I feel special!

Today I got my very first blog comment! Big shout out to Katie @ Tres Lola xx - I've just been looking through your site and I love it! Thanks to the power of positive thought, antibiotics and about 12 hours of solid sleep, I'm feeling much better today... still barking like a dog but feeling remamrkable clarity of mind (just as well, I have a writing assignment that I must do before 2 tomorrow). In the spirit of the winter colds which all of us southern hemispherites are prone to this year, here is my list of:

Great things about Feeling Not So Great

• You are allowed to stay in your trackpants or pjs all day and there's no one around to care
• Not having hour-long train journeys to get into the university plus your lecturers are understanding about getting all the necessary materials to you electronically
• Everyone thinks you are such a trooper on the days you actually manage to drag yourself to work.
• My freudian slippers - I wish I had the confidence to wear these out in public, but at least when I am sick I can indulge my inner geek
• Time to do all those personal maintenance tasks (nails, hair mask, etc) that you just run out of time to do otherwise.
• Lemon Tea... mmm-mmm
• Likewise, Berocca and Vitamin C tablets - delicious
• Make-up Free Days - nothing like letting your skin have a breather
• Having great excuses not to go out in the storms that New Zealand is currently having

I'm sure there are plenty of others... if you can think of any more, let me know!

Darn it...

Woke up this morning coughing my little lungs out - Dr. says it's definitely a chest infection. The lovely S from another arts centre is covering my shift tonight... bless her. The doc wants me to rest, and I have today, but I'll have to go back to work tomorrow. The boss is also out sick, and J is in Aussie on her holiday so we're definitely low on the staffing front. At least this may account for why I've been feeling so tired recently. Doctor says that he'll wait until I'm back in relative health to do the bloods, if I'm still feeling tired. Anyway, off to bed for more of this rest stuff. Ick.

Not normal...

Following on from my post about unusual tiredness, it seems to have become worse. I've gone through the day today feeling absolutely wrecked and seem to running at work purely thanks to the wonderful energy bursts of sugar and caffeine (although I bought sushi to have for tea - yummy). I seem to be leaning more and more towards believing that it's a Vitamin B12 deficiency - I was extremely low on both Vitamins B12 and D when I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance last year. Vitamin D deficiency leads you to a lot of aches and pains, and Vitamin B12 deficiency makes you feel fatigued, similar to anaemia (it's actually medically known as pernicious anaemia). I'm going to attempt to self-medicate for the next few days with Berocca, and then hopefully get a blood test and possible booster injection of B12 at the doctors on Friday (I have to go to top up my BCP anyway). I don't like feeling like this - it's hard to live an active life of positivity and vitality when all you feel like doing is lying in bed all day. Life shouldn't be an effort, it should be there to be enjoyed :D

I'z two tired to even spell properly

Yet another day I haven't made it to the gym this week... with being back at uni and working nights I've just been too knackered to get up early enough to go before class. I'm thinking I might be a little anaemic as well, so will try and have a big juicy steak and some green spinachy stuff to boost those levels some time soon. I'm trying to decide whether or not to take some sort of supplementation - not being in charge of my own grocery shopping and meals anymore, I can't guarantee that I'll be getting enough of what I need. The meals are healthy enough, just maybe not enough of the right nutrients particularly for me. I think I'll adopt the wait-and-see method, reassess around this time next week and see if I'm feeling better after taking out the nine-day working stint. Plus definitely hauling my ass to the gym tomorrow (only have coffee with a friend, Whitey, at 2) and hopefully Saturday (squeezing it in around work and pattern shopping for a bridesmaid dress - the shopping being a moveable event) because my butt just isn't going to get smaller by itself. Sometimes the best thing to do is just force yourself to do it - like I'm going to force myself to get up, get dressed (yes, I know, lazy- it's already half ten) and catch the train into the city for my one class today. At least it will give me the opportunity to spend a small fortune on text books LOL

Have I said how much I love my job before?

Because I really truly do... this semester is a bit yucky because I have classes that go (theoretically at least) until 4pm twice a weekand then work starts at 5. I have to travel about 20 kms from the university to my work and the easiest way to do that in Auckland's hectic traffic is to drive to the train station nearest work in the morning, catch the train from there and then race to catch a train that leaves 4:15 latest... Monday wasn't a problem because the lecture ended at about 3:40, giving me plenty of time to catch a bus down to the train station (def quicker) and then the train to my station. Today's lecture was all stuffed up, due to a mess-up and clashes with tutorial times, and he didn't finish until 3:55. Taking into account that this particular university building was nowhere near a bus route, the result was that I had to sprint to the train station to get the 4:10 train. It should have got me there by 4:50, but it was more like 5:10 (god knows why) - after flooring it to work and apologising to my boss she told me not to stress about it and that on Mondays and Wednesdays that if I was under half an hour late that wouldn't be a problem, just to give her a text and they'd cover the desk until I got here. Obviously I won't get paid for the period that I don't work but I can't complain about that resolution. It was what I'd hoped for really, as I didn't want to have to take my car into the city (with associated petrol, parking, etc costs) but I didn't really want to have to ask whether it was okay. Another case of putting it out there in the universe?

Oh my god I've turned into Cookie Monster

Without going into the gruesome details, I have been such a bottomless pit today - eating everything in sight... not the smartest thing to do when I'm trying to get in shape. I'm guessing that it's just the fact that I feel absolutely stuffed from all the work and two days at uni... I tend to eat more when I'm tired and there must be some scientific reasoning behind that. Still, one negative move doesn't commit you to continuing down a negative path so I'll have to start making positive moves. If dinner (waiting for me at home after work) is something that will keep well then I'll just leave it for lunch tomorrow and I'll hop back on the wagon tomorrow.
On the upside I'm getting plenty of exercise being back on campus this week - rushing from building to building, up stairs and down ramps - and some extra exercise today getting completely lost while looking for my history class. The three classes I've had so far (out of the four that I'm participating in) have all been quite interesting so that will make for a good semester. If I can just steer clear (for the most part) of buying coffee on campus - the food is cheap but the coffee pricey, go figure - then I should do well.

Unpleasant behaviours... or 5 rules for not coming off like a complete tosser

In the spirit of being a grumpy old hermit (I'm overseeing a function at work which largely involves me sitting battened up in the back office at work) I'm going to have a bit of a grumble as to what I've seen lately as unpleasant behaviour.
1. Whilst out at dinner with both people you know and those you don't, please don't make suggestive comments towards your dinner companions - regardless of your sexual orientation or gender. Just act pleasant, gauge interest and then go for it in a more appropriate forum if you feel it's right.
2. In continuance from Rule 1, avoid any behaviour that could be considered offensive in situations where you don't know the background of all the people there. This could be in the workplace, at a party or even when two seperate groups of friends meet in a bar. While it would be ideal to say that people shouldn't be rascist or sexist, etc, it's not really realistic... but only let that side show if you are sure it won't offend anyone present. Case in point, someone saying that an ex-boyfriend had an abusive nature "because he was a Maori". As a person with a potential Maori brother-in-law who is more docile and less volatile that my sister, I found it really offensive.
3. Don't judge a book by its cover - this is something that is really getting up my nose lately. Especially at my 2nd job at a lotto shop, customers will assume that I'm some slow and unintelligent school leaver who couldn't get a better job - condescension is rife. The amount of times I've wanted to turn around and say "Look, buddy, I have an IQ of 158, a complete high school education, one degree under my belt and I'm only working here to earn money while doing two post-grad diplomas" and kept my mouth shut, plastering on a pleasant smile. Be warned - that person giving you your Big Mac at the drive-thru may just be trying to work there way through a PhD.
4. You kill more flies with honey than with vinegar - if you want me to do something for you, ask nicely. Being snotty and/or threatening is not going to make me want to do anything for you and I'll begrudge doing you favours every second that I'm doing them. Ask nicely and I'm more than willing to help.
5. My god, if you are going to borrow something - ASK first, and make sure you return it. If I have to go looking through the house one more time for my hair straightener and find it underneath clothes, etc, lying on the concrete floor outside of it's protective pouch, I am going to lose it. No wonder yours is broken if you treated it like that.
Phew... feeling much better after all of that. I'm actually finding this enforced hermitage quite nice - peace and quiet that I wouldn't have at home, food supplies, books and knitting sorted for me to carry on with in the eventuation of boredom. If the weather would just clear up in time for my meet-and-greet date with Flyboy this afternoon, life would be perfect :D
P.S. Best thing ever - the accordian player at the function next door is currently playing "Money Money Money" by ABBA

Christ on a cracker! (and other non-obscene cussing)

I think I may have worked out why I'm having trouble sleeping. My subconcious realised way before my conscious mind that I have managed between my two jobs to roster myself on nine days in a row... today, the one day I have off from the arts centre in those eight days, I was working at the lotto shop. I tell you what, the lack of sleep is not worth the $47 I made from this shift, which co-incidentally is about the amount it takes to half fill my tank with petrol these days. Reference cat's face above to see what my face looked like when I realised what I had done, and what I will look like when caffeinated up to the gills by the time it comes to Thursday :D

It's a bright and shiny morning...

And I feel dull and rusted... I'm not quite sure what is up at the moment but the last two days I have woken up feeling like I hadn't slept at all. I've been playing this game when the alarm goes off - how long is it possible to stay in bed before I have to get up and get ready for training/work without being late. For some reason it seems to be easier to lie in bed for another half an hour and then rush to get ready than to get up on my alarm and get ready leisurely. I'm on the serious caffeine diet today - I had a red bull with my toast for breakfast and I'm already onto my coke. We have a cafe at work too, so it may just be worthwhile to get a midmorning mocha - the last time I felt this crappy was when I was doing 60-hour weeks at my old job. I am wondering whether my restless sleep is due to underlying issues I'm not confronting - uni starts next week and the nervousness of dating again but I'm really not sure. It might be time to spend some time in meditation tonight, letting the stream of consciousness take me where it will and seeing whether I can resolve my sleep issues.
Also need to see if I can reschedule my meet-and-greet date with Spidey this evening for earlier on... I'm yawning now, heck knows what I'll be like at eight. I also have work at Job #2 tomorrow morning - exchanged shifts so that I can go to a birthday dinner tomorrow night - so that's a definite 7am get out of bed on Saturday. Cannot wait until I lose the scheduled shifts from that job... think it's definitely not helping with my mental state.

Sigh

Yet another average date... this guy would possibly make a great friend, but he didn't really make a great first impression. I appreciate that men will be men, but do I really have to hear about your previous unsucessful dates, and the fact that some chick flashed her tits for a bar tab at a singles party you went to recently? I'm happy being single, I'm not about to settle for less than I want or deserve.
My friend S was devastated that it didn't "work" - I guess she held a lot higher hopes for me than I did. Ah well, I have dates booked in for Friday and Sunday as well (tell me about it, it never rains and then it pours right?) so who knows what the future holds? When it's right, it will be right.

Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war...

I went to see the movie Mamma Mia on Monday with my mum (how alliterative of me) and ever since I've been breaking out into ABBA songs in the car and around the house - thank god I'm living with family at the moment, they know how crazy I am already. The film was hysterically funny though, and is well worth the money for the tickets - it's made my mum fall passionately in love with Pierce Brosnan again (she was a big fan in his Remington Steele days) and my dad doesn't seem to mind seeing she's put up with his Elle McPherson lust for years LOL. I've been working on a major decluttering project so breaking into song when perched on the edge of my bed pulling stuff out of one of the high cupboards is slightly hazardous, especially when I start dancing... Off to do a lunch cover at work today which works in nicely seeing I was planning to head that way for the gym today anyway... got my new program Monday night so I am eager to get started on it.
Oh and for those die hard ABBA fans out there, a funny but true excerpt from an interview with one of the original ABBA guys who executive produced the movie.
"When asked if a sequel to the movie was possible or likely, he said 'Someone has already offered a title to the potential sequel - "Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again'"... hee hee hee snort!

Christchurch Wrap - Up

My favourite thing I did in Christchurch was definitely the Antarctic Centre - it was one of the more expensive things we did ($28 compared to $12 pool entry at Hanmer Springs and $10 for the Da Vinci Machines exhibition at Canterbury Museum) but it was well worth it. As well as many other exhibitions and photo opportunities (an ice slide, sleds, snow mobiles and antarctic dress up clothes) they have an environment in which they look after disabled little blue penguins that have injuries meaning that they will never return to the wild. There's a sweet little girl penguin called Elvis(!) who is blind and feels her way around the enclosure using her beak as a cane. The Da Vinci Machines exhibit was phenomenal too - K and I were just blown away by how spectacular the intellect of just one man could be. Managed to pick up a Christmas/Birthday present (haven't decided yet) for my father also. Hanmer was also worth the cost - we rented a holiday home there for two nights which was $210 all together and broke down nicely into $70 for each of us. It was great to have a kitchen although the only meals we had there were breakfast and the fish and chips we took back the first night - a resort town has too many restaurants to just stay at home! Most embarrassing moment of the holiday would have to go the "incident in the fish and chip shop". We'd been roasting ourselves in the sulfur pools at Hanmer (the hottest ones there) and then I got dressed back into all my winter layers. Walk into the nice warm fish and chip shop, go up to make the order and all of a sudden I can't hear anything and the room starts going fuzzy - I just make it back to the group in time to thwock my head down between my legs. The poor family sitting in there waiting for their take-aways were shocked. Great customer service though, the woman came sprinting out from behind the counter with a glass of water. Biggest regret? That I didn't get to experience the Christchurch clubbing scene because of the polar snap. I wouldn't have given up the snow for anything though, and it gives me an excuse to take a summer break there soon - with K moving from Hicksville to ChCh, it's definitely worth my while.
In other news, I have another off-line date tomorrow with an online suitor... really haven't been talking to this one, who we'll call ?? long so I have arranged for S and probably J to "arrive" at the bar about an hour after I arrive there so I have an out if necessary. Better safe than sorry. Talking to another prospect also, Flyboy, who I hope to meet soon.

Irresponsibility (AKA why I love my parents)

I had meant for this post to be more of a recap of my Christchurch holiday, but something happened last night that was a lot more compelling. I went out for a few drinks last night and my friend S offered to sober drive, only having a couple of beers (which ewww, but anyway) over the course of the evening. Seeing as I had missed her birthday while on vacation I offered to pick up the tab for the couple of beers I thought she was having for the evening. We were at the first bar for quite a while with some friends, R & J, then S gets a text from this guy that she's been flirting with to meet him at this other bar. At this stage, S has had two beers, I've had about three potent RTDs and R & J have had about the same. We move on to the next bar and meet up with this guy, who seems very nice. Even though there's three of us - R, J and myself - we start feeling a little third wheelish and so R and I convince J to join us on the dance floor (he should feel privileged to have the attentions of two such gorgeous women) and we're out there having a good time, dancing things up. We finally get back to the table and guess what? Our sober driver? Not so sober. The flirtation had been buying her drinks the entire time we were dancing and she was now probably the most drunk out of all of us. The inevitable what do we do conversation took place and when it seemed that most of them were voting for J driving the car (while not noticeably intoxicated, he would have almost definitely been over the limit) I took stock of the situation and did the only thing I could have considered doing - I called my mum. Yes, that's right. A 23-year-old woman, and I called my mother in the middle of the night so that I wouldn't have to hop in the car with a drunk driver. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. I came back to the table and said I'd rung my mum to come pick me up, and that I wished that they would get a taxi (they all lived a lot closer to the bar we were at, and in the opposite direction). They were gobsmacked that I would have parents that cared enough about me to come out and pick me up rather than get in a dangerous situation. R made the comment that it must be the good thing about living at home and was surprised when I said that my parents would have done it any time in the last five years that I wasn't living at home, just to ensure that I didn't a) get a DUI - because believe me, the ridiculous idea that I was sober enough to drive the car came up in conversation or b) ended up smeared all over the road in an accident. A flatmate and I did the same thing for a friend when she ended up in town with a drunken sober driver - you would rather be safe than sorry. The group of friends, plus the flirtation all got home alright, but that's not really the point, is it? So think about being there for your friends, letting them know that if they are out and in a dangerous situation that it is okay for them to call you at any time - be a life line and show them how much you value their existence in your life. For me, it's times like this when it's clear how much my parents care for me.

I'm baa-ack

A whole week since I last posted - I made an attempt to post while I was at my cousins, but the computer threw a spaz at me trying to log in to the Blogger website, so I flagged it. Had the best time, did so many things and enjoyed my time with old and new friends. Didn't manage to make it out clubbing at all, but life was serendipitous in the way it worked out. The Saturday night clubbing plans were put on hold after it started snowing - which I had so wanted for it to do while I was there - and put aside for drinking in front of the fireplace at the cousins' gorgeous villa. Pre-mixed cocktails are the devil LOL and it gives me an excuse to go down in summer and party hard with B at the clubs. Will go into further details in a later post, but the holiday itself was marvellous... and had another "Universe loves me!" moment on the way home. I was one of the last to check in for my flight and only centre seats were available. I was a bit disappointed as I'd hoped to see both Christchurch and Auckland lights (it was a night flight). Anyway, I resigned myself to the fact that I'd chosen to spend some great time with S & B rather than get to the airport early to get a seat and I was happy with that. It comes time to board and I hop on the plane and into my middle seat. The gentleman with the aisle seat comes on and sits down, and finally the last guy for our particular row comes in with his 3 friends. He apologises to us, says he got the seat placements muddled and would we mind shuffling one over so that he could sit on the aisle and talk to his friends. I got my window seat! And it was every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be. Absolutely knackered from my full on holiday and a little sad that I'm back, but more details on the fun times tomorrow.

Leaving on a jet plane...

Well, sort of. Fly out tomorrow for seven beautiful days in Christchurch (well, six and a half if I'm being pedantic). Sooooo busy today and even this post is being typed in at hyperspeed LOL. My boss forgot to submit my timesheet last week so I didn't get paid yesterday (d'oh) so I spent most of the morning rushing around getting the check from payroll (not the same site that I work on), taking the cheque to the bank of issue so that I could be paid the money in cash (rather than waiting for it to clear) and then taking the money to my bank (about a kilometer away from this bank - too short to drive, but a long way to walk when you are trying to be quick about it LOL) and depositing it in. After that I decided to splurge on getting a neck and shoulder massage from one of those little mall kiosks (I've been having some pain, so possibly the best $20 I spent in ages) and got my eyebrows waxed (a necessity, not a luxury LOL). Plugged in my digital camera and downloaded photos for the first time and I'm just about to run out the door to a personal training session... heck knows how that's going to go seeing I've been to sick to go to the gym recently... then it's home, shower, and glamming up for this work dinner in Botany Downs tonight.
In the process of organising to have high tea with a couple of girl friends at the Langham - it's $28 or $54 if you have champagne as well... one of the girls decided at short notice to have her engagement party this weekend and I'm going to miss it (LOL just can't win there) so this is sort of a make-up event. It's a bit of a splurge, but I'm going to be working full-time day shift the week I get back so it's easily covered.
Not quite sure how often I'll get to update this blog while I'm in Christchurch... still love ya anyway :D

God Damn... talk about needing to be wrapped in cotton wool

So it's my first night back at work yesterday, not including the Wednesday that I shouldn't have pushed myself to do yesterday and it all went sweet.... I was locking up the centre and there are swinging doors in between the foyer and the big heavy outer doors. When I go through to lock the outer doors one of the doors always hits me on the ass without fail. Last night I thought that I'd be really clever and grab the door behind me before it clipped me "where the Lord split me" but I underestimated the weight of the doors as they swung back and jammed my fingers. OUCH! I managed to get through the rest of lock up and the drive home without looking at my fingers - I knew if I did I would pass out - and it's just the ring finger and little finger on my right hand that are badly bruised.
Looking at my bank accounts in prep for my holiday and feeling in really good shape! Looks like being laid up ill is a really good antidote for spending! It also appears that I will be getting sick leave for the time that I missed last week and I cashed a check yesterday for a tax refund! Lots and lots of fun money. My friend K is now staying with me at the B&S maison (cousins) for two days, not just one, so will be fun fun times!