Tales from the Dark Farm and Other Stories

What a weekend! I want to curl up in bed and never get up again.

Prologue

Last week I worked my butt off trying to get some Varsity stuff done, D and I bought a computer and Darius spent his week working long, long hours trying to fix a mail server problem for a VERY ungrateful staff...as of the start of the weekend, the server was still not sorted and tempers were running short. After about 4 days of getting up at 5.30, my temper was pretty thin too.

Saturday

4:45am My brother calls to tell me that he and my mother had been up all night...someone had broken in and stolen some stuff (while they were there). Got stuff together and took off for my mum's place imagining all kinds of worst case scenarios.

5.10am Reach mum's house. Turns out the burglar broke in around 12:30. My mother's annoying little dog woke her up by barking but she wasn't sure if the noises she heard were my brother or not. She called out "James, is that you?" and the burglar said "Yes!" I kid you not. She locked her door and set off the alarm. The burglar took off and was lasted seen leaping over the gate with a bag and running down the road. A neighbour yelled at him "You've been stealing haven't you?" to which he replied "Yes, come and get me!".
He didn't steal much, all he got away with was some stuff I had been storing at my mum's house for safekeeping (Playstation, DVD player etc.). Bugger.

5.30am Darius jets off to work to go check on some diagnostics that he had left running overnight.

6.45am Darius returns to my mum's house and we take a walk to the fields by the river where thieves stash stuff until they get back later. Found loads of shoes, bags and other goods but nothing of ours. Sad to see the number of empty schoolbags. What is the world coming to?

7.15am Get in car and head to Durban to watch 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'

9.15am Watch movie. Awesome.

12:30pm Shop around in Gateway for last minute costume supplies for the evening. Head back to Pietermaritzburg.

1:30pm Drop off brother and head for Darius' work.

2:45pm Leave Darius' work and head for home to pack stuff.

3:20pm Leave for Nottingham Road

4:15pm Get to Notties Hotel and help with setting up for Medieval Feast.

5:15pm Proceed to our home for the night which I will forever think of as "the Dark Farm". We had been warned it was a bit hippie-ish but nothing could have prepared me for the enormous animal sculptures in the backyard. Just proves my point that only really strange people live in the countryside by choice.



5:20pm Start putting on outfits, taping breasts and doing wench-ish makeup. Mocked Jude's tights (snicker). Darius spent his time flapping his red and black cloak going "Bleh! Bleh!"

6:00pm Went to Notties hotel, finished setting up and the rest of the evening is a blur. I remember rushing about with very hot jugs of wine, delivering food, being groped and generally molested. Later there was much carousing. Got to bed very late. About 2-ish I guess.

Spent rest of night shivering. Gosh, it was cold. Didn't sleep much.

Sunday

We got up at about 7am and drove back to PMB. Dropped off our stuff and went back to Darius' work. Finally, all the work paid off the server was up and running so we spent the rest of the day napping / playing with the new PC.

I'm still tired.

This sign was in the men's toilets at the feast, pinned to the wall with an 'arrow' through it. (Darius was the sheriff)

Long time no pee

It's 8.30 am, I've drunk 2 litres of water, and I'm not allowed to pee. All in the name of reproductive health.

 

In an hours time I have to go and have an ultrasound at my gynae's office (just a dignostic thing - nothing serious (I hope)) And before you ask, no, I'm not pregnant.

AS if going to the gynae wasn't bad enough, they add the fresh torture of making you bursting for the loo at the same time. Joy thy name is womandom. The next time a guy complains about having to shave, I cannot be held responsible for my actions.

 

On the upside, the 'Pets' expansion pack for Sims 2 has been announced - really brightened up my morning :)

Another day another dollar...

Life continues much as it always has, except for a few family dos to celebrate my brother's return. I've been going to gym quite regularly, which is good, but I haven't lost any weight, which is bad.

 

I still haven't found a place to live, to tell the truth I'm starting to get quite desperate. I suppose that isn't entirely true, I have found places available, so long as you are the type of person who enjoys the convenience of cooking breakfast in bed without having to get out of it first. At one place, the 'open plan kitchen/living room' was so tiny you couldn't fit a fridge and an armchair in there at the same time. Scary.

 

Friday last week D and I went to Durban to pick up some prize support for Magic and then drove back to PMB to watch 'The Break-Up' (awful, awful movie - just don't go there). We went to see 'Cars' on Sunday - much better. Best Bit - ( read the following in a broad southern accent ) "I'm as happy as a tornado in a trailer park!".

 

Last Saturday we went to G+P's house to help them move a cycad. Turns out I'm not bad at gardening - D-man even gave me "Super Girlfriend' points for knowing what a builder's spade is and 'being handy with a shovel' - so the quest for domestic goddesshood is not dead! We had a great time and the cycad looks great in it's new spot.

 

Other that that I've been playing a lot of Neverwinter Nights and avoiding work, so not much has changed...I'll let you know if it ever does.

 

What? Me? Waffling?

I wasn't at work yesterday. Why? I went to go and collect my brother. He's home and it's great to have him back.

My mum and I left Maritzburg at 6.30 ( it's about 2.5 hours to where he was staying ). We stopped at The Waffle House for breakfast. Their waffles are the stuff of legend and every time we've gone to visit there has been some reason why we couldn't go. I had a Banoffee waffle - scrummy!



We then went to go pick him up and after a long meeting we were able to join his farewell group. Everyone had such wonderful things to say, it was really nice. After a trip up the hill to see the view from atop the water tower, we started home.



For those of you keen to see where he was...go to 30 53'39.51" S, 30 20'06.14" E on Google Earth. (The water tower is to the NE)

Stopped at the Pavillion for lunch, stir fry - yum.

Needless to say, the diet took a backseat yesterday. I feel bad, but it was very hard to avoid. I'll work hard at gym today to make up for it.

Sniffle, sniffle

Finally I have caught D-man's cold. I held it off for 2 and a half weeks (I'm very proud of that) but I has finally got me. It's not too bad though so I can't complain.

So, I'm back on the diet again. Same old, same old. Hope it lasts longer than last time (12 hours).

Other than that, life is dull, dull, dull. I still can't find us a place to live, which is dreadful cause it's holding up the rest of the to-do's. I'm not sure where else to look. I need James to come back from CT and look for a place for me using his l33t househunting skillz.

1 week to break the car

Give me a minute...I'm trying to remember what has happened in my life since I last wrote...ah, that's right, nothing!

Well, maybe not NOTHING, we did go and see Superman last weekend at Gateway. That was quite fun. On the way down we drove over something and one of the new car's headlights came off, but we re-attached it with insulation tape. Thank goodness for that o-so-handy kit thing the dealer gave us with the car.



Once we made it down to Gateway we hung out, ate, watched the movie, got goodie-bags and then spent 6 hours having coffee and talking. Thanks to Ange for suggesting it and to Jude, Marilyn and Brad for making it a great day out.

On Monday night we fixed the headlight with putty...wow, that stuff is cool!

Since then I've mainly worked, gone to gym and slept. And now I'm sick. Again.

No news on where we are going to live. But I'll keep you posted.