I've avoided writing a new post for awhile now. Largely because I had nothing to say. I have no words to describe the events of the past twenty months, nor do I feel an urge to find them.
There are still days when I wake up thinking I've heard my Mum calling me. It happened the day she died and a couple of times since. Last night as I drifted off to sleep I heard her asking me questions that I can't remember anymore. It leaves me unsettled and a little melancholy. I'm okay with that even if it does make me feel like I might be just that little bit crazier than I thought. I figure it's because I'm still grieving. I never really expect it to go away. The sadness that is. All I hope is that like the ends of the relationships I've experienced so far, the heartache will dull and at some point turn into something that is a pleasure to remember instead of bittersweet.
It's Mum's birthday in nine days and I suspect the next few weeks will be hard. I'm trying to find a balance between the memories and remembering to still experience the present. It's a struggle but I think I can get there, where ever that might be.
Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Two months in a nutshell
As seems to be the case far more often than I'd like it to be, I've had good intentions of writing but failed to put those intentions in to practice.
April in Brisbane passed fairly quickly and uneventfully after I worked out how to ring the bell on the bus.
My "silver jubilee" was pleasantly quiet and spent doing grocery shopping, laundry and studying French. Just what I wanted really. A normal day catching up on things that I wouldn't otherwise get done during the week.
I've read far less in the last few weeks than I had when I initially arrived. Big crocheting projects like blankets and jumpers saw me spending much more time in front of the television. I'm still very much in chick flick viewing mode but I am hoping to move into arthouse again some time during the week.
A few weeks ago I was in Melbourne visiting Mum & Dad and it was sooooo good to see them. There was much excitement in the house. I've never seen the dogs run around quite like that when there isn't food involved! It was a short visit as I had to head back to work but I'm glad I went down to see them anyhow.
There's a bit of traveling about coming up next month with hi-jinx in Sydney, and another trip to see my folks before the crazy festival life takes over till mid-August.
I had planned to write more but I'm going to save that for another day when there's more to tell.
April in Brisbane passed fairly quickly and uneventfully after I worked out how to ring the bell on the bus.
My "silver jubilee" was pleasantly quiet and spent doing grocery shopping, laundry and studying French. Just what I wanted really. A normal day catching up on things that I wouldn't otherwise get done during the week.
I've read far less in the last few weeks than I had when I initially arrived. Big crocheting projects like blankets and jumpers saw me spending much more time in front of the television. I'm still very much in chick flick viewing mode but I am hoping to move into arthouse again some time during the week.
A few weeks ago I was in Melbourne visiting Mum & Dad and it was sooooo good to see them. There was much excitement in the house. I've never seen the dogs run around quite like that when there isn't food involved! It was a short visit as I had to head back to work but I'm glad I went down to see them anyhow.
There's a bit of traveling about coming up next month with hi-jinx in Sydney, and another trip to see my folks before the crazy festival life takes over till mid-August.
I had planned to write more but I'm going to save that for another day when there's more to tell.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Happy Birthday Mum
I'm sitting here wondering what to write for Mum's birthday card. Something that not only expresses how much I love her but how incredibly lucky I feel to be her daughter. The thing is, I don't think that it's quite sunk in that she's in remission and quite possibly going to be okay. Just eight months ago, we were told that her cancer was to be incurable. We were going to have to wait and see if we could prolong her life after 18 months of treatment. I can't speak for Mum or Dad, but for me the last 8 months has passed both quickly and painfully slowly. Having looked into the general statistics for pancreatic cancer patients, the odds weren't looking good. Less than 1% of patients go into long term remission.
So here we are. Full radiological and biological remission.
Amazingly good news and funnily enough I'm still having to tell myself to just breathe.
I started to look at my posts from when we first found out that Mum had pancreatic cancer. Sure that I would find some poignant or inspired words from the time as I never shared those with Mum at the time. Reading posts from the two blogs that I write, I found myself in tears. The emotions are still raw. I suppose I've been spending the last eight months trying to live from day to day and not think, not to feel. I almost lost my Mum last year. If she'd been like many pancreatic patients then she would have most likely passed away around September. I still can't find the words to say how I feel now that the outcome is what we'd been hoping for.
It would seem that I'm still lost for words. So I think, for Mum's birthday, I'm going to say:
So here we are. Full radiological and biological remission.
Amazingly good news and funnily enough I'm still having to tell myself to just breathe.
I started to look at my posts from when we first found out that Mum had pancreatic cancer. Sure that I would find some poignant or inspired words from the time as I never shared those with Mum at the time. Reading posts from the two blogs that I write, I found myself in tears. The emotions are still raw. I suppose I've been spending the last eight months trying to live from day to day and not think, not to feel. I almost lost my Mum last year. If she'd been like many pancreatic patients then she would have most likely passed away around September. I still can't find the words to say how I feel now that the outcome is what we'd been hoping for.
It would seem that I'm still lost for words. So I think, for Mum's birthday, I'm going to say:
Happy Birthday Mum. Thank you for staying positive and fighting against the odds. Thank you for ironing my dress for me before the party even when you were tired because you knew I'd do a terrible job and take twice as long doing so. Thank you for holding me and telling me it was going to be okay when we found out you had cancer and when we found out you were in remission. You truly are an inspiration and you handle what life brings you with grace and poise. I love you. Thank you.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
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. :)
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. :)
Sunday, August 26, 2007
A Toast
Five, possibly six years ago, in a small theatre in Melbourne I met Nick. As we trimmed trees during the church service next door, hauled dentist chairs and squeezed puppets that barely fit through the doors into the theatre, we didn't really talk much. That was must of the season until we had our final two shows, a matinee and an evening show. We had a couple of hours to kill so we headed to the pub and played a whole lot of pool and from that moment a friendship started to grow.
Over the years Nick's been an amazing friend. He seems to have a sixth sense about when I'm feeling under the weather no matter where I am. A text message will appear or my phone will ring just at the right moment. Just as I'm thinking I need to talk to someone. Most importantly he's honest with me. He's not afraid to tell me I'm being an idiot or that I'm doing okay.
Well, it's Nick's birthday today and I wish I could be there to give him a hug and a beer but there's a festival to close tonight so the beer will have to wait. Well, his beer anyway!
So happy birthday darlin'. To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due.
Over the years Nick's been an amazing friend. He seems to have a sixth sense about when I'm feeling under the weather no matter where I am. A text message will appear or my phone will ring just at the right moment. Just as I'm thinking I need to talk to someone. Most importantly he's honest with me. He's not afraid to tell me I'm being an idiot or that I'm doing okay.
Well, it's Nick's birthday today and I wish I could be there to give him a hug and a beer but there's a festival to close tonight so the beer will have to wait. Well, his beer anyway!
So happy birthday darlin'. To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Failing to Pack
While I should be packing for my trip to Darwin, I am instead updating information on the plethora of profiles for online communities that I've joined this week. It would seem that it's the week for it... after all I've joined three groups (Facebook which I much prefer to MySpace, Friendster, and Linked In). With the amount of time I've spent playing about with the profiles I can't help but think that I should have organised drinks with friends instead... Oh well!
Friday was my last day of temping for at least the next four months and I'm grateful for that. The day dragged on as there was very little for me to do. Still it was nice to be asked to stay on by so many people. Even nicer to know that I couldn't because I'll be in Darwin on Monday in a job I'm actually excited about!
So packing you say? Well, tonight wasn't really the night for it as I headed out for drinks to celebrate Dave's birthday. Besides, anyone who's traveled/lived with me knows that I'm a last minute packer. The world would implode if I wasn't up to the wee hours of the morning throwing things into my bags/boxes...
Friday was my last day of temping for at least the next four months and I'm grateful for that. The day dragged on as there was very little for me to do. Still it was nice to be asked to stay on by so many people. Even nicer to know that I couldn't because I'll be in Darwin on Monday in a job I'm actually excited about!
So packing you say? Well, tonight wasn't really the night for it as I headed out for drinks to celebrate Dave's birthday. Besides, anyone who's traveled/lived with me knows that I'm a last minute packer. The world would implode if I wasn't up to the wee hours of the morning throwing things into my bags/boxes...
Monday, May 21, 2007
A Longer Post for a Shorter Day
First day back in a theatre today and it was a good feeling. Bump ins are good fun, almost as fun as bumping out...
It was a slow starting day beginning with a hot shower that I'm grateful for as Dad didn't have hot water due to a black out. I was less awake than I thought I was as I managed to stick my right index finger partway into the toaster in an attempt to retrieve my toast. Unsurprisingly this resulted in a small burn on the right side of my finger. Sadly despite my first aid training the first thing I did was swear and blow on it before thinking (quite literally) what the hell are you doing you idiot, run it under cold water! Which I did. It didn't help. Stupid burn. The chilled water made it a bit better but eh... give it a few days.
After work I headed to Knox to get a pressie for my cousin Nadia who's birthday is on Sunday and to pick up a couple of headbands for Mum. I also picked out my birthday books using the voucher from my family in Canberra. I ended up with A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka, A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon and another book who's title escapes me but has something to do with time lords from memory (not Dr Who).
Armed with a bagful of books I headed to the hospital to visit Mum. She was in fine spirits and was sure to let everyone know that she was feeling much better and was ready to go home. We're still waiting for the blood test results to come back but the specialist/surgeon seems fairly confident that she can come home tomorrow. In true Mum fashion she's already packed and ready to leave. Ever the organised one in our house!
Tomorrow is a long day of spending QT with Mum and trying to catch up on sleep, bookended by a job interview in the morning and a bump out late that night. It's good to be busy again. If only for a day!
It was a slow starting day beginning with a hot shower that I'm grateful for as Dad didn't have hot water due to a black out. I was less awake than I thought I was as I managed to stick my right index finger partway into the toaster in an attempt to retrieve my toast. Unsurprisingly this resulted in a small burn on the right side of my finger. Sadly despite my first aid training the first thing I did was swear and blow on it before thinking (quite literally) what the hell are you doing you idiot, run it under cold water! Which I did. It didn't help. Stupid burn. The chilled water made it a bit better but eh... give it a few days.
After work I headed to Knox to get a pressie for my cousin Nadia who's birthday is on Sunday and to pick up a couple of headbands for Mum. I also picked out my birthday books using the voucher from my family in Canberra. I ended up with A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka, A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon and another book who's title escapes me but has something to do with time lords from memory (not Dr Who).
Armed with a bagful of books I headed to the hospital to visit Mum. She was in fine spirits and was sure to let everyone know that she was feeling much better and was ready to go home. We're still waiting for the blood test results to come back but the specialist/surgeon seems fairly confident that she can come home tomorrow. In true Mum fashion she's already packed and ready to leave. Ever the organised one in our house!
Tomorrow is a long day of spending QT with Mum and trying to catch up on sleep, bookended by a job interview in the morning and a bump out late that night. It's good to be busy again. If only for a day!
Monday, May 07, 2007
Happy Beanie Smart Cookie
Yesterday was Gene's birthday. I was not as prepared for celebrations as I'd planned to be as it's been a big week at home. (I keep saying that but the weeks seem growing exponentially).
I started and have already failed my attempt for 1 photo per day. No matter it's the quality over quantity thing I say! I will share two photos though.
The view from my window:
Dad's first finger-knitting experience:
Dad learnt how to finger knit earlier this week and what you're seeing in the picture is a headband he made for Mum.
Further finger-knitting explorations have been put on hold as Mum went into hospital on Friday. Turns out she has a lesion or tumour on the head of her pancreas (might not be diabetic after all). So she went in for surgery on Friday where they removed her gall bladder (neither of my parents have gall bladders now) and bypassed the ducts that had been blocked by the growth. Sadly they couldn't remove it as there were too many surrounding blood vessels. So they took a biopsy and we'll know the results today or tomorrow. It's looking like she'll go for radiotherapy when she's better. Mum's still in hospital, probably till the end of the week but she's recovering well with her sense of humour well in tact.
While I'm sure other things happened this week I can't recall them. Priorities and all!
So it was Gene's birthday yesterday and I was unprepared. The space invader socks have proven far more time-consuming than I had bargained for and I had to start again with finer wool and less time. The short-row knitted beanie that I'd started for him was gigantic. It was looking a bit disastrous. I had to resort to plan B - making it up as I went along. In the end there was a large cookie cake (think two cake sized cookies with chocolate-cream-cheese icing) and a crocheted beanie. Why the cookie-cake? When I was at uni in Ballarat in one of my end of semester assessment interviews the topic of Gene came up and one of my lecturers said that Gene was a smart cookie (I was a good fish apparently). As for the beanie it was crocheted quickly in Gene colours as he said he'd lost his Barcelona beanie.
Happy Beanie Smart Cookie! I hope you still had fun even though you had to work last night!
I started and have already failed my attempt for 1 photo per day. No matter it's the quality over quantity thing I say! I will share two photos though.
The view from my window:
Dad's first finger-knitting experience:
Dad learnt how to finger knit earlier this week and what you're seeing in the picture is a headband he made for Mum.
Further finger-knitting explorations have been put on hold as Mum went into hospital on Friday. Turns out she has a lesion or tumour on the head of her pancreas (might not be diabetic after all). So she went in for surgery on Friday where they removed her gall bladder (neither of my parents have gall bladders now) and bypassed the ducts that had been blocked by the growth. Sadly they couldn't remove it as there were too many surrounding blood vessels. So they took a biopsy and we'll know the results today or tomorrow. It's looking like she'll go for radiotherapy when she's better. Mum's still in hospital, probably till the end of the week but she's recovering well with her sense of humour well in tact.
While I'm sure other things happened this week I can't recall them. Priorities and all!
So it was Gene's birthday yesterday and I was unprepared. The space invader socks have proven far more time-consuming than I had bargained for and I had to start again with finer wool and less time. The short-row knitted beanie that I'd started for him was gigantic. It was looking a bit disastrous. I had to resort to plan B - making it up as I went along. In the end there was a large cookie cake (think two cake sized cookies with chocolate-cream-cheese icing) and a crocheted beanie. Why the cookie-cake? When I was at uni in Ballarat in one of my end of semester assessment interviews the topic of Gene came up and one of my lecturers said that Gene was a smart cookie (I was a good fish apparently). As for the beanie it was crocheted quickly in Gene colours as he said he'd lost his Barcelona beanie.
Happy Beanie Smart Cookie! I hope you still had fun even though you had to work last night!
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Parking in Doha
Happy Birthday Fi! I'm a day early here but it's technically the 2nd of September where you are now!
As Naomi mentioned in her blog, Gene is on his way to Doha tonight (well today for me because it's only 17:00 here). So what did I do with my day so far in preparation? Well, I slept in until 09:00 and believe me those two hours of extra undisturbed sleep were a beautiful thing. I then rolled over and dozed for another couple of hours after turning the air-con off until the warmth of the room woke me up and I turned it back on again. In the process I called Gene at the most inconvenient time of checking in to the plane. So I plodded downstairs to chat with my housemates who were off to brunch at the Sheraton (having brunch at a five star hotel is the done thing over here as you can buy alcohol and food at the same place, just like home!). I did my, now weekly, French manicure and read a bit more of A Short History of Nearly Everything before returning Gene's call and wishing him a safe flight. I think the best thing about our one minute and 13 second conversation was ending it with see you in the morning!
Life in Doha is plodding along. Or at least if feels like it's plodding along until I realise that I've been here for two weeks already and we're about 91 days from Opening.
Carrefour Villagio is operational again which made us all very happy at work even though Mega Mart seems to be the supermarket of choice. I've decided against shopping this weekend as I simply don't need anything other than fabric softener. You may be asking how I can need fabric softener and I give you that without it I will more than likely live. However with my skin still drier than ever before I am planning not to repeat the grazing that I gave myself while drying myself with my towel. (Apologies for the poorly constructed sentence. I could re-write but I'm lazy and short on computer battery life and the charger's at work).
With each night I have been getting more and more grateful that Dad got me A Short History of Nearly Everything. Sure it's not going to see me through to the end of the week but it's been a really entertaining read and it's re-sparked my interest in science. Not that I'm planning on a career change or anything I love my job! It's actually been kind of nice to know that I haven't completely forgotten all my science general knowledge. There are plenty of recognisable names and I am happy to say that I remember what the discovered or what was named for them before Bill Bryson explains. I go through moments in my life where I feel a little dull in the mind but this book has been pleasantly reassuring that I'm not completely away with the fairies.
Speaking of books, Gene was saying that at the airport he had to keep himself from buying books. I assured him that Jarir Bookstore had a fair number of English books and that it even included a selection of Sci-Fi/Fantasy which had Pratchett but no Gaiman. I guess I'll have to wait until we arrive in London to get a copy of Fragile Things.
I must admit there is an impressive amount of USB adaptors for sale over here in Doha. USB to just about anything. Even phoneline plugs (CAT something?). I found some great looking iShuffle speakers at Jarir which as I have an iPod I probably won't buy, but I did find some cool and comfy looking wireless iPod headphones going for QAR120 (about AU$43).
It looks a little overcast outside but it's not actually going to rain. It's amazing how it can still trick your brain into thinking it might be cool outside. It actually seems cooler today but the temperature's still 37˚C.
On a side note I'm so happy that I've found the degrees symbol on my laptop. It was getting boring typing out the word! For those of you wondering how I found it... did I look at the keyboard map? No. I went `¡™£¢∞§¶•ªº–≠œ∑´®†¥¨ˆøπ“‘«åß∂ƒ©˙∆˚ ahah! Found it!
I thought I'd finish off with an example of why you should be patient while driving and preferably stick to the roads. You can see Khalifa Stadium, where I work, in the background.
This was there all day and took a crane to rectify. No one was hurt but you've been warned!
As Naomi mentioned in her blog, Gene is on his way to Doha tonight (well today for me because it's only 17:00 here). So what did I do with my day so far in preparation? Well, I slept in until 09:00 and believe me those two hours of extra undisturbed sleep were a beautiful thing. I then rolled over and dozed for another couple of hours after turning the air-con off until the warmth of the room woke me up and I turned it back on again. In the process I called Gene at the most inconvenient time of checking in to the plane. So I plodded downstairs to chat with my housemates who were off to brunch at the Sheraton (having brunch at a five star hotel is the done thing over here as you can buy alcohol and food at the same place, just like home!). I did my, now weekly, French manicure and read a bit more of A Short History of Nearly Everything before returning Gene's call and wishing him a safe flight. I think the best thing about our one minute and 13 second conversation was ending it with see you in the morning!
Life in Doha is plodding along. Or at least if feels like it's plodding along until I realise that I've been here for two weeks already and we're about 91 days from Opening.
Carrefour Villagio is operational again which made us all very happy at work even though Mega Mart seems to be the supermarket of choice. I've decided against shopping this weekend as I simply don't need anything other than fabric softener. You may be asking how I can need fabric softener and I give you that without it I will more than likely live. However with my skin still drier than ever before I am planning not to repeat the grazing that I gave myself while drying myself with my towel. (Apologies for the poorly constructed sentence. I could re-write but I'm lazy and short on computer battery life and the charger's at work).
With each night I have been getting more and more grateful that Dad got me A Short History of Nearly Everything. Sure it's not going to see me through to the end of the week but it's been a really entertaining read and it's re-sparked my interest in science. Not that I'm planning on a career change or anything I love my job! It's actually been kind of nice to know that I haven't completely forgotten all my science general knowledge. There are plenty of recognisable names and I am happy to say that I remember what the discovered or what was named for them before Bill Bryson explains. I go through moments in my life where I feel a little dull in the mind but this book has been pleasantly reassuring that I'm not completely away with the fairies.
Speaking of books, Gene was saying that at the airport he had to keep himself from buying books. I assured him that Jarir Bookstore had a fair number of English books and that it even included a selection of Sci-Fi/Fantasy which had Pratchett but no Gaiman. I guess I'll have to wait until we arrive in London to get a copy of Fragile Things.
I must admit there is an impressive amount of USB adaptors for sale over here in Doha. USB to just about anything. Even phoneline plugs (CAT something?). I found some great looking iShuffle speakers at Jarir which as I have an iPod I probably won't buy, but I did find some cool and comfy looking wireless iPod headphones going for QAR120 (about AU$43).
It looks a little overcast outside but it's not actually going to rain. It's amazing how it can still trick your brain into thinking it might be cool outside. It actually seems cooler today but the temperature's still 37˚C.
On a side note I'm so happy that I've found the degrees symbol on my laptop. It was getting boring typing out the word! For those of you wondering how I found it... did I look at the keyboard map? No. I went `¡™£¢∞§¶•ªº–≠œ∑´®†¥¨ˆøπ“‘«åß∂ƒ©˙∆˚ ahah! Found it!
I thought I'd finish off with an example of why you should be patient while driving and preferably stick to the roads. You can see Khalifa Stadium, where I work, in the background.
This was there all day and took a crane to rectify. No one was hurt but you've been warned!
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Geeky combinations
Still no headway with Herman. Even though I feed him every day and bring him various presents we're still barely acquaintences. *sigh* I've even started to try and make sure the presents are old bits of clothing so that he can get used to my scent (that sounds weird doesn't it?). As of today I'm going to start just spending more time in the room with him. It's hard now that he's not in our living room! I think I missed the alpha rat boat when he bit me the first time and I just got upset. A little pathetic really on my part, but I felt really betrayed by our little Hermoine when it happened because we were good friends and he used to just climb out of the cage and into my hands. Then puberty hit and the hormones took over and our friendship was strained. I've never had this problem with larger animals. Dogs, cats, cows and even goats have been easier to gain the affection of and understand. Yet I am so totally lost at how to win the friendship of a rat. Go figure.
The knitting and crocheting goes well though. I learnt a wonderful new technique which is foundationless double crochet (US terms). In a nutshell, in case anyone cares, it's a method of starting your work where you don't need to work a foundation chain before starting. You do it at the same time as your first double crochet row. Much more efficient in my opinion. That and I hate crocheting into a foundation chain.
So far I've made a capelet and I've almost finished my decorative belt. Just miscalculated on the yarn so I'm going to have to sneak out of the house to Lincraft before Gene gets home. He took the car so I have to wait for Mum. Shhh... don't tell Gene. I also want to pick up some more yarn to make Gene a Linux Scarf. It's geeky but not too crazily geeky. It uses a technique called illusion knitting which means that you can only see the image at certain angles. So this scarf will just look like a normal striped scarf except at certain angles you can see the Linux penguin. Très cool! I've been having lots of fun over the last couple of days trawling the Internet with Mum for new patterns and inspriations. It's great to have someone else who's excited about geeky knitting & crochet stuff.
Also helps that she's willing to watch sci-fi with me. We ended up watching Startrek: Next Generation last night (the one where Picard's the arbitor for the installation of the next Klingon leader). We drew the line at the original series though. I still can't quite bring myself to watch that. I did watch the Trouble with Tribbles episode (or at least that's what I think it's called) which was great with all the furry rocks and all. Gene's insisting that now I've seen that I need to watch the DS9 episode where they go back to that episode. Sounds like a plan!
I've almost finished reading Gloriana
by Michael Moorcock. It really shouldn't have taken me this long to read it but I got distracted by my geeky obsessions. Well worth a read if anyone wants to borrow it. Kind of like Gormenghast but kinkier and a bit lighter. I think I'll start on Mother London next.
Tonight I'm meant to be catching up with Nick and Claire but as no details have filtered back to me yet, that still t.b.c. Gene's planning on making rice paper rolls for dinner so I should start getting together a list of what I need to buy at the supermarket so we don't have a repeat of my last supermarket outing.
Happy birthday Naomi (from Gene & Herman too)!
The knitting and crocheting goes well though. I learnt a wonderful new technique which is foundationless double crochet (US terms). In a nutshell, in case anyone cares, it's a method of starting your work where you don't need to work a foundation chain before starting. You do it at the same time as your first double crochet row. Much more efficient in my opinion. That and I hate crocheting into a foundation chain.
So far I've made a capelet and I've almost finished my decorative belt. Just miscalculated on the yarn so I'm going to have to sneak out of the house to Lincraft before Gene gets home. He took the car so I have to wait for Mum. Shhh... don't tell Gene. I also want to pick up some more yarn to make Gene a Linux Scarf. It's geeky but not too crazily geeky. It uses a technique called illusion knitting which means that you can only see the image at certain angles. So this scarf will just look like a normal striped scarf except at certain angles you can see the Linux penguin. Très cool! I've been having lots of fun over the last couple of days trawling the Internet with Mum for new patterns and inspriations. It's great to have someone else who's excited about geeky knitting & crochet stuff.
Also helps that she's willing to watch sci-fi with me. We ended up watching Startrek: Next Generation last night (the one where Picard's the arbitor for the installation of the next Klingon leader). We drew the line at the original series though. I still can't quite bring myself to watch that. I did watch the Trouble with Tribbles episode (or at least that's what I think it's called) which was great with all the furry rocks and all. Gene's insisting that now I've seen that I need to watch the DS9 episode where they go back to that episode. Sounds like a plan!
I've almost finished reading Gloriana
by Michael Moorcock. It really shouldn't have taken me this long to read it but I got distracted by my geeky obsessions. Well worth a read if anyone wants to borrow it. Kind of like Gormenghast but kinkier and a bit lighter. I think I'll start on Mother London next.
Tonight I'm meant to be catching up with Nick and Claire but as no details have filtered back to me yet, that still t.b.c. Gene's planning on making rice paper rolls for dinner so I should start getting together a list of what I need to buy at the supermarket so we don't have a repeat of my last supermarket outing.
Happy birthday Naomi (from Gene & Herman too)!
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Voiceless
In fine and typical fashion, having finally gotten my days back to myself I have managed to lose my voice. This could make day to day transactions more difficult than expected.
Oh well. At least I can blog...
I've been wearing my cape-coat at almost every waking moment much to Gene's amusement. It's nice and warm although it currently has a rather disconcerting scent of lighter fluid, but I think that's just the "wet new wool" smell that I haven't smelt of a while. A bit of airing is in order I think.
Having been given a three books for my birthday (one of them an audio book) I have already started two. It's only natural! I'm saving one of them for our trip to Singapore/Japan. Gene and I listened to Reaper Man last night as we were falling asleep and caught up on the other bits when we woke up this morning. I love audio books. It is important to note that laugher is not always conducive to sleep.
While passing time between shows I've been reading The Sandman Papers which has been most interesting. I'm up to the fourth paper at the moment and am rapidly discovering whole new branches of academia that I was unaware of. There is much more reading to be done at the end of this. So many books and not enough time...
Oh well. At least I can blog...
I've been wearing my cape-coat at almost every waking moment much to Gene's amusement. It's nice and warm although it currently has a rather disconcerting scent of lighter fluid, but I think that's just the "wet new wool" smell that I haven't smelt of a while. A bit of airing is in order I think.
Having been given a three books for my birthday (one of them an audio book) I have already started two. It's only natural! I'm saving one of them for our trip to Singapore/Japan. Gene and I listened to Reaper Man last night as we were falling asleep and caught up on the other bits when we woke up this morning. I love audio books. It is important to note that laugher is not always conducive to sleep.
While passing time between shows I've been reading The Sandman Papers which has been most interesting. I'm up to the fourth paper at the moment and am rapidly discovering whole new branches of academia that I was unaware of. There is much more reading to be done at the end of this. So many books and not enough time...
Thursday, April 27, 2006
23yrs 1hr 27minutes
I spent the first hour of my 23rd year learning zippo lighter tricks with Gene in the livingroom of our house. It's been a good year already :)
Having read Nomi & Lisa's blog I also did a quiz on Blog Things and this is what I have to show for it.
This may become a daily treat for me... I love quizzes!
Having read Nomi & Lisa's blog I also did a quiz on Blog Things and this is what I have to show for it.
This may become a daily treat for me... I love quizzes!
Your Stripper Song Is |
 Master and Servant by Depeche Mode "There�s a new game We like to play you see A game with added reality You treat me like a dog Get me down on my knees" Yawn, dancing is so boring without a little spice. |
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