Monday, June 26, 2006

I will call him Claude, and he shall be mine.

Ahh the thrill of driving someone else's car. Especially a new car, and especially one that you're seriously considering buying. I think there is something distinctly grown-up about test-driving cars. It's as if you've been given a magic ticket to drive anything you want, even if there's absolutely no chance in hell of you buying it! To be fair, i didn't test drive anything I'm not actually thinking about buying, but it's just thrilling that I COULD have! I've never bought a car before, my Grandpa used to deal in small used cars, and found my current car for me, so I've never gone through the process of deciding what I want, hunting all over melbourne for it, test driving it, and having someone selling it to me all the way.

It's interesting to note the difference in approach from the big name brand dealers to the smaller used car lots.

At the big name one, the guy showed me round all the cars, drove the ones I was test driving out onto the road for me (just to "make sure everything is ok"), was with me the whole time, and while he was very nice, was constantly trying to sell me the car.

At the smaller one, I arrived, i found the car, i went and asked if I could drive it, the guy handed me the keys and said, "Take your time. Oh, and here's 20 bucks. Can you please put some petrol in it?" I must have looked a little incredulous at this, because he actually felt he needed to explain to me that it was empty! I went to the petrol station, i drove around and picked up my parentals and took them for a drive, i was driving around an area I knew, with absolutely no pressure from the sales guy, because he wasn't in the car! The whole approach was much more conducive to be buying that car, and consequently, it's the one I've decided on.

Now he just needs to get the price right! That's when I pull out the Daddy card.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Join me on the bandwagon.

Today, I woke up at a time starting with 5. Yes... i woke up at about 5.55am.

A.M.PEOPLE.

As in... an Altogether MAD time to get out of bed (these days at least). The world is a cold dark and scary place at this hour. I wouldn't recommend that anybody do it on a regular basis.

My oh so lovely brother woke me up for the second half of the soccer. In truth, i've never really been a soccer fan. I've never had the teensiest shred of interest in a game that has about 4 seconds of excitement, and that's in a busy game. However, I've jumped on the same bandwagon as much of the rest of Australia. It's FOOTBALL Tam, not SOCCER. Those are OUR BOYS over there, representing OUR COUNTRY and doing US PROUD.

You'd be forgiven for thinking I might have been talking about those of our countrymen fighting a war overseas, but no, this is MUCH more important than those blokes sweating it out in army greens. Isn't it? This is the World Cup.

Australia loves nothing more than a good old fashioned sporting hero: Harry Kewell, John Aloisi (these are the only two I know without googling, and i really am just too lazy to google at the moment). Those guys are the (current) shiznit.
Nevermind that they live overseas and get paid literally MILLIONS (yes, multiple millions) of dollars every year for kicking a ball around a patch of grass. A PITCH Tam, it's called a PITCH (a FOOTBALL pitch at that).
Nevermind that our team is coached by a guy whose name looks like a good old fashioned Gus, but with a typo. That's right boys, he's Scandanavian (dutch perhaps?), and he doesn't give a shit about Australia, he's in it for the glory and the money. He's probably a great guy, and obviously a phenomenal coach to drag Australia kicking and screaming to their best world cup result in history, but he's NOT AUSTRALIAN. This is just how au fait I am with soccer, sorry football, people... I know that once this world cup is over, this guy is going to coach some Russian team for some ridiculously exorbitantly stupidly HUGE amount of money. It's all about the money.

I feel the same way about the fact that our Australian diving and gymnastics team coaches are both from China. Is there not something wrong with this? They don't sing the national anthem, they don't feel the pride of their country, they're in it for the money. I guess i'd like to stick to my obviously somewhat antiquated belief that sports people (including coaches) should be in it for the pride and glory of representing their country and doing well. And perhaps the majority of them are, but why not make a few hundred million bucks on the side.

In other news, it's Friday. Yay. Questions day. I have an awesome weekend planned, and i've just decided i'm getting a new car, hopefully before the end of the financial year, which means BEFORE NEXT WEEK!!!!! Yippeeeeeeeeeee.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

it's 10pm...

...and I haven't posted today at all.

I'm just not feeling particularly inspired. I am exhausted, and I have a case of the CBFs.

However, do remind me to tell you all tomorrow about my new friend...

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Remember When?

I want you to think back to your school days.
Please don't cry.
No really, pull yourself together please.
Ok.
Was there one person in particular that you hated? (in my case, there were hoards of them)
Was there one person that you adored? (in my case, there was one)
Was there one person that you didn't particularly dislike, but didn't particularly like, you were just constantly frustrated by their presence?

In my case, there was one particular girl I'm thinking of.
She was loud.
She was smart.
She was a little kooky.
She was good at sport.
She was good at music.
She liked to be the centre of attention.

Now those of you who know me well, might think that I was describing myself there.
I wasn't.
I was describing a girl, who, while we were at school together for 9 years, vaguely threatened my identity and personality, by having one just like it.

We have a mutual very, very good friend (in fact the only girl I went to school with that I'm still friends with), who is moving away. On Saturday at her going away party, I came face to face with this very similar identity threatener. We kissed and said hello, we were both relaxed and friendly. We talked for about half an hour. She is lovely. Genuinely bizarre and lovely. I didn't feel at all threatened, and we had a very balanced conversation, with both of us relating much of what has happened in the last 6 years.

I don't know if she felt threatened by or disliked me in the same way as I felt threatened by and disliked her at school. I have no idea. I do know that we were purposely never invited to the same event by this mutual friend (which, surprisingly, I only found out on Sunday). Not once in 6 years have we been at the same thing, apart from a single 21st. I find that quite astounding now that I think about it. We are still very similar people, but I think I finally proved to myself that I really have grown up since school. I am confident in myself, so much so that personalities that I would once have found threatening, are enjoyable, and I love that. I'd like to think that one day we could be real friends.

I wonder how many others of those horrendously stuck-up private school girls have changed, and how many are the same exact clones of their mothers that they were 5 or 10 or 15 years ago? Would I still dislike the same things about them now as I did then? For their sakes, I hope they've changed.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Nothing.

Well I have to admit... I had a fairly fruitless weekend. I was big on plans and little on action.

What I was going to do:
1. Finish my book (i haven't read a book in over a week... it's terrible)
2. Go for a big long walk along the beach
3. Go to the Gym
4. Make at least a start on the mindless work that I brought home to just GET DONE DAMMIT
5. Rid my car of the piles of crap that seem to have accumulated within it
6. Wash my car, especially my windows... i can hardly see out them
7. Do two loads of washing, including linen
8. Tidy up my bedroom
9. Go and look for a bike (of the push variety)

What I did instead:
1. went to the pub for dinner and then to the movies with friends
2. spent 4 hours having lunch and coffee and talking with friends
3. went to a friend's house and had dinner and watched dvds with friends
4. went to a farewell party for some lovely friends who are moving to Brisbane next week
5. spent much time in bed watching tv
6. had coffee with more friends
7. went to another movie
8. went shopping and bought some new clothes that were very much NOT needed

By 11pm last night when I got home I had an attack of the guilts, hurriedly did 2 loads of washing, attempted to tidy up my room (which I realised wasn't so bad once all the dirty clothes were securely in the washing machine), and cleaned the bathroom.

Even though I had a lovely, relaxing and very social weekend (without even getting close to getting drunk, actually without a single drop of alcohol, which is a miracle), I had things to do, and many of them remain undone. I guess we all need time to just do nothing, so I really should just relax and enjoy that time, which I did, while I was doing it. Doing nothing, that is. Keep up! Now, however, I'm annoyed with myself.

Oh well, i'm sure i'll get over it.

Friday, June 16, 2006

The Greatest Entertainer In The World...

This morning I spent half an hour clicking on a link on the ticketmaster website, only to keep getting a message that went something like this:
"We are sorry but the ticketmaster website is currently experiencing delays due to tickets for a large event going on sale. Please be patient."
PLEASE BE PATIENT???????? How on earth can I be patient when I am battling with half the rest of melbourne to get tickets to see THE GREATEST ENTERTAINER IN THE WORLD....?
Eventually I got through... I got through to the page where I enter my credit card details, and i clicked on "submit order." As usual, I ignored the warning that once I clicked that button not to press back or refresh, and promptly got the following dreaded response:
"The page you are looking for cannot be found"
FUCK.
SHIT.
FUCK.
So i spent another thirty minutes trying to get back to the same point, going through the process of ordering the tickets AGAIN, when I got this message:
"You have already purchased tickets for this event. Are you sure you want to purchase more?"
NO I DON'T FUCKING WANT TO PURCHASE MORE YOU STUPID ELECTRONIC SERVICE, BUT YOU FUCKED UP THE FIRST TIME.
Anyway, now that's all done, I have purchased 6 tickets. I only needed two. That's right... I've become one of those horrible, awful, nasty people who will milk you for all your worth, just because they have a ticket that YOU want but weren't organised enough to have an hour at 9 o'clock on a Friday morning that you could waste on the internet. HAH!!!
I know it's terrible, and scalpers are revolting, but I figure that usually it's ME scurrying around at the last minute to get tickets for sold out events (last year I had to drive to Hopper's Crossing and Sandringham in one day to pick up SINGLE TICKETS for a friend and I for a festival), so now it's time for a bit of payback. I'm not selling them at an exorbitant price, and I'm selling them now, because I want the money BEFORE I have to pay my credit card bill! I know that if I left it until December, when the concert is, I could probably make twice as much, but I have to face facts... i'm just not that mean (or that organised!).

Thursday, June 15, 2006

All about me... more.

Things you may not have known about me.....

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:

1 Swimming teacher
2 Bartender at a VERY BAD Retro nightclub
3 Lift Operator at Mount Hotham
4 Coffee shop manager in Canada

B) Four movies you would watch over and over:

1 Centre Stage (shut up)
2 The Cutting Edge (Double Shut UP)
3 all of the Lord of the Rings trilogy
4 Pretty much any chick flick... tragic, I know.

C) Four places you have lived:

1 Mt Eliza
2 Kew
3 Mount Hotham
4 Middle Park

D) Four TV shows you love to watch:

1 Will & Grace
2 Scrubs
3 Gilmore Girls (SHUT UP... it's only because it's CONSTANTLY on foxtel)
4 grey's Anatomy

E) Four places you have been on vacation:

1 The Snow
2 The Beach
3 The Country
4 My bedroom

F) Websites you visit daily: (or semi-weekly)

1 The Age
2 Reasons You Will Hate Me
3 Go Fug Yourself
4 Pink is the New Blog

G ) Four of my favourite foods:

1 popcorn at the moovies
2 A good old fashioned Roast (especially roast potatoes... mmmmmm)
3 Poached eggs, mushrooms, hashbrowns and a book on toast
4 cheese and biccies

H) Four places I would rather be right now:

1 at home in bed watching tv and reading books
2 At the snow (if there was snow)
3 Having lunch and shopping with my friends
4 anywhere but here

I) Four friends I think will respond:

ooohhh I think I can tag people with this... OOh who can I tag?

1 First off, because of today's back and forth banter, Kiki.
2 Second, because I thought he had disappeared for the day and because i'll be remembering to go to trivia next week, TOBYtoby
3 MsKP, because she is happy with the world again, but I totally understood how you felt when you were fighting with the world last week.
4 Wilbur - where are you my friend?

oh, and anyone else who wants to :-p

Thursday.

Already.
How can it already almost be the weekend again?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, i LOVE weekends. I absolutely adore them.

My very favourite thing to do on a weekend is to get up when I wake up, take whatever book I happen to be reading at the time, and go and eat poached eggs on toast with mushrooms and a hashbrown for breakfast at the coffee shop around the corner from me. I usually have a couple of coffees, and sit for at least 2 hours, if not the entire afternoon. I don't talk to anyone, except small talk with the waiting staff (who all know me quite well), and I just simply relax.

Last weekend, the long weekend, I didn't get to do this. Morning, noon and night I was surrounded by friends and family, eating, shopping, drinking, dancing, and even a few hours of teaching. It seemed to me that I spent a grand total of about 5 1/2 minutes in my own company. The rest of the time I was surrounded by friends and family. This is always lovely, and I think many of them sensed that I needed people around me, as I really did find last week traumatic, but I do feel as though I missed the relaxing part of my weekend.

This week I have made a deal with myself for the weekend: I'll go out ONE night. Preferably Friday, and have the rest of the weekend to sleep, read, watch tv, eat and relax.

The trouble is that when I make deals like these, they most often don't eventuate, because last minute offers get the better of my will to relax!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Oh how I wish I was this creative....







Unfortunately, I'm just a spaz at knitting anything at all. Somehow I pick up stitches all over the place... One row I have 20 stitches, the next row i have 24 and 10 rows later I'm up to 47 stitches. I think I'm beyond education in this.

Hmm. not what I intended to post about...

Ok. dot points today because I've just a heap of work thrust upon me for a person that i VERY MUCH DISLIKE. Apparently I was supposed to know about it two weeks ago and have it done by this Friday, which is fine, except that nobody told me. I now have to work FLAT OUT for THREE DAYS to FINISH IT to AVOID having my HEAD CHOPPED UP into SMALL PIECES and my job handed to me on a PLATE to hand out to other members of STAFF here, my REPUTATION for GETTING THINGS DONE completely sullied and soiled by NASTY TALK and ending up WORKING THE STREETS because I could never get another job EVER AGAIN.

Ok. Random shouting, even of the virtual CAPITAL variety, makes me feel much better. I need an outlet somewhere, right? I'd really like to run around the office screaming my head off and yell down the phone to said STUPID MAN and tell him to FUCK.RIGHT.OFF. Luckily for me, I'm much too professional for that.

In case you hadn't noticed, every dealing I have with this particular man is coloured by a very bad FEW MONTHS last year where he moved to Melbourne and was my boss, judged my performance by criteria I had no earthly idea even existed, got mad at me for not doing things I had already done, and pulled me in in front of the BIG BOSS and told me in no uncertain terms that had it been up to him, he would have fired me, because i was a terrible PA. I managed to control my CAREER-THREATENING RAGE to inform him that this was because I WAS NOT HIS FUCKING PERSONAL ASSISTANT, and that, despite this, I did ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING he had ever asked me to, and in a timely fashion too. I then very polite suggested that the problem was perhaps not with ME but with the only ARROGANT BUFFOON HEAD in the room, and looked pointedly around me to see if there were any other such creatures in the room. It was quite clear both to me and to the BIG BOSS that there were not.

Long story short, he fucked everybody in the office around so much, was a complete bastard, and was sent packing back to his old job in Sydney. I felt quite vindicated. He is the ONLY person in the history of EVER to tell me that, not only had I not done a BRILLIANT job, that I had done a terrible, awful, firing-worthy job. It was ridiculous. I'm not saying that there aren't areas I can work on (although, I do a PARTICULARLY STELLAR job on EVERYTHING I TOUCH), but to tell me he wanted to fire me, I just couldnt' work it out. It did make me feel slightly better to know that I wasn't the only one he had a problem with, but you can't judge people by imaginery standards.

In the end, he fell down, and i'm still standing tall. What does that tell you?

Ok. This post has totally run away with itself, and I hdidn't even get to the Bullet Point Post about my weekend etc. So I'll have to save that for another day, or perhaps I'll be a nerd and do it at home tonight.

Ahhhhhhh what am I talking about? Once a nerd, always a nerd. I, therefore, am a nerd for life and beyond.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Well people, I've been at home sick today. I've been vomiting and yuck. So i can't really be bothered telling you all about my weekend, hopefully I'll be back into the swing of things tomorrow. SO until then, read about where you'll all be spending the summer with me....



You Should Spend Your Summer at the Beach

You're a free spirit who is always thinking of new ways to have fun.
And you don't just love summer... you live for it.
So, you really should blow off your responsibilities and head to the beach!


I particularly like the sound of blowing off my responsibilities. Good-oh.
I parti

Saturday, June 10, 2006

drunken post

Well, I think this officially my first ever drunken post (or perhaps second... but who knows? I'm sure as hell not counting).

I had a surprisingly agreeable, and early, night tonight. I paced my alcomohol consumption, which for me is a real achievement. I am quite drunk, but happily so. I won't wake up tomorrow on the floor of the bathroom and wonder how the hell I got there.

All I have to say is that I have a beautiful group of friends, who were all very understanding of me tonight, and did their best to see that I had a good time. Consequently I did.

Went to cookie and then to Purple Emerald. I very much enjoyed the music at the Emerald.... much better than at Cookie. In fact, I wasn't a huge fan of cookie, until I went around the back of the bar, and wished I'd been there all night.

I think tomorrow night will be another night of drinking and pretending i'm not confused...but I know i'm so confused.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Stars

The universe is just an empty place.
And all the stars can disappear without a trace.
I’m so glad that this has taken me so long
Cos it’s the journey that made me so strong.

I don't feel strong though.

I have to go to a funeral this afternoon.

After that I will be getting horrendously drunk. I'll be at Cookie from about 9ish tonight, if anyone wants to join me. I promise not to be as miserable as I sound at the moment, and I'm quite sure that by then I won't be.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Clumsy.

I regularly walk around with things in my mouth.
I'm also rather clumsy, and regularly trip over.
I continue to be amazed that the two have not yet collided. Picture me whilst in the kitchen making coffee with a spoon in my mouth. I'd trip over my own feet and end up with my brain impaled on a spoon. This hasn't happened yet.
Nor have I, whilst walking around the office with a pen in my mouth (i suck, i don't chew...it's compulsive, I chew straws in movies too...) I haven't ended up with said pen stuck up my nose.

Considering that I managed to crack my sternum with my own knees, I think it's probably a good thing I don't ski with things in my mouth.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Plain shit things.

Some things suck when they end. Some things suck before they ended, which is why they ended, but somehow manage to suck MORE once they've ended. It's terrible when you want to fix something, but you don't quite know how to go about doing it without sinking back into the suckiness, and without completely losing every inch of pride and inner strength you thought you had.

On a sad note that's a much bigger deal than my pride: A guy I know committed suicide on Friday. He went to a hotel room, wrote a note, and was found two days later. He was only 30, and he seemed to have absolutely everything going for him. He was good looking, had a good job, a beautiful wife, a happy marriage, an awesome dog. Despite all of that, he was depressed. He had just come off his medication after a number of years, and he just killed himself.
It was planned.
He organised a time and place to kill himself.
I'm stunned. I have never personally known anyone who has committed suicide before. In fact, apart from elderly people, only one of my friends has ever actually died, and she was in Bali.

I just wonder, what was it that tipped him over the edge? What made him decide that there was nothing in this world worth living for, worth staying alive to experience?

I'm terribly upset about it, and I didn't even know him that well. I house-sat for them and and babysat their dog 3 or 4 times, and I teach his nieces piano. I lived across the road from him for 2 years. I went to his Christmas party and got drunk with him. I used to go across the road on random nights and drink a couple of bottles of wine with them. He loved life.

And yet,

He found nothing worth living for.
Not a minute of happiness or rejoicing in the present.
He thought the world would be better off if he was dead.
He thought HE would be better off dead.

Dead. He made the decision. He took the action.

No matter how many different ways I say it, I just don't think I can quite comprehend it.



I had such a good day today, and then I found out three just plain shit things in one hour.

Why does shit like this happen? How can this be part of life?

FINALLY!!!!!!!

Thanks to Bevis for this:

All Melbournians, mark this date in your diary! Thursday 22nd June at 6.30am will see the first store in Victoria open its doors at Westfield Fountain Gate, Narre Warren. Queue to be the first through the door and enjoy a showcase of local bands and great entertainment as well as prize giveaways galore! Be one of the first to taste a Hot Original Glazed doughnut straight off the line. Remember the first person through the door will win a year's supply of doughnuts! YAH!The long awaited opening at Westfield Fountain Gate is finally here! Face painting, live bands, giveaways, roving entertainment, handball competitions and lots of fun for everyone from 6pm on Wednesday 21st June.Westfield Fountain Gate, Narre Warren (access via Narre Warren North Road), Melway reference 110 E4.

Um... is anyone else excited? I have ADORED krispy kreme donuts ever since I was sent (yes, sent) my first box for my 21st birthday from one of the guys who works for us in Sydney. What I can't work out though, is why they're putting it so FAR AWAY FROM MY HOUSE????? (although, it's probably not a bad thing for my being-healthy programme). I would have thought though, they would get more business from putting the first one in the city, or at the airport (although I guess Sydney really has that market cornered... You can always tell which flights have just arrived from Sydney from throng of people carrying boxes with that delightful little green logo and christmas-looking pattern).



I think I shall start a protest, or a petition or something. Or maybe I'll just follow the hoards of people on their way out to Narre Warren.

Why won't it just hurry up?

I can’t quite get over how slowly this morning is going. I seem to have done so much, and yet it’s only 11am. Am I being more efficient than usual? Has my body, or my brain for that matter, gone into shock because I actually came to work on time and got straight into doing ACTUAL WORK? Or perhaps Father Time just know that I am leaving at 3.15 today, and is therefore punishing me by making my day go as slowly as possible.

I would be grateful to anyone who can provide me with answers of any description please.

And now, I think I might go and write some ridiculously long-winded emails to my friends. And then look at the weather. And then make a ridiculously large coffee. And then read some random blogs. Dammit. I’ll do anything to avoid this HORRENDOUS WORK BUSINESS.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

The End Is Supposedly Nigh

Today’s date is 06/06/06. Nothing terrible has happened yet… I woke up on time. No devil rose up out of the steam from my shower and foretold of the end of the earth. I didn’t even pass a car crash on my way to work, much less be unfortunate enough to be involved in one myself. The guy I don’t like that I was supposed to have a meeting with at 9 o’clock at work had already left when I got here. I had a really nice coffee, and didn’t burn my toast. My computer hasn’t contracted any STDs (or any other virus for that matter), and the heating in my office is working. My hair looks lovely (messy, but lovely nonetheless), and I found matching shoes in my closet this morning.

I’m wondering if all of these middling to good things are just the devil trying to lull me into a false sense of security so that when the end of the world does arrive, BAM, THWOP, CRASH, I’ll be gob-smacked. Otherwise, those zeros in between the sixes are acting as a bit of a buffer, and the devil can’t quite get his shit together.

Either way, so far it’s been a good day. If the world comes to a screeching halt at the end of this day, I’ll die in a good mood.

Monday, June 05, 2006

wOt I diD On my wEkeNd. by tAmmY

Whoah. What a weekend!
I said...
WHAT.A.WEEK.END.

I tell you what, for all that everybody bags Brisvegas, I really do like it. I like it alot. Mind you, I don't like it NEARLY as much as I love and adore Melbourne, but it's certainly a lovely place to visit for a couple of days of 22 degrees with clear blue skies and sunshine. Ahhh it was lovely.

So, the following may or may not have happened during my weekend.

I got a whole three seats of an emergency exit row to myself.
I got cross with Qantas because I hadn't eaten dinner because I was expecting it on the plane. No, I got pretzels.
I was picked up at the airport by a very hyperactive Sal who swore she hadn't had much to drink.
We got drunk.
I started a bar tab, and reminded Sal to remind me to make sure I got my card before we left.
We got drunker.
Two very random guys tried to pick me up. You know what they say about guys in Brisbane!?!
We realised how much we like getting drunk together and having a good ole gossip.
We left the Story Bridge Hotel for some other random place in the city.
I realised I'd left my credit card behind the previous bar.
We got drunker.
We went home and talked and talked and talked.
We got up and went shopping (at a FABULOUS Aussie designer shop, I'm in love. I could literally have spent thousands of dollars in this store. as it is i limited myself to a skirt, a top and a belt, but this store ALONE is reason to go to Brisbane)
We slept in front of the tv for the rest of the afternoon.
Dinner at the Regatta (where the food is very impressive, despite it's size), followed by more watching dvds on a mattress on the floor in front of the tv. Is there anything more fun when you're tired and (still) hungover.
We acted like very little children and ran crazily around Dreamworld all day, saw these amazing creatures and went on this 5 times. I don't think I'll ever get over the pure thrill of anticipation while you're waiting for that sickening 3 second drop from a million stories high, and the gut-wrenching split-second of fear and uncertainty as to whether it is actually going to stop, or whether you will end up a mere hole in the ground with some shoes sticking out (actually, I had to take my shoes off, for fear they might fall off and hit me in the face on the way down).

Adrenaline is so exhausting. Anyway, the trip back to the airport was much quicker than we had planned for, and I was in time for the earlier plane (Qantas fly every hour from Brisbane to Melbourne), but due to stupid rules and regulations on my ticket (it wasn't even a sale fare), I had to hang around the airport for an hour and a half. That gave me plenty of time to spend in the multitude of shops at Brisbane airport (read: the newsagency).

It was bizarre actually. I often find myself to be inspired at the oddest moments by seemingly random things. I spent about an hour in the airport newsagency (having paid $5 for my "giant" coffee, I didn't have much to do to kill time), just looking around. I must have already read about six hundred book blurbs, when I stumbled across some cards and notebooks with quotes on them. Now, I'm not normally one to be inspired by "motivational" quotes. However, one in particular stood out to me, so much so that I bought the notebook for which it was the cover.

"We do not remember days, we remember moments"

I'm not quite sure why this struck such a chord with me, but I sat on the plane and wrote about 6 pages of... well, just stuff. I finally sat down and thought about what it is I want to do in the next few years, and forced myself to make some rather scary realisations about my life in the last 6 years. "They" say that writing things down is the first step towards making them happen. I wonder though, how many steps in this programme?

Friday, June 02, 2006

bits.

Well. Many of my favourite blogs haven't been updated this week. It is always disappointing to check and realise there's nothing new to report, but probably a good thing, because I've been very busy at work doing actual work, instead of just pretending to most of the time.

This weekend will be jam-packed with catching up... I'm flying to Brisbane straight after I finish teaching tonight, to see my very good friends who recently moved up there, and apparently heading straight out, so I'm under strict instructions to only have carry-on baggage. How many clothes do they think I need for a weekend anyway?

I'm really looking forward to getting away, even if it is just for a weekend.

So have fun everybody, and don't miss me too much, because I won't miss (most of) you!

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Avalanche

Everything that comes into my office at work comes in boxes.

Brochures.
More brochures.
Letterhead.
Business cards.
Envemolopes.
More more brochures.
Paper.
Promotional material.
Stubby holders.
Pens.
More brochures.
A white board i recently got (to try and keep track of things I was waiting on from other people)
A printer.
New company laptops that i have to set up.
Calendars.
Leftover Christmas presents (yes, I know it's now June).

The result of this happens to be that even once most of this stuff is gone, the boxes remain in my office. So much so that I had built up a sort of coccoon of boxes. I had my office walls, and then there was my insulation layer of boxes.

On Monday morning I came in and spent an hour getting rid of all the boxes. I had become slightly concerned that I might be buried under an avalanche of boxes and nobody would know for days, because nobody could ever see me in here anyway. I hadn't realised, however, that I had become quite attached to all my boxes. They were my safety vest, protecting me from all the bogans peeping into my office 26 times every hour. They were my way of warding off all the bad karma and gossip that goes on in this office. Consequently, without them, I feel naked. Exposed to the world, or at least the rest of the offices, baring my bits (purely in an office-furniture sense, what were you thinking you dirty boys) for all to see, and I'm really not sure how to rectify this.

My new roomier office layout is not without it's benefits. I can now slide my chair across the floor to get to the cupboard, thus being able to move almost everywhere I need to go without actually standing up. This has provided endless hours of joy and entertainment. I can open the door of my cupboard without risking death or serious injury, and as such have re-located some fanTAStic cds. I now have space on my desk to look organised. I don't look organised at all (even though in my head I know where everything is), but I could if I wanted to.

So I've decided that every change has it's good points, and that I can be adaptable. I can adjust. I will push myself out of my comfort zone of boxes, and out into the world of bright lights, tall buildings* and western civilisation.

*The tall buildings are yet to be built, but there are plenty of spare boxes in the factory if anyone wants to make a start.

my footsies...

My footsies are cold. Very cold. I'm not being metaphorical here, I actually have iceblocks for feet. The rest of me is warm, but my feet are freezing.

I don't know why.
I dont' have bad circulation, usually my feet are toasty.
I think it's because it's winter.
My feet must know that today's the first day of winter.
Pinch and Punch etc.
I think it's time to start wearing boots.