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.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sunday, May 04, 2008
April Reading List
April started strong with plenty of reading done in the first few days. Then three and a half seasons of Grey's Anatomy coupled with some serious knitting & crochet proved to be formidable distractions.
1. The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort
2. Call Me Elizabeeth by Dawn Annandale
3. Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn
4. The Ages of Lulu by Almudena Grandes
5. The Encyclopedia of Crochet Techniques by Jan Eaton
Not sure how May's going to go... I still have several books I'm catching up on or finishing off but there are already other books catching my fancy and I'm hoping to finish knitting my jumper in the next week or so... Not to mention the French homework & reading I have to add to the list...
1. The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort
2. Call Me Elizabeeth by Dawn Annandale
3. Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn
4. The Ages of Lulu by Almudena Grandes
5. The Encyclopedia of Crochet Techniques by Jan Eaton
Not sure how May's going to go... I still have several books I'm catching up on or finishing off but there are already other books catching my fancy and I'm hoping to finish knitting my jumper in the next week or so... Not to mention the French homework & reading I have to add to the list...
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Numerical Update
611 days ago I left Brisbane and just 4 days ago I returned.
3 of those 4 days were spent with a fever averaging 38˚C. Yesterday I drank 1.25L of water and 1.15L of flavoured still mineral water. I also slept for 12 hours. I'm feeling much better and the fever is almost gone :)
It took me 1.75 bus rides to work out how to get the bus to stop without actually having to call out to the bus driver (or in the case of my first bus ride, continuing for an extra three stops). Apparently I managed to get the really old buses twice on my first day. All other buses have had the red stop button I'm used to.
I've only been working at the Brisbane Festival for 3 days and today marks 100 days till the festival opens.
While I've been up here I have read one book, gotten lost once and been to the doctor once. I've made an appointment to go back to get my third and final (yay!) Gardasil vaccination.
Since arriving in Brisbane I have received 22 text messages from people I know, one text message from someone I don't know, 12 messages via facebook and many emails of which 2 were personally addressed to me.
I have to be back in the office in 10.5 hours and given that I need at least 45 minutes to wake up, 10-15 minutes to get to the bus stop (which is not that far away but the traffic lights, and the traffic, are a little kooky) and another 20 minutes to get to work, I should probably go to bed now.
For those interested it took me 34 minutes to write all this because I kept getting distracted by a Skype conversation regarding donuts.
3 of those 4 days were spent with a fever averaging 38˚C. Yesterday I drank 1.25L of water and 1.15L of flavoured still mineral water. I also slept for 12 hours. I'm feeling much better and the fever is almost gone :)
It took me 1.75 bus rides to work out how to get the bus to stop without actually having to call out to the bus driver (or in the case of my first bus ride, continuing for an extra three stops). Apparently I managed to get the really old buses twice on my first day. All other buses have had the red stop button I'm used to.
I've only been working at the Brisbane Festival for 3 days and today marks 100 days till the festival opens.
While I've been up here I have read one book, gotten lost once and been to the doctor once. I've made an appointment to go back to get my third and final (yay!) Gardasil vaccination.
Since arriving in Brisbane I have received 22 text messages from people I know, one text message from someone I don't know, 12 messages via facebook and many emails of which 2 were personally addressed to me.
I have to be back in the office in 10.5 hours and given that I need at least 45 minutes to wake up, 10-15 minutes to get to the bus stop (which is not that far away but the traffic lights, and the traffic, are a little kooky) and another 20 minutes to get to work, I should probably go to bed now.
For those interested it took me 34 minutes to write all this because I kept getting distracted by a Skype conversation regarding donuts.
Monday, March 31, 2008
March Reading List
Far less falling apart this month, much more normal levels of crazy in my head. Sadly this hasn't translated to the number of books read.
1. A Child's True History of Crime by Chloe Hooper
2. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett (re-read)
3. Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett (partial re-read, started but hadn't previously finished it)
4. Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett (partial re-read, as above)
5. Odd & The Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
6. The Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel
So who guessed that I'd just finished unpacking my Pratchett collection this month?
I'm interested to note that I've consistently read six books per month for the first quarter of the year. It's not a conscious goal but seems to be my average for times when I'm not spending weeks on end being a book hermit.
Update
Knew I should have kept a running list as I read... I actually made it to 7 books (ten if you want to be accurate but I'm counting Lost Girls by Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie as one book broken into three volumes.
1. A Child's True History of Crime by Chloe Hooper
2. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett (re-read)
3. Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett (partial re-read, started but hadn't previously finished it)
4. Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett (partial re-read, as above)
5. Odd & The Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
6. The Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel
So who guessed that I'd just finished unpacking my Pratchett collection this month?
I'm interested to note that I've consistently read six books per month for the first quarter of the year. It's not a conscious goal but seems to be my average for times when I'm not spending weeks on end being a book hermit.
Update
Knew I should have kept a running list as I read... I actually made it to 7 books (ten if you want to be accurate but I'm counting Lost Girls by Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie as one book broken into three volumes.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
iLove my new phone
It's shiny, pretty and as womderfully fun to use as I anticipated and then some. Need I say more?
This post was brought to you and typed on my new phone.
Shiny :)
This post was brought to you and typed on my new phone.
Shiny :)
Monday, March 03, 2008
Life Lessons in Scrabble
Today was a very domestic day. Clean-Up-Sarah's-Act Day. Well, clean up my room & bathroom anyhow.
Three loads of laundry (I actually bothered to sort out my clothes into coloured and dark) and I was well on my way. Several boxes of books have been unpacked and others removed from the bookshelf and packed into boxes in a [moving] deckchairs-on-the-Titanic-esque manner. After slipping in the bathroom while mopping the floor and hitting my head on a shelf while dusting I decided to retreat to the safety of the bedroom. After a few hours I was happy to rediscover my floor under the myriad of boxes I headed downstairs for dinner.
THUD
What was that? Mum askes.
I wander upstairs having quipped that it was probably my bookshelf.
Turns out it was my bookshelf.
I may have gotten a little upset. Just a little.
The floor had disappeared under a mound of books that had also dismantled my clothes rack.
Just a little upset.
Three hours later and I had reclaimed the floor, fixed the rack and precariously stacked the books on the chest of drawers. I needed a break from the domesticity.
Clearly a game of Scrabble was in order.
Dad & I had bought Mum the Deluxe Scrabble board for her birthday.
The christening game reminded me of a valuable lesson. Greed is not good. I could have finished the game but decided to hold out by one more move in order to score more points. If I'd put the original word on the board I would have won. Instead Dad took line honours for tonight's game. Ah well, there's always tomorrow. Anyway, I have a floor. I need not for winning Scrabble.
Three loads of laundry (I actually bothered to sort out my clothes into coloured and dark) and I was well on my way. Several boxes of books have been unpacked and others removed from the bookshelf and packed into boxes in a [moving] deckchairs-on-the-Titanic-esque manner. After slipping in the bathroom while mopping the floor and hitting my head on a shelf while dusting I decided to retreat to the safety of the bedroom. After a few hours I was happy to rediscover my floor under the myriad of boxes I headed downstairs for dinner.
THUD
What was that? Mum askes.
I wander upstairs having quipped that it was probably my bookshelf.
Turns out it was my bookshelf.
I may have gotten a little upset. Just a little.
The floor had disappeared under a mound of books that had also dismantled my clothes rack.
Just a little upset.
Three hours later and I had reclaimed the floor, fixed the rack and precariously stacked the books on the chest of drawers. I needed a break from the domesticity.
Clearly a game of Scrabble was in order.
Dad & I had bought Mum the Deluxe Scrabble board for her birthday.
The christening game reminded me of a valuable lesson. Greed is not good. I could have finished the game but decided to hold out by one more move in order to score more points. If I'd put the original word on the board I would have won. Instead Dad took line honours for tonight's game. Ah well, there's always tomorrow. Anyway, I have a floor. I need not for winning Scrabble.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
February Reading List
Well, I've been slack with the blogging but life fell apart a little (at least in my head) so I've been taking some time to re-group.
Anyhow, books read in February were:
1. Thud by Terry Pratchett
2. Where's My Cow by Terry Pratchett (re-read)
3. The Black Crusade by Richard Harland
4. Green Eggs & Ham by Dr Seuss (re-read)
5. Shadowfall by James Clemens (re-read)
6. Hinterlands by James Clemens
Not a great deal of reading done and most of it happened on the 28th February but hopefully I'll manage to get a few more in. After all there's a medium box of books that have been waiting patiently for me to read them for almost 2 years now.
Anyhow, books read in February were:
1. Thud by Terry Pratchett
2. Where's My Cow by Terry Pratchett (re-read)
3. The Black Crusade by Richard Harland
4. Green Eggs & Ham by Dr Seuss (re-read)
5. Shadowfall by James Clemens (re-read)
6. Hinterlands by James Clemens
Not a great deal of reading done and most of it happened on the 28th February but hopefully I'll manage to get a few more in. After all there's a medium box of books that have been waiting patiently for me to read them for almost 2 years now.
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.
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