I have a friend who I have known for a very long time, since I was young. She is going through a difficult period now, waiting for tests and results. It's tough for her and her family. From the very beginning, she has been facing this issue and I feel dearly for her. I wish that I could give her what she needed to make things right.

She emailed me today and asked to be remembered, as her test results would be returned on Wednesday. I wanted to talk to her, but alas, the timing wasn't right. Hopefully we'll catch up for a chat this week.

You are in my prayers. I'll be thinking of you for Wednesday and hope the results are what you need. Contact me, ok? Luv ya kiddo.

God. The weather here has been a bit crummy to say the least. Ok, so it could be worse - it could always be worse!

Anyways, enough of the melting shit. It's almost the end of the month and glen and I have been good little peoples and have got most of our Christmas shopping over and done with. It was quite satisfying. Particularly because the crowds weren't really crowds. It makes it so much easier, ya know?

The new job is going fine. It has progressively become better as the days have gone by. The Ca*nberra trip was fine. Just such an early start and a long day. I crashed that night. I tell ya, the biggest reality check was getting off the plane and being hit by a huge blast of hot air - I knew I was home and it was stinking hot.

Anyways, I've got a million things to do, like get my christmas cards organised and some negatives/photographs to give to family. I like those sort of presents. They're better than any store bought presents. I'm hoping I can get some of those colour ones developed into black and white - I suppose they can do that these days, right? On a similar but not entirely the same note - I plan on taking my camera with me when I go home for Christmas - maybe I can be creative like I used to be and take some nice photographs. It's funny, in my first job as a journo, I used to develop the paper's photographs in the dark room and I loved it. I used to get high on the fumes, but it was fun...hmmmm. Memories...

Wow. Today was another one of those days which kinda blew me away. In a nutshell, I was treated with greater importance than I've ever been or thought I would be.

I was offered a corporate credit card. Yeehaaa! I was given a name tag for my workstation - ok, so that's not so spiffy, but I've never had a name tag before, so it's gotta count for something, right? Tomorrow, well yeh, I'm off to Canb*erra for the day. Some workshop thingy. It should be ok, just not looking forward to the early rising - 4.30am or something unearthly! Humbug. I shall be in bed tonight by 8pm! BAH!

hurrah - my chocolate pudding is cooking in the oven, so I shall procure a plate and spoon in anticipation!

Today was better. Much better. After my weekend victory, I kinda saw it as an opportunity to feel positive about work. I don't know why, because getting my motorcycle licence was going to be, in no way, an indication of how work would go the next day. But I guess, I've always let things speak for themselves. I've always lived in a little dream, imaginery world. Let me explain...

Here's an example. As a child, and I might have discussed this before, but if there was a car that drove past, which I liked, I blinked at it. Like Samantha from B'Witched! Ok, so telling this story feels like de ja vu, so I won't get into further detail, other than to say, I still catch myself doing such things these days - funnily enough, it's always cars I blink at - I haven't changed the rules. So, I guess I'm applying that sort of rule to my job with the motorcycle victory.

So yeh, today was better. I came in, sat down and looked at the mess around me. The girl before me didn't have a chance to open up draws, look at folders sitting on the table or anything. She had been there since June or something and she hadn't had time to scratch herself. Amazing. This morning, I sat down and looked around, I opened every draw and looked at all the folders and thought, "What the hell is this shit still sitting on this table for?". Honestly. So, i cleaned up, made some space, cleared some drawers out for myself and set about making it my own. Tomorrow, I'll take in my stuff - photos etc. I think it'll be easier for me in the long run. So, that's how it was today - I made my surroundings fit me.

My boss was even good. Not that I was faulting her lsat week - it was a crap week. Everything hit at once and she had to run around like a maniac. Today, she apologised for the millionth time and took time to speak to me. She spoke to other people in front of me, telling them how wonderful I was, but in not such an obvious way. though, i got the impression that she thought a lot of me and my skills/experience. I kinda felt very valued.

So, guess what? I have a headache, though it is from not enough sleep. I got to bed late last night. I'm such a wuss. I'm such a girly. I need my sleep, so I'll be off shortly for an extremely early one. Dose myself up on mersyndol.

Hope you all had a good day. :)

I am watching Idol. It hasn't been announced, but I am making a brave prediction.

CASEY!!!!!

It's official - I have graduated from my Learners to my Licence Permit for my motorcycle! Wooohooo! Yesterday and today I have been out at the motorcycle place, doing heaps of lessons etc and voila - I got to rip of my little yellow L plate from my scoota and I'm free now! Forever!! I was so stoked. We had to get 40 points or less, so I was aiming for about 30 - that would have really be fine with me. So, I go out there and I thought I screwed it up and you know what? I got 19 points! Rockin'! Anyways, I had to share, because I'm very bad at tests and I get all stressed and upset about them. So, after this I dont have to ever sit an exam for my scoota!

Accolades please! Come on, I know you want to! :)

Thank fucking god this week is over. I'm not sure what to say about it. I've had mixed emotions about this new job all week, it's really freaked me out. I dont know what to say. I now have a desk, because Kari left - she was meant to be my colleague, but instead I seem to be replacing her. This freaks me out a little. I had hoped for support, but I wont get it now. So, I guess we'll see how it goes. If I give it a few months and it still doesnt work out, then it might be time to cut my losses. who knows, it might get much better.

Enough about work. Something amusing. Yesterday morning, about 1am or so - whenever Glen crawled into bed. He decided it was appropraite to awake me and tell me about the filthy big Huntsman spider sitting on the wall in the stair hallway. He was really concerned about it, but the thing is - it was right at the top of the ceiling - very inaccessible. He couldnt do anything about him, even if he wanted to. But, he decides to wake me and tell me. I really appreciated that. Well, I finally got to sleep and the next morning, I woke up and of course, he was talking about the spider. He asked me where it was, like I knew where it was! I told him it had probably run off and was long gone. I went about my business while Glen fixated on the goddam spider. I went upstairs, brushed my teeth, applied makeup and then went to use the facilities. I was doing my thing and I had this tickilish sensation on my right thigh - Mr Huntsman decided to crawl down my leg - I flicked him off and calmly called out to Glen to get a jar - he freaked. I got the spider into the jar and Glen put him outside. Alright, so the spider was outside, out of the way and of absolute no threat to Glen, but Glen is still fixated on the bloody thing!!

The difficult thing to fathom is this - the bloody spider is NOT venomous! It is a lovely looking spider, with great colouring and markings. They are spiders, granted, but honestly, not worth the bloody panic and hysteria!

Today was my third day. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't fabulous. It was better than yesterday. The girl I am replacing was significantly nicer, even smiled at me - that was a bit of a shock. She looked more like a person, than someone I'd never remember. If that makes sense. We had a busy day. we have a document to go to a client tomorrow afternoon, so we're writing lots of text and proofing etc. It is productive and helps the day go faster. That's my problem with this week - it's going slow, I feel literally lost when I have nowhere to sit, no PC and especially no one I really know. At least I can deal with it, even if I dont know anyone. I feel so disconnected from the world I know - the internet.

Anyways, I'm doing ok. tomorrow is Thursday, so that means two more days before the weekend, and for that I am truly happy about. I hope I can settle in soon.

Thanks everyone for thinking of me. You are so sweet. I'm sorry I'm a bit down, but I can feel it getting better. I think I just miss the team element I had with my former boss, who instantly made me feel welcome, who was available to speak to and who was concerned about my welfare. My new boss is all over the place, she is very focussed on the business and I think she believes I'm just going to settle in without any assistnace - I've got news for her!

I'm tennising tomorrow night, so I might not get around to updating before bedtime... but don't worry! :)

I'm dying. I have no internet access during the day and it's getting to me! This means no email contact! Nada! Zip! I'm really suffering. Honestly, it is becoming a negative thing for me. Who knew I'd suffer without my support network. I've resorted to smsing Glen, just for some contact! Anyways, it should be rectified by Monday, as this is when the girl currently working in the role will be leaving. It's funny actually, because I was hired as a person to work with her - they wanted a team of two. However, she gave notice a couple of weeks ago, so it'll be me once she goes and they are looking for someone else. I'm kinda glad really, I don't like her very much.

Everything else is fine. My life is just work right now. I caught the second last episode of Friends tonight - the stupid set top box didn't record it last night, so I had to find it by other means - if you know what I mean! Ok, I don't down*load! Never! Wouldn't do it! Ever! :) Anyways, just watching the final episode of Sex in the City - we recorded that on the set top box last night. I have never really seen an episode of it before! I just wanted to see how it all ended! Does anyone think that Samantha's new hair cut makes her look like Sharon Stone?? I swear!

Anyways, time for some tv to boggle my brain.

God, I didn't sleep a wink last night. I couldn't. I was too hyped up or something. Anyways, my first day of work, by Sam.

I arrived. I waited and waited. My new boss finally saw me. I didn't have my own desk because the girl I am replacing is still there until the end of the week. This disturbed and unsettled me a little. I had to camp out in one of the meeting rooms. No PC. The girl who is still here has my laptop apparently. She wasn't overly helpful. She looked a bit sour or something. if I was her and I was leaving my job, I'd probably be happy. Because, let's face it, when you are leaving a job, it's usually not the most unpleasant experience, if you are leaving by choice! Anyways, where was I? Oh yeh, my new boss took me around the floor where I met a whole bunch of generaly friendly but now, nameless faces - I managed to remember a couple of names, and one of them was my BOSS!

All in all, I will be ok. The job will be fine. I'm a bit unsettled right now because I have nowhere to park myself yet. My boss seems to realise this, but under the circumstances, cannot do something. The thing that kinda pisses me off, is the girl I am replacing is difficult. I asked her to get me when she was going to a meeting today, so I could just see how it operated - she never came to get me. Hrm. 4 days left, 4 days left...

I think I've made it sound much worse than it really is. Everyone is friendly and after reading a lot of the documents they put together, which I will ultimately be responsible for, I think I'll be fine.

The sad part of my day? When my old boss, Phil smsed me asking how my first day was going. That was sad. The man cares about me - his former employee and someone he called his friend on my last day at my old job. I couldn't have stayed in that job, even if I knew - which I did really. It was just time to go.

The other good news for today - I am typing on my lovely toshi!!! It arrived two days early, so I sent Glen to the computer place to pick it up! Hurrahs!! It works lovely, the keyboard is soooo nice to type on. No resistance, once I hit a key, it types!! YAY!

Anyways, to everyone who is wondering where I am, I probably won't have access to emails this week, on account of not having a laptop! I do have email set up, but again no access! Be patient. I'll update on this page until I have access. Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts and to Ruthie for sending me that well-timed sms this morning on my way to the train station! You are such a sweetie! :)

Welcome to the new readers from the US! I see you!!! :)

I watched Idol tonight. I have been a faithful devoted watcher since it began. Last year, I didn't get into it until maybe the final 12, maybe a little before that. This year, I learned my lesson. I have watched EVERY episode. I am ardent, fixed and focussed.

So, between Anthony and Casey, I had no favourite. I was devastated from last week's eviction - my Courtney was booted. It was a sad night in our house that night. Glen made fun of me, mocked me and pretended to commiserate. I was not amused. I lost some interest in the show and didn't particularly care who won. I knew I would still watch it, see it through to the end, because that's what I do.

Tonight, I finally saw what some of Australia saw - Casey really outdid herself. Ok, so she messed the first few words of the potential debut single for the Idol to sing. But you know what? She managed to regain her composure and even laugh about it at the end. The thing that got me was this - she sang that song so much better than Anthony! That song was made for her voice.

Ok, I sound like an Australia Idol stalker, don't I? LEt's be honest, ok? So, yeh I'm a bit involved. Well, ok so tomorrow will come and I probably won't think too much about it, but that's the way it is for me. I live in the Idol moment. Tonight is the moment. Judgement night next Sunday will be my NIGHT. Nothing will get in my way from viewing this final show. NOTHING. During the week, I could care less.

I'm still in Bridget JOnes mode. I'm disappointed in the book. If you have the book, don't read it. I skipped pages at a time to get to the good parts. The book, in many places, is nothing like the movie. On reflection, having not finished the book before seeing the movie, the book was difficult to maintain interest in. Story lines were completely erased, Daniel Cleaver was a minor character in the book and Mark Darcy was more of a dislikable character, only redeemed because I envisaged Colin Firth! Ho hum.

Tomorrow is D Day. Ok, so it's the first day of my new job and I'm becoming nervous about it. I think the element of the unknown really gets to me more than anything else. I'm sure I'll be fine once I get there and hoping my new boss and the general population are nice to me. That always makes it easier to settle in. Mmmm, wish me happy thoughts.

I forgot to mention, last night when Glen and I went to see Bridget Jones, we had to queue up. And because I am anal about finding a good seat to view the movie, I made him sit with me for 40 minutes! Ahh yes, I know that's a pain, but we were FIRST in the queue! Job well done! Anyways, as we were filing into the theatre, we passed a theatre attendant who obviously had a walkie talkie and suddenly, this message came up loud and clear and cracked us both up! --- "Steve (let's just say!), There are queue jumpers! Repeat, there are people jumping the queue! When you see them, send them to the back!" Now, I can't convey the sense of urgency in this person's voice, but it was equal to that of a command from a big army chief to his team when ordering them to shoot the enemy.

Ten minutes later, Glen was still crapping himself over it. It was funny though. Some people just take their jobs too seriously!

This was a good movie, if not for that fact that it contained all the same themes as the first. Loved Renee Zelweger and I heart Colin Firth! He's the only man I'd leave GLen for! He's just scrummy!!! As usual, Hugh Grant played the cad - rather too well, if you ask me!

It's funny, there were several scenes in the movie where I was sitting there, nodding my head, like yeh, I can identify with that! Some really good lines - of course by Colin! Did I mention he's just yummy?! Oh yeh, right...

Anyways, it's Sunday and I start my new job tomorrow. Am a bit nervous and excited. But in the main, it kinda hasn't hit me yet. I am sure it will be good. I can't beleive I left my previous job at said large international company. Hrm. But I have. It's like I'm on holiday and I'll see them again soon. I won't. Get over it Sam! New horizons, new experiences!

Now, I must delve into the joys of smelly cat litter. I love having a female cat who spills her guts straight after breakfast and a little boy who has the most potent ammonia-like pee! I love my life!

Thanks Diana!!

Glen and I sat for about an hour tonight, trying to work out how to get my comments stuff to work. See up above to the right of my post there? See? Up there! Yes. There. It took us ages. Finally, Glen gave up and went back to his laptop and searched there. And I sat here for another 10 minutes or so before I worked it out all BY MY LITTLE SELF!!

So now, you know what comes next! You must comment! Wooooo! I bounce now.

All I need to do is work out what the trackback stuff does and if I can get the comments to be emailed to my gmail account, so it notifies me when a comment comes in!

Hello Tasmania!

Just checked my map and realised there was a new red splotch on my map! Woo! I feel loved! Welcome and I hope you enjoy. Any requests, let me know. I like to keep my audience happy!

I need to add a few features to my site, like comments for each entry. Anyone interested in assisting me with some code??

God. I'm not very creative with the old titles for my blog these days. It's Friday and you know, basically my last day of freedom before I head to work with my new company. I'm excited, scared and happy all at once. So, I say two positives beats the one negative.

Today I was productive. Yesterday, I was a slug. I hate to admit it, but I preferred today's activities rather than sitting around on my arse doing nothing, watching Op*rah and Day*s of our li*ves. Today, I loaded the dishwasher and did all the clothes washing - god, I'm boring. Then ordered my lovely laptop, as can be seen here - god, it took me ages to actually get that link right and even now, I'm not sure. Anyways, my lovely laptop is arriving on Wednesday, so hopefully it all goes well. I'm never very comfortable ordering things like this without seeing the very machine I'm going to get.

Anyways, have also spoken to my new work. Starting on Monday at 9.30am! Woow! Normally I would start an hour earlier than this, but my boss is in a meeting, so there's no point me being there any sooner.

Purchased a nice suitcase today from the warehouse place. Really good quality Tosca bag with plenty of nice little nooks and crannies! Also got a companion bag with it, so I basically have enough space, if required and especially for CHristmas when I go home to see mum.

So, yeh productive day. Bought some basil and tomatoes today and have just repotted them, fertilised and watered. Now, the weather will turn ugly and become windy and rainy, as the BOM predicts. Hopefully the washing will dry long before then.

Tomorrow evening is our evening. Glen is taking me out for dinner and then to see the new BRidget Jones' movie, which should be nice. It's been difficult for him and I to have an evening to ourselves. As some of you know, there is a bit of a demanding friend out there who is single and for whatever reason, feels close to us - closer to us than we feel to them. Um, how do I put this? She keeps us all at arms length and decides how much we need to know and then expects to know everything about our lives. She has a tendency to make us feel guilty if she is on her own, which isnt fair. So, we're being selfish on Saturday night!

Also got a pedometer! Woo. Have walked a fair bit today, but not nearly enough to make it substantial. I think you are supposed to walk 10,000 steps and I've walked about 3000. Ok. 2210. That is bad! But better than yesterday. Will be interesting to see how much exercise I have to do before I reach the 10 tonne mark.

Anyways, that's all for now. I'll get to all those emails that have been piling up in my inbox. Be patient :) I'm thinking of you all!

I'm alive and fine. I think I had a little reality check once I finished my job on Friday. I had a few teary/emotional days, but I am feeling a little better now. Still feeling a little unsettled, but as time goes on, I'll be fine.

I've been enjoying my week off. BEen going shopping for clothes and catching up on those tasks, like tax and stuff, which couldnt get done during a work week. Good news is I get a refund for my tax - hurrah!

Been eating really well too. Apart from my KFC encounter yesterday, Glen and I have been really enjoying a huge salad for dinner, which has made me feel a lot better physically and mentally. It's amazing how great you feel when your stomach is happy!!

Anyways, I'm doing fine. Just going to enjoy my time off in between jobs, sleep in, shop and relax. Sounds good to me. I'll probably report in again before the end of the week, but don't fret if I'm silent. I'm just enjoying the sunshine! :)

To the blue collar smart ass worker on the escalator at my train station this morning - you aint making any new point!

This morning, on the escalator to work, a smart ass blue collar worker and his buddies thought it was a great idea to say as the "suits" were going past them on the up escalator, "MAn, it would suck to work in an office with a suit on!".

NOw, let me just say this - I hear you dickhead! You weren't funny, though I caught myself smiling and you know what? Suits earn more money than you do, not that I'm saying our life is better, but man, you sounded like a envious little prat! :)

'nuf sed!

This will probably sound like I'm meddling in American politics, but I am a big believer in everyone being allowed to have an opinion and express it. And, I'm not sitting on the 6 o'clock news, whinging about this. It's my blog and I'll write if I want to. So, ner!

But I have to say, America! What the heck are ya doing? Come on people! I'm looking at the CNN Elections Website and I'm demoralised, disheartened and disenchanted. Bush is winning. I mean, I don't know exactly how the US voting system works. Ok, so I don't have a clue, even after my American friend explained a little of it to me, but I can see enough from CNN website to see Kerry just aint making any ground.

I can only hope a lot more people got out and voted. And you know, that's all anyone can expect. So, I'm happy if that's the case. It's more like a democracy then.

So, I'm sitting here, waiting for the flack I might get via email. Bring it on. I'm not criticising anyone, if anything, I'm saluting the American public for embracing their right to vote. I'm just dismayed.

Since when did I give a stuff about politics? All politicians are the same!