A Shadow of A Smile

"One more chapter of Lost Girls" turned into the rest of Book 1. As a result I'm limiting myself to reading Lost Girls only during the day.

Today seems to be dragging its heels a little, although I have been up for five hours so I suppose it feels like awhile. I waved everyone goodbye on their way to work and have two snoring pugs beside me for company.

Random small projects keep popping up in my mind as I try to pinpoint something to occupy my time. The other night I started to transform The Arctic Measles That Never Were into comic format but it was a much greater task that I could accomplish at 0300 with no forward planning. I'm back to sketching panel layouts now and trying to decide how to illustrate the characters/photos.

I also had a play with PhotoBooth again having just worked out what the iGlasses function does with my webcam. Can you tell I had fun?

All Home

We're all home now. Gene & Nick arrived safe and sound at about 02:39 which was only an hour and twenty four minutes after they were meant to.

I think they were both happy to be back on Australian soil. As we drove back from Tullamarine the boys marvelled at the changes to the Melbourne skyline - largely to do with the Docklands and Eureka Tower. We dropped Nick off at about 04:30 and arrived home ourselves at about 05:00.

After a quick snack of kueh lapis we all trundled off to bed.

Today was spent picking up bits and pieces like Gene's license, but mostly just lounging at home. The job hunt went less well today. I did get to spend most of my day reading and I'm now on to the second book of His Dark Materials and I'm really enjoying the books. I sense that tomorrow isn't going to be particularly productive given that I've still got one and a half books to go...

Ways to Wait

Currently waiting for our booking confirmation for our tour of Norway in late January. I discovered that up in Tromso they have the Northern Light Festival from 22nd January for about a week. I was pretty excited so I’m hoping we’ll get to spend at least two days of our tour exploring the festival before heading back down to France.

Things are getting busier at work (if that’s at all possible) but it’s going well.

I’m amazed that we’ve managed to stay on top of our laundry needs during this period. I tend to bake cookies and have dinner while waiting for the washing machine to finish it’s 35 minute wash cycle before hanging it out and passing out in bed. At least I have clean clothes and cookies. Add a cup of tea into that mixture and anything is possible!

It's oh so quiet

Weekends are funny things. If indeed they are things at all. Back at home a weekend is Saturday and Sunday. They're days that the majority of people (apparently) don't work. Working in the jobs that we do, Gene & I don't really have weekends as such. We have Monday which is our pseudo-weekend because that's the day when there's generally no shows on. We still refer to Saturday & Sundays as weekends because that's what everyone else does.

In Qatar, the weekend is Friday and Saturday which is a little confusing. To add to the confusion Friday is the holy day which makes it a little like Sunday back at home - shops opening shorter more random hours etc.

So I get easily confused when it's Saturday or Sunday and cyberspace is quiet because I forget that everyone back home is off doing fun and exciting weekend things while I'm at work wondering why there's not even much junk email in my inbox. I'm an easily confuzzled girl when I think about it.

Work is pretty much my life at the moment with brief moments of time with Gene (and now Nick). It's good though. It really makes me appreciate more the time I do get to spend with Gene. It's still hard not to talk shop during these times but I guess that's to be expected when we're at work for most of our waking hours.

Novel is not going well at all. Knitting is doing better though. Accomplished nothing on either of them last night as I got home at 2130 and went straight (literally) to bed. Tried to listen to the first chapter of Abarat but didn't make it through... Shall try again tonight!

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)!

Things I Have Learnt About Gaffa Tape V1.0

1. It can hold most things together.
2. Cheap gaffa is not worth the discount as it will a) not stick, b) not stay black
3. If it is easy to tear then it's not proper gaffa
4. You can get double-sided gaffa (I have yet to lay my eyes on it but I am excited anyway)
5. It comes in many colours but I still love the traditional black.
6. You can do almost anything with gaffa, just look at 1001 things to do with gaffa through google.

That's all for now. More to be added later.

White rabbit

This time tomorrow it'll be over. We'll be into our load out and much of what we are currently putting in will be gone. I just can't believe it!

I think I'm actually a little stressed about the whole thing. Not that I have anything to be stressed about. I'll be tackling paperwork when I get back into the office in 8 hours time but I'm still a little nervous about the show. Nervous and excited. I've never really had the sensation of butterflies in my stomach, but right now I feel like I've got butterflies with steel-tipped wings fluttering about in my abdomen. Not the most comfortable of sensations, but not too unpleasant an image.

I must say that I'm looking forward to having my own time again. Although I have been making the most of my spare time lately. I should really keep that up when I get weekends again. There's something really satisifying and relaxing about achieving things during the day. I fear I'm starting to lose the ability to do nothing. Relaxing's such a difficult thing! So much to do, so much to see, hear, feel, learn and savour.

So much indeed.

Addicted

Well I wasn't going to post today but I'm marking the special occasion of having made it home before midnight tonight. That and I'm fairly addicted to this whole blogging thing at the moment.

I had a good day today. Even though I was busy all day I still wonder where my day went and what I achieved. Tomorrow's looking to be equally busy and so is Friday but happily Saturday and half of Sunday will be restful.

According to the media the next generation of kids will be singing Baa baa rainbow or green sheep and other such classics as Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and got up ten seconds later. Immediate classics I say. I appreciate the desire to preserve the joy of innocence in children but I don't believe we should be sheltering them completely from any and everything "negative" in the world. I simply don't think it's healthy. It certainly doesn't seem like good preparation for adulthood and the "real world". I also understand the need to not offend people, it's something that I aspire to, but honestly I have never seen a rainbow or green coloured sheep in my life. Considering there is a disturbingly high number of kids nowadays who believe milk grows in cartons (like eggs do)... Well, good luck to you all. For a good laugh check out this article.

I want candy

Wow, I am so ready to fall asleep right now but having read Naomi's post I'm thinking I should at least post once this week if only to keep up the reputation somewhat!

Today I had the interesting experience of getting a discount from a taxi. I think it had more to do with his lack of small change but I like to think it had something to do with our rather animated conversation about everything from Greek weddings to steel cap boots. :)

Lately I've been a little stiff which is causing some rather irritating muscle tension. As you may have guessed there hasn't really been much massaging in my life yet but I assure you it's on the list of things to get to! For now I simply remain disappointed with the way the brand new panadol pack I bought seems to consist of broken crumbly panadol that doesn't seem to work as rapidly as it says.

As always work is excellent and is beginning to get a little busier (surprise surprise). I got to play with a binding machine today which was fun. Felt a bit like I was doing bench presses for an hour and a half but it felt good to be doing something hands on.

"I want candy"... hmm I think its time to relax on the couch with Gene and watch a lingerie parade...

I

It's a little strange having gotten up half an hour later this morning, come home a good hour later than yesterday and being tired but less tired than I was this morning. It makes about as much sense to me as that sentence does when you read it!

I piked on the bike riding today as it was raining when I was leaving for work. As a result I was a little late as the tram was packed and not going anywhere in a hurry.

I also picked up my official uniform today which was kinda cool. I'm fairly sure the "all-weather" jacket will come in handy the most. The hat is a little too big but everything else fits fine. They even had people there to alter your pants for you (I lost 7.5cm from the hems of mine). It was a pretty ship-shape little place really.

Tonight I'm home alone as Gene's working night shift. I've really been enjoying coming home to him over the last few nights. That might sound strange considering we've lived together for two years, but it's been good to actually get to have dinner with him and share the relaxing and unwinding after a busy day at work with him. It's only tonight and tomorrow night though. I get to have dinner with him on Friday night again. :)

I'm having dinner now - left over pasta with a deliciously garlicy sauce - and I'm starting to feel more tired as I eat. It's a bit weird.

Right now a spa would be perfect but sadly that's not an option. Maybe that's something I should look into for next week some time? I'd actually like to go and organise for a full massage some time soon to try and get some of the tension out of my back, shoulders and neck. I've never had it done and I think it'd be wonderful.

Well I'm thinking it's time to crawl into bed really... almost. Might read a bit first.

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!

Blah

Arrived home a little early this morning after dinner and a long chat with the Nic(k)s, Kim, Jodie and Claire after Nick's birthday dinner. Pity I'm still on my P's the wine smelt great.

Slept in and woke up alone and even lazier than usual. Ended up reading more of Ilium until I finally just had to get out of bed. It was a gorgeous day out so I sat on the wing chair outside and read in the "fresh" air until it started to cool down. Gene arrived home for his nap between shifts and we had lamb briyani for dinner.

I've slept heaps today and still feel exhausted and a little under the weather. I think my hayfever is coming back into play. I'm torn between wanting to finish (yet another) scarf that I started recently and reading my book.

However I'm determined to drag myself out of the house and be sociable tonight and get to both Dom's birthday drinks and Mudfest to visit Gene and perhaps grab a drink or two.

While I had every intention of writing about interesting things I think I'd better get a move on and get to those drinks before I get too lazy to cycle down there.

Rug Talk

The new chocolates that they've brought out for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are delicious! I'm limiting myself to a maximum of three piece per day. Well, I'm trying to anyway...

Still no success in the getting out of bed in the morning, except on Monday when I had that job interview. I think it's a total lack of discipline. That and I've always preferred to sleep late and rise late-ish. For some reason I'm still getting migraines even though I have been wearing my glasses when necessary, ahem , and I haven't even been reading much. Actually I've taken two days off reading and I'm now torn between finishing off the rug I'm crocheting (and by finishing I mean I'm only just over half way there) and picking up my book again. I think I'll keep going with the rug because I need to get more wool and it's a good excuse to get me out of the house.

The rug I'm making has 81 squares in total and should cover our queen size bed if I calculated correctly. It's mainly purple and blue squares, some solid and some mixed, and I'm planning to finish it off with a navy blue border. According to my calculations, I need fourteen more balls of wool to finish this rug. I could off course be somewhat wrong, but I think I'm fairly on track for this. Averaging about 1 square per hour when I get into it, closer to 1.25 hours per square right now because it's been a while since I've crocheted, I have 38 squares to go... which means I've only got 38-47.5 hours of crocheting to go... Potentially I could have this finished within a week if I really got into it... probably more reasonably within two unless I speed up. Hmm the possibilities.

Well, that rug's not going to make itself and I'm boring myself with the writing today so ciao!

Lost Hour(s)

Another lazy day today. Nothing truly unusual! Oh except that today was one of the currently rare days where Gene didn't actually have to be anywhere today, so that was nice. Unsurprisingly we got up late and slacked about the house for a bit. The best bit was listening to the mixed mini-disc that he'd put together for me about two years ago (I promise I won't get too mushy). It has great songs like "Frontier Psychiatry", "Common People" (the Pulp version NOT William Shatner) and "Here Comes Your Man" just to name a few of the songs that I hadn't heard in ages. A great mix of mellow, rocky and just silly songs (like "Old Man Sam" which is almost country rock in some ways but still so good).

We finally made it to the supermarket today, not that we bought any food. No, that would be a little too crazy. We ended up buying toothbrushes (with tongue scrapers to "improve our breath", man we're suckers sometimes), exit mould, some scrubbing sponges and some cordial. Oh and we made two dollars for returning the trolley we picked up.

The rest of the day is the best though. We spent the entire evening staying home and watching Press Gang Season 2 (which I'm shocked and horrified is not coming up on the amazon search below). Ah Spike and Linda. So much 80's goodness! Now it's just a matter of waiting for Season 3 to come out on DVD.

I was knitting a scarf out of "Rockery" wool today while watching Press Gang and have rather annoyingly run out of the wool. So I guess I'll be making a trip into town for that. Oh that and money's come through for the last play I did so YAY! I'm going to use some of it to get wool for the scarf I said I'd design for one of the cast members. I'd like to finish it for her sometime before the cold weather disappears.

I'm also hoping to make something for my little cousins (who won't be little for much longer I think). They'll be in town this weekend for my aunt's 60th birthday. I hardly ever see them and I want them to know that I do think of them. I'm just terrible with kids really. Well, they seem to like me well enough. I think it's because I'm generally their height or smaller (by the time they turn 10) therefore I don't really pose much of a threat. I don't know. I just didn't spend much time with people who were younger than me growing up and I guess I'm paranoid that I'll be patronising even though I've been assured that I'm not. If there's one thing I hated when I was little it was being patronised.

Tomorrow should be a good day. As long as I drag my sorry self out of bed at a decent hour and remember everything that I need to bring when I pick Gene up from work, things should work out well!

We're going to my parents tomorrow night so that I can spend some time back at their place doing the family thing & fixing up our computers. That and Gene's working out that way for the better part of the day.

Okay. Now it's time for me to stop blathering on. I'm a little too distracted to write I think. Distracted by what? By pretty much anything and everything.