Playing Catch Up

Quite a bit has happened since I last wrote and although I've been meaning to write (and have often gotten as far as opening up the "create post" page), I just haven't found the words. I'm feeling a little despondent at the moment. Well, more than a little. Nick mentioned the Korean term Han to me yesterday and I think that combined with an overwhelming sense of ennui would be an apt description of how I'm feeling.

Anyhow. It's been a couple of weeks and since then Mum's come out of hospital and is going for a PET scan today to make sure that there's no cancer left. She has to go to a hospital in Moorabin for the scan.

Moorabin is where I flew a helicopter last Monday. (What a segue way!) Which was amazingly fun and I'd really like to do it again some time. Perhaps when I've stopped working in the crazy profession that I seem to have chosen? Who knows, but I was lucky enough to have a great instructor who took me up to the training airspace and once I was a little less wobbly with the controls he directed me from Carrum back towards Melbourne's CBD along the beach en route to the airport. Many thanks to Lisa & Dave for the opportunity to fly!

Stepping back a week, I finished up work on Summer Fun in the City with Set Sail which was a great three day event where people could book in for free sailing lessons. There's nothing quite as special as seeing a nervous five year old come back from the water all excited because they sailed a small two person boat! We were even lucky enough to try it out after the last group on the Wednesday. A perfect time to be sailing as some of the Sydney to Hobart yachts were still moored down at the Docklands.

A brief trip to Sydney to say hi to Tamsin at the opening night of Carmen and generally get away from Melbourne for a couple of days and I was back to watch the ladies finals of the Australian Open. Good grief it was hot! Good match though and there's nothing quite like the atmosphere in a stadium - or talking to the random people sitting next to you. I really should see more live entertainment...

Our family were down for the weekend and while I had every intention of taking my cousins to check out Australia Day celebrations we settled for Sing Star instead. Did I mention I should see more live entertainment...?

Which brings me back to the week that's just passed. Not much else to report. Had a small operation to remove and replace the implant in my left arm. I'm rather pathetic when it comes to needles and the local anaesthetic hurt more than the scalpel going in (and that was before we had to reapply the anaesthtic which for some reason hadn't taken).

Sunday was Dad's birthday so we had a feast at our place. Roast beef for 11, one baked fish (with lime and ginger), many many roasted veggies, a freshly baked loaf of bread and a sweet potato & green bean salad (with sweet chilli & balsamic vinegar dressing). Dessert was a stack of profiteroles (Dad's new favourite baked good) and a plum & nectarine crumble (made from the fruits from our backyard!). Given the number of profiteroles and cake that I've eaten in the last two days I should really stop writing and go for a VERY long walk.

Besides, it may help me sleep and perhaps think less... which would be nice. :)

Failure to Write

In the wee small hours of the morning, when the whole wide world is fast asleep I'm lying awake wondering why it is I've got Carly Simon stuck in my head when I've been listening to Edith Piaf's rendition of L'accordéoniste on loop all day.

I'm frustratingly nocturnal at the moment. Frustrating because I have two LX plots to attend tomorrow and I'd like to be awake for them please. As well as tickets to see Don Giovanni. Again with the awakeness.

Since I wasn't sleeping anyway, I figured I might as well update my sorely neglected blog.

Let's see, last time I wrote I'd just planted a mini-herb garden for a show. Well, the season went really well. So well in fact that Kat & I don't own any plants (dead or alive) from the show. Since then I've moved onto another show and am in the process of looking for more work over the silly season. Mind you I think I could do with a couple of days off to sort out my body clock and get a little R&R but we'll see. Plenty of time for that when the theatres are dark again.

Other items of note in no particular order are:
- my shoulder (which I fell on about two weeks ago after a particularly sleepless night... futons should never be underestimated for danger, can anyone say trip hazard?) is feeling much better but is at the annoying stage where it feel good but as soon as I do anything more than hold a cup of coffee in my left arm it begins to complain. Not that I've been doing anything but resting it of course... ahem

- Mum's started her next course of chemo after a week's break last week. For some reason I kept thinking it was her last course last time... hopefully this is the one. She's getting great results from the treatment but I think she's looking forward to stopping the chemo.

- I've made it further on my NaNoWriMo novel this year than ever before, but I'm still many thousands of words behind where I should be. Perhaps I should attack that instead of this blog... I should probably also note that I'm only ahead of my previous attempts by about 1,000 words... oh well, only 48,000 more to go...

Anyhow, that's all that springs to mind at the moment. I think I'm approaching the "low" in my sleep/wake cycle, so I'm going to make another attempt to fall asleep. Wish me luck!

Things Beginning With the Letter "s"

Festival Fina closed on Sunday with some delightful weather and crowds after a wet and windy start. Definite favourites for the festival were (in no particular order) Quidams - Herbert's Dream, Group F, Guo Yue, ERTH Dinosaur Petting Zoo, Ulik and Le Snob and the memorable installation of Méchanique Vivante's Song of the Sirens. It was great to see all the performances run smoothly and even better to see people showing up in the Melbourne weather. Yay for Nick and Nomi coming to say hi!

I must say that's one thing I love about Melbourne. Weather is no barrier for the arts/festival loving people. They just bring their umbrellas, jackets and rugs and huddle together to enjoy the show. It's great and very much appreciated when you're totally soaked to the skin and still have at least 8 hours of your shift to go.

After a swift load-out of the bulk of the festival life's been slipping back to craft heaven for me. Mingled of course with large doses of Final Fantasy XII and season 1 of Buffy.

This Sunday we'll be getting ready to farewell Naomi with a lovely picnic and what was going to be some blues dancing that I was very much looking forward to...

Sadly I slipped down the bottom half of the stairs yesterday and landed (well but painfully) on my knee and ankle. It all happened a bit quickly and involved the dog stepping on the back of my pants causing the fall as I was holding my laptop... Laptop is in tact but my leg is still a little sore when I put weight on it. I may have to take a rain check on the dancing for a bit.

So I've decided to spend my restful time making scarves to bring to the picnic on Sunday in the hopes that they might find a good home. I'm slowly making my way through my stash of pretty yarns that have been hoarded over the years. It's good for me :)

I've also almost completed Gene's socks which he's happy about... Just having some troubles with the heel (namely I misread the pattern when I made the first one and now have to decide what to do with the second one). Yeah, post-festival life is complicated.

I'm sure I'll live though.

Sad Panda

I'm trying to prepare for November's daily writing. Even got some plot ideas sketched out. Not sure which I'll go with but figure if I have at least a small idea it'll be a start.

Anyhoo...

Last night's trip to the doctor's was an adventure as predicted. My driver got lost on the way to the X-ray place which was fun. I had no idea where I was... I think I may have been in the industrial area. Anyhow, after an hour we found the place. I got my x-ray and then went back to the doctor. He wasn't in so I waited for the other doctor but through inattention missed my number which caused a commotion. Once that was sorted out he looked at my x-ray, poked and prodded and then wrote me a referral to the hospital's accident and emergency. To cut the long story a litle shorter, I ended up not going to the hospital and instead letting the nurses at work look at it. After the nurses looked at the x-ray this morning they advised that I should just rest the arm (no rotation & no lifting etc) and the pain will go away over the next few weeks. If I have fractured it (which is what the doctor seemed to think) then there's not much I can do. Nothing's splintered (which is good) so it's just a matter of rest and managing the symptoms, maybe a few stretches in the coming weeks. Yay!

Sadly Gene & I no longer have a day off together. So I'm really not sure what I'll do tomorrow. Most of the people I see are either working or have gone to Oman for the weekend. *sigh* Maybe I'll try and nut out a plot for next month... More likely I'll be curled up on the couch with The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Sad panda because there's still no iPod in the mail for me. Stupid backlog of stuff at the airport.

Tick Tock

I had today off to rest my shoulder before heading out for an X-Ray tonight. With any luck it'll be nothing more than muscle damage and I'll just keep up the pain killers and anti-inflammatories. It still hurts to lift or put weight on my shoulder so I've been pathetically avoiding anything requiring me to use both arms. I should be less wimpy I know but then I wouldn't be me... maybe.

Gene's now working at Khalifa on night shift which means that he starts work about an hour or two before I leave. Still, it's good to see him around! He took me to the supermarket today to get some food so that I can have dinner tonight and didn't let me carry anything. I'm a lucky girl and don't I know it!

Mr G will be around to pick me up in an hour and I'm struggling to pass the time. Our housemate is watching Arabic TV and my Arabic is not so good. We were previously watching BBC World so I can understand the urge to change the channel.

We did see a story on Spamalot which is now on our list of things to see while in London. So far it's that, the Natural Science Museum and possibly the London Eye (might be aliens). I should probably start booking that though. I hear there's a long wait list.

Well, I'm off to make some dinner and maybe read a bit while I wait. Just wanted to blather on a bit here first. Probably post again later if anything exciting comes from the X-ray visit. I'm going to need to direct the driver so it could be a bit of an adventure!

Trundling Along

November is really not the best month for me in terms of NaNoWriMo. After last year's dismal attempt I figure I can't possibly do worse... Big words...

Anyhow, life is trundling along slowly. I'm eternally grateful that I'm right handed as my left arm is giving me grief from last weekend's blow to the shoulder blade. I've been on anti-inflammatories for the last four days and at night have something to try and relax the muscles but the ache is still there. If it's still there tomorrow I've been told to get Xrays. The doctor didn't look impressed when I mentioned that I kept swing dancing after the accident... Probably should have thought about that a bit really...

Aside from that nothing is new. Last night was the best sleep I've had since Saturday. I managed a whole 4 hours before waking up. I'm averaging three because that's about as long as I can sleep before I want to toss and turn.

Gene's working over at Khalifa now so I got to see him today while we were both awake! Very exciting. It was brief though. To be accurate I saw him twice but the second time we were being introduced and I was giving him his crew. Hehe we shook hands like it was the first time we'd met. :)

I have possibly mentioned this before but I'll say it again. A big thank you to those of you who write somewhat regularly in your blogs and anyone who emails. You're my only link to what's going on back home and I check all the blogs religiously in the mornings (Doha mornings that is...)

After finishing working on the Commonwealth Games with no pictures of my own I've made an effort to take pictures every day of what's happening on site. It's been really good because it gets me out of the office and reminds me of what we're moving towards. Naturally I can't post the pictures of the site but I do have some photos of some butterflies that Amy & I spotted in the shrubby plants onsite. I even got a picture of a little flower too. I love my macro photography setting on the camera.

It's almost dinner time... they had creme caramel for dessert. MMMMMMMM...

Mr Postman look and see...

Sadly no iPod has appeared yet and is unlikely to appear until, at best, Tuesday. I should probably stop obsessively checking the pidgeon holes for it until then but I'm optimistic!

I had a fabulous weekend with my gorgeous man. We spent Friday night relaxing and discussing our post-Games holiday. We've nutted out some dates and are aiming for our return flight to Melbourne on the 9th February (I guess arriving on the 10th, but we'll have to wait and see). Now all that remains are flight & accommodation bookings and much saving.

Yesterday, after sleeping in until the luxurious hour of 11am, we had beef(?) kuftas for breakfast and then asked ourselves what do you do when it's 38 degrees celcius and humid? Naturally the answer to that question is swing dance! So we set up my speakers and danced in our carport to the amusement of the neighbours passing us on the way to the pool (probably a more sensible option). Photos were taken but I've yet to see them. If they're not too terrible they may even get posted :)

After a brief altercation between my shoulder blade and the corner of the coffee table (the coffee table won. ouch!) we decided to rest for awhile and program a few slower songs to dance to while I nursed my injury with a packet of frozen mash potato. As soon as the aromatic garlic and herbs in the mash potatoes started to permeate the air we decided it was time to return my "ice pack" to the freezer for a bit and keep on dancing. By this stage our carport was in full sun and to be honest we were melting! Plenty of ice tea helped us through the next few hours as we tried to practice our moves and I'm fairly sure we made up some moves too! We're really missing our swing dancing classes here but I think we were doing okay.

The sun faded from our carport and that was our cue to finish for the day. (We're sensible people really). Gene had a haircut in Mel's carport (Mel & Dobbie's Barber Shop) and then it was time for us to head inside and consider dinner.

While considering dinner we started playing the Sims 2. This delayed dinner considerably. We ended up having corned beef, eggs and rice while continuing our game. Our Sims live in "Melbourne". I think it's a joke because it's always raining in the game. Still miss the rain by the way.

The hours (both simulated and actual) flew past us and before I knew it there were just seven hours left until I had to get on the shuttle bus for work. Whoops. Pumpkin time. We lay in bed and chatted about random things. Mainly PS2 related and then roughly five and a half hours before I needed to be on the bus I finally fell asleep.

Suprisingly I was on the bus about 10 minutes earlier than I usually am this morning. I even had time to polish my boots and have a quick breakfast before I had to leave the house. Amazing what a short sleep can do for me. So it's the start of another week and as the Carpenters karaoke DVD (complete with typos) serenaded me on the way to work I thought about when my iPod was going to arrive so that I could listen to my audiobooks and music on the way to work. I was briefly distracted by the image of Singapore's Underwater World during Mr Postman but that soon passed.

Tonight I'm going to the Ramadan tent at the Ritz Carlton with Amy & PC. I can sleep later. There's too much to see and do in Doha!

Cracking, clicking and dripping

Dad came home from his most recent trip to China yesterday bearing the news that while visiting the village in Canton that our family comes from they met a (distant?) relative who had a copy of our geneology. The crazy thing is that it traces our family back 130 generations to somewhere in the vicinity of 2000BC they think. I was talking to Nick about it and described it as being "ages" when it really has been ages! My mind boggles.

Work was good today. Our data was finally available again so it meant that there was plenty to do during the day and into the evening. I'm a little frustrated because it feels like I've wasted three days and I hate leaving work unfinished. I'm all too aware that I finish up pretty soon and it feels like there's still a fair bit of work to do with the reports I'm sifting through. *sigh* I have plenty of time, but it just doesn't feel like it. Besides, I'm discovering why finishing the reports at 02:00 a couple of weeks ago wasn't the most sensible thing to do... C'est la vie!

I'm feeling rather sore today in my neck and shoulders and I've got a twinge in the right side of my lower back. I think I've been sitting incorrectly at work... my wrists keep cracking.

After many a phone call and discovering my phone had been disconnected (that's fixed now), Gene and I are happy to hear that the plumber is hoping to fix our shower tomorrow. Drip, drip, drip... ARGH! The dripping is driving me crazy.

Everyone who reads this and happens to be in the state during the Comedy Festival has to come and say hi to me at Trades Hall. It's sounding like it will be good fun. I'm definitely looking forward to night work again. Although it does cut into your social life a fair bit... oh well, I'll see how it goes.

I must admit I'm fairly reluctant to leave the house at the moment. I'm still feeling a little partied out. The long hours and large social drinking work week last week's taken it out of me. I refuse to believe this is due to getting older. I know plenty of people older than me who party twice as hard and still have productive lives. :) Still, it means I'm torn between wanting to see friends and not wanting to leave the house. I'm still a little exhausted and oddly almost homesick for the house... weird I know.

Have had a brief browse at rental ads today. Love the house we're in but am acutely aware that saving money for travelling would be cheaper in a smaller place... or more importantly a cheaper place. There's a great sounding short term rental in town that sounds great. I wouldn't mind checking it out really. This would mean the hideous box packing period that Gene and I failled miserably at last time (sorry to those who had to live through that). However I'm sure we'd do better this time. It would be difficult not to.

Speaking of packing, I think I'm going to tidy the house a bit (it's actually kinda clean except for the disaster zone that is our room). Then it's wheat-bag-o'clock.

I vaguely wish my neck would stop clicking...

Blog-o-matic

It's depressing how tired I feel when I really haven't achieved much today. Went in to a very empty office today. Checked my email. Replied and forwarded as appropriate. Got the name of the place I'm meant to be at for dinner tonight and then headed into town on a retail therapy recon trip. Ended up bumping into my boss (busted much) but he was in town shopping too so it worked out well.

So here I am back at home having avoided spending any money and I'm just exhausted! My eyes are feeling dry and I can't seem to drink enough water lately. I think I'll just spend the afternoon stretching and enjoying the nice day.

Might even do some gardening.

Definitely no running. In fact, I think I'll look into pilates courses... and glucosamine because I keep getting recommended it by different people - medical or otherwise. Anything to help keep my knees in good health and less pained.

I can't believe how much I've blogged today... can you tell I'm still trying to work out what to do with my time?

Oh hang on, I did achieve something today. I may have another job lined up. Just have to make sure I can get some time off from my current job for a couple of days. More details when I've confirmed the job.

Hey nah, hey naaah....

My boyfriend's back!

Picked him up safe and sound from Tullamarine last night. Admittedly if he hadn't scooped me up into a big hug I would have walked straight past him... but in my defense his plane wasn't meant to have arrived according to the screens and having come straight from work it took me 10 minutes to get through airport security because of my steel caps.

Spent much of yesterday pacing about the office and generally trying to keep busy. I had the best night's sleep knowing he'd be home soon. Also found myself distracted by the unsettled stomach caused by the mango yoghurt that I had enjoyed so much the night before...

The Tale of the Mango Yoghurt
Upon opening the tub of yoghurt from the variety pack that I'd bought only a couple of days earlier, I noticed that the yoghurt had settle a bit. Nothing unsual about that... it happens sometimes. I ate the yoghurt and it tasted like mango and peaches (as per the pack) but something wasn't quite right. I looked more carefully at the packet and noted the use-by date. 12/02/06

Part of me felt a little bit ill right there and then. The other part of me decided the best thing to do would be to ride to the nearest supermarket and try and rectify this by spending more money on a fresh batch of yoghurt in the hopes that the new batch of "good bacteria" would combat anything less-good that I had just ingested.

I was a little fragile on the way home having rediscovered the still tender muscles in my left (twisted) leg on top of the slightly queasy stomach. I managed to convince myself that the queasiness was all in head for the better part of the night but have only just returned to normality. How do I know this? My appetite's back!

Okay. Must get back to work have procrastinted enough now and I want to go home to my sexy man while we're both still able to stay awake.

Hey nah, hey naah...

Day 1

Today is the first day of my 10 day Detox (yes, I'm on that band wagon in the small hope that this will avoid future gastric complications). It's actually been pretty good today. I am fully aware that I'm still rather early in this new experience, but I'm quietly optimistic about the whole thing.

I was up early this morning to make lunch - Thai chicken red curry with brown rice - and to pack snacks for the day. I ended up not snacking at work but drinking lots of water instead. So far the only distasteful thing I've encountered has been the "digestive bitters" which honestly don't taste so good even if it is meant to help with my digestion. I had my first breakfast in several months - fruit & vegie juice, I didn't get around to making anything more substantial than that - before heading off to the orthodontist.

Thanks for the health insurance advise there Nomi, I've actually got that whole life time limit thing happening but was happy to discover that I could still claim a just under fifty percent of my claim today (I should have looked for a Members Choice provider, but I was lazy). It feels really weird not having the plate in any more. There's a slight gap between my back teeth where the plate used to be and my gum's actually grown into the shape of the plate behind my lower teeth so it almost feels like the wire's still in there. I figured that while I was fixing up my teeth I should go all out and listen to the orthodontist's advice... So tomorrow afternoon before I head to my show call I'm going to see the dental hygenist for a full clean and inspection. I'm also in need of some fillings (yay) but that's going to wait for another visit *sigh*. Oh but I am excited because today is the first trip to the dentist that they haven't given me a brushing/flossing lesson so I must be getting better at it... I also learnt that a "dental calculus" is just their way of saying "tartar". I was somewhat concerned when I saw on the quote (oh yeah it's not going to be cheap) something about a removal of calculus and had a minor panic attack. I know I need to get two wisdom teeth out but I was hoping not to do that quite yet... happily I now know that they'll just be doing the good ol' scraping of my teeth.

It's funny how you retain knowledge of products and industries that you've left behind... I actually checked to see if the dental practice had HICAPS (and they did, they had the black ICE terminal in case you care John). Not that it would have mattered greatly to me even when I was at HICAPS because I wasn't in sales... but I still look. I'm glad I learnt about health insurance and know what to look for now too. Besides, I'm making the most of my claiming of stuff. I'm going for a massage as soon as I remember to find a registered masseur nearby.

Work was good today, I caught up on some work from last week when I was away. Tomorrow's an early start though... I get to take minutes for a meeting so I really should make sure I get a good breakfast so that I'm awake! Well, that and I'm driving into work tomorrow... so I should probably be awake for that too.

I caught up with Tracee at the Storeroom where she's doing a return season of her sellout Fringe show, "I Forgive Catriona Rowntree". I'm really looking forward to working with her again. It really is a great show and I think she tells her stories really well.

Mmmm I can smell the roast turkey that we're having for dinner tonight... I think I might go and take a peek at it... mmm hungry....

Hazy and Lazy

Good grief! Is that blue sky I see through the window? It was bucketing down last night when I was leaving work (read the pub where we had great paella). I almost have the urge to rush out and do some washing, but that would be too much effort ;)
(someone's going to have to teach me how to add emoticons some day)

Well the antibiotics are still doing their thing - making me better by making me feel completely zonked so that I sleep plenty. The only problem is my concentration levels are at an all time low. I can barely remember five minutes ago.

Last night I was on the hunt for an orthodontist that opened late. Not surprisingly I couldn't find one. I've got a plate on my lower teeth that I was meant to get removed almost five years ago. (I had the appointment card in my wallet that got stolen and I never got around to arranging another appointment, slack huh?) Anyhoo, the plate snapped last night after getting slightly stuck on my cough lozenge and I now have a rather irritating piece of wire poking into my tongue. I was hoping to see an orthodontist today but the earliest I can get in is Monday morning. I'm dreading the bill really. Hope I've still got some annual limit left on my health insurance. *sigh*

I just had a look at the weather report on The Age's weather page and it's meant to be raining but it doesn't look like it's rained so far... Best not to risk it though. Murphy's Law will take over the instant I think I can finally get stuck into the washing again.

I'm thinking of picking up my knitting again. I'm a little bored and feeling rather unproductive as of late.

Started reading again last night and it's really not grabbing me as much as the first book did. Oh well. I'm still hoping my other two books arrive at the bookstore soon too. I'm dying to read the next installment of Abarat.

Things are starting to pick up again which is great. I look forward to a more cheerful week ahead!

Hot water, textbooks and comments

Hazaar! We have hot water again! Okay, we always had warm water (which is better than some people have I know) but today the lovely plumber came and fixed our hot water system so we now have decent water pressure AND lovely hot water. It was amazing, he just turned a couple of knobs and hey presto we had scorchingly hot water. I can't wait to have a shower tonight. It'll be the first time in a week and a half since we've been able to use the cold tap in the shower.

Double hazaar because I got two comments on/from my blog in the last two days. I feel all special now!

Suddenly I'm concerned with my spelling of hazaar but I've been finding that I'm not confident in my spelling at all lately and Dictionary.Com isn't working as well as it usually does... it's just not loading!

Anyhoo, today has been less productive than I would have liked but I'm on strict order by Gene not to crochet until the pain goes away (damn sensible boyfriend). So having nothing better to occupy my time with I was just going to have a lazy-in-bed-reading day until I realised that I start uni on Monday and have no textbooks from which to study. I was about to dash out the door when my phone rang. It was the wonderful plumber trying to arrange a time to come and fix our hot water. It was destined that I would have to get out of bed today. So I sprinted out the door even faster and jumped on the second tram that I saw (the first tram I watched as it left the stop as I arrived). Due to the Anti-VSU protests a the trams were diverted from their usual travels. But more on the VSU later. I visited three bookshops for two textbooks and arrived home with just one textbook and a case for my Palm (yay!).

Today I relieved the joy that is being broke after buying your textbooks. It's my first "serious" textbook in a while... Australian Business Law. Part of me considered getting the study book that goes with it but the $60+ price tag dissuaded me.

Okay VSU. While I'm not a student who's going to a physical university campus, I strongly believe that the services supported through the payment of these general service fees are incredibly important to the well-being and enjoyment of students at universities. I suppose it's hard for some people to see the services that are supported through these fees, but I certainly wouldn't have gotten to where I am now without them. When I was at Monash I was a highly active member of the Clubs & Societies (mainly the theatre ones, but I did join a couple of others), I saw the counsellors, took advantage of the medical facilities more than once, enjoyed having many serves of nachos at the various food places and that's just the things that I can think of off the top of my head. Oh wait, there's the whole student union fighting for friends who, due to an admin bungle, had not received their re-enrolment details and then when they went to challenge it on the date specified in the student diary (another subsidised resource might I add) were told that the date printed was incorrect and they were no longer a student there. Hundreds of students were affected by this, but with the support of the union and their legal staff these students were re-instated. Without the extra-curricular activities students are really missing out on what makes uni the "best time of your life". I still remember when I was in first year uni I caught up with some friends from highschool and we were talking about our experiences at Monash & Melbourne Unis. I mentioned that I'd made lots of new friends through the Clubs & Societies while my friends who hadn't really looked into it yet were just heading to class and back home and wondering what all the fuss was about. Yes, you're at uni to study and hopefully that means studying something you're passionate about, but when you get out into the wonderful scary "real world" you need other things to make your life complete. Hobbies, socialising, outside interests to help you wind down after a busy and sometimes stressful day at work. These interests set you apart from others when you look for work or even just when you're meeting people. Clubs & societies at Monash provided me with the opportunity to explore different enviroments and activities. I really with that I'd taken advantage of things like the Skydiving club. While students should be given the choice of how to spend their money, I think that a general fee to maintain these services and give students the choice of using these services is crucial to maintaining student life and culture. Like they said in the meeting I attended earlier in the year, think of it as if it's personal tax, it helps to support the infrastructure that we enjoy in our everyday lives. It's a matter of the greater good versus the self.

Okay I'm almost done with the ranting... While I'm really excited about going back to study. There's no way it's going to be as fun without the other stuff to keep life interesting. I'll definitely miss ambling down the corridor to Student Theatre to see who was there and who was free to grab some food/coffee.

Herman's loudly crunching away at his kibble which is a signal that he wants to be fed. So I'd better do so before he starts throwing a tantrum (it's amazing how much noise a rat can make with one food dish).

Yay for hot water, textbooks and comments!

RSI

Stupid RSI. I'm in the mood to write today however my enthusiasm to finish crocheting my rug/blanket has rendered me in pain (my wrist/forearm is playing up again). Now if I was sensible I'd see the doctor (last time this happened he said I did good by coming and getting it treated because if left untreated, the inflamed tissue could scar causing permanent damage) however I'm lazy and between walking to the video store and the doctor... Well let's just say I'm looking forward to watching Gosford Park!

I went shopping today to buy actual food to cook (as opposed the the usual junk Gene & I buy). Speaking of junk food, Gene's decided he's not allowed to eat chicken munchies any more because they make him sick. I'm glad he's finally seen the link. These chicken munchies secreted juices that stained our nice white baking dish permanently. I doubt they can be good for you!

Having bought some actual food I've done some cooking. This is an achievement for me. Aside from the sore arm which makes it a little harder, I have a tendency to not cook/eat if there's only myself at home (just can't be bothered usually). Today I made a large (4L) stock pot of soup, minestrone-esque in style and caramel date pudding. The smell of the pudding is permeating the house and I'm trying very hard to save it until Gene comes home to cut it... trying being the operative!

Loving the Palm still. Enjoying writing lots of notes and lists and appointments (like try and help Naomi move house on the 11th September). Discovered I can even keep notes on conversations with people in a history folder... Solitare is good too. Okay. Arm hurts and ibuprofen hasn't kicked in yet. Ouch. I go.

Popsicle Toes

My toes are freezing! On the bright side they're not the colour of eggplants like they were yesterday after I got home.

Didn't end up visiting Gene today. He was planning on having an early night and I didn't want to keep him up. So instead I went to the shops and bought some foot pads to cushion the blisters that are forming after the cryotherapy, dog food for the dogs (I'm sure they'll be happier now that they get a mixture of food again) and more socks than you could shake your foot at. I made sure that they were good cotton socks so that they breathe well and I can hopefully avoid this whole pained foot situation again. I also got some rather random sock-like items like the toe covers... just imagine a sock without the heel and leg half of it. It's working out well in terms of keeping my toes warm and the rest of my foot a normal temperature. There's also a foot tube which is about the size of a sweat band but for your feet. I'm not sure why I got them... but I figure it'll be added protection for the blisters.

I do wonder sometimes... here I am getting excited about socks. I knit to pass the time and get rather excited about different wools, silks and cotton (not to mention the different needles and stitches). Sometimes I feel like I should have been born earlier back when all of these things were less strange and spinster related. Then again I can't complain because I have a fantastic guy who is supportive of most of my quirks - what more could you ask for?

I do wonder, but then I realise that I wouldn't change a thing. I am content with my life at the moment. Even when I'm feeling down, I think that I am content with my life. I guess sometimes it seems like it's too much to bear.

It's Oh So Quiet

This morning I tried out the alarm clock function on my new iPod. I highly recommend Björk's "It's Oh So Quiet" as fantastic wake up music. The hint of the triangle gives your brain a subtle hint that something is about to happen before the quiet melody of the woodwinds gently ease you into waking. If that didn't grab your consciousness, then the brass section is sure to remedy that! It almost has a snooze function with the quiet sections interspersed with blasts of theatrical music that you really can't complain about. All in all a great piece of music that I love at any time of day (certainly better than a blaring off-key siren) and a cute film clip to boot!

The dogs seemed a little drowsy when I let them out. Particularly Clio. I think she must have had trouble sleeping. I heard her pacing around in the wee small hours of the morning.

Today will be a tough day. I've had about 3.5 hours sleep and I'm aiming to be awake for a few more hours before I undoubtly crash and have a nap. I decided that I needed to go to the doctor regarding my stupid foot which hurts to walk on. I might mention that I've been having trouble sleeping. Then again I'm sure that the sleep patterns being strange have something to do with the recent changes to my social life having moved to the burbs while house-sitting.

I should also go shopping and get some more dog food for the dogs and a set of 7mm circular knitting needles for myself. I also need to put petrol in the car . That will be expensive given the size of the petrol tank and the type of fuel. Oh well, it's a price that I'll pay for the luxury of not having to walk to the doctor's.