This blog is about the two of us. We can’t get together as often as we like to bemoan life, the universe and everything, so we blog instead. One of us is a full time employee and mum with too many kids, pets and plants and not enough time to contemplate her navel. The other one of us is a part time everything, which means she’s trying to live one and three-quarter lives by herself with only half a salary. We are not experts on anything in particular, but that’s never stopped us yet…
I am currently one third of the way through my three week holiday over the Christmas/New Year period in New Zealand.
So far it has been most enjoyable, however my main reason for not posting until now is that I can't seem to think of this country in terms that don't include the recent Lord of the Rings trilogy, that was famously filmed here, effectively putting New Zealand on the map. (Well, for the Americans really, and doesn't the world revolve around them and their lofty opinions anyway?). Which is silly really, considering the country has been around and renowned for many years before Tolkien even picked up a pen!
Ahem, back to my main point. Considering that the Lord of the Rings trilogy* did do such amazing justice to the fantastic geography of this beautiful country, I have been finding it extremely difficult to describe said landscape without referencing the great grandfather of fantasy** or his erstwhile grandson's*** visual interpretations.
Therefore, I am making it my mission, in my forthcoming posts of What I Did On My Holidays not to mention the Lord of the Rings. At all.
Wish me luck.
*I have recently come across a swathe of the population who believe the recent film adaptation of the books was rubbish. I beg to differ. While I salute Mr Tolkien and his bold explorations into the fantastical, making his tomes a foundation for every single fantasy novel since, reading them was like trying to run through waist deep water. Therefore, while some inevitable artistic license was taken for the films, I loved them, every one, and believe that Peter Jackson did extremely well. Considering the possible criticism from day one would have been akin to him announcing that he was making a film interpretation of the Holy Bible. **John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (the guy who wrote the books, more usually known as J R R Tolkien). ***Peter Jackson (the guy who made the films of the books).
Which I'm just a tad excited about - in case you couldn't tell.
Mr Aesop & I organised to visit his dad over the Christmas/New Year period about 6 months ago and consequently, as everything was planned and paid for so long ago, it's taken a while for me to realise that I am actually free of obligations for the duration.
I did a little crazy I'm-on-holidays-dance upon landing in Auckland, however that soon wore off once the three hours of absolutely nothing to do while waiting for our transfer set in.
And thence, onto Napier! An airport only slightly larger than a local country town hall, where I finally got to meet the father of my most favourite man. Hung over from the flight (in an international travel sort of way, not an I've-had-too-much-to-drink way), I didn't really know what to say or do, so, after the initial greetings, I opted for silence and smiling.
We were then whisked around the city centre (such as it is) and shown the night spots (three) and then on to meet the grandparents, who seem lovely, but by this stage I was busting for a comfort stop and well on my way to the land of nod, so I'm hoping I said the right things at the right intervals.
And then, home, real food and bed, ahhhhhhh.
For those of you who don't have the time or inclination to read on, the following is a pictorial essay of where I went and what I saw on my first three days in the country:
Taupo (where we stopped fro lunch and therefore spent most of our time there at a cafe, but the lake's pretty hard to miss) Huka Falls
Craters of the Moon
Rotorua (there weren't any decent photos, so you got a map instead) Thermal Wonderland (a lovely aroma of old eggs as well as plenty of nature's wonder)
The next day we drove up to Rotorua, via Taupo and a lot of exceedingly attractive scenery. The land of the long white cloud has long been in renown for its lush forests, magestic glaciers, towering mountains, lakes aplenty and much volatile landscape and the route we took was no exception.
About 10 minutes out of Taupo we went to see the Huka Falls. Where the Waikato River narrows from approximately 100m across to crash impressivley through a canyon a mere 15m wide. The volume of water flowing through often approaches 220,000 litres per second (thank you Wikipedia), this therefore contributes to quite a large amount of New Zealand's hydro-electricity supply (the river provides 15% of all of New Zealand's power).
On the road to Rotorua we stopped to take in the Craters of the Moon, a small but highly active geothermal field, complete with steam vents, bubbling pools of mud and some quite unique fauna (not much can survive with that much sulphur around). There are walkways around the whole area, as the ground temperature can vary from lukewarm to steaming without much warning. Of course, Mr Aesop's father (being the science teacher he is) decided these paths didn't get nearly close enough so we all traipsed off them here and there to get a better view. Depending on where you're standing, some of the craters make eerie sounds (that you can't hear when you're on the path *ahem*). At one point we jumped off the path near to get a closer look at the largest crater, however I discovered quite quickly (through the soles of my flimsy rubber thongs) that the ground was quite warm, so I jumped back on the path pretty quick smart.
After that it was on to Rotorua where everyone (quite literally) has a hot spring in their back yard. Now Rotorua has quite the aroma about it, most closely associated with week-old hard boiled eggs. Charming. Of course, once the olfactory shuts down after a few hours of torture, you are free to enjoy the town and surrounds. We enjoyed a delicious Indian meal for dinner and then went back to our motel to enjoy the naturally heated spa (don't put your head under the water or amoebas might attack your brain - wonderful).
The next morning it was off to Wai-O-Tapu which, according to their website, is New Zealand's most colourful geothermal area. After the few hours that we spent there I can't say that I have any evidence to refute that. It was amazing. Such vivid and surreal colours, with water varying from dirty greys to brilliant aquas and greens and temperatures from lukewarm to steaming and boiling furiously. And all the while smelling like rotton eggs - luverly.
New Zealand really does have quite a lot of unique and varied geography. After the beautiful, wide, brown and ultimitely dead* land of Australia, it's quite an adventure to come to a country that is so very alive**.
After the Thermal Wonderland it was off the Auckland, very briefly, and then on to Waiheke Island, but that's another post for another day. Probably tomorrow. If you're lucky.
*In that, everything earth shattering hapened millenia ago. **Earth shattering things are still happening today.
Well, I was going to add to the shopping saga but A did cover most of it so why should I go over it all again?? Got the guys details confirmed and that's all that matters, the car will be fixed!! Yay!!
Now, back to my favourite subject of late, CHRISTMAS!! I bought a velour, vinyl and faux fur top in Christmas green to wear with my green Christmas cowboy hat and my green Santa Little Helper apron. Teamed with a white skirt and white cross over wedges, I'm thinking CHRISTMAS!! (photo will be posted, this only sounds white trash but isn't actually!)
I've decided Velvet will theme it up as well, he has a naughty Santa apron to wear with his flashing Christmas hat. Hehehehehe, Angel boy has a Christmas baseball cap. Yeah!
In the Lead Up To Christmas* this year I think I have finally found myself in the realms of true adult-hood (if such a term exists). My reasoning behind this is that I have not had a spare evening or weekend to myself for the last three weeks and will not for the next two until I skip the country to avoid it all. I have found myself wanting to do the pre-Christmas Catch Up with friends I've barely seen all year, what with One Thing And Another, we've always been too busy, or Something's Come Up at the last minute and the next coinciding day/evening we have free won't be for another three years. I note this because in previous years I’ve observed other ‘adults’ trying to fit everything and everyone in prior to Christmas and coping with various degrees of success. To give an example of the above, last Saturday fits the bill wonderfully.
I was supposed to meet up with Mother In Law with Mr Aesop at 9:30am to head into the labyrinth that is Chadstone as Mr Aesop has not purchased a single item of clothing since I've known him and is consequently wearing stuff out. And yet, still wearing them *shudder*. MIL & I got together and went through what was needed and what was wanted and then shuffled Mr Aesop grudgingly off to the relevant retailers to try on t-shirt after t-shirt after jumper after shirt until we were satisfied.
Note: we were supposed to meet up at 9:30am. Unfortunately, we slept in and only got there at 10:30am. Now normally, this would not prove to be a problem, had I not also arranged to meet WitchOne and trawl the sales and warehouses from 12pm.
Thankfully, Witchie rang at about 11:30am and said she was just leaving her place (in Woop-Woop) and wouldn't get to mine for another hour, traffic and child depending. *Phew*, now I get to stay with Mr Aesop and MIL a bit longer and offer vital opinions on whether this t-shirt is more flattering than that one, etc.
Now due to a lack of forethought on my part, I had originally arranged for Witchie to swing past my place and pick me up on the way. However having gotten off to a late start, I then had to inform MIL that I would have to leave her at Chadstone with Mr Aesop and go and meet Witchie. I did not think this would be too much of a problem, being a boy, Mr Aesop tends to forget that maybe his mother wants to be a part of his life, etc., etc., so I thought it would give them a good chance to catch up. Of course, MIL assumed I was abandoning them there and they would have nothing to do (at Chadstone?! I ask you...!). So then it was time for The Guilts *sigh*. Now don't get me wrong here, MIL was pretty quick to forgive and forget, I just felt bad about it.
Then Witchie started ringing up wondering where she was and could I tell her where exactly that was, and how to get to my place from there (no, she did not have a street directory). This would have been fine, had I not also been trying not to get annoyed with the plebian crowds of sheep at Chadstone, coupled with MIL being frantic and apologetic all at once with Mr Aesop nowhere to be seen for support.
After phone call number two it was time for me to skip the suburb (Chadstone is that big, for those of you not in the know) and head home to be picked up by WitchOne... Waaait a second... Why don’t I get her to pick me up from here...?! Phone call number three found WitchOne performing illegal u-turns and whizzing back to Chadstone, while I raced back into the throe to try and locate Mr Aesop and MIL to hand over the car keys (see, no more abandoning! Nyer!) before she arrived.
Exhausted but relieved to have escaped the throng I said coochicoo to the child** and we were on our way.
Our first stop was a vintage store where they were advertising Nothing Over $20, with all proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Foundation. So of course, our only reason to go was to support said cause (we can justify anything in the name of a bargain). The vintage shop was tiny. One small room full of local designer clothes and jewelry (this was not included in the Nothing Over $20, a point I was a little bitter about, it was, however, discounted). The other small room full of vintage clothes from (what I assume was) the 50s to the 80s. Very soon I was loaded up with what we were trying on while WitchOne was loaded up with a slightly grizzly child. Due to the size of the shop, there were only 2 change-rooms, so after waiting a while, all three of us squeezed into a cubicle and the Trying-On began. With child grizzly, Witchie promptly pulled up her top, unhitched her bra and child was plugged and happy once again. Being vintage, I always find it’s a bit of hit and a fair bit of miss, but that was OK, there were Golden children’s book pages stuck on the wall to amuse us in between the huffings and puffings of trying to get the zip all the way to the top and the pulling and pushings of removing one item while trying to try another one on at the same time. When I was finished trying everything, I got the child (amazingly placid little thing) and Witchie started trying on.
We ended up walking out of there (after the salesgirl held the child and cooed admiringly at her a bit while we rounded ourselves up) spending a combined total of $130. Witchie snagged gorgeous faux fur coat, a slinky trench and a divine knitted dress, all of which made her look even more fabulous than usual (I should mention here that, post-partum-Witchie is looking amazing! Since I’ve known her, she has never looked this slinky) and I bought three dresses, one for my sister (it was bright yellow, I couldn’t go past it), and two for me.
Then it was onward to the designer outlet, Upto 70% Off. After some initial mishaps and diversions (no baby-change in the McDonalds and a nut/chocolate/lolly shop), we ended up at the designer outlet. It was huge. And being designer wear, a lot of it simply didn’t come in my size (I’m too tall to exist according to them, coupled with actual hips, it doesn’t make for successful designer shopping). Now, being the uninitiate that I am, I know virtually nothing about Designers, you know, who’s hot and who’s not, etc., etc. I just take Witchie’s word for it. With that in mind, I just went for stuff that looked like it would fit, not an actual brand. This meant I walked out of there with one hhhot red dress, Marilyn Monroe style, one cute and colourful skirt and another, more casual red dress/top (dress on Witchie, top on me). All for $150, bargained down from $180 (teamwork!). Considering that was still more than I wanted to spend, I really would have hated to get all of that stuff at full retail price, my bank balance would have died with me!
Initially, I had decided that I wouldn’t get anything much, as we were going shopping for WitchOne anyway (what with the post-pregnant fabulousness, she now has barely any clothes that fit her). However my newly received tax return burning a hole in my pocket coupled with Witchie egging me on (you did, you can’t deny it), I spent a lot more money than planned. Thank goodness we didn’t get to the other two sales on the list!
And then it was time to go. Shopping til you drop is fun, right up until you drop. So WitchOne dropped me off at home, continued on her way and I got upstairs and dropped on the bed (after modeling the red dress for Mr Aesop). A day well spent (spent being the operative word there).
Or so I thought.
After recuperating on the bed for a few minutes I started going through the motions of getting dinner organised and figuring out what was on the agenda for the evening when I received a call from WitchOne which went something like this:
“Haven’t had enough of me eh?”
“I just had a car accident!”
“WHAT?!”
“[giggles nervously] Yeah,”
“Are you OK? Is your child OK? Where are you? I’ll come and get you,”
“Oh, I’m on my way home now,”
“WHAT?!”
“And my child and I are fine,”
“Well that’s a relief, are you sure you don’t want me to come and get you?”
“No, it’s fine, I’m OK now”
“Well if you’re sure. So what happened?”
Apparently 4WDriver (complete with bull-bar) decided that pulling a u-turn without checking his side-mirror and over his shoulder was OK. The passenger door is all smashed up, but thankfully, that was the only harm done. Of course, the first thing WitchOne did was jump out of the front seat and go to see if her child was OK (again, thank goodness she is). She was shaking so much people were stopping their cars in the middle of the street and coming over from the other side of the road to see if she was OK, and did she want a drink, and maybe she should sit down. Anyway, after exchanging details with 4WDriver, she hopped back in her car and continued on her way. Because she’s a nutcase. Yes Witchie, you are.
The next day she rings me up again, understandably livid, informing me that 4WDriver didn’t give her his correct details! We informed her to go to the police post-haste and that was the last I heard of it. However, knowing Witchie, I’m sure she’ll get her guy – she always does.
To continue with my Lead Up To Christmas shenanigans, after calming Witchie down, I had one of my sister’s birthday parties, followed by a baby shower (another sign that I’m an adult). As they say, no rest for the wicked *sigh* I wonder how I can make up for this somehow? Do they go on an installment plan or something?
Anyway, this now brings my latest What I/We Did On The Weekend to a close. I hope you enjoyed it.
...The end
*As they say in all worthwhile and otherwise publications. For clarification, this usually begins in early October and doesn't actually finish until the post-Christmas sales have been well and scrambles though and fought over.
**Child is a 5 month old little girl who is simply delectable!
Saturday. Christ. Aesophia said she was going to blog about it so I'm going to let her (apparently I jump in too regularly) and besides, she got all the best bits!
I realise this is going to get me into a lot of trouble here, however I just received the following recipe via email (yes, yes, I know it's cheating, but come on, tell me you don't want to know this!):
Ingredients 4 tablespoons self raising flour 4 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons cocoa 1 egg 3 tablespoons milk 3 tablespoons oil 3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) A small splash of vanilla extract 1 large coffee mug
Method Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts(high). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate (if you feel like being proper about the whole thing, but really, you just made a a cake in a mug, it'd be like having a Cup O' Soup in a bowl).
This can serve 2, if you like and are feeling virtuous...
But I doubt it, so go ahead and eat the whole thing on your own and be sure to enjoy it thoroughly.
I'm sure you can play around with the ingredients (for instance, why is the oil in there?), if you do so, please let me know how you go.
Otherwise, you can thank me later when you've licked your fingers and wiped the chocolate from around your mouth.
Well, we went shopping last night, Aesophia and I, decided to get any gifts not yet bought and take care of the last minute things, she'll be in NZ over Christmas while I have the entire family descending on my house. We need to be organised! HA!
Late night shopping finishes at 9 and yet we didn't finish dinner until 7:45, Sakura in Knox is fabulous by the way!! On the way into Knox we stopped off at the Kitchen Trader where we whiled (wasted) away another 30 minutes, stopped at San Churros for chocolate and managed to eat that as we walked. Finally got to Target, I like Target these days, they have better quality stock than they used to and have really set themselves apart as a chain store. They are still a chain store, just a little better than the other chain stores if you know what I mean. Aesophia needed pj's for NZ that are suitable to wear in front of her future father in law, I'm not sure the nightie we chose fits that bill but damn it looked good on her, I didn't find the pj's I wanted but I guess flannelet is a winter thing.
On to socks, well, Aesophia said she needed socks but has buy mens sizes, she does have big feet but she is also really tall so it works, if her feet were smaller she'd fall over a lot. I found girly socks in her size!!!!!!! We got so excited and whiled (wasted) away another 20 minutes looking at socks, getting all excited over patterns, stripes, colours and lengths. Socks are cool. But shoes are cooler, and we go to them eventually!!
You want to know the most important thing? We found fluffy thongs with diamantes on them!!!!! They're like slippers but better and are black, fluffy, have diamantes in flower patterns and feel like fluffy little clouds of happiness to your feet. Bliss!! I bought her a pair, which she protested as they aren't her thing, well, she'll eat her words when she tried them on! She bought mine, that's Christmas done for each other for $20!!
Now we just have Saturday shopping to get through, it's clothes, for ourselves, but they're vintage clothes and nothing over $20 so we shall see........ mmmmmmmm.......
I should mention here we also looked at Macs and Aesophia promised me an iPod power cord, she better come through for me, my iPod is crying!!!!!! I found my new computer, a Mac, it's sexy, she found her new computer, a MacBookPro, it's sexiest. I love her geekiness, she loves, ummmm, my cooking maybe??
I remember a day years ago when I wanted to ring Telecom, I was about 8 or 9 at the time, home alone and I went looking through the phone book for their number. Under T in the yellow pages I found Telecommunications, I figured this was close enough and as I couldn't find "Telecom" I figured maybe they went under this name in the phone book.
500 calls later and I finally got through to Telecom, and promptly forgot why I was calling them.
This sums up my day so far.
I am employed by them now you see and while on stress leave and now maternity leave, one of which was caused my boss and the other by my beloved, you pick which because, either way, I was fcuked at one point wasn't I?
Anyway, back to my point, while on stress leave I put in my claim etc. Which was duly rejected and so I am now going down the legal avenue for that one. I can prove lies were told by my employer and so it should be a relatively easy claim to fight but probably not so my brain is exploding now.
While on mat leave they decided to make me redundant, fine, but it's not legal according to the Union. According to them it is legal and they are reinforcing this, in writing. That's pretty brave of them if it isn't legal and while they have now acknowledged I may well have the right to request redeployment, they are now reserving the right to redeploy me to a position which will last for about my first day before they make me redundant again.
I can delay the inevitable but it won't gain me anything, I can take the money now and run or I can try and get them to up their offer by promising to be a legal, public and everything else pain in the arse.
Now, I open it up to the 3 people including contributors who read this blog, what would you do?
I work part-time as a receptionist for a small service engineering firm.
I am currently typing up the biggest piece of wank ever. My boss has decided that to ensure he gets a particular job, he needs to doll up his ideas into a report. Now, in theory, I agree with this approach. It gives the opportunity for the client to state what they want and my boss goes and answers all the questions in dot points (well, you know, headings and long words, etc.), adding a bit more here & there to bring in some extra money. However, his English is terrible. He blames this on being Italian-born (moving here when he was about 10. He is now 65. The intervening 55 years in an entirely English speaking country have clearly not made their mark.). I blame it on stubbornness, he thinks he is above learning anything because he is a well-off son of an immigrant Italian who has built up a successful business form nothing. This clearly affords him the right to be excruciatingly arrogant and to never directly tell the truth. He will never just say 'yes' or 'no', it has to be a long-winded [and what he thinks is an] articulate response. Hence the report I am typing.
Example: The guidelines adopted for Plant and Services are mainly within the building envelope and basically will not have any detrimental consequences both aesthetically and acoustically to the building occupants or adjoining neighbours. It is therefore the writers view that Plant and Services within the project will not be detrimental to adjoining neighbours.
What is wrong with it:
The guidelines adopted for removing the definitive article 'the' obviously makes him sound important Plant and Services he thinks that if he's designing it, it deserves to be a proper noun are mainly within the building envelope wank term her thinks makes him sound more intelligent and basically completely wrong word and placement thereof will not have any detrimental consequences lack of punctuation throughout, where are we supposed to breathe in this paragraph?! both aesthetically and acoustically to the building occupants or adjoining neighbours. It is therefore the writers view that Plant and Services within the project will not be detrimental to adjoining neighbours this whole sentence is a repetition of the last one and totally unnecessary.
What I wrote instead:
The guidelines and brief adopted for the plant and services are mainly within the building and will not have any detrimental consequences, whether aesthetically or acoustically, to the building occupants or neighbours.
Conclusion:
I am anally retentive. OK, I knew this already. However English is something I'm actually pretty good at, so wherever I can, I will use the correct terminology and grammar. I believe that to sound/look/be (depending on where you stand I suppose) more intelligent, the less words you use to get your point across the better. My boss has never heard of this, and clearly would not believe it, even if he had (note previous comment on stubbornness). You should also be able to get your point across to anyone reading the article, because engineers are not going to be the only ones viewing the report.
I get a certain satisfaction from correcting his abysmal English and making it more articulate and intelligent sounding. I also know that I'm the only one who benefits from this, so it is a completely self-rewarding process. All of my boss's clients are old engineers like him, where English is most definitely a second language. That's not saying they're of foreign descent, a lot of them are Australian to the bone, it's simply an engineer thing.
I get paid an amazing amount of money for sitting around most of the day answering the occasional phone call and typing the odd report or letter. Everything else that was a complete shambles when I first started here has been sorted out and now looks after itself. They all love me here because I'm amazingly efficient (although compared to the last girl I could come in roaringly drunk 7 hours out of 8 and still manage that). So I think I'll hang around a little bit longer.
Well, I went looking for sad music today and I found I don't own 2 songs that I love which always make me cry. I could be sad because Velvet named a number of his pet hates last night and I am sick so anything is guaranteed to make me feel worse. It could also be that he never gets vocal, so to choose my faults as the focus of his "vocal moment", well, one has to wonder.
Anyway, check these songs out, they're old, they're probably a bit daggy, but they have me in tears every time!
And one that makes me smile.
Gotta love YouTube for it's amazing collection of memories.
Well, in the spirit if not having any time at all, I managed today to read the newspaper. The Herald Sun, dated Tuesday 13th November. That's right, I got to read 3 pages before Brandy (the puppy) and the Princess (5 months old and vocal) required lunch, NOW! Well, I'm sick and I don't care what they want. But back to the paper.
Zac Efron is the on the front page, who is he and why is he allowed out of school? He looks about 12, where are his parents for crying out loud? What is High School Musical and why isn't it in a high school? Why is it national news anyway?? Meh, the world has gone to shit since I started ignoring it. Union bosses calling transvestite prostitutes while overseas on "junkets", at least they aren't breaking peoples legs, or is that the mob who do that? An accused rapist, who happens to be a footy player (go figure) gets his name suppressed. Fair enough, innocent until proven guilty my friends, not just that but the article stated the alleged assault happened during a partner swapping incident. Well, in my view, partner swapping only happens for sex (or is that my wishful thinking?) so what's her problem??!!
My faith in human nature is confirmed, most people really are idiots!
Well, this weekend I am meeting one of my egg recipients who is flying down from Canberra. She's lovely and has also found an egg donor who can donate sooner than I can, I got an e-mail from her where she was trying to tell me about it but also tell me she wasn't rejecting me but would I mind etc and so on. God I laughed, I'm donating eggs, if things don't work out with this other woman then she can always come back to me, after all, I had told her to keep advertising just in case this happened. How wonderful for her that she gets her eggs sooner, this means she could could be pregnant at the same time as my first recipients, instead of having to wait a month or so until I can donate to her.
Lunch on Sunday, a civilized affair, wine, home cooked food, good friends and loads of laughter, I really can't wait!!!!!!!!!
This weekend I will be attending an official LAN party. For all of you out there not in the know (most of you I'm sure - good for you!), this means a lot of geeks and gamers head out of doors (an annual occasion, kind of like family Christmas) and go to a massive hall where they plug their computers (you didn't think they'd leave them at home did you?) back in and link up to hundreds of other geeks and gamers and play games, eat junk food, show off your bangin' PC set up and copy all the movies, music, porn, tv series and games you could possibly want. Oh and it runs from 10am on Saturday until 2pm on Sunday and most people there will stay awake that entire time.
Of course, they say in the rules that no illegal activity (ie: copying of illegally downloaded stuff) is to take place, however as this is exactly what the purpose of a LAN is, they're not actually going to enforce it. Kind of like going to a rave where they say 'no illegal drugs are to be comsumed' knowing full well that everyone there will be bouncing off the walls all night.
So I'm sure you're wondering why the heck I'm even going. I'm not your typical gamer/geek. OK, I wear glasses, but they're sexy glasses. OK, I play computer games, but only one really, and only when there's nothing to blog about these days. I'm not overweight and of the un-healthily pale complexion with the bad acne that goes hand in hand with those who never see the sun and stay up stupidly late staring at a computer screen and consuming copious amounts of sugar, fat and energy drinks. So why?
I'm blaming Mr Aesop. Because he asked nicely. Damn him for being so handsome and geeky all at once! I'm in love with a nerd *sigh* and there's nothing to be done about it. Although, he did say that I had to come, just this once, to say I'd been and to see whether or not I like it. And once I've been, I can refuse from hereon in.
My point to all of this? Really, I don't have one. I'm very trepidatious about exactly how it's all going to pan out and I just wanted to share. One of my friends, upon me advising him of my weekend plans, told me he couldn't laugh loud enough. I imagine this is going to be a common response, so feel free to join in the pointing and laughing.
K-mart must die. I'm pretty sure they spell their name as I have and it's wrong. This is not the only thing that's wrong with them but it's a mighty auspicious start wouldn't you say? I purchased a night light/mobile/music thingy for the babys' room the other day and went to assemble it to find the instructions missing, half the screws bent and scratches all over it. For just a shade over $70 plus 200 million dollars in batteries I'm rightly pissed off about this. I'll be returning said shitty item today and will see how I go with my plan. I will be (politely) requesting a full refund on all items, including the batteries which have been opened as well as a hefty discount on other items I may decide to buy at the time.
You see, having lost a load of weight is all well and good but I now have nothing to wear, breastfeeding means I cannot get away with cute dresses, there is not a single skirt and top combination I can see myself wearing and in fact, I figure, I just need some decent tops, the current fashion is basically maternity wear so I'm stuffed. There isn't anything out there for a middle aged woman to show off a hot new bod.
My other problem is I hate K-mart clothing but as I walk everywhere and my small suburb doesn't have a whole heap of competition, the other stores charge a fortune. Op shopping is a safe bet in most places, but I live in white trash city and if I wanted a t-shirt that screamed BITCH or similar, I'd buy it new.
Well, my employer is, in the timeless phrasing of someone I know, vaguely, over the internet, or a bunch of people, I can't remember exactly.
Let me start again, my employer is a cunt cunt.
That's right, I said "that" word, not once, but twice, and I used it in a derogatory manner. Sue me.
I am on maternity leave right? Right. Well, while I was pregnant I got the treatment guaranteed to push anyone who is a little protective of their unborn child, out of the workplace, on stress leave, at their suggestion and my Doctors' urging.
That claim was rejected so I'm fighting it.
While on mat leave they made me redundant.
And tried to tell me I have no choice, they told me so in writing.
This is where I love the union.
Now see, I am not a big fan of rough and tumble let's scam all we can under the guise of "it's union and therefore right because we can screw the employer" but I am a fan of my union, they seem to be really good, as they said (in my words), "these are your rights under law, you've been badly treated, we can prove that, let's make sure you aren't totally screwed."
I like that way of thinking. I'm not looking to scam anyone, I'm not looking for than my job or a decent enough sum of money to make me happy to lose my job.
The wonderful Witchie has generously offered me a possie on her blog about "work, kids, food and drink, life in general". I can tick all of those boxes except the kids one, which is fine as I can safely say that Witchie's kids are the most beautiful children I know under the age of 4, and that gets me out of all the trouble I can possibly (and probably will) get into otherwise.
Unfortunately, I am currently waiting for Mr Aesop to come home so we can eat gazpacho soup*, because it's so lovely & warm today (as opposed to the bloody hot of Summer), so I really can't think of much to say right now - my hunger is taking over my brain.
With any luck, something will come to me tomorrow, when I'm bored out of my brain at work...
*Cold tomato soup (preferably home made - it tastes MUCH nicer) with as much or little finely diced cucumber, red onion, olives and boiled egg as you wish. Yum!
I've decided that in trad school, one thing taught to all those promising young men and women is how to fuck with people. So far in 12 months or more I have spoken with over 10 sparkies, all have come over, all have looked at the job adn said "oh yeah, we can do that" all have then gone away and we have never heard from them again. They could be dead for all I know, maybe this house kills sparkies. Having said that, in the last week, I have gotten 2 quotes, amazing! So, one is for $7,500 plus truck call outs on top. The other is for $5,500 including truck call outs.
Hmmmmm...... It's electrical work, it needs to be singed off by every man and his dog so it has to be done properly or they have to fix it. Plus the wholesaler is involved because we are upgrading from the street. Hate to be price driven but I'm going to take the cheaper one!
I mean bastard fencing contractors! They did the side fence, which was not cheap, 74 meters of fence with red gum posts etc and so on, not a cheap exercise when you haven't, well maybe you have but no one knows for sure, a job. So, we had to also get the front fences done as we got a puppy and we have kids and cats and fish and apparently no one knows not to play on the (major) road we live on. So to make this a little cheaper, 12 meters vs. 50 kind of cheaper, we decided on a fence on either side of the house butting up to the house directly. Guy says yep, you do good lunches and the after work beer is pretty good too, here's a good price and we'll do it next week. I say awesome, thanks guys!
Price has almost doubled; the job has been dragged out an extra 2 weeks and most of this is because the fencer got a little scared of the gas line and the fact that no one knew where it lived. Dial before you dig hadn't a clue, the council hadn't a clue, the gas retailer had to charge us so they could pay the wholesaler to pay someone to come out with the plans and the little finder thingy to find it so we told them to get stuffed and called a guy we know with his own little finder thingy. But Joe has a life, and he came out a week later. But eventually the gas line was found. YAY! Fence sorted, so come out and do the work boys.
Ahh they said, yes, here we are but we just realised, what about the concrete house footings Witchy? We can't put the gates where you want them because we may hit the footings which would be bad.
ARRRRGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
I'm paying a fortune for a couple of fences that won't even be what I want.
Next week I may tell you all about my electrical contractor issues. They're more fun because we are still at quote stage. Tell me, why would there be a difference of over 3k for the same job between contractors who all want the work?
Well, I would eat a tart should I have the opportunity but life has changed somewhat. I am now the proud mother of an 8 week old puppy, let me tell you, labour was so much easier this time. We went to a house, paid a lady some money and picked up a puppy. She is just lovely, Golden Retriever x Labrador x Kelpie. Here is a photo of little Brandy -
So, 2 teenage cats, a puppy, a 4 month old baby and a 3.5 year child is keeping me pretty damned busy! *sigh* Minnie is helping me post this now, she is the younger cat and just like her sister, their assistance consists of lying all over the keyboard and typing random consonants for me to use later. Handy.
The egg donation thing is going really well at the moment, we had counseling, this was interesting because they ask questions like, do you relly want to do this? Well, no, I'm here because someone made me. How long have you wanted to do this? Umm, you know, decided on the way in here. How do you cope with stress? Why, are you planning on making me sad? Seems like it's a way to milk more money out of people wanting to have babies to me. We have to have 2 counseling sessions each then a group one and they throw unexpected bills at you too. I got one for a cystic fibrosis test, over $200, which my recipient pays of course but no one knew that bill was coming either! Bloody ridiculous! No one in my family has ever had cystic fibrosis so why test for it?
Will post more later, I'm not feeling very amusing right now, which is sad because everything is entertaining if you look at it right.
