One of the Sydney ferry's (as you can see Sydney is at the forefront of technology with these beasts - not). 

It's been a while ...

I haven't posted on here for 6 years. It took me almost a whole day to remember my old log on. Then as google had since purchased Blog Spot, the old log in wouldn't work. Painful to say the least but here I am, nothing if not persistent.

And to move into modern technology I am typing this from my iPhone. So needless to say this post may be short, about nothing (well nothing really unusual about that) and seemingly mindless. It's late(ish) and I need to be up early as I am moving house tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, then to clean. And I will go on Monday with the dogs.

Ok well signing off, I will try not to leave it so long between posts next time and think of a good story for you. After all you would think I would have at least one good story to tell after 6 years.

AWOL

Hello all, or noone as the case may be - lol.

I have been away in effect for 8 months. My reason, well alot of things have happened. I have left my job, taken leave and still am on leave for that matter. I am looking for another job and a few months back was totally disheartened by the whole situation.

My life has been totally turned upside down and I no longer even read blogs anymore, whiich was something I loved to do.

Now I play an online game which is a bit more fun than I thought it would be inititally.

Here is a link if your interestred.



Anyhow I just felt like writing a few lines. Yes I am still alive. I know this isn't very interesting but I hope to soon get back into it because I feel that my life will soon have some normalcy back in it.

Hi to all who I have left behind and hopefully I'll be back soon.

N

Mosquitoes – Mans deadliest enemy

Last week was a short week here, well work wise anyhow (I guess if you look at it too analytically all weeks are seven days – so there is never really a short week - ha ha). And Monday being a public holiday I didn’t have to drag my lazy ass back to work until Tuesday. So I awaken after my brief holiday stint (I had the 3 days off between Christmas and New Year), get up not only not refreshed and ready to go to work for another year but my eye wont open properly, yes only one, the right one if it is important to know.

So I’m thinking crazy stuff right, a bit of a “what the” situation. So I drag myself to the bathroom for the normal morning cleansing and catch a look at myself in the mirror. And what do I see (other than my normal radiant beauty of course). My eye is swollen almost closed (right one if you didn’t catch that a few sentences back). Looks a bit like someone gave me a good wallop but without any bruising whatsoever.

Now I have the quandary, to work or not to work…. So being the keen employee I am I decide not to after all I may have some crazy new disease. Now this presents another problem, to not go to work the day after a public holiday requires a medical certificate, you know a “Nord was unable to attend work today as she was sick” from the doctor. So because my doctor didn’t open til after 9 am and the chances of getting an appointment the day you call are slim to none, I called the I have no money and don’t have to pay medical centre. The only problem with this is it’s a first come first serve basis, now I called at 8am asked about the wait time (which was already an hour). And then asked if I could come down put my name down and go home and come back in an hour, which I was told I could. They won’t take appointments you have to go down to the centre.

So anyway off I go half blind in the car and it has just started to rain (this has relevance later in the story). So I’m driving along, the roads kinda slippery, I’m driving too fast (as usual) but made it to the medical centre without incident – almost… so I am driving along and see the medical centre on my right (we drive on the left hand side of the road to avoid confusion for the next bit) as I am on a majorish road it has a median strip and it has no break so I have to drive up to the roundabout another block up so I can go around and come back on the right (well left) side of the road so I can get into the medical centre.

So as I come up to the roundabout (it’s a give way to your right scenario) I think (oh so wrongly) that nothing is coming so slow a little but not to a stop, then I see the car, the one I have to stop and give way to barrelling onto the roundabout and I hit the breaks, only for my car to NOT grip on the road in the rain and to begin to slide toward the round about… or it would have if my tyre hadn’t hit the median strip (which is what caused this hassle to start with) and I bounced off, and to a stop, thank God. But all this activity was accompanied with those very pretty screeching noises of an accident, but thankfully there was no bang at the end. So what did I do? I think I muttered some profanity under my breath, tried to calm my breathing and heart rate, and then continued on my (5 second) journey as though nothing had happened.

So now that I had safely arrived I went in to be put next in line (after the hundreds who were already there) to have the receptionist say to me “So you have a sore eye” – oh my God, what gave it away? The fact that if it was any bigger it would have poked into you even though I’m standing over a meter away? Anyhow, I digress, I get my name put down I confirm the wait (yes still an hour) and I tell her I am going and will be back in an hour. So off I go and I get home without incident. I get an ice pack put it on my eye (yes with a cloth I am not a total spaz) and lie on my bed until its time to return. Now little did I know that this ice pack would have a significant effect on the swelling and reduce it by more than half, but it was still a little swollen so I should still be ok to get the certificate, so off I go back. I go to the desk and tell them I am back, the wait has increased (surprise, surprise) so I sit down to wait, in a darkened corner (well ok it was just an alcove but it’s my story) to avoid all ridicule (I have read the hunchback of Notre Damme). Now after I have been sitting there a further 15 minutes a lady with 2 young girls sits opposite me, now the older of the 2 girls about 5ish starts to whisper to her mother while pointing at me and I give the little girl the death stare (with couldn’t have been pretty with the eye) and she stops half was through her sentence and as her mother is preoccupied she doesn’t really pay attention to the little girl. This is the reason I sat here to start with, to avoid all that crap, I wasn’t sending out “come join me” invitations.

Anyhow another 15 minutes and I poke around in my handbag for a little mirror (honestly as a girl this is one of the best things I could ever have bought – except it has a magnified side – DAMN some things you just don't need to see that close). Anyway I look at my eye now to see the swelling has once again significantly reduced. So now paranoia sets in, what am I going to say to the doc when I finally get to see him and the swelling is gone? As I mentioned I called in to work and with the public holiday I needed a certificate no matter what. Umm… very interesting going in and saying to the doc… “Well doc you wouldn’t believe it but when I got up my eye was swollen closed, but because you spazs have taken over 4 hours to see me (ok maybe not all of that time was their fault but close) my eye has completely gone down – so umm yeah… any chance of a certificate?”

But as luck would have it, thankfully I was the next person called, I went in to see the doc, Nathan (who incidentally introduced himself twice to me in a two sentence period – I can see why he doesn’t have his own practice) and also my eye was still a little swollen and red. So anyhow he poked around a bit, told me it wasn’t infected and he diagnosed me with a – da da da daaaaa “mosquito bite” he said it should be completely gone by the following day, he gave me certificate and said I did the right thing, he said you should never take risks with your eyes (which I guess is a valid point). So I went home put the ice pack back on and slothed around for the rest of the day, shortly after I had finished at the doc the swelling was pretty much gone anyhow.

Mosquitos bad - unless of course you want a day off.

A Whitetail, New Year and a Haunted House

Sorry about the extended break. The work issue is not yet done and I am still hanging (oh well) but enough of that (and Regan if you’re still about – no it wasn’t sexual (thank God)).

So I killed a White-tailed Spider today, it was climbing up the wall and it was kinda big. I squashed it with a rather large book (yes, ever the hero). They can give a very nasty bite that in some people ulcerates and doesn’t heal (forever – so I’m told). Ok away from the Discovery Channel. Anyhow now with my superstitious mind I am waiting for it to rain. But it hasn’t so far.

As for New Year, boy was I a Nigel No Friends this year. I did get invited to a party at a good friends house but would have to travel almost the breadth of the Country to get there (5 or 6 hours I think) so I piked. So what did I do? I played on my computer a bit and then called my mum to wish her a happy New Year and watched the fireworks on TV. It’s actually pretty impressive to watch them come of the bridge, if you ever get a chance to see it, it's awesome. Last night it was 15 minutes of continuous fireworks, it was amazing. Ok, enough of my loser complex telling you all how great the fireworks on TV were (ha ha ha).

Oh something interesting I did do last week (when I was home at the parentals) is go with my little bro (18) to a place called Monte Cristo in a town called Junee. Now this house is the most haunted house in Australia, and if you have a look at the site some crazy stuff has happened there. Now of course I go with my bro who is convinced we will see a ghost or something will happen and you know crazily enough something did. As we were walking up a tiny stair case I look up at 18 who is running up it, I didn’t think much of it and began to ascend myself only to get a tightening in my chest and a heavy feeling on me (hard to describe but it was like being weighted down), it was honestly a struggle to get up the stairs, I kinda dismissed it but when I asked 18 later when we were having afternoon tea, if he felt anything on the stairs he described the exact same thing to me as I felt. Crazy stuff. Later we asked the owner who said many people have that happen on the stairs he said a little girl was killed there, apparently her nanny dropped her down them. Although he said that the nanny insisted that the baby was pulled from her arms (by a ghost). Anyhow…. spooky…. Also I took photos of absolutely everything and when we got home I have one photo that 18 insists is the “money shot” and he thinks you can see an orb in the photo (which I think you can too) and weirdly what looks to be someone’s pant legs in the photo, in the fireplace (and no, there was no screen). Anyhow I will post it up think what you will, it may be nothing, the photo, by the way was taken with a digital camera (I have no idea how to edit the photo and it has not been changed in any way – and hell, why bother) but as with all good ghosty photos it is a bit blurry.




Oh and they do overnight stays with candle light tours, we are both going to go back to get the bejesus scared out of us – it should be awesome. Oh and the other brother (21 now) stayed home because he didn’t want to be late for work – ha ha ha ha – he starts work at 5 (pm) and the place was only an hour away from mums town (where he was working) and we left at 10 (am) but to put it all into perspective he is the one who “holds the bags” at amusement parks rather than go on the rides, not exactly an adventuresome lad, but oh we’ll, each to their own.

So, HAPPY NEW YEAR and I hope you all had a great Chrissy.

Odds and sods

OK, today is December 1st. I have been very slack on the blogging front. What have I been up to? Ok I will do a quick recap. I took photos as demanded for you Regan, only to discover that my digital camera will no longer download to my PC (WHOOPIE) I ask my boy for some tech support (as this is – after all – his job) his response, “baby reload the software” Ummm… never would have thought of that…. yeah right , how about “Tried that already” (Twice). So sorry, no photos (until I can get it working again, anyhow).

I sent off my final Uni assignment, only to receive it back and find out I had completed it on the wrong topic “Invertebrates, Vertebrates… WTF? Is there even a difference? (Ok, ok, I know there is, but man the words are so close, teach me not to read the subject properly, that’s for sure. But I must say even though my lecturer wrote me a short and very blunt note on how I did the wrong thing, she did give me 15 out of 30 so I can’t really bitch about it and it does look as though I will pass the subject after all (thank you God).

I finally got the insurance back, ch-ching. Only thing is I now don’t want to spend it, but I can see with Christmas coming up a chunk of cash will be drained for presents, etc. You know I really need to talk to the parentals about having 4 kids; this doesn’t really work out for me the older and richer one who can afford to give decent gifts. And before you get a complex, yes I am richer than my brother who is a jobless student, and my other brother who works for a dollar an hour at a certain Fast food Chicken store (oh let’s call it KFZ) or so he give the impression that this is his pay rate.

I have also been having trouble with my boss at work and filed a complaint (this is the main reason I haven’t been blogging) I had had a lot of work to do in regard to this and have been very concerned about it, but now everything is happening) and as for more about it – yes the confidentiality clause which says I cannot discuss it, I wonder how far that goes, and if I hear the term “Business as usual” one more time, I think I’ll be sick. Anyhow let’s move on……

It has become summer overnight I believe (and in all my craziness I have yet to go swimming in the new pool, but I will, oh yes I will). It was a hideous 42 degrees yesterday and the hot (yes HOT) breeze or should I say hurricanal (is that a word? the spell check doesn’t seem to think so.) wind almost whisked me away as it fried my skin and burnt most of the hair from my body as I headed for the car. Man I just love summer (not).

Max is good, he’s not loving the heat either and now spends most of his quality time under the porch, well at least he has shade. Next doors dog (Barky) is very close to getting special treat all for him for Christmas to curb the barking… but we’ll see. After all ‘tis the season (ohhhh, to be jolly….ummm, must work on that).

I am however looking forward to Christmas, mum has (as tradition states) told me every single present she has got me, just to make sure I am ok with it, and if I’m not, well she has already got it for me so too bad (oh I wonder why she even asks). But as I was stating back a few paragraphs, Christmas for the fam, yay me, presents for all. I asked mum for some help on what to get the sibling, her first question. “How much do you want to spend?” My response, as always “Nothing” (I don’t know why she still asks). So all in all I get a sweeping I have no idea, thank you mum and back to square one. Oh well. I will get them something eventually, I have always been a Christmas Eve shopper, I mean the shops stay open until midnight for a reason right?

Oh and to make things worse it’s my older/younger brothers 21st in a week. What to get him, well same as always, I have no idea. I’ll (hopefully) think of something.

So, I am babbling and the convo is flying all over the place and have no constant train of thought. I shouldn’t have stayed away so long. I think I have forgotten how to write (as if I ever knew).

Well that will have to do for the mo, my best wishes to everyone for the holiday season, and my eternal jealousy for those with snow, think of me as I am sweating my ass off as you are cosied (also not a word, Word XP I thank you) in front of the fire place. I know I would rather be there with any of you than here in this heat. Tootle pip.

Insurance

Today I have finally done my insurance, yes I know it's taken a while, I think I was hassled into it. But now I am finally home for the day, I have been running around getting quotes and codes from not so helpful or friendly shop assistants for the last 4 hours.

The value all up of the claim about $2,500.00, hardly seems worth it for the hassle (come on now – who am I kidding – lol). But the worst thing about it is that I will have to go back out and buy all the stuff now after going around and getting the quotes. Well at least I now know where everything is in the stores.

The worst event of the day was the second store I went to, I politely asked if I could get a quote only to be told that “I need to make an appointment” and the manager “was much too busy”. God it is a department store for Christ’s sake. Then the manager rudely informed me they do not work for the insurance company but for their customers. I was oh so close to saying the “what am I a ham sandwich” but no, I am polite (at times). Any he asked if I could come back on Wednesday morning. I informed him no, I actually work during the day (funny that).

I told him I was happy to get the prices and give it to them to do me up the quote and I will come back and pick it up when it was done – after all it’s not rocket science. He reluctantly agreed, but constantly advised me it would not be ready before Wednesday – yeah, whatever.

So anyhow I have got it all ready and am super keen to send it off finally but now have something else (other than my procrastination) hold it up. Oh well fingers crossed it will be done by the end of the week and sent away.