Obla di Obla da

I seem to notice a worrying trend that the more things I do (and hence to more things to blog about) the less time to get around to blogging!

So this weekend my big brother was in town which would have been more exciting if I had exchanged more than Hello's and Good bye's with him No surprise his visits are mostly WeddingFianceWeddingWeddingWeddingFianceFianceFianceWeddingFianceWeddingFianceWeddingFianceFianceFiance.... These things do tend to happen.

I went out for drinks with Mr Thursday and some off his buddies, I tried my very best to make a friendly impression.. However when The ChocolateFairy arrived and we got discussing how gross pregnancy and having a baby and post pregnancy is... Mr T's friends green faces kinda said it all.

We also managed to catch the Japanese Film Festival. Mr T and I watched Linda Linda Linda which was really quite fun (and had english subtitles thank goodness!) Probably would have been an annoying teenflick if it was a Hollywood production, however the Japanese element made it a curious lesson in modern japanese teen culture! Cellphones and school uniforms and indoor shoes and all!

And then finally... I may have secured myself a new little nest to move out into. My parents aren't acting terribly enthisiastic but I have a suspicion my dear mum is looking forward to making house-house on some one elses budget (and offloading a too much furniture taking up space in the backrooms)

Any tips/lessons learned in moving out?
So far I have collected:
- fridge and microwave are essential starter appliances
- don't get too stressed over packing
- consider a moving company if you don't want family members and friends complaining of broken backs.

Sadly in this busy busy schedule of mine I fear I may only be able to make my new place habitable by mid-April. Just imagine how much work I could get done if I didn't need to go to work everyday?

look quick, it's a Sunday

And so the weekend is upon us, no wait, And so here we're having a weekend, no wait, There goes the weekend.

What I'm getting at is the cliche, The weekends just go by really really fast. And soon just as we're getting into the work week, it will go and end and give way to the weekend.

This weekend I had Super Lovely en-joyous-ment of:
- berry pavlova (om nom nom nom - nuff said)
- swan lake ballet, specifically the scenes with all the "swans" together, That's the kind of show I always imagined when I used to dream of going to the ballet. We got opening night half price tickets.
- The Wimpy Cheesenator Burger - Which I ravaged in my 3 hour late lunch (more om nom nom nom)
- The end of a meeting (stop talking and dithering already)
- Big Blue's sale rack "New stuff! New stuff! New Stuu-ufff" and, they gave me an awesome cloth shopping bag to carry my NewStuff in. (I suspect because I overspent the months clothing budget there)
-a very pretty floral lace and ribbon-ed skirt (from big blue)
- Hammerfall - turned up LOUD
- playing Call the Cliche while watching an old school Clint Eastwood western.
- sleeping most of Sunday morning away
- reading escapist fiction until 4am Saturday morning
- German Chocolate
- mini Road Tripping (cruising the 'burbs late night speeding along the roads absent of traffic)

Now while we are playing the making lists game, I might as well discuss what I want to add to the list in the next few weekends (as long as I can catch 'em and pin 'em down for long enough)

- Japanese Film Festival at Rosebank Noveau
- Another visit to Doors in Edenvale Big Blue sale produced an awesome grey stretchy crochet skirt (sounds odd looks pretty) - must dance must dance must dance ... Well for me it's more of an approximately rhythmic hip swing and toe tap.
- More non-mini road trips
- the beach (Ballitto here I come)
- breakfast with the varsity buds

and that's about all I got for now... Some spontenaity wouldn't be a bad outcome...

He's so smart... But he doesn't read.

It's been one of those busy but not busy weekends where enough has happened that I can give an interesting answer to the Monday morning "How was your weekend?" 's but not so busy that I can't bear to face going off to work tomorrow.

In fact my head is in a funny place where I have a lot to think about. A lot of weird feeling and dreaming and supposing kind of thinking. My head is leaping around so many different ideas and thoughts and memories that I am almost afraid to sleep.

For if I actually manage to slow down my head enough to sleep... I may just dream every possibility of every ending of all the things rushing around my head that I may wake up with even more going on inside my mind.

This weekend I: (including friday evening)

A) finished my big report with a little help from a colleague or two... Well first draft at least. But finished technically on time is a big breakthrough for me. A happy one.

B) saw the guy who I went to his matric dance with. (his present girlfriend has a monobrow, dark monobrow)

C) saw an old school friend who said to me I hadn't changed in 10 years. Which was both sad and funny because I was touched he knew my personality so well but disappointed I'm still the same silly woman

D) went for drinks with the gang and still managed to be to only non couple at the table (Mr T was still in RB)

E) drove for 2 hours there and 2 hours back in my hot little car all by myself to Springs

F) went to look a really nice rental property Lots of pros Lots of cons

G) got unexpected news at an unexpected time and had an unprepared terrible reaction. Trouble is I was in denial to be taken by surprise in the first place (this is vague on purpose)

H) evened out my driving arm tan - now I have dual sunburned arms

I) went to the drive-in (and watched the movie)

J) drank some really terrible cheap wine.... Wine which was recommended by a wine buff friend.

K) ate some delicious German chocolate mmmmm Gonna find me some more next time at the airport duty free.... (and have to first take it to Botswana and back most likely)

L) spent almost R300 in groceries in a 5 minutes shopping expidition - more than 10 different items bought. That's a skill boys and girls.

M) realised I have stopped Just Coping at work and started really enjoying getting things completed at work. I ponder if it's maturity or a bubble to be popped.

N) realised that in many ways, getting married soon would actually achieve a manner of freedom I don't have at the moment. (missing a few ingredients there though)

O) ate a McDonalds burger for the first time in a long long long while. I haven't been missing out.

P) got lost and unlost driving in Joburg with minimum stress easy peasy Ha ha (famous last words?)

And that's about time to stop I think... And perhaps stop thinking long enough to sleep... To be ready to attack the new week with vigour!

Working late doo dee doo

For the second time this week I seem to be at the office long past home time and well into dinner time. and oddly I feel a weird sort of freedom in saying at the office working outside of business hours.

Granted I did actually only arrive at work at 9am this morning and so working at least an hour later than everyone else is acceptable.

The reason why I am still here is a Report.. wait it is always the reports that keep me here. This time it is that this report is almost entirely my responsibility and i promised I would have the first half completed by Wednesday evening.

Today is Tuesday right? I still have a day right?

So I am about 75% of the way through this report and I really really want to do this thing properly. It's like an opportunity to prove my work to all the busy people.

Anyway I can tell winter is moving right along and getting closer because my cuticles have started splitting (and all the men go "Cuticles? what's that?") anyway I slapped on a plaster onto the offending index finger and now I am typing nine fingered style. Hence the odd typos when my bandaged index finger gets a little trigger happy.

So the story of the week is that Mr Thursday has gone away on a road trip down to his home town and so for a week I get the freedom to seek entertainment outside of work all by myself. I don't have to check with anyone! and yet I work late.... hmmm...

And so I will continue my battle with my teh's and will hopefully be able to pop off home wards at the end of the section.

And perhaps commence with a Phuza Thursday and a show. Such freedom! wine in a cup and a movie on my PC... now we're really feeling alive!! but in the meanwhile...

type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type...... (that word looks a litte funny now i think...)

I will never be ultimately completely Cool

I have managed to learn to walk and not walk into stuff while people are watching. (not a feat I could achieve when I was a teenager and teenage boys were around)

I have managed to learn to eat with a knife and fork and complete an entire meal with clean clothes (not a feat I could achieve 20 years ago)

I have managed to quaff and swill and sip and sniff wine and distinguish between a pinotage and shiraz and blush and cabernet savignon blanc (even if I guess the spelling) and grass notes and fruit notes and vegetable notes and soap notes and dirty glass notes.

I can dress my self by myself and get all the buttons lined up and the zips done and laces tied and shoes buckled without any help.

I can even manage to dress and make make up without looking like a) a teenage girl b) an old bag lady c) I charge per hour at the Formula One hotel. (... well... most of the time at least)

I can manage to camp and not freak out when getting a little dirty.

I can swan across a lake with a paddle and a canoe... well splash my way across and I am a little slow... but I know which side goes forwards.

I can assemble and cook a three course meal to satisfy a hungry man (however not a fussy vegetarian - they don't deserve the effort)

However... sadly I must confess I will never reach the final status of Cool.. for alas.. I have tried sushi and I don't think I like it very much. I tried it first at a larny restaurant in Fourways and I managed to gobble down the salmon and vegetarian California Rolls with minimal loss of rice pieces to the soy sauce. and it was ...hmmm... tasty for my very first time. (Yes I successfully managed to pop the entire pieces in my mouth - I am good at the School of Watch And Learn) And then today i went out for Sushi Buffet at a more local Japanese restaurant. (I say Japanese restaurant instead of Sushi bar because the menu was more extensive and there was Japanese pop music pouring out the speakers)

I think that my long life of living 100's of kilometres from the nearest commercial fishing water source has lead me to a life where I am really not used to eating fishy food. Most of the time the fish I eat comes out a tin and is in salt water (mmm Tuna and Noodles) or else comes battered and crumbed (mmmm Fish fingers and mash!) And so Sushi which has fishy flavoured fish and fishy flavoured seaweed and fishy flavoured rice is really not inside my flavour comfort zone.

I am just going to have to give this item of my Being an Adult CV a skip... However you can't say I did not give Sushi a try! Perhaps I will try again at a different restaurant in the future...

This does of course lead to the heart breaking realization that my dreams of visiting Japan may be marred by the idea that fish may pop up upon the menu fairly often there... Maybe it's time to look out for the Tour of Japan for Vegans...

damn smokers

Dear Smoker work colleague,

 

Lady, when I find you who is smoking in the bathroom and making it smell like the stinky side of a closed up stuffy room from the 1980's... I'm going to lock you in there until you go cold turkey.

And when your smokers nose is sufficiently recovered that you can actually smell how foul you make the bathrooms smell... I will accept your apology.

I do acknowledge the risk that by then all you will be able to smell is yourself... but it is a risk I  am willing to take...

 

signed,

 

A non smoker,

who can't hold her breath for the entire visit to the loo....

 

PS if it is you who also insists on smoking right below my window... the water bombs are being prepared.