body mind & psychic expo 2008

zuluMan... I've been hanging out for today for like a whole year! Actually, probably the last two years... but mostly since last year...

Yep, the Body Mind & Psychic Expo rolled around again (they really do need a better website though)...

And I finally got one of the guide/angel portraits done... that's him over on the right there... but I'm getting ahead of myself a bit...

Like I said, I've been hanging out for today for a while, and the closer it got, the more excited I got, and the more I couldn't wait... I made sure that Ma was going to come down really early this morning so we could get all our shopping done and come back here to unpack my stuff and everything before we headed off to the Expo. And we did... we actually had heaps of time and got to do a bit of wandering about before heading back here.

And we made it to the Showgrounds, found a free park on the far side (which meant we had to walk all the way through, which possibly wasn't the best idea, but I'll live) and made it to the door with about ten minutes to spare before they opened. So basically we were among the first half dozen people through the door, which is exactly what I wanted.

Like I did last year when I was flying solo, we headed straight over to where the two women who do the spirit guide portraits are, and yet again they were in exactly the same spot as previous years... like I mentioned after last year's visit, there were a number of stalls in the same place, so whether they just have a prearranged booking, or get in nice and early, or what, I don't know... but all I really cared about was that the two "Visionary Artists" were in the same spot.

However, even though we couldn't have been any earlier, there was already somebody booked in (maybe somebody who was actually working at the Expo) with the lady I wanted to see, Shiona, so I had to put my name down for the second session of the morning, and Ma and I wandered around randomly before it was time for my session.

As lame as it sounds, I'd chosen my outfit so that it wouldn't give her any "clues"... I didn't chose anything with text or any animal designs or anything, instead going for my red tee with the big lightbulb on it... and I didn't "give" her anything, lead wise, when we were talking... I just let her do what she was going to do.

Anyway, when I got back to the booth she greeted me like she recognised me... whether she actually remembered last year, or just recognised my face (because, you know, I'm very recognisable) and she thought maybe she'd done a reading for me before, or she greets everybody like that, or what I don't know... but I sat, she sat, she asked me what I was looking for, to which I told her I just wanted to see "whoever's making the most noise" (which I realise now is something of a leading statement, but it was the only one I gave her... oh, that and if there was an animal that presented itself I'd be interested to know what it was), she touched my knee (the good one, fortunately) and "listened" (and part of me was wondering what would have happened if she'd suddenly gotten a look of horror on her face and then run off screaming... hehe)...

She told me that there were a number of guides around me (which isn't really a surprise, but also could have come from the fact that I'd said the "most noise" comment... see, I'm equal parts skeptic and believer), and the two that were the noisiest were a Zulu warrior with an old lion... and a Native American with (at the very least) an eagle and a wolf... the second one wasn't really a big surprise... it seems like EVERYBODY has a Native American spirit guide...

Then she asked me which one I wanted to see... and you know, I honestly wasn't sure... I mean the Zulu warrior sounded interesting, but so did the Native American, but then, like I said, Native Americans are like a dime a dozen... so she got me to choose my paper colour (indigo... instead of purple... or the other one that really drew my eye was the "earth" colour, but I kind of picked the indigo out of nowhere)... and finally I went with the Zulu warrior... which she agreed with (I said "I'm thinking the Zulu" to which she replied "Me too").

So I sat while she drew... and man, she drew fast... I mean normally she's not exactly slow, but this just seemed to throw itself on the paper... and she kept nodding (to him, to herself, I don't know exactly) as she drew. But it was cool to see it all come together... a random line in a strange colour that I wasn't sure about resolved itself into part of a cheek or a lip or whatever...

The most interesting part was when she drew the lion... firstly because just before she started, she looked down to her right (and I thought she was actually going to say something to me, but it was like she was looking at the lion) before she started working. And I couldn't actually see how the lion was going to come together, it all seemed a little vague... I could see the ear, but the face didn't really seem to have a form... then suddenly she flicked in like three or four lines in black, and suddenly there were the eyes and the nose.

As I said to Ma, I didn't actually see the lion coming, which I guess, for a lion, is a good thing...

Actually, the lion is kind of interesting for other reasons... both Ma and I think it's a very "wolfy" looking lion... I mean I can see it's a lion, but there's this undertone of wolf in it too... so maybe the wolf couldn't keep it's nose out...

I'm still not happy with the photo I took of the finished artwork... it looks much better in person I think, not as bright and "bitty"... but for some reason I can't come up with a decent photo... maybe I need to rope Stu in, see if he can take something better...

When she was finished drawing I asked her if he had a name... because with the piece before me she'd written in a name at the end (and she did it again later when we saw her finish another piece)... but she said she wasn't actually getting a name, he was giving her the image of walking over coals, so possibly the name he was giving was Firewalker...

Which very nearly made me laugh, because in some of the "fan fiction" stuff I used to write, one of the minor sideline characters was actually called Firewalker (and the whole hot coal thing was how he got his name)... and I couldn't quite resolve the two images in my brain, so he remains officially unnamed...

I did look up a Zulu dictionary when I got home, and while there didn't seem to be an actual word for "firewalker", I did find the words for "fire" and "walk", and while I was there I also looked up the word for "lion"... and I quite like what I came up with... Umlilo Hamba & Imbube... it seems to fit somehow...

Anyway, she sat down and gave me my reading... which was interesting in itself (and after we were done I went and sat in the cafe for a couple of minutes to jot down some notes so I could remember everything)...

One of the first things that she said was that he'd been giving her the image or the information or whatever it was really fast, he didn't let her stop, he was just bombarding her... which actually is very me... that speed thing again...

She said he was something of a father figure (and had actually been my father in a past life... I was Zulu once... who knew!)... and was a very protective energy. And that I was blocking him a little bit because in that past life he'd been very harsh with me, but that was because it was all about survival, but now he was just giving me the protective energy.

Also in that previous life he'd been very much about "making me a man" (which I will admit, made me smile), but now he was actually here to help me with the opposite kind of stuff, intuition and spirituality (although when she initially said about the "opposite" thing, I thought "great, I have a big gay Zulu spirit guide")...

She also said that part of his guidance was not to worry about how to get from A to Z, just to get into a groove at A and that routine and groove will get you where you need to go. Hell, that's the story of my whole damn life... the routine thing and getting into a groove and ending up somewhere that I didn't expect just because I was in the groove...

As far as the lion is concerned, she said that the cat energy is about "feeling things coming"... which is also very me... and feeling things before you actually see them. And if you think about the more general attributes of lions (or maybe lioness specifically) you get that protective vibe again...

So I paid my money, she covered the sketch with a piece of tissue so she could roll it up, I got a hug (and the rolled up sketch, obviously), and then Ma and I went on our way...

I can see now what the attraction is for the guy I mentioned last year who comes along every year and gets three readings done... it's slightly addictive... I'm already planning next year's trip (I want to ask for my "calm center", plus animal maybe, see what she comes up with from that... something Eastern hopefully, but something to balance against my Zulu would be good)... and Ma and I had a conversation later in the day about both of us paying half of the other one's session (which I realise pretty much works out the same as if we both just paid for our own session) and calling it "birthday"... I'd actually be really interested to see what she comes up with for Ma...

Then, with the main task done, we just went a-wandering...

We looked at all the jewellery stalls, a lot of the crystal stalls (most of which had jewellery anyway), and pretty much everything that didn't look dodgy or else have somebody hovering and waiting to pounce (the two groups of Thai massage people were really bad for that kind of leaping out at you)... and I made sure I pointed out anything seahorse related to Ma (she's so damn fussy about her seahorses though, and didn't end up getting anything seahorsey... not that I blame her, some of them were kinda nasty)...

Interestingly, because I'd had my spirit guide session, I didn't really feel as much of a need to keep hanging around and watching what was going on at that stall (although that could have been a combination of the whole knee thing, plus the fact that I wasn't there alone)... if we happened to go past we stopped and looked (there was a very South American type native, a "Lady of the Water" and something very Angel-like), but only for a little while each time...

I also kept my eye out for anything African or lion related... not so much around there I have to say... Native American stuff coming out of the woodwork, not so much African stuff... well, there was one specifically African stuff from Africa stall... and another stall that had some little statues, which were fairly cheap too... but I just didn't like them when I looked at them close up...

After we'd wandered pretty much all over everywhere we stopped off at this cool little pizza stall (I can't remember the name of the company, something like Wild or Wicked or something) that had set up in the back corner... I'm not sure what sort of ovens they were using... some sort of super fast, super hot thing obviously... and while the pizzas were a little light on the toppings they were really, really tasty...

Because we'd walked all over everywhere, and I hadn't strapped up my knee (which was possibly a bad idea, but at the same time it was feeling better... and the workout might have been good for it) so I was starting to feel a little achy, we decided to call it a day (we did end up spending a minimum of three hours there)... but there were just a couple of spots we both wanted to hit on the way out... specifically fudge, feng shui, African stuff and jewellery...

I picked up another Ganesha at one of the stalls (not the feng shui one as it turns out, there was some nice stuff there, but nothing I liked had a price on it, which is always dangerous)... so now I have three Ganeshas on my teevee (as opposed to two Ganeshas and a Buddha), one orangey, one grey and gold and one terracotta... oh, and a pink net shawl/scarf thing for Ma's birthday next weekend...

Then we hit the fudge stall... mmmmm fudge... I got Turkish Delight, Malt and Honey (or Malt and something anyway) and something coffee flavoured... yummy...

The African statue stall (or African stuff from Africa) was a bit of a washout... sure they had some really nice giraffe things, but that's Mrs Stu's thing, but they didn't really have any lions... bummer...

While Ma was looking at our last stop, the same jewellery stall she'd looked at about three times (okay, maybe it was only the second time) I suddenly had a flash that one of the crystal stalls had some little carved crystal animals... and they probably had lions... so I left Ma to her accessory indecision and hoofed it (as much as I could hoof by that stage) down the other end of the building in search of a little lion. I found the stall, I found the little teeny tiny lions, but they only had three types of crystal (one gold and sparkly which just looked fake, one milky clear and somewhat iridescent which was interesting, and a third one I don't remember)... so I asked the oddly cute but slightly docile boy behind the stall if they had any other types... specifically I would have liked one in Hematite, but alas they only had Tiger Eye and Red Jasper... three or four in Tiger Eye actually, but only one in Jasper.

Now, usually I would have gone with Tiger Eye... I quite like it, it has that really cool look when light shines on it... but for some reason, whether it was because it was the only one they had, or whether Umlilo was whispering in my ear, I don't know, but I bought the Red Jasper lion. And the way he's carved he does look like an "old lion"... he's got this great stylised look to him, but he looks old, which is perfect...

When I got home I checked up on the "properties" of Red Jasper... and while there were a few descriptions that seemed a little vague, I did come across one that seemed very appropriate...

Metaphysically, it is purported to have a stabilizing effect, and help one take all one's energy and use it in a balanced manner. It is also said to be a stone that helps in all areas of survival, and is a very protective stone.

Protective again...

And it helps in survival... and one of the places that Red Jasper comes from is Africa... so yeah... it's one of those things that was obviously meant to be...

That's about it more or less... we did flit around a bit so I could get some fixative to spray on the picture, and we also tried to find some sort of plastic sleeve or something that I could keep it in until I work out what the hell I'm going to do with it (and I got some gel stuff to rub into my knee)... part of me wants to get the picture laminated, but it's totally one of a kind, and if the laminating doesn't work or doesn't look as good once it's been laminated or whatever, then I'll be sad... so, for now, I don't know what the hell is going to happen to it...

All I do know is that I'm pretty damn knackered...

Current Mood:

photo friday: judge dread

i am the law!I lost my temper at work today...

I didn't mean to, obviously, but suddenly there I was... and for the record, the phrase that finally made me lose my temper was "Email is stupid, email is for old people"...

We had a meeting about some new changes that are going to be happening in the department, and one of the Dull People, who we'll call Nasal Bitch for the purposes of this discussion, was just so blinkered and mostly off topic and all round annoying during this meeting. And if we hadn't been meeting with somebody from outside the unit I probably would have told her to shut up during the meeting. But the meeting was finally over and she started whining about what happened in the meeting and suddenly I was just over it... so the phrase "You need to get over yourself" escaped my lips... and then we had a rather heated discussion (not really an argument, but a discussion, in which I was totally in the right, but she just wouldn't shut the hell up)... to which her final comment was the aforementioned "Email is stupid comment"...

And that was the point where I really lost my temper, made some reference to her needing a smack in the head, some sort of offer to give her one (all the while walking AWAY from her and the whole situation) and then a declarative statement about the fact I was going to lunch.

I ended up having an hour long lunch (instead of my usual half hour) and sublimated my rage with Haighs chocolate, purchases involving the edible Charlie Hunnam from EzyDVD (the complete UK version of Queer as Folk, you know, the one I looked at last weekend but didn't buy and Children of Men, which I hadn't seen, but it was cheap, so what the hell) and far too much chicken burger...

By the time I got back I felt slightly better, but had also come up with a total plan if she did approach me (which I'm not sure would have made the situation any better, but would hopefully have gotten her out of my face), but was working the "ignore" option like a trooper. Turns out she didn't even try and speak to me, and she disappeared at some point during the afternoon (milking whatever childhood trauma she thought she could get away with I'm sure)...

But luckily I had a chat with Le Ninja later in the afternoon and she knows exactly what Nasal Bitch is like... so I don't think I have a problem there... plus it does mean I have a free pass on not really having to deal with her if I don't want to...

You just gotta love drama, don't ya *pulls face*

Thank god it's the weekend now!!!

Current Mood:

fairly productive day

you're not paid to thinkEven though nothing much happened today (I just continued working through the very long and very boring list of websites I'm reviewing) I somehow seemed to manage to have a fairly productive day...

  • After yesterday's little tirade I got my own login and proper departmental email (the God Access is coming, it's just going to take a little longer)... and it took about an hour and a half once the appropriate form was emailed to the appropriate people... how hard is that, really... so I got to waste about three quarters of an hour setting up my new desktop and email options and whatnot...
  • I started out checking to see what movies were going to be in Gold Class in the next couple of weeks, and the next thing you know, I've booked tickets (for the right day this time) for Ma and I to go and see Prince Caspian on her birthday... took all the $50 voucher we got for Christmas, plus a little bit more (but, you know, it's Gold Class, so it's worth it)...
  • I just keep opening my mouth at work and words keep falling out, which somehow turn into IDEAS... which, it has to be said, is a little bit dangerous... and might lead to somebody (you know... me most likely) completely redesigning the unit's website (again, because the last time I worked there I turned the website from crap to gold, and now it's all crap again)...
  • Then I paid my rent at lunch... dull and routine, yes... but still productive...
  • I also booked a Haircut Day for next Friday... *woohoo*... Haircut Day! Actually, I did that on Tuesday on my way to the clinic... but it's still something productive...
  • And it seems like I might have turned another corner knee-wise... it seems to be freeing up even more, and I actually managed putting all my weight on my "bad" leg, not limping very much and pretty much walking normally... it's still a little twingy in spots, but it's getting there *woohoo*...
And now... to bed...

Current Mood:

random nyle hotness

A Random Hotness brought on by random bloghopping this week...

While I picked the shots up somewhere very random (although it is somewhere I might have to revisit), they originally came from Fantastics Mag, photographed by Tate Tullier, and the silly yet shagtastic model is 20-something Nyle...

I might need to keep an eye on the Fantastics site in future, you never know what might show up...


Current Mood:

dealing with dull people

dull dull dullLet me set the scene...

There are eight people (including myself) who work in the team I'm currently with. This week, one of them (H-San) is on leave, two others (Sugarmonkey and Rockchick) have been on a training course for the last two days and the Boss (Ginger Ninja) is off with personal business...

Which leaves me with what could possibly be the three most boring and frustrating people on the planet...

Okay, that's not fair... not the whole planet certainly... but my small slice of the planet definitely.

And they're all ringers from other places within the Department, so they don't actually know what the hell is going on... which has left, for the last two days, ME... and I haven't worked with this crew for maybe three years, and I don't have my own login or official email currently, and I don't have Super User Access (or as I prefer to call it, God Access) which would let me in to all the websites when people call and have a problem.

Fortunately I'm using one persons login, I have a "work" Gmail account and discovered yesterday that one of the women happens to have Super User Access (although WHY is anybody's guess, since she doesn't seem to know her proverbial ass from a proverbial hole in the ground)... so basically I've managed... just...

Add to that the fact that what I'm currently doing is fairly fucking dull (checking a bunch of websites against a predetermined list and seeing if they comply)... so, yeah... boooooooo-riiiiiiing!

And today when everybody seemed to want to call and have problems at me (as opposed to Monday when Sugarmonkey was around and the phone never seemed to ring all day)... seriously, I've been back less than a month, I still have no idea how the hell everything is currently being done... QUIT ASKING ME!

That goes double for the people IN the Unit too... either get a clue about what work the Unit actually does and how it gets done, or, you know, bugger off to wherever it was you came from in the first place.

Luckily Stu happened to be in the neighbourhood and called me just before lunch to see if I wanted to do lunch with him... which I happily accepted... he swung past in the car and we tootled over to Gouger Street and ended up having yum cha at the same place I had yum cha with Freddy nearly two years ago now... and it was nice to talk to a reasonable person, even if it was only for about half an hour...

Thankfully Ginger Ninja, Sugarmonkey and Rockchick are back tomorrow...

Current Mood:

clinic visit

clinic 275Lord, there is nothing quite like the incredibly nerve racking boredom and terror of sitting in the waiting room of the STD clinic...

Well... unless you have to sit in a waiting room decorated in late 80's pastel tones of pink, pale grey and sage green... there's just something exquisitely painfully boring about that...

And then if you happen to have a couple of skanky, early 20's women sitting near you who just won't SHUT UP about their stupid skanky lives, that doesn't help either... and even when one of them gets called in to see a doctor, the other one still isn't quiet... she verbally shut up, but there were her annoyingly clanky bracelets, and the fact she couldn't even thumb through a magazine quietly... grrrr....

Just wanted to punch her in the face really... yeah, I deal with stress well, don't I...

I'm not sure how long I waited... it was probably 4:15 by the time I got to the clinic, and I left at around 5:30 or so... and I'm sure I wasn't in with the doctor THAT long... it was the waiting that just seemed to take FOREVER...

But thankfully when I was finally called in to see the doctor it was more than worth the wait. Freaky, but worthwhile...

I sat down and the doctor recognised me. From the last time I was in the clinic... which turns out was seven years ago (yes, I know... bad yani... bad, bad yani). And it was doubly freaky because a couple of months after the last time I saw him he went back to New York (I swear, he was SO New York Jewish)... and stayed there for six years and has only just come back to Adelaide... so very much one of those weird coincidence/happenstance things.

But he was great... a little intense a couple of times... but great. He and the nurse were a great double act actually... who knew I'd get dinner and a show (okay, not dinner so much) at the STD clinic. It totally put me at ease and I felt a thousand times better by the time I walked out of there than I did when I walked in.

The downside of the whole this is that they might have to test me a few times before he can properly clear me for the whole syphilis problem... even if I don't have it, it can be very hard to catch on a test... so that's a bummer...

We went through all the usual stuff... random questions that I couldn't always remember the answers to (how many people, how recently, doing what)... although, interestingly, not as many as I remember them asking in the past... I'm sure there used to be a lot more in depth, prying questions of a personal nature.

Then we got to the physical... annoying, but thankfully brief... even with the somewhat uncomfortable "roll on your side and put your knees up" action. He didn't do the highly painful and invasive urethra swab, which I was pleased about, but I did have to go and pee in a cup (thank god I didn't go while I was waiting... but it was a relief to finally be able to pee). Then came the blood test, which I think was probably the worst part... the most painful certainly.

I have to say that I'm a tiny bit apprehensive... I mean I don't have any symptoms, but it's been quite some time since I've been tested, so who the hell knows. Part of me almost expects something to come back positive... let's just say that I actually wouldn't be that surprised. Granted, if it does, and it's something major, I'll more than likely freak the hell out...

Anyway, by the time I walked out of the clinic it was already well on it's way to being dark (thank you Mr Winter), and while I possibly could have trundled down the road and got on the bus, I figured that since I had to walk like three blocks to get to the bus stop, I might as well just head straight home and walk the same distance in a useful direction.

Partially I wanted to see if I could physically do it (well, obviously I COULD do it), and last the distance without falling down and whatever. I did manage it, and I was mostly okay, but I guess it remains to be seen whether or not I SHOULD have walked the distance. My knee doesn't feel that bad, although it was a little "achy" when I got home.

So, yeah... I have to go back next week some time... it won't be next Tuesday obviously, maybe Wednesday since that's their other "late night"...

Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 278

I have the feeling that this is going to be a very boring and yet very trying week... and come Friday I may be attempting to carve my own eyeballs out with a plastic spoon...

Unconscious Mutterings!

  1. Referral :: Doctor's

  2. Indiana :: Jones (well, DUR!)

  3. Foil :: Gold

  4. Horizon :: Event

  5. Event :: Party (see now, that's not fair, I didn't even see the word for this one until after I'd put in my previous answer)

  6. Sailing :: Boat

  7. Footage :: Raw

  8. Sunday :: Rest

  9. Breathtaking :: View

  10. Dude! :: Duuuuuuude!

Current Mood:

sweet like candy

You Are a Sweet Person


When it comes to snacks, you're more likely to grab some candy than heat up a pizza.

There's a good chance you're female (women prefer sweet snacks)...

Or at least, you prefer to be in the company of women.

Your tastes are simple and predictable. You are young at heart.

You tend to crave food you can just grab and eat.


Current Mood:

sunday supermarket shopping

super market... geddit?Nothing overly exciting to report... except perhaps to say that for whatever reason the supermarket was more crowded at 11am on a Sunday than it is at 8am on a Saturday... which just seems weird to me...

My knee was perhaps a little more achy today (although it's not really that bad right now)... whether that was because I "overdid" it yesterday or whether I just had my knee brace on in slightly the wrong spot... or what, I dunno... and it was almost worse because I had the little basket trolley to lean on... go figure...

One of the downsides of working is that I never quite feel like I have enough time in the evenings... especially not enough time to cook something substantial... whether that's a curry or some proper pasta sauce or a stew or whatever... I mean, yeah, I probably could, but the last thing I really feel like doing when I get home from work is standing up at the kitchen counter and banging something out.

But if I'm going to be working until nearly August, I'm going to have to come up with some sort of compromise or find some sort of balance... I dunno...

Anyway, this seems slightly off topic, except for the fact that I was thinking that I didn't really buy that much stuff at the supermarket... and some of it is stuff that I'm now thinking "what the hell am I going to use that for?"...

After we were finished with shopping we wandered aimlessly around Red Circle... I didn't bother looking at jeans or clothes in general really... Ma did, but nothing that looked any good...

We ended up going to Arndale after we'd come back here and dropped everything off... partially because I just wanted to be out of the house again, and partially to take a second look at the DVDs I "passed on" yesterday. Turns out that Arndale doesn't have as much stuff as Marion... which, when I think about it, is probably pretty self evident... so there wasn't really anything to find...

I wasn't really in much of a decision making mood, whether it was because I made all my decisions yesterday and was all out, or whether I just couldn't be bothered today is anybody's guess, so we just kind of ended up at the Queen Street Deli for some lunch. While we were there I was kind of reminded of something that Sunshine said a little while ago (and which I can't find the actual post for) about a couple that he'd seen out to lunch or dinner somewhere to spent the whole time not talking to each other... and how he just thought that was weird. I was reminded of it because that was pretty much what happened with Ma and I while we were waiting for a shared plate of bruschetta (which turned out to have a mega amount of topping on it, possibly because the nice chef boy knew we were going to share it)... we just both sat there reading various bits of various newspapers (I found an article about Hugh Laurie, ie Dr House, in one of them, and Ma found something equally interesting in whatever it was she was looking at)...

Sure, we could probably have hashed out some vague plans about her birthday in a couple of weeks (except that we're probably going to end up going to see something at the movies, hopefully Gold Class, and maybe go somewhere Indian for dinner since I have a discount voucher thing for a place we've never been), or whatever, but we didn't... we just sat and enjoyed the comfortable silence that exists when you've pretty much said everything there is to said... maybe it looks "sad"... but it doesn't feel that way.

So yeah... we shopped, we saw, we ate... and now the weekend is nearly over...

Current Mood:

sublimating with retail therapy

must shop, must shop, must shop...Ahhhh... the joys of sublimating my emotions through retail therapy...

Ma is off doing that "costal country" thing she does, so I've been left to my own devices today. Technically I probably could have gone and done my supermarket shopping by myself, but I wasn't sure about carrying heavy bags of groceries all by my ownsome, so instead I figured I would take myself off to Marion and pick up something for Ma's upcoming birthday since she was safely out of the way.

I never got around to mentioning it before now, but I bought myself an adjustable knee brace on Thursday night (and a proper reusable ice pack thing)... and we won't even go into how much freakin money it cost (okay, we will, but just briefly, I'm sure I was overcharged since I was stupid enough to buy it in North Adelaide and all... $55, can you fucking believe it???), and it's actually helping with the knee thing, it just gives me some stability and firmness, lets me walk more like a person and less like a horror movie cliche...

So I strapped up my leg early this morning, got in the car (thank god for automatics) and trundled down to Marion.

There is something a little eerie about getting to Marion that early... usually we don't make it down there until mid morning or early afternoon, but first thing the place was half deserted... it just felt weird.

Originally the plan was get in, get the thing for Ma's birthday, get out... but I did have a thought in the back of my mind that that was never going to happen, I knew I would end up wandering around aimlessly (although, without the knee brace, I might not have). I stopped off to get some breakfast, and then the seeming orgy of shopping began...

I'm pretty sure it's the currently ongoing joy of having actual, real live, disposal income... money that's all mine and that I can actually use for whatever I like instead of having to ration and justify and scrimp and go without things... it's a little bit intoxicating... so that was also probably why I was supposed to be looking for things for Ma, but kept finding things for myself instead.

I swung through the Red Circle Boutique for no real reason, partially to look at the DVDs, but partially because I know I really need another pair of jeans, one of them is starting to fall apart a bit and another pair I don't really like wearing that much (they're boring), so that only leaves me with the pair I currently have on. But RCB hasn't really had anything decent in jeans in appropriate sizes of late, so I wasn't expecting much. Sometimes the Universe just smiles on me a little bit though (and it had bloody better want to after last week)... nice pair of pale, faded jeans (Light Indigo Abraded Jeans, don'tcha know!), just my size... whoopee!

They fit pretty well, and when I got to the register there was another one of those ongoing sales they seem to have going perpetually, and I got them for $40 instead of $50... woohoo...

my new stainless steel ring... no jokes pleaseI've also been having a thought process for the last few weeks that I might like a nice plain silver band for the first finger on my left hand... none of the rings I actually own currently fit me properly, and none of them are plain anyway... but up until this point it hasn't really been anything other than an idle thought...

And it probably would have continued to be idle, if there wasn't a jewellery store right next to the RCB... I really only went in to take a look at what they had, "tyre kick" if you will... but the nice girly (Ramonas, according to the receipt) asked me if she could help me with anything, and I actually couldn't FIND the silver men's rings, so I asked, she showed me what they had, there was a "25% off" sign on this really nice "Stainless Steel Satin Bevelled Flat 6mm Ring"... and I tried it on, thinking it would probably be too big for me, and what do you know, it fit (it's a little bit loose now that my fingers are cold, but not enough for it to be a problem)... and with the 25% discount it was only $33... Yes please! So I walked into the store to browse, walked out wearing a new ring.

I think that was possibly the point where the actual fact that I was on the edge of some sort of depraved spending spree kind of hit me, and I settled down a bit... which was a little bit of a shame... but better than buyer's remorse I guess...

My conviction was tested at my next stop, when I happened to see all three Queer as Folk DVDs (the original UK version with the edible Charlie Hunnam) marked down from $20 each to $15 each... but I already have the first season on VHS (and I think I have the second season on VHS on extended loan from J too), and I haven't watched it in a long while... so after wandering around the shop with the three DVDs being all indecisive I ended up putting them all back *sigh*... but it was probably a good thing, since I saw the full series in one case at JB HiFi for pretty much the same price... and they weren't even on special there...

Oh, and while I was in JB HiFi my vague yet oddly specific OCD came out to play... there was this tray of cut price anime DVDs which were all piled up and impossible to see what the hell was there, and I just started organising them into rows, moving the box sets to one side, making everything neat and tidy... normally Ma's with me, and at some point she drags me away to stop me being completely obsessive compulsive, but I was all on my own, so I organised the entire tray... left everything in rows and whatnot... sad, but true...

Eventually, after NOT buying a few other things in various places (the complete first season of Mythbusters for $15 and Sin City for about $12, only because I haven't actually seen it and I don't know if it's any good), I finally made it to the car store place to get Ma's present... it's a little bit cheesy, but Ma quite liked these Angel car seat covers... which, I will admit, are better than the godawful neon pink things she was given by some skank with no taste a while back. They're velour, they have a "padded" design, but they're grey and she likes them, so, like a dutiful son, I got them for her birthday...

I also had the vague thought that I might get her Michael Palin's autobiography... but when I eventually found it, it's only the "Python Years"... but they did have some of his travel books half price in Dymocks, and I know that she complained the other week because Channel 7 took his latest series off the air because it wasn't rating well... so I figured what the hell... and after being indecisive between Himalaya and Sahara, I finally decided on Himalaya (for no other reason than I liked the sound of it more).

So, by this point I was pretty much done... not only because I'd bought everything I wanted to buy and been everywhere I needed to go (actually, I'd been pretty much everywhere there was to go), but I think my knee was pretty much done too... and I called it a day... and it was only just 11am... not bad considering I got there somewhere between 9 and 9:30...

I also had a vague plan about going to Clinic 275 today (is it just me, or is it significant that the STD clinic is Clinic 275 and the sauna is Pulteney 431... coincidence?)... but on the way home I had the thought that maybe they weren't actually open on weekends... turns out I was right. So now I'm going to have to wangle something during the week... which actually probably won't be that hard since over half of the team are off for large chunks of this week, so I'll just tell whoever is around that I'm taking a long lunch and hobble to the other end of the city to be prodded and poked in inappropriate places. Joy!

I don't have the vaguest idea what the hell I'm going to do with the rest of my day though... the car is still out the front, so I guess I could go somewhere, but I think maybe I did enough somewhereing this morning and I should just take it easy...

*shrug*

Current Mood:

photo friday: men

dark modelFor the record, this is one of my photos (meaning, of course, that it's a photo I took, not a photo of me)... from back in 2005... sadly nothing I had that was recent seemed to really fit my little story...

There are these two guys who work on the same floor as me... not in my team (or the same team as each other for that matter), but where they both sit they usually have to walk past my desk on their way to or from anywhere.

One of them used to work on one of the other floors I worked on, but he had longer hair then. I'm not sure which I like more to be honest, the long hair was unusual, but the shorter hair has that messy "just been laid" potential. He's quite tall, but it's mostly torso... in fact I think he has the longest torso I've ever seen... which makes the tucking in of shirts a problem for him sometimes, and just makes them sit on his frame a little oddly. And let's not even talk about the striped polo shirt he often wears (he's given up on "business shirts" for some reason) that seems to have seen so many washes that it's almost like tissue paper and looks like you could probably see right through it when he's out in the sunshine. He's fairly sweet, a little pigeon-toed, maybe with a touch of docileness, and I honestly don't think he has even the vaguest idea about how sexy he actually is. Well, he might do, but it's that kind of unstudied and unconcerned straight boy sexiness, where he doesn't work at it, it just is what it is. And very occasionally it makes me want to whimper and bite right through my lip (you know, in a good way).

The other guy is SO obviously a 'mo... either that or he's more metrosexual than is really good for him... I'd know for certain if I'd ever heard him speak, but he just doesn't speak, in fact he often doesn't seem to have any expression at all... totally blank (okay, sometimes there appears to be a slight condecending sneer there, but I could be imagining that). But he moves like a 'mo... there's something about the butt and the walk in general... it's not a swish exactly, because he's not swishy... but you know how they say "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck"... well, sometimes it takes a duck to know a duck... and he, my friend, is a duck! A blank faced, non-verbal, unsmiling duck, granted, but still a duck. Him I just want to shake until he has another expression.

But they wander past, I watch, it's a good system...

Current Mood:

random danish hotness

Today's Random Hotness is smokingly hot Danish model, Sebastian Lund... as far as I understand it he has an older brother who's a model too...

Having that much hotness in one family is just a little annoying... yeah, I'm just jealous *grin*...


Current Mood:

wednesday thoughts

bloody little blue bearbrick snailJust some non-specific random street art shots... but what's not to love about a deranged little bleeding blue bear and a dopey looking wall snail...

And now, some random thoughts about Wednesday...

  • Why the hell is it that Network Ten is unable to show the shows that they promise to show... last week they started the new series of House... I know this because there were about a billion ads about it... and after last week's episode was the ad for this weeks... another new episode... and yet today rolls around... REPEAT! What the fuck? I mean they must have HAD the episode, they made the freaking commercial? So why?
  • I might be looking at another eight weeks of work... they want me to sub in to free up some of the existing staff to do "audit checks" on the websites... which hopefully means I'll get my own login and email and everything... it also means I might end up having to take a "week off", but I think I can cope with that...
  • I've been having a few little freak outs about my knee today... nothing major, just thinking stupid thoughts like "what if this is as good as it ever gets" and "what if I should be doing something that I'm not doing, or shouldn't be doing that I am doing" and "should I go and see somebody about it, get it checked out" and "what if I never get my 'speed' back"... you know, stupid stuff...
  • I ran into a buddy of J's in town yesterday (J2 for the purposes of the story)... I'd hobbled off to pay my rent, so I ended up going somewhere different for lunch, and he was right behind me as I went in... I clocked him as a fellow 'mo, but it was only when I heard him speak that I realised who it was. And he hasn't heard from J either... the little bugger has been pretty much silent since he got back to London. I'm glad it's not just me he hasn't been in touch with though...
  • Oddly I'm both really missing my walk and I'm also quite okay with having extra time in the mornings... it's nice to not have to be out and about before the crack of dawn but I don't want to slip backwards...
That's about all the thoughts in my head at present...

Current Mood:

movies: miss pettigrew lives for a day

miss pettigrew lives for a day - every woman will have her daySometimes you wonder where they come up with some of those "if you enjoyed such and such a movie, you'll love this movie"... but I have to say, anybody who enjoyed Mrs Henderson Presents will probably end up loving Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day...

It's not quite in the same league, but it is definitely worth a look. It's a sweet movie, and it gave me more than a few giggles.

Frances McDormand does a great turn as the title character, she manages to pull off that whole "plain looking but loaded with character" thing really well, and there are a couple of points where you end up watching her even though she's not at the front of the scene.

Unfortunately Amy Adams seems to be a little more uneven in her acting... she's trying this whole Marilyn Monroe kind of breathless and ditzy thing that doesn't QUITE work for her... but she's playing the type of character who spends their whole time "acting", and there are a couple of moments where the "real" character shines through from underneath.

There is eye candy galore too... from the briefly naked and highly shagable Tom Payne to Lee Pace as the heart-of-gold piano player... even the slightly evil Mark Strong is pretty damn stylish...

Actually, the whole movie is pretty stylish... it's all very 1940's inspired (well, it would be, being set just before the start of World War II), and the set design is wonderfully art deco... which I love at the best of times.

All in all, while it's perhaps a little uneven in spots (more so at the beginning I think), it is a sweet and funny movie and worth seeing.

yani's rating: 3 social secretaries out of 5

call me igor

yeth mathterI swear, this whole knee issue is somewhere between complete and total torture and some sort of Zen exercise in the art of moving slower...

I took my car into work, I had my cane, I told the same story about four times (once to H-San, once to Da Girlz, once to Sugarmonkey and once to Ginger Ninja aka The Boss)... technically I should have just rocked up for work at like 10am and explained it just once to everyone... but I didn't... I got in pretty much at normal time actually.

It's just really, really, really hard for me to slow down... even with the cane (and I swear I'm going to end up with bruises on my palms), my body just wants to go faster than my knee is prepared to let me. But I'm better I think... I'm certainly better than I was yesterday, and yesterday I was better than I was on Saturday night... it's still kinda sore, and all swollen and fugly, but I'm moving better... once I get moving that is... that whole sitting for a length of time and then starting again thing isn't great... but I'm like that normally sometimes.

I think I'm going to attempt the bus and no stick tomorrow... I do walk a little bit like Igor or Quasimodo or something, but I can cope I think. The down side will be that having the stick makes it really obvious that something is the matter and you're not just like that normally... plus people were making way for me and letting me into elevators first and stuff.

And joy of joys, when I got home tonight I got a message from somebody I've hooked up with a few times saying that they just found out that they had syphilis, and I should get myself checked out too... *sigh*... Great, I've got a bum knee, and now somebody might have given me the pox...

Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 277

Well, I got to sleep in an extra half an hour or so, but I don't feel any better for not having been on my walk... now I just need to drag my bum knee to the car, and thence to the office... wish me luck!

In the meantime... Unconscious Mutterings...

  1. Concentration :: Thought

  2. Relocated :: Moved

  3. Clot :: Blood

  4. Joints :: Dislocated (ow, ow, ow)

  5. Satellite :: Television

  6. Money back :: Guarantee

  7. Kittens :: Puppies

  8. Shady :: Dealings

  9. Drain :: Clog

  10. Stroke :: Brain

Current Mood:

light boxes

metro dodo seriesSomething from last week's little wander... they recently put up a "Light Box Art Gallery" in Blyth Street... based, I'm pretty sure, on a concept from Melbourne... and the first art they've put in the boxes is the Metro Dodo Series by James Cochran.

My knee is better than I would have expected... it's still not great by any stretch of the imagination, but at least now I can straighten it (more or less... once I've been walking around a bit)... and I discovered a better icepack than the chicken stock... still in the food family though, I had a couple of bags of mashed banana that I'd planned on using in muffins eventually, and because it was a flat bag with only a thin layer of banana, it moulded to my knee perfectly, so I used that. Not sure how much the cold thing is helping, but at this point I'm willing to try just about anything.

The sleeping thing was something of an adventure last night... I maybe tossed and turned a bit, and every time I rolled over I had to make sure I rolled both legs together, give my bad leg some support (complete with my big long body pillow clamped firmly between my knees)... so it was something like Syncronised Bed Ballet...

I did manage to make it outside... walked down to the Seven Day Supermarket to get a newspaper and something for lunch... and while it was a long and slow process, I did manage it with a minimum of discomfort (although with the aid of my cane). If there is any form of personal hell specifically designed for each person, then my hell involves not being able to stide quickly the way I'm used to.

In some ways I think that kind of defines who I am... I stride, I walk fast, I don't dawdle, even when I have no idea where the hell I'm going, I still go there with all speed... and now that I suddenly can't do that, it's almost like TORTURE! It's so incredibly frustrating and annoying, and could easily drive me around the twist.

I'm pretty sure I'm going into work tomorrow... I'm thinking I'll take my car in (which could be it's own realm of issues) rather than chancing it on public transport (I can just see me turning into a grumpy old pensioner and waving my cane at some schoolboy to make him give up his seat to me... so let's try and avoid that)... I already SMS'ed H-San (not technically my boss, but close enough, and the only person who's number I actually have) to let him know I might be in late. I'm not sure that I will be late, in fact I might actually be early, but I figured I would just cover my own butt. After that I'll have to make it up as I go along.

It's all very annoying though...

Current Mood:

completely firetrucked

not yet, but maybe"There, now you're fucked!"
Bernice, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

The Universe seems to hate me today...

I'm going to start from the end of the story and work backwards. After Ma and I had pretty much finished all our running around for the day and were about to maybe head out and grab something to eat, I don't even know what I was doing... I know I'd just put my shoes on, and I think I might have been getting my wallet of the kitchen counter... when suddenly my usually helpfully somewhat double jointed limbs attacked me...

I felt my knee dislocate... the kneecap slid completely out of place and down I went... and on the way down, because I couldn't control the way I was falling, I actually managed to pop my kneecap back into position as I fell.

This is never good... I've previously dislocated my shoulder three times and eventually had to go into hospital and have a shoulder reconstruction... and this is not something I want to start replicating with my knees... No thank you sir!

I think I went into shock a little bit afterwards... I felt like I was going to throw up, I ended up having a little bit of a cry and I didn't want to move my leg or straighten it or anything... and I got really cold eventually (that might have been the bag of frozen chicken stock that Ma made me hold against my knee though).

Luckily I did it while Ma was still here (although on the flip side I do wonder if I would have done it at all if she hadn't been here... but I'm never going to know, and that way lies the way of crazy thoughts...

So currently I'm a very, very, very, very, very sore and sorry yani... I think my knee is okay, it has swollen up like a fricken grapefruit, and I can't really put any weight on it (thank the proverbial that I actually own a walking stick/cane, which is helping a little) but if it hasn't improved enough by tomorrow I might have to get Ma to take me to the Emergency Room just to get them to check it out, maybe get a set of crutches... because I can't really put any weight on it, and if I straighten it out totally so that my kneecap tries to lock into place, it feels like it's going to pop out again... *whimper*... and there's some form of unidentified boo-boo on my wrist... I have no idea where the hell that came from... whether I got carpet burn as I fell (which seems possible) or what... no idea...

Knowing my luck I've actually ripped the tendons holding my knee in place like I did with my shoulder and it will need some sort of reconstruction, but really, really, really hopefully that's a worse case scenario... *crosses fingers, toes and all appropriate body parts... but not legs, because I think that might hurt*

I'm not completely sure that the hell I'm going to do about Monday... I know for damn sure that I won't be walking in the morning... in fact unless it improves in leaps and bounds, I can't see myself going for my walk all week (which is just going to make me all crankylike)... and quite possibly I might have to call in sick from work, and that WOULD suck because the Curse of the Temp states that if you don't work, you don't get paid... *sulk*

It's doubly irritating, because I was kind of planning on taking a trip to the sauna tonight... so there goes that plan out the window... and because the Universe just loves to kick you when you've already fallen on your arse, I got a message from somebody I hooked up with a while back to see if I was up for another session tonight (which I might not have bothered with if I had been hitting the sauna, but if could have been good as a "warm up act")... dammit...

But backtracking to the beginning of the day, it does seem a little bit like it might have been a case of "Good News, Bad News" all day long...

Shopping all went well, so that was Good News (although I did manage to drop a pre-prepared Indian meal thing out of my little "basket trolley" onto the floor, so that was Bad News)... It seemed like it was going to be sufficiently windy to go kite flying, so again, Good News... then we made it down to the beach and it was WAY too windy to manage to fly our kites properly, Ma's just did suicidal spirals, and the strings on mine got completely and utterly tangled, meaning I had to sit there and concentrate on untangling the whole thing for about ten minutes (literally), so that's two lots of Bad News...

So we headed over to West Lakes to visit JB HiFi to get a couple of cheap DVDs (one I really wanted, The Wrong Man... and one that was a purchase of opportunity, being The Court Jester, which I probably wouldn't have thought about if we hadn't been quoting from it earlier this week at work), so that was Good News...

Then we headed back to the beach and, although I don't think the wind had died down that much, we figured we might try flying my kite anyway, which was supposed to be Good News... and it was, for about five minutes, if that, before the little rubber plug that held the center of the kite to the middle strut completely sheared off and disappeared... I felt the kite "give", but I couldn't work out what was wrong, it looked fine, but when we launched it again it kinda divebombed after a couple of minutes... so, yeah, dead kite... which was fairly Bad News... but really, it was a $7 kite, so neither of us were crying about it too much.

But we decided to head into town since it was still fairly early, and check out The Kite Shop... which was a very, very, very dangerous thing to do... possibly Good News, but a little scary none-the-less. Turns out that they don't really stock anything in a "stunt kite" for less than around $65... which is just fricken scary (surely there's a market out there for a fairly functional but reasonably priced stunt kite somewhere in the $30-$40 range)... and while I could have just gone backwards and gotten something with a single string that was all decorative and would have looked groovy on my bedroom wall, I really wanted something more interesting than that... and we chatted to the nice lady and she showed us what she had, and some of the prices were just frightening (as was the concept of a "four string kite")... but I guess if you've progressed up to wanting a stunt kite, then you've maybe been through a range of cheaper single string kites already, I dunno...

Anyway, while I probably should have gone with the standard "Well, you've given us a lot to think about, we'll have to come back another day" thing, Ma happened to whisper to me that she would give me half of the price... and the nice lady said that she would knock $10 off the kite I was thinking about... and before I knew it I was saying that I would take the black Detonator kite with the red, orange and yellow flame design on it for the grand total of $100...

I'm still not exactly sure if that is Good News or Bad News to be honest... the fact that I spent a stupid amount of money that I won't really have for that long on something that is basically a complete and total indulgence and absolutely non-essential probably isn't good... but on the other hand I have an awesome stunt kite with flames on it which came with it's own carry bag and some funky wrist straps... which is currently hanging over the head of my bed (and looks pretty damn cool I have to say).

Part of me really wishes that we'd found somewhere close by to try it out (anything so that I hadn't been standing in the house at the moment when I popped my knee)... but at the time I was suffering from a little bit of a Shopping Coma and couldn't bring myself to make a complete sentence or do anything that would really and truly confirm that I'd actually spent $100 on a kite (okay, technically only $50 since Ma gave me the other half, but still)... *sigh*

Oh well... it happened, I can't make it unhappen as much as I might like to, I just have to deal with it...

I could really do with some snuggling that doesn't screw up my knee right now... just somebody to put their arms around me and make it feel like it's all better... *double sigh*

Okay, enough now, before I really start feeling sorry for myself...

Current Mood:

photo friday: eight

elevator eightThis is where I'm spending what feels like all of my time currently... not in the elevator obviously... but Level 8...

It's been a weird day... the weather turned rainy and cold and windy and whatnot... I spent almost my whole day in a meeting, a meeting I might add that I was supposedly running (but not really, or at least not for long once I got everybody else talking... but I did get to do a lot of writing on the whiteboard with a squeaky pen, so that was a bonus)... originally it was supposed to run from 9:30 to 11... 11 became 12, 12 became 12:30... and then five of us reconvened at about 3pm and met until 4...

And we're kind of meeting about stuff that I'm shaping the strategy and policy and process about, but which I'm not going to see completed because I probably won't be around there for that long... which is a little weird... and suddenly I'm the "expert" on the Document Management System, and honestly all I did was spend all of last week moving stuff around in it (yes, I've used it a bunch of times in previous jobs in the building, but this is different).

I also had lunch with Stu... he's in the process of swapping jobs (long story, mostly dull)... and instead of wandering about in the rain, we ended up jumping in his car and going down to Fasta Pasta on South Terrace. Which meant I ended up having a whole hour for lunch (which was okay, because about half of the team were going out to lunch with somebody who used to work with them, so they were gone for about an hour and a half minimum...

Plus it was Friday, obviously, so I was all dressed casually (and I still am to be honest, I never bothered getting changed when I got home, since I'm pretty damn comfortable in what I have on)... I always used to do that when I worked there the first time around, mostly so that I could drop my work pants off at the dry cleaners on the Thursday night and pick them up again on Saturday (and it seems to have caught on with the other two groovy members of the team, not sure I actually started it, but it's nice to think that maybe I did a bit)... so I spent the whole day in jeans and the white shirt I bought for Stu's 40th birthday (which I don't think I've actually worn since) and my red hoodie (which left red fluff on my white shirt first thing this morning, so I'm less happy about that)... actually the shirt thing is a little bit interesting... I ran out of shirts I could wear "casually" this week, and picked this one as a kind of last resort, expecting it to be a little tight and not overly comfortable... since that's kind of how I remember it the last time I wore it... but if anything it's actually a little bit big for me...

Oh, and today was the first day that I had my security access card (I got it yesterday) for the whole day, so I could come and go as I pleased whenever I liked... which was good, but again, different...

Then I ended up picking up my dry cleaning tonight instead of tomorrow and generally futzing about at the supermarket before I came home...

So yeah... it's been a fairly good day... but a little weird too...

Current Mood:

random durfee hotness

This week's Random Hotness is not overly original... every now and again some new pretty face sparks the blogosphere's attention, and currently that face belongs to 19 year old Bryce Durfee (as any search of his name on Google will prove) who hails from North Carolina.

These photos are actually by Steven Gomillion and Dennis Leupold, who do some very attractive work! I might have to revisit their stuff in another Hotness post later on...

bryce durfeebryce durfee

Current Mood:

circuit colours

brown and purplegreen blue and red
I found these when I was on my excursion in Hindley Street on Sunday... actually one was opposite the Benzobot and the other one was just around the corner from it...

I'm thinking about turning the brown and purple one into a blog template... not completely sure yet, but it doesn't look too bad.

Work continues in it's worklike manner... my three days working with a different unit upstairs turning into two days because I pretty much killed one website per day while I was there, so there wasn't really any need for me to hang around for the third day...

So I'm back downstairs again... which is good... but I don't really have a THING I'm doing... so, yeah, I'm sort of doing whatever and making it up as I go... interesting times...

Current Mood:

now boarding

Your Personality at 35,000 Says...


Deep down, you prefer spending time alone to spending time with others. You enjoy thinking more than talking.

You don't spend much time thinking about your place in the world. You are who you are - and people can just deal with that!

Your gift is having a way with words. You know how to express yourself well.

You are inspired by what is possible. Real life is often too ordinary for you.

It's very easy for you to feel happy. You can find peace with any situation.


Current Mood:

montage monday: backstreets seven

hindley backstreetsIt's been a while since I managed to do a Monday Montage... but thankfully yesterday's little excursion netted me enough photos to knock one up.

Ahhhh... work...

You know how they say "be careful what you wish for"? Well today was pretty much a study in that exact phrase...

Towards the end of last week when I was drowning in the abject boredom of trying to organise the program that administers all the documents on the departmental website, I just wished quietly to myself that I had something a little bit more interesting and stimulating to do...

Today I got my wish... but it came at a price... and that price was a long shred torn off my sanity...

Firstly I was working for a woman who I'm SURE used to be a man... I actually found myself checking for an Adam's Apple a couple of times... it's not that she was butch... but just scarily tall and kinda built a little manishly... okay, she was probably never a man... but she has a scary transgender vibe going on.

Also, as a temp it's a little bit hard to just turn to somebody and say "Would you mind terribly just fucking off?"... she just hovered over my shoulder at various points... not for any particular reason, just to see where I was up to... and it was very annoying and very distracting. In the end I just ignored her and got on with what I was doing, and limited my answers to any direct questions. That's possibly why I came home with a slight headache... trying to resist the urge to punch somebody will do that to you (actually it's more likely to be my lack of weekend sleep finally catching up with me, but I like my first explanation more).

And she still thought I was fabulous by the end of the day... go figure!

There was a plus in the middle of my day though... Subway is currently doing a Tandoori Chicken sub... mmmmmmm Tandoori....

I made a discovery about my white Ikea Flört messenger bag this morning... I got dressed, black pants, sapphire blue shirt, black jacket, black boots, new black necklace... put the bag's strap over my shoulder and looked down at it...

GAYEST! BAG! EVER!

Actually that's not fair... the gayest bag I've ever owned (and still own) is a pink see-through PVC plastic Powerpuff Girls backpack... but Flört is certainly the gayest work bag I've ever had.

I'm not saying I don't like it... I still love it to death... but damn it was a gay, gay, gay colour choice! It's going to be even worse when I'm wearing my pale green shirt...

Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 276

I slept like a baby last night... I'm pretty sure I was unconscious about ten minutes (if that) after I switched out the light...

And while we're on the subject... Unconscious Muttings...

  1. Track :: Music

  2. Snake :: Belly

  3. Assignment :: Homework

  4. Blockbuster :: Video

  5. Bombastic :: Mr (it's a Shaggy song, isn't it?)

  6. Adventure :: Miss

  7. First time :: Virginity

  8. Aged :: Care Facility

  9. Grip :: Kung Fu

  10. Shortcut :: Desktop

Current Mood: