Well rested and fuzz-free

The weekend was great. Had lunch with Mandy and watched Corpse Bride (not as good as I had hoped, but it was kinda fun) followed by KFC (bad! bad girl!) and Gross Pointe Blank (one of my fav movies of all time). Sunday was nice and lazy, went to Makro to earn ebucks before the competition ends and the rest of the day was spent napping and reading. Mmmm - fabulous. Am feeling very motivated today, my intray has never looked better and I have stacks of research to do for OCC which I am looking forward to.

I've been enjoying reading the personal finance book that Mandy lent me, all of a sudden I want to buy timeshare. I guess the whole 'savings' message has yet to sink in. Other than that life is going pretty well, with not much to report. Except that I finally found some decent shaving gel that doesn't irritate my skin so I am once again fuzz-free. (The fact that my furry legs were worth mentioning will give you a clue as to how uneventful my weekend was).

Christmas and cryogenics

Well it isn't often I get to update my blog on the weekend. I'm at The School messing about on Dman's machine while I wait for him to tidy up the workshop in preparation for the big climb up the corporate ladder. I am also checking out the Momentum Health website in preparation for yet another medical scheme move - grrr. The school's brokers are full of rubbish and don't know what they are talking about which has caused a bit of tension because Darius knows better and is not as easily fooled as the rest of the staff. I wish we could move to Discovery Health but if they insist, I won't be too upset. Momentum is alright, just not quite as good (for our needs), though if we get pregnant this year we will have FANTASTIC maternity benefits. It has sparked one of those 'I'm pissed off at the world in general' moods in D-man though. He's complained five times since I started typing - which wasn't long ago. I am fairly cheerful except for the fact I am FREEZING TO DEATH. Why it is that servers have to be kept so damn cold? I would've thought someone could have fixed that by now. No wonder techies drink so much coffee ( I'm on my second cup ). It does make me feel more in the Christmas spirit though.

 

Went to Makro earlier to find out what prices for shadecloth, I saw all their Christmas decorations are out. YAY! CHRISTMAS!

 

I think I will phone J&A now and see if they want to go see 'Corpse Bride' later.

 

Mandy is sitting in Durban feeling impressed with herself after installing a DVD writer in her PJs. I don't get it, but I'm happy for her regardless. James is going to visit one of is other friends ( a geek with friends? who would've guessed? ) so he will not be joining us. No matter, now Mandy and I outnumber Dman - mwhahaha, feel our wrath puny male! Tried to call Justin to provide Dman with some backup and he is not answering his phone, ah well.

 

 

Swamped Thing

So yesterday was the first post I have missed in a while. I'm a little swamped at work at the moment, financial compliance reports for the company are due Monday and I didn't have much time to prepare given study/pc issues. It seems I've been dropping the ball lately on stuff. The diet is not going as well as I hoped at the moment, the trip to BBBQ last night with James and Mandy probably didn't help much. I'm glad we went though, I need to cram in as much 'girl time' as I can before Mandy leaves for Cape Town. As for the diet, I did lose 0.5 kgs (current weight 85.1kgs) in spite of Pesto's and braais and lunches out so I hope my momentum will carry me over the bumpy patch.

The other thing I've been occupying my time with is Tony Robbins. I see it as research for OCC. I plan on doing a lot of that in the coming months before New Year.

Back to the grindstone......

Silly Sales Pitch Of The Day

A telemarketer just called to try and sell me a machine that pumps out ozone to kill dustmites. Um, isn't ozone toxic?

 

What will they think of next?

 

A trip to my gym

Earlier this month I mentioned that when I read a blog I like to get a feel for how the blogger lives. Well, the gym is a big part of my life at the mo' so I thought I'd take you on a tour of what I do three times a week.

Go to Victoria Road center. Circle parking lot for 40mins looking for a space. Find parking at shopping center down the road. Walk to gym (thus getting more exercise than you will in the actual gym). Be sure to stop for refreshments at Pick 'n Pay on the way, it really is a long walk.

Once you arrive, try not to have your nose broken by people rapidly exiting the large glass doors. Go inside. Try to keep footing on entrance floor that is covered in soapy water. For some reason the entrance is cleaned on a almost constant basis. The toilets make do with a splash of Domestos once a fortnight, but you could eat off that entrance floor. Go figure.

Dig in handbag for membership card. Empty out contents of bag on counter looking for membership card. Find card, lose everything else as it rolls off counter and across gym floor. Gather stuff. Hand card to over-enthusiastic gym employee who will swipe card for you. This is a sign of the average intelligence of gym-goers - the employees have to swipe your card for you. Proof that those muscle-bound guys upstairs really are morons.

Proceed to ladies changing room. When inside, dodge the bodybuilders who preen by the mirrors. DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTCT. It just makes them angry. Find an empty alcove to change in. Put down bag and remove shoes. By this time your alcove will be packed with obese women wearing saggy g-strings and nothing else. Change into gym clothes, while allowing the other women to squeeze past you to their own lockers. Try not to touch anything.
After spending 20mins looking for an empty locker to secure your stuff, proceed to the loo area to redo hair in the obligatory cheerleader pony-tail. On the way avert eyes from pornographic scene in steam room. ( An aside: If I ever decide to break out of my shell and get naked and sweaty with a bunch of strange women, it sure as hell won't be the women in the above mentioned g-strings.) Note that the loos smell like urinal blocks even though this is a WOMENS' loo. Hmmmm.

Once you have made it back out again (the bodybuilders will probably have stolen your lunch money by now) go to the big red contraption in the entrance area. This is the Body IQ Health-Zone and was created for the sole purpose of making you feel crap about yourself. If by some miracle all the stations are operational, you may now proceed to find out scientifically how unfit you are, thus wasting time that could be used on something silly, like actually getting fitter. Insert card at first station and insert arm in blood pressure testing device. It will inflate and cause blood to well up in your fingers until they explode. Try to relax. After that's done step on scale and find out how much weight you have gained this week, it even tells you what your last few measurements were just so you can remember how thin you used to be. How considerate. Next, measure your body fat by inserting your arm between two plates that will squish it flat so your arm looks even flabbier than normal. The body fat reading is different every time, so feel free to redo the measurement until you have a result you feel you can live with. After this you can go to the display station to enter your height. (Hint: Add a foot or so, it does wonders for your BMI).

Now it's time to go upstairs. After filling your water bottle you have a choice of equipment:

Treadmill

Downside: Long queue. View of old/fat people in tiny swimsuits in pool.
Upside: Built in motivation, if you stop going you will shoot off the back onto the floor and look like an ass. View of fit men in swimsuits doing laps in pool.

Stationary cycles

Downside: Literally a pain in the ass. (Hint: Avoid Hill program unless you are a Power Ranger or Barney or someone else I wish to hurt)
Upside: Looks like you are working out harder than you are. You can watch cartoons.

Steppers

Downside: Your knees will hurt, your calves will ache and everyone who does it has a smaller ass than you.
Upside: None.

Super Circuit

Downside: You spend half your time stepping (see above). You will feel crap about yourself as you follow a little old lady around and have to remove weights from machines she just left.
Upside: It's over in 20 mins (who knew that could be an upside?)

Stability Balls and Stretching area

Downside: There is NO good reason to call them 'stability balls'. They are anything but stable. You will fall off them and send them rolling into the middle of the gym, thus drawing the bodybuilders' attention.
Upside: It's stretching. How hard can it be?

Or Classes:

Step

Not for mere mortals. Involves complicated routines of high-kicks and touching your knees to your nose. Try not to trip: you will hurt yourself, and worse, lose your place and spend 10 mins floundering around trying to catch up.

Yoga

My personal favorite. If you ever needed motivation to lose weight this is it. If you think you don't need to lose weight, how does spending and hour twisting around and looking at your own ass sound? Thought so.

Spinning

If Satan was a gym instructor, and he probably is, this is the class he would teach. Don't go there.

Pick something, anything. Do it for about 5 minutes and then move onto something easier...see Cycling above. Try to avoid the scary guy who stalks all the women at the gym and watches you while you use the yes/no machine - creepy. 30mins before Survivor starts head to the change rooms to collect stuff. Distract bodybuilders with protein bar and run for it. Buy smoothie from Kauii on the way out - 'Chai Chiller' is the best!

My life is like a plastic plate

Today is being spent catching up with all the work I didn't do during my PC's sick leave and Hell Week. I must admit I am enjoying getting rid of all the stuff that has been hanging over my head.

I've started preparing my next mission, which has come in to replace Operation Masking Tape given the change in plans. I still hope to move in the near future but I'm not so sure about the details, which is one of the reasons I've started planning my life a little more comprehensively. I'll explain...

I've felt for some time that the reason I battle to make progress in my life is the fact that I don't really know what it is that I want. I haven't really thrown myself into achieving things because they don't fit into a broader plan. My new mission is to create that plan. Now, Amanda has mentioned that I am just the teeniest bit anally retentive (okay, I'm a lot anally retentive, no need to rub it in). Most of my friends would agree. I like lists and plans and organisation. Problem is, I've never really applied this to myself, or my life. Most of my 25 years on this earth has been spent not really wanting anything at all.

That all changed earlier this year. I finally came to the realisation (not a moment too soon, I might add) that I needed to start getting some direction or I would spend the rest of my life miserable. I realised that my life was a montage of pointless jobs, single-serving friends and shabby flats.

My life, basically, was the 'life'-equivalent of a plastic plate. It works, but it's not pretty or solid and, sooner or later, it just gets thrown away.

I really needed some stability, a plan, and some goals; in other words, I needed to Get a Life.

Now, I understand that 'getting a life' means different things to different people. For me, it's all about looking life in the eye, owning up to the fact that so far I have made stupid choices and resolving to do better in future. Simple, huh? What I want is for my life not to be meaningless anymore. I want to build things. A home, a career, a family.

So I've started making 'The Plan', clarifying what it is I actually want out of life. I really started thinking about it earlier in the year (it was the driving force behind my desire to be domestic), but truth be told, it is a lot harder than it sounds. Try it: what exactly do you want out of life, and why? Let me guess, you didn't even stop to think about it. We never do.

The Plan is going to be a solid set of resolutions and goals that get me closer to the stuff I actually want (once I figure out exactly what that is). And it has a deadline: New Year's Eve. Could there be a better time to start changing the way I live my life? I think not.

I hereby dub thee: Operation Champagne Cork.

Mushy-Brain Morning

Hmmm, ever look back on the weekend and wonder exactly what it is you did? Obviously a mushy-brain morning.

Well, I do remember going to the exam on Friday (Social Work), I had to guess a bunch of stuff - mainly because we were tested on the book's wording rather than the actual theory. That annoys me.
 
The weekend was 'James-and-Mandy-are-back-from-Cape-Town'-fest 2005.

Friday - Have dinner with J&A at Spur (more salad burgers), go to see Flightplan (not a great movie - very blah).
Saturday - Go to Magic tournament, hang out with J&A. After magic, take Mandy to the gym with us 'cause the gym was having an  Open Day. Went treadmilling, stepping, circuiting etc. Was fun to have someone new at gym, it does get a bit routine after a while. Spent the evening having a braai with J&A at the house Mandy was housesitting. Spent evening arguing with James as to the meaning of the phrase 'next weekend'.
Sunday - Went shopping with Mandy to find out how much it would cost her to replace all her stuff. Answer: a lot.

I am feeling very tired today, I think mainly due to the fact that 'Maritzburg has realised that it is in Africa and it is supposed to be summer. The weather was boiling yesterday and even though it is only 8am I can tell today will be just as bad. Not the best weather for writing a Logic exam later. Oh well.

I am looking forward to finishing off this exam, mainly so that I can get back on track with all the other things that are important in my life.

When did academia get so soppy?

Today has not been so fun so far. I have FAR to much work to do. I'm looking forward to the weekend, or at least I would be if I didn't have to study the whole time.

Anthropology went okay. Actually, I don't know why they bothered. 50 multiple choice and 5 single-sentence questions do not a paper make. I was done in 45 mins. Social Work today, another completely rubbish course. It is very mushy, all about how nice you must be to everyone no matter who they are. The book is yellow with people of different colours holding hands on the front. How cliche can you get? I'm all for spreading a little love but if they think I'm going to give wife-beaters and child-rapists 'unconditional postive regard' they have another thing coming. Who are they trying to kid? I suspect I may not do well in this exam.

In yet another fit of diet-rebellion I skipped gym yesterday. I'm just too bloody tired lately. I don't know why. I suspect my body is punishing me for all the overindulgence. I have promised myself a decent run in the gym today and a circuit. It is time I pulled myself together.

Join me in a Little Victory Dance

Roleplaying last night was cancelled due to Angela having to go to Durban for some unknown purpose giving Dman and I the chance to go and have dinner at Pesto's to celebrate his promotion. Weight Watchers would not be pleased. I had a nutty, caramelised pear and roquefort salad with 'Jackie Chan' penne to follow and tiramisu for desert. The 'salad' is a salad in name only, there is NOTHING even remotely healthy about it. Gosh, it's good. I thought I would explode I ate so much.
Needless to say that the point-counting entry for yesterday is just one big, fat X.

We also got to see James and Amanda again which was great, it has been far too long. I must admit I am feeling sorry for them re. the whole 'what the hell is going on?' debacle. I am impressed they are holding up so well. (I won't explain what happened to them here - if Mandy wants to share it she can put it on her own blog) I would be going spare if I didn't know what would be happening to me in the next 6 months. Uncertainty is not my thing. (Me? A control freak? Never!)

Due to Mandy and James' probs with work OMT has taken another setback. I am unconcerned, the setback gives me more time to save and decide what move I want to make next. And plan my new mission to be commenced as soon as exams are over (or at least, the present batch of exams).

As for my exam yesterday, it was exactly what I expected - rubbish. Almost the whole exam was taken from the assignment and consisted primarily of 'opinion type' questions which are impossible to mark accurately because it depends how much the marker agrees with your opinion. They have no business in a varsity exam, being unreliable at best. On the up side, there were only 5 of us writing the exam so we were put on the stage in the exam hall, where the comfy chairs are. Mmmm, comfy chairs. I will only register for unpopular courses from now on.

I have noticed a new breed of student in the exam halls since last time I studied - The Chatter. They insist on asking you all these questions about how you studied and what you had trouble with as you sit down to write the paper. (Look, it's a little late for revision guys, if you are not confident now you never will be - deal with it). Being a Psych major I figure that they are performing informal IQ tests on all the people around them to convince theselves that their own, room-temperature, IQ will carry them through the paper. It's sad really.

Today is Anthropology. I have no understanding of why it is that I had to do this course, there were other ones I would have rather done, but I must admit that some of it was quite interesting. Anthropology is my half-way point exam-wise.

I have to do a little victory dance 'cause today is my 6-month anniversary of kicking the habit. My sense of taste, smell etc. are back and I feel good. I won't pretend I don't miss it but I feel it was worth it health-wise.

*insert little victory dance here*

Twitching Death

Well, that is the last time I write a blog saying how great my life is going. Since the last post:

 

1) The dog has run up the road three times to visit his girlfriend, I am losing my voice from yelling his name in a vain attempt to get him to turn around and come home without my having to walk all the way up the hill to fetch him.

2) The phone has not stopped ringing, and not good ringing like,"Good day, you have just won this month's sweepstakes", but bad ringing like,"Hello, this is Mrs. Dithers, I know you've explained a medical saings limit to me 503 times, but I still don't understand." Grrr.

3) I discovered a tutorial letter for today's exam I was supposed to learn. I haven't read it yet because of 1 and 2.

4) My office would make Angela cry. For those who don't know, Angela is a friend who is an entomologist and is also deathly afraid of cockroaches - go figure. My office is filled with the sound of twitching death - my mum let off a bug bomb under the house. The only means of escape from under the house - the gaps in the floorboards near my desk. I am armed with Raid and I take no prisoners. You have been warned.

Bathed in the soft, sweet light of the the cathode rays

So, I'm writing my blog a little later than normal today. 'Why?' I hear you ask ... my PC is back! As I speak I am typing on a keyboard that actually moves when you type and in front of a screen that positively glows with radiation-enhanced brilliance. I hate laptops. So, my machine now has a new motherboard, memory and hard drive. Yay! New things! And it only took me an hour or so to reinstall everything.

The down side of my newly aquired machine is that now I actually have to do some work. Drat. I was enoying having all that study time. I'm avoiding looking at my in-tray which is now resembling a certain tower in Italy. Reducing it will not be fun. I'm also downloading the email (361 messages), I'm very glad I decided to start weeding out the unnecessary stuff last week or I'd be downloading mail all day.

 

Other than that, yesterday was pretty good...Dman came home with good news - well done, honey! I did 15mins on the stepper - go me! I did yoga and I wasn't alone! I didn't put on any weight after KFC on the weekend (I didn't lose any either, but that's not the point)!

 

This afternoon is African Languages and Worldview - the biggest pile of rubbish I have ever seen education-wise. I decided some time ago that I wasn't going to dignify it with a proper study effort so I plan to bluff my way through the exam and never look back. Anthropology tommorrow.

The Cosmic Droop and other afflictions

The General Education 102 exam yesterday went well, I may have completely screwed up the essay section ( I've never been very good at writing on the fly) but otherwise I did alright. Yet again, it took them about half an hour to hand out the papers. Look, I understand they have to open the paper packs once everyone is seated, but are you telling me noone thought of bringing a pair of sissors? Or planning how the papers would be handed out? Or quickly going over the seating arrangement yet again for those too dull to understand a seating plan? (How did these people finish high school, never mind get into Varsity, in the first place?) I was sitting next to the window again so the half hour delay gave me a chance to sun myself (more sun than I've had in the past year combined). No exam today, but 'African Languages and Worldview' tommorrow so I guess I had better learn it - grrr.

I have noticed that a certain food group is becoming my downfall - ice-cream. I had more of it yesterday. I have no doubt that I am going to discover I have put on weight this week. The insanity must end. Speaking of OBP, I had a fitness breakthrough on Friday - 15min run! I nearly killed myself but the endorphin high was great!

 

After chatting to my beloved last night while making dinner I have discovered that he doesn't know what OMT or OBP stand for, in case he is not the only one afflicted, here is the refresher course:

OMT = Operation Masking Tape, my plan to move in an organised fashion, incorporating clutter control..

OBP = Operstion Bench Press, the general mission to get into shape.

PC-wise, I should be getting my machine back today, praise be! But then again, HP have not been that realiable, so fingers crossed.

Emotionally, I must admit that today I am suffering from the cosmic droop. After getting some distressing news (a bit premature to share), I am questioning my plans for the next few years. I am probably overreacting completely but I've never been extremely quick to adapt to changes in The Plan. Overall, the experience has left me feeling a little out-of-sorts. More on this to follow.
Also to follow: I'm planning a new operation commencing after exams - I'll keep you posted.

Okay, so I was curious as to what role I play...

No surprises here, after the whole 'Mentor' personality type quiz.


- You Are The Wayfarer Guide

"I'll show you the way."


Your deep insight and quick wisdom never ceases to
amaze those around you. You are the guiding
light for many of those you know and are not
afraid to help anyone else who asks. Not very
many acknowledge your tremendous help and
effort, but you do not mind that so much.
You've seen what is in store for them, and will
be there should they need your help. You enjoy
people in general, but are very selective of
who you let see the real you. Others see you as
an enigma of sorts, a mystery that is seemingly
ever changing.


Which Classic Story Role Do You Play?
brought to you by Quizilla

Okay..one last thing before I go and learn.

You are the goddess of water:You are always very
relaxed and calm around other andd you tend to
make friends fairly easily.The bad side is
people can't tell when you are being serious
and when your not.


What type of goddess are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Monday Morning: wish I wasn't here.

Monday morning: wish I wasn't here.

So, the weekend is officially over. Not that the weekend was so great while it was here. I spent the whole time studying on Saturday and on Sunday, try as I might, I couldn't bring myself to study so I tidyed instead.

OMT is looking more promising than ever - the closet has been cleaned out, my Magic cards are sorted and a great deal of our junk has been turfed. I am feeling very organised.

'Hell Week' begins today with General Education: Teaching and Learning 1. I can't think of a better (or worse, depending how you look at it) way of starting this week. I recieved a copy of the paper layout a week or so ago - they HAVE to be kidding. If I am supposed to finish all that in 2 hours they must think I'm a miracle worker, Wonder Woman or Mandy. I am not looking forward to it. At least I'm not sick, be grateful for small mercies.

OBP has taken a turn for the worse over the weekend. I was so annoyed with the African Languages course (the reasons for which can be the subject of another post) that I went out and ate KFC and ice-cream. 60 points in one day. And just when I had paid off all my other penance. Why do I do this to myself?

DVDs rented this weekend:

'Friday Night Lights': Kinda like 'Varsity Blues' but not as happy.
'Anchorman': I have not the words for how dreadful it is.

Anyway, I must go memorise things now (even though all Education theory says that memorisation - BAD, thinking - GOOD).

3...2....1.....Ready or not, here I come!

What is with cats and bed-time? Every night it's the same story. The cat will spend the whole evening curled on a lap, begging for food, tearing chunks of flesh from your mangled hand, you know, cat stuff. The very instant we decide to go to bed - she vanishes in a puff of moulted fur. I will then spend the night incurring the wrath of neighbours by wandering around shouting 'Kitty!' on the top of my lungs. Darius spends his time running round and round the swimming pool chasing her. God forbid we should go to bed without her, 5 minutes of blissful sleep before the scartching on the door begins.

She is getting smarter with her hiding places though. Last night I found her, after a half hour search, in a CLOSED box in the storage room. I can't begin to imagine how she managed it. I suspect outside help.

Well, I have promised myself that I will complete my notes for Anthropology, African Languages and General Education today, so I doubt there will be time for online shenanigans like yesterday.

Speaking of online, I'm still on the borrowed laptop. I get about 5 mintes in the mornings to write these posts before I am exiled each day. HP say that the communication that I recieved that my machine is almost ready is false. The new hard drive hasn't arrived yet. I am unimpressed.

Blogging me, blogging you

I'm intrigued.

Ever since Mandy brought up 'good blogs' vs. 'bad blogs' on her blog. I've been really interested in what makes a good blog from a reader perspective. I've spent some time cruizin' blogspot and this is what I've come up with:

Stuff I figure is pretty universally important:

1.  Regular updates - I'll only pop back so many times when nothing happens before I lose interest.
2. It must be personal - noone reads those nonsense news / shopping/ sports fixture blogs unless they are part of a tiny interested minority.
3. You must, as a reader, have some clue wtf is going on. Arbitrary comments about Sandy's birthday or 'the book' etc. just are a turn off. If you can't follow it you won't read it.
4. Some form of direction. It doesn't have to be much or very specialised but if the comments are from all over the place it loses the flow.
5. THE DESCRIPTION - if your description is just a list of words to help you get hits off search engines, I'll just keep clicking. If I don't know what to expect I'm not gonna go to the effort of reading it to find out I'm not interested.

Stuff that's important to me:

1. Not too much 'fluff', clutter makes a blog really hard to follow. I sometimes can't find the archives due to virtual pets, adverts and other paraphenalia and if I have to look too hard I lose interest. I also READ blogs, not LOOK at them, so I figure some attention should be paid to making reading comfortable ie. black backgrounds for coloured text is BAD. Pictures behind text - BAD. Animations that cause my eye to wander - BAD.
2. I'm a fan of Journal-type blogs. I like blogs to tell a story about someone's life and plans. Random thoughts and rants are great, but only if I can tie it up with a mental picture of the blogger - so I love details like where the person lives, what their home is like. A little 'setting the scene' works wonders.
3. Variety of experience. I'm not interested in blogs that are only written when a person is angry or depressed or happy or feeling intelligent. It feels shallow and one-dimentional.
4. A couple of pictures are great, particularly odd ones, like "The inside of my lunchbox".
5. Something to ride. I think of this as 'coat-tails'. There needs to be something 'ongoing' in the blog to carry the reader along. "Ah yes, Medical School' is a good example. He talks about all sorts of stuff but the underlying topic is, well, his journey to become a doctor.

All this makes me think I need to add some stuff to my blog that I would like. I figure, you won't ever get a blog with truly universal appeal, but you can definately appeal to people who like what you like.

PS - All this study of blogs is just my way of avioding studying for "Hell Week' starting Monday. My brain is fried.

Temper, temper

Did my weigh-in yesterday before yoga and I lost,

drumroll please....

1.1kgs! I now weigh 85.6kg. I rock at this diet gig.

As for yoga, it was fun, if a bit lonely. Once apon a time there was a yoga cult: Me, Jude, Tamsin, Justin, Angela and sometimes, even Tanya. They have all deserted me now. This is fine with me, I will end up super-bendy and will kick there asses when they next come to class. I am an agent of Karma.
Last nights yoga set was to release internal anger. This means we spent a great deal of time kicking and hitting the floor. I spent most of my time giggling, obviously I don't have any anger.

On a positive note: I finished sorting magazines last night! Woo hoo! I also recieved my GM rewards, a 30ft cold cone effect template and a Weretiger mini - groovy.

 

Assorted Rubbish

Spent the whole day studying yesterday. And I do mean the WHOLE day. The hospitalisation of my bipolar PC has proved a blessing in disguise, I now have loads of work-hours to study because I can't do any work. I dread to think what my days will be like when it returns. Studying is not going as well as I had hoped. I had forgotten how much rubbish I had to wade through for these subjects. Todays goal: about 200 pages of material. Bugger.

After work yesterday Dman and I went to The School to attend a matric art expo. It is amazing the variety of effort. Some girls pulled out all the stops and producted the most fantastic displays. Others, traced a picture, did a paint-by-numbers and called it a day. I suspect I would have been in the latter group in high school, though I am ashamed to admit it, though I have sworn to myself  - never again. Other than that, he and I wandered around, got bored by speeches, chatted with teachers and raided the cheese section of the buffet. Mmmmm, cheese.

OMT is progressing nicely, the magazines are almost done and I suspect there will be a marked increase in productivity once that job is over with. Time is starting to run out, I suspect, (James and Mandy return from CT this week). Hopefully I can convince D to help me sort the closet this week. I went through my storage box the other day and found the most interesting collection of crap ever. I packed it directly after Christmas one year and put a bunch of presents in it that I didn't know what to do with. Here are some examples:

A set of blue cat decorations - 3 of them: small, medium, large.
An art bottle - one of those bottles with chopped chillies in.
A set of coffee scented candles.

Not from Christmas but other stuff I discovered:

A gorgeous frame given to me by Wendy - my best friend over 60. I have yet to find a picture to go in it.
My 21st key - my dad got it made out of wood and brass and engraved, it looks like a home bar decoration, and I don't have a bar so I'm not sure what to do with it.
A collage of pictures of my life assembled by my Aunty Kathy - it has meaning for me but no-one else, and is not attractive enough to hang.
A collection of Kinder Surprise toys ( these can go ).
My hat with purple hair (worn once every 3 years or so for dressup parties).
Assorted X-rays of my foot (may be important if I go in for my other foot to be done).
A photo album with pictures of a friend from high school and her horse. ( I think I'll post these to her)

Demolition Woman 2 and Buttman's Ultimate Workout ( How did these get in here? )

 

The cut-the-clutter books never mention what you are supposed to DO with this type of stuff. I don't have space to store it but I can't get rid of it either. Help! Any suggestions?

It's that time of the week again ( weigh-in day) so I get to see if I've lost the 300g I gained last week. This is turning out to be a real two-steps-forward-one-step-back kinda deal. I'll keep you posted.

Sue me...I'm having a blogthing day

You Should Get a MD (Doctor of Medicine)

You're both compassionate and brilliant - a rare combination.You were born to be a doctor.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

More proof of how nice I am ( and don't you forget it or else )

Raver Bear

Which Dysfunctional Care Bear Are You?
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Chlorine flavoured chocolate: The weekend I would rather forget.

Okay -so I'm back at work after the weekend, which was, let's admit it, fairly dull. Magic was a disaster (the first tournament I didn't enjoy in a while), babysitting Benjamin was boring (we didn't even see him, he slept the whole time), TV was dismal and I only did 10mins on the treadmill on Friday before my lungs gave out. I think the highlight of this snorefest of a weekend was going to see Sin City yesterday with D, Jude, Justin and Andrew. Sin City is faboo, a definite must-see. I ate far to many suger-free gums in the movie so I was violently ill all evening - but it was worth it. Jude got his first taste of DDR and now understands why I want one in my lounge. We all bought candy at Sweets From Heaven and I tried these cute little mini-chocolate bean things. If you see them in a shop - run the other way. They don't taste so much like chocolate - more like chlorine. I kid you not - Jude will back me up. Yergh!

Now I know why doctors are so shifty

I've posted a link under my Links section for "Ah Yes, Medical School". If you haven't read it yet..do. It's brilliant.

Exams - NOW I remember why I bunked so much school.

Well, I am much better today - no thanks to the exam yesterday though.

Picture the scene:

You are feeling dreadful, sick as a dog, unable to take Advil ( a.k.a. Ambrosia of the Gods - in a pill ) because they make you drowsy. You find yourself in what appears to be a PAC protest rally. No, they are all writing some government-sponsered Teaching exam. The whole quad is standing room only and you are 100 meters from the doors. The doors open. You remember the riot at that soccer field some years back where a bunch of people got trampled? It was kinda like that, but without the team spirit. You go to find your seat. Meanwhile, in an uncharacterisitic move for PMB in October, the temperature has dropped to below freezing. As a humanitarian gesture, the staff turn on the heaters. The heaters are on the left hand side, you are on the far right - by the windows. You sit and watch your breath condense. The invigilators get all confused because they can't cope with having more than one exam in the same hall. They hand out Accounting papers to the Leadership Education students, take the papers away and give them to the Animal Studies people. Much time passes and you are down to your last 'Halls'. The dodering old codger responsible for your section asks you what you are writing, 'General Education', you reply with all the civility you can muster. Repeat this ad nauseum - to both you and the rest of your section. Just shortly before you pass out from boredom, he gets the idea that perhaps, just perhaps, you are writing General Education and he better hand out the papers. The exam begins. You are writing an awful, badly constructed paper, which insists on asking nonsense questions like "What are the stages in...( something that doesn't HAVE stages)" or "Please repeat the textbook, pages 102 - 393, word for word. 10 marks, you have 15mins left - go!". You can't remember a thing, mainly because your preperation wasn't up to much - too busy coughing to study. It can't get any worse, right? Wrong!Remember the windows next to you?...They leak. You spend the rest of the exam making the tough decision: Do I allow my paper to get wet, have the ink run and fail the course or do I shield it with my own body, thus allowing my flu to turn to pneumonia? I chose the paper.

Needless to say I did skip gym.

Thanks to a wonderful evening of being curled up on the couch, watching CSI and being brought endless cups of coffee by my beloved, I am feeling much better today. I have just taken a call from the computer store telling me they have found the problem with my hard drive ( 6 days to notice the thing is making noises like a monster truck??? ) and have ordered a new one. So perhaps I will be back online by Christmas...yay!

I have just completed my study timetable for "Hell Week 2005" (exams on the 17, 19, 20, 21). I feel Mandy would be proud of me. I have tried very hard to cut down my social commitments, but I'm still GMing Greyhawk 'cause they haven't finished the adventure yet (some parties are just clueless) . And I'm running the draft tommorrow at Magic. Studying is proving harder than I thought.

Domesticness wise, I finally bought some cushions for our bed. Justin mocked them. I didn't like him for a while - but he bought me a rum truffle ( 4 points ), so we are still friends - thanks J! So far I am the only person who likes them (the cushions). Darius is putting up with them to please me, as he should, and my brother looked at me like I had completely lost my marbles. Perhaps I really do have NO taste. Hang on - Jude liked them! Thanks mate, I owe you one.

Just when I thought it couldn't get worse...

It did.

 

A lot worse.

 

I want to die. I have  an exam in 3 hours and I can't take any more pills because they cause serious brain-fog. I may even skip gym tonight. *cough, wheeze*

Bravo to the German Chrispies!

Note on the side: My days have been started lately by the german guests in the b&b singing grace every morning (before and after breakfast) - it's like a cute mini choir performance in the dining room.

Dawn of the Dead

It's my theory that Darius and I share a fixed pool of energy, so when I woke up this morning feeling like the (almost) living dead, Darius was up and about having breakfast, playing with the cat and generally rising and shining. There are days I could just kill him.

Today I am sick. It doesn't happen often but when it does, it's horrible. Was feeling pretty crappy towards the end of the day yesterday but even so I managed 14mins run on the treadmill, an all time record for me, so I felt on top of the world regardless. Yoga was fun, managed the Wheel for the first time in a couple of months and was glad to finally not be moaned at by the instructor for not having a belt (just my luck that the first week I have a belt, we don't use them - grrr).

On the weightloss front, a bit of a backwards step - 86.7kgs (300g gain). Must have been the brownies. I am commited to making sure I finish off my current penance and don't accumulate any more, which will be tough given that I'm going to the mall for coffee with Justin later. We can talk The Sims for a few hours without driving all our friends into boredom induced comas.

I dragged my coughing, sniffing, sneezing self into work today mainly so that I can study for tommorrow's exam. I'm not sure how much I'm actually going to take in though. Hopefully more than the last couple of days. Anyway, I'm gonna go curl up under my desk now and feel sorry for myself.

Hope your day is better than mine.

Postcards from the Abyss

I'm writing this to you on a borrowed laptop in the hopes that I will get a chance to post it. I am still without PC. Thanks to the local PC store my whole machine has been returned to HP in Joburg and so it seems I will be on a digital sabatical for some time yet.

After I lost my machine I felt it only logical that I take a day off work, so Friday was spent doing all those things D and I want to do, but can't, because the shops are always closed when we have time to do them. Such as fixing the basin in our bathroom. Now that was DISGUSTING. Ew. I have not the words.

Other stuff I did on my day off:

1.  I bought a copy of The Sims 2: Nightlife. I do not have a computer to play it on, but the manual is very pretty. ( Justin nearly laughed himself to death when I told him that, sympathy is not his strong point.)

2. I took the cat to be microchipped. The cat is NOT impressed. She spent the whole day wigging out. We put her in the car. She wigged. We took her into the waiting room with the dogs, birds, hamster etc. She wigged. We put her back in the car. She wigged. We took her home and figured: What the hell? She's traumatised already, so we gave her a bath. She wigged.

While we were at the SPCA: we waited for Mike, the vet, to see to her and when he came out he said, "Oh, is it your cat to be microchipped? Shame, man!" Well, if the vet holds something against you, you can be sure the cat will hold a grudge. It was only later, when I saw the needle, that I understood why. My god! That thing was huge! I'm a blood donor,  I've seen some pretty large needles in my time, but this one had an echo. The cat was a trooper, she didn't flinch. And afterwards we got to test it with the scanner: she beeped. Hehe. I kinda want one of those scanners to play with at home.

3. Went to library to return VERY overdue library books. I was very nervous about the fine, it was big and the library doesn't take credit cards. When I returned them I found out there's a returns amnesty at the moment. No fine. Score!

4. Rented some DVD's. 'Vanity Fair' - very girly movie, Darius was unimpressed. 'Flight of the Phoenix' - seemed good. I slept through the last bit, so I'm not really a great judge. Darius' lap is really comfy. Mmmmm

5. Went to Cash Converters and sold my lava lamp. I felt it was time I said goodbye. I suspect Darius is hoping that this is the first step towards me purging myself of my tree-hugging liberal ideas. Not luck there - sorry mate.

6. Took the freshly sorted contents of our change jar to the bank. Made R121.44. Speaking of banks: have any of the other girls who read this noticed that the security guards at banks don't so much as wave the metal-beeper thing in your direction? Whenever Darius and I go to the bank Darius gets practically strip-searched at the door but I get waved though, handbag and all. They don't even bother to give me a cursory scan. Part of me feels quite upset that I am not even seen as a tiny bit threatening. I am considering becoming a mule, I hear there is good money in that. Speaking of security checks: About two weeks ago, I went down to Durban for a medical scheme product lauch which was held in a casino. I went with a large, scary woman (Glynda) who is also a broker in PMB. Well, their was one of those typical security checks where you walk through the metal detector and a lady with a long stick checks your handbag. We went through no problems, only afterwards did Glynda announce that she had a gun in her bag. So much for security.

Now back to my weekend:

Magic took up a fair amount of my time. On Thursday night Jude, Darius and I drove down to Durban to collect stock for the tourney on Saturday and play in a small sealed deck tourney. Good side: I came fourth and snagged myself a 'Birds'. Bad side: I had pizza. Deep pan pizza is the devil's work. We had loads of fun though so I'm prepared for more penance. We had the delayed 'Ravnica: City of Guilds' pre-release on Saturday. Everyone seemed to like it - so hopefully this set will see more play than Kamigawa.

In an unusual turn of events I have been rather sick the past few days. So far I've had: a bladder infection( I know: overshare), endometritis? (the doc wasn't sure) and now I have a throat infection and the start of a cold. The doc gave me a course of antibiotics to which I protested (I don't like to take antibiotics unless it's REALLY necessary) - who ever heard of a three day course of antibiotics? They seem to have done the trick though. Except for the throat and cold - but two out of four ain't bad.

OMT has progressed a little, the magazine sorting is almost done and Darius finished his SWFF last night. Yay!

My cooking took a down turn last night when I tried to make pancakes - they turned out more like rottis. Very rubbery - I may make some more to use as mats for the car. Darius was a star, ate them without mocking me once, even though I know he wanted to. I drowned my sorrows by scoffing half a batch of fat-free brownies (add more penance). I will ask my brother for pancake lessons before I try that again.