaking to me more than "card..." and "don't want your card...?"

The teller gave me the money that was left in my savings account, right down to the last cent. Literally. Despite the fact that a 1 cent coin (and for that matter a 2 cent coin) is no longer legal tender in this country. I gave the coin a rather odd look and said "what must I do with 1c?" the woman said "you must take it". WTF? They couldn't round it up to a 5c? Which would only be reasonable since they enjoy ripping you off with bank charges wherever you look. 5c back would hardly be a tip on the iceberg of what they've deducted from my account.

Stupid moronic bank. I am so glad I am free of them... or am I? I checked back onto my internet banking, and lo and behold, my SAVINGS account is closed, but my non-existent CREDIT CARD account is still there! I closed that, what... almost 2 years ago? Yet it still shows there as an "account number". What now? Go back to the bank, and ask them to close a non-existent account? Only in this bank's world does that make sense. If you read my previous blog posts (from a few months ago) you'll recall my horror at going into the branch upon their request to (compulsorily) confirm my phone number/details, to which the moron behind the customer service desk responded "ohh, right, thanks for informing us" (of the compulsory change - she had NO IDEA about this request for details.... uhh, right, whatever, assholes!)

Anyway, I am now happily with another bank, am waiting on an application for another facility on my account, but all in all, happy.

I forgot to mention something funky G and I got for Xmas... 2 matching bar-stools from his parents! They look so gorgeous in our place, matching the floor + decor perfectly.

In other news: I PASSED MY LEARNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Booked my drivers test for 13 May, and if I pass first time, it'll be a sort of birthday present for G! :D *holds thumbs* I think I'm being taken for a lesson tomorrow... WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE erhh.... eeeek? Is a very spiffy, sporty car, y'know! Eeek! My first lesson with an instructor is on the 5th. Weehoo!

Anyhow-a-low-low! Today is hot and I'm going to go lounge somewhere - the PC is boring me right now!

Update-a-late

I haven't blogged in AGES, things have been so busy.

I'm going to catch up by talking about things as I remember them...

This morning, after sleeping latish, we headed off to the traffic dept. I was going for my learners. It was very simple, 28 questions on signs, 28 questions on rules of the road and 8 on controls of the vehicle. I got 27/28 for signs, 26/28 for rules and 8/8 for controls = I PASSED! I got my learners!!!!

Went to the car after getting my license, and then G and I went in to queue while I applied for a drivers' test appointment. It took over an hour! But I made an appointment, my drivers' test is at 8:15 on 13 May! Eek eek! My first driving lesson is on the 5th, I hope I can learn soon enough to pass my test first time!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What else is news... I don't remember whether I blogged about M's bachelorette's party... ok I did.

I haven't blogged about their wedding though, which was on the morning of the 8th. G was the driver for the bride, and sis's G was the driver to the bridesmaids (sis and M's sis). I caught a lift with mom. Was a small intimate wedding, not a long ceremony at all (but it was in Afrikaans so I found it a little hard to follow at times). A lovely reception in the hall next to the church. The photos were taken in the garden (Garden of Remembrance) a short walk down the road. She's the first of my close friends (ppl I've known for around 10 years) to get married, so it was rather special!

Just on a side note, I've been looking at car galleries while I think of things to blog, and the Chevy Aveo (sedan), the Citroen C3, the Merc C63 AMG, the Proton Satria Neo, and others, are rather cool. I don't like the Satria Neo though for one reason: the handbrake has a "finger guard" which looks like it'd be VERY ANNOYING. Other than that it's quite a nice car. The Aveo sedan is quite nice too, but it's a sedan and would be a bit big for me, being a new "driver" (ok not yet but would be). The Merc C63 is rather sexy and super-powerful... 'nuff said. So all in all, the C3 seems the nicest option for me. Pity about the price of cars... I'd be paying it off over 60 months, putting down nearly 90% of the car price as a deposit, and STILL paying it off with maybe R5 to spare each month. Uhhh....

Our office lunch was uneventful. The restaurant was practically down the road from our place, it just felt rather bleh to have to come back to work for a week afterwards. I survived being the receptionist for the (4-day) week, well, rather I survived a gastro-enteritis and was the receptionist for 3 days. The Tuesday hbbm was still there and it was insanely busy. The Wednesday I was off sick, the Thursday and the Friday I dragged myself to work out of sympathy for the typist who is next in line to stand in as receptionist (she does everyone else's work, not just typing).

We had a yearly review session too, I got called in on the Friday and told about my annual pay increase (yay!!), a small bonus (YAY!! I've already put most of that into my savings account... good me!), also feedback about the year. They said basically I'm not only hbbm's PA (har-di-har... I'm not a PA at all!), I must also do work for other people, ppl have been noticing a rather negative attitude about doing work for them - erm, no kidding? How am I supposed to do other people's work/help in their offices when I CAN'T EVEN GO TO THE LOO IN PEACE?!?!? Nevermind working in SOMEONE ELSE'S office... jees. I told them that. I doubt it registered though. Whatever. A change would do me good!

The office closed on Friday... we got to go home at 13:00! G fetched me and dropped me off at home. It was LOVELY weather, very enjoyable to just blob at home. We had Synd at M&J's place, we just chatted and had waffles.

This weekend was quite busy, doing last min things and cleaning up at home. We met up with G's folks and his gran for brunch... at that stage the mall wasn't insanely busy but I'm sure it got insane!

I vaguely remember studying this weekend, I'm not sure what else we did. Chores, mostly. Monday evening mom, sis and sis's G came over to celebrate Xmas eve. Had KFC for supper, and then had some snacks while we waited for midnight to open presents!!!

Tuesday we went for Xmas lunch at G's folks, and exchanged gifts too. Was such a lovely lunch! Very yum food.

Wednesday we went to mom's for 2nd Xmas lunch. It seems to work out best going to the one on the 25th and the other on the 26th, that way there's no rush and "we've got to go else we'll be late". That way, Xmas lunch happens twice and no1 feels like they've been forgotten/discarded. Or at least I hope it's like that!

Lunch at mom's was nice too, yum food too, Aunt+Uncle and cousin, M & J, sis and sis's G, mom and G and I were there.

I can't believe I passed my learners. Ok I'm not surprised, I just didn't know what to expect as in how hard the questions would be. YAY!!!!!! I don't have to bother with that book again - at least not the same way, I might use it to refresh my memory in preparation for the driving test in case the examiner asks me any trick questions!!

I got a plasma sphere for Xmas! It's so funky. A Kelly Clarkson CD too, and a little horse, from G. Lots of other lovely special things from everyone else!

The washmachine finished about half an hour ago, but I'm enjoying these Kelly Clarkson songs so much I don't wanna go fetch the basket upstairs to unpack it. *Sigh*

I'm gonna leave it at that hehe, I think I've blogged up a storm for today!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE (if I don't get to wish you all closer to the time).

Quoted for truth

"Love is the irresistible desire to be desired irresistibly" Louis Ginsburg

Update

I am receptionist next week. YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY >.<

Thank HEAVENS it is a 4 day week because the Monday is a public holiday.

I am SO FED UP. Out of those 4 days I will only get ONE lunchbreak. The rest of the days the people who would be standing in while I go for lunch are ON LEAVE so I will just have to STARVE.

I hate

Today I feel very hateful.

It has been bloody busy all day. I was at work earlier than usual and I still didn't get to finish my oats. They went cold (as did my coffee but I gulped that down regardless) so I had to dump them in the bin.

It's basically just gone downhill from there.

I haven't had a break until now, 13:10 (no teabreak, hardly even a chance to breathe!)... the tealady buggered off somewhere so the receptionist had to stand in for her so I had to stand in for the receptionist! As if I wasn't busy enough. Hbbm kept dumping more and more things on me, rearranging their priority so I had to stop in the middle of things and do whatever he said I have to do right then.

I hate "receiving" corporate gifts. What it really is is that ppl deliver stuff at reception and she just dumps it on MY desk, regardless of the fact that is SAYS my boss's name. But I still have to get the joy of picking it up and moving it 1ft across onto his side of my desk, behind my computer monitor. It is NOT for me, don't put it on my keyboard/chair/desk!

I hate the way he is so disinterested in them. He gets a shitload of stuff every single year, and each time he gets anything, he's like "oh what must I do with THIS now...." "oh god, not another one" and stuff. He just takes it and puts it in his office. The one time, the receptionist had put a little paper bag of sweets and things on my desk, and I was (disbelieving) a little surprised thinking that maybe someone had got me something. Nope, it had his name on it, so I moved it to his part of the desk. He comes past a while later, and asks whether it's mine, so I say no. He says "god, what is it... (looks in the bag). Do you get gifts from anyone?" "no..." I walk away to take my mug to the kitchen. WHY did he ask that? What for??? To rub it in? Thanks, boss, thanks very much.

I hate the way the accountant dumps HER work on me. Invoicing. It's NOT MY job to do accounts. That's what ACCOUNTants do. But no, I get to do hbbm's accounts. And now, another "task" has been palmed off onto me. Rather smugly, to add to it.

I hate the way hbbm asks me whether I've done something he's given me to do when CLEARLY I haven't had a chance to because he's just interrupted me and made me drop it and do something else. What does he think, I'm siamese and can do two things at once??

I hate this company. I hate it more each day because of the scaly little things they do. I was grubbing around in the shared folders on the network (not private stuff at all) and found a pro-forma employment contract. I never got one. All I did was sign a letter and keep a signed copy for myself. Charming.

I hate the way they use unlicensed software. Surely if they're a decent, profiting company they can AFFORD it? Why install something on my computer and tell me not to register it and then warn me I only have 50 chances to use it else it'll break and they won't be able to reload it on my machine. WTF? Just BUY the goddamn licenses already people!

I hate the way they scummily

**** Ok that was how far I got yesterday (Wednesday) - it just got busier and busier and busier. Today has been damn busy too. Now that I am waiting for hbbm to come back for me to carry on with the work, I am falling asleep. I am exhausted.

I still hate this place. I confirmed last night by looking in my paperwork at home that I never got a letter saying I had been promoted. I just got a "salary package revision" letter. Fuckers. So I was never promoted, ever. The only place it MENTIONS my NOT being receptionist is my payslip.

I am so sick of everything now. Apparently hbbm is only going to be in on Tuesday (not the whole week as I thought) but it's hardly consolation. I am so so sick and tired. I really am so tired. So tired, frustrated I could cry. Except I'm too tired to cry.

Yet again I'm reminded how much I fucking hate being "human". Why the hell am I working? Why am I getting a "salary", which is taxed, then buying stuff with what is LEFT, to pay 14% of everything's price OVER AND ABOVE that as tax, and then whatever the HELL I have left over in my bank account is essentially TAXED just for having anything LEFT! Bank charges!!!! Is it EVER REALLY MY GODDAMN MONEY????????

Why do you have to PAY MONEY to fucking DIE! You die, and woops, now you're owing X amount of money because of it.

What IS THE POINT?!

What honestly is the point.

We have made provisional plans/decisions that we want to take a month off for honeymoon. But if I'm going to be CHANGING jobs, I won't have leave enough by then to TAKE an entire month off. I am SO STUCK.

I don't know what to do. I don't want anything. I don't want tomorrow (fuck them and their "office lunch", bastards), I don't want the weekend because it means the next week of torture is already close. I don't want a holiday because it is too short for me to regain my spirit. I don't know how I will have the strength to come back to this shit hole. I will just have to autopilot myself around.

I don't want anything. I want time out, real time out. I want time out so that I can bloody-well do OTHER things than work and feel depressed because the next day is work again, and closer when I go to sleep. I want to be able to BREATHE the outside air, GO AWAY from cockroaches and shit like that. I don't want to wash dishes, I don't want to wash clothes, I don't want to put things in to take to work for lunch, I don't want to wake up with the alarm because I have to go to hell for the day. I don't want to be in traffic, watching people drive like MORONS. I don't want to be in queues, I don't want to be anything. I want nothing. Nothingness?

Busy time!!

This past week has been hectic. It's already Thursday! Tomorrow is Friday, Saturday is M&J's wedding. Next Friday is our office lunch, and to be quite honest, I'm not excited about it. S's co is giving each of them a day off to do shopping etc, and is just having a few eats at the office. That sort of thing would be much more appreciated than what is essentially forced attendance at a lunch. One can't exactly NOT go. This year the restaurant is basically a few blocks away from our home! So no reason NOT to go. But yeah, a little more thought about it would be cool - what would the staff really appreciate more?

Tonight G and I are going to do some more Xmas shopping. I hope the shops aren't too insane this evening. If we don't manage to get everything done this evening, we're going to have to buy suits of armour to go sometime during the next week.

There are roughly 2 weeks left til I write my learners. EEEKK!!!

Xmas is coming soon. Going to get an advent calendar tonight too, just means that G and I will get to scoff 3 days' choccies each! I think it'd be a cool thing to make a tradition of. We never had advent calendars at home, apart from one we made in primary school. Yay, a Squishy tradition has begun!

We've got a little tree which came with some decorations (including a star!!), some other decorations, some lights... I can't wait to decorate the place! If I remember right, our tradition was to get and decorate a tree on the 16th... maybe we'll decorate ours on Sunday... the reason we waited that long to decorate it was because it was a real tree and if we got it too soon it'd go brown before Xmas arrived! Now we don't have to worry about that - my worry is that it'll get all disturbed a lot whenever we vacuum and stuff. We'll see. It's all so exciting!

What else is news... well at the moment I'm enjoying some LOLCATS

For the record I still don't think much of our co *grimace* won't go into detail here but just yet another indication of staff issues/morale/etc being "superhigh priority"!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our microwave died. I'm sad because it's only just been now recently that we have felt that we have everything we *need*. We'd just got our lawn goodies, got the oven hooked up, and then the microwave died. I'd found out a coupla days before (to my UTTER HORROR) that cockroaches had infested it. They were living in the panel behind the buttons. So when I opened it after making myself a huge bowl of popcorn, there were COCKROACHES all over the door latch mechanism and latch-hole! Needless to say I did NOT eat the popcorn. G had opened the microwave to clean it and apparently the cockroach crap stank very badly. So a good thing that it had died because G got to have some fun nuking it with pesticide. But bad cos we have to buy another one. I want to put it on a tray of water so that nothing can get into it...

I am not happy though because the washmachine is ALSO infested. I found an (empty!!) egg case in the detergent drawer, and almost every day I kill various size cockroaches on/in/around the washmachine. I really am seriously thinking of phoning a fumigator/pest control to help, because cockroaches can really destroy appliances and other things - not to mention my NERVES! I hate cockroaches!!!!!!

Went home recently to pick up the last of my stuff... the house is so morbid without Budbud. Sis was working so it was just me (G'd gone off to J's bachelors).

Saturday was M's bachelorettes and J's bachelors! We were up early for G to go to the breakfast. G dropped me at home to pack some boxes which he took with him home (our home). I stayed at home waiting for sis to finish work and to go with her to the bachelorettes. She'd gone out to plot the route first and got lost!!

It was lots of fun. Sis and I were late cos we stopped at K's place to pick up her gift cos she wasn't going to go... she was still sick with bronchitis!

I won't go into detail here either, lemme just leave it at "M got NICE and wobbly by the end of the day!!" She sms'd the next morning and said that she had quite a headache!

Saturday is their wedding. Feels unreal hehe! G is the driver for M and her dad. Sis's G is the driver for her, M's mom and M's sis.

Wheeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lemme sign off now... otherwise this blog post will be erm.... 100 feet long!