A time to rest

As usual, when it gets to Friday, I'm in a fantastic mood! That's about all I have to report, really, that my mood is fantastic :)

This weekend looks to be a quiet one which I am really looking forward to, because I have been on minimal sleep all week and with the last couple of weekends being busy it will be nice to just spend some time with Ivan. Sure, it will mean that I won't have anything gripping to write about on Monday, but hey, that happens. It seems to be happening a lot lately, I've been uncreative and the content in this blog has suffered. Maybe with the onset of National Novel Writing Month starting Monday I'll be able to be more entertaining. Although, most of my creative thought will go into my Novel and so I might make this blog even more boring (I'm pretty sure that's possible).

So, I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets yesterday after I got home from work so walked across the road to return it to Bron and pick up the next book. I'm getting into all this Harry Potter (better late than never, hehe).

Last night when chatting someone actually called me a writer. No one has ever called me that before! I don't even call myself that, because yes, it's what I want to be, but I've never finished anything I've started before, so for someone to call me a writer was a pleasant feeling. Melinda Kovac, Writer. Has a nice ring to it :)

I only have a few more hours of work left and then I'll be off to Adelaide. Looking forward to the drive actually because it's a gorgeous day outside.

In other news, someone has sent me a gift, it's supposed to be a surprise so I'm dying to know what it is, and it was posted on Monday from QLD, and I'm hoping it arrives today before I leave, because although surprises are great, the suspense is killing me!

Anyway it's almost lunchtime so I had better hit Publish on this thing before I prattle on for another half a page. I'm hoping I get some time to get things ready for my novel writing, otherwise Monday will come and I'll sit here staring blankly at the screen. I have set up a separate blog for my novel, but will only post the link when things get started and when I have an inkling of what the story will be, so stay tuned :)

Wow, cool!

I don't often link to other things in my actual blog but I think that this is really interesting.

Better late than never!

Long time readers may remember that back in February I ordered something for Ivan's birthday (which is in April) from the US. I had congratulated myself on being so organised, only to discover the item was out of stock and was on backorder. Apparently backorders usually came in within a fortnight.

It is late October, and the item is finally in stock! So, now I'm going to be organised for Christmas! Ofcourse, now that I've said that, something will jinx the delivery and it won't actually arrive to my residence here in Australia until next April maybe, if I'm lucky.

Hooray for fast international shipping, hey? I tell you what, if this gift turns out to be a dud I'll be so pissed off!

Wacky Wednesday

Considering I had one tiny task to do today, the day has really flown! Ofcourse, now I've jinxed it which means the last three hours will go slower than... something slow... but ah well :)

I'm in a really cheerful mood today! There's no real reason for it, nothing exciting has happened. In fact, today has been quite dull. But for some reason, I'm feeling really happy and cheery.

It could be because it's a gorgeous day, not too hot and not too cold, but one of those perfect Spring days. It could be because I went to the pub for lunch and had some fish and so the Omega 3 has made my body and therefore me happy. It could be because I've had little sleep and have hit that crazy phase. Or maybe it's because that for the last two days I've restarted my exercise routine, going for walks and cycling, and so I'm feeling better about a proper routine again. Perhaps it's this Mixed Tape I'm listening to. I'm not sure, but this natural high is a good place to be :)

Tomorrow I have a routine rental property inspection so last night in between TV shows I cleaned the house. That gives you quite a workout, especially when you haven't done it in a while, hehehe. My pedometer got the most steps on it since I got it 3 weeks ago! Anyway, that's about it from me :)

Playing on the Mixed Tape now: Dark Of The Matinee by Franz Ferdinand
Eating: A scone, delivered to my desk by Cheryl (this place rocks)
Thinking: I hope no one saw me bopping just then...

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month, and as you can see by the little image on the right hand panel there (->) I'm gonna give it a red hot go. If you haven't been curious and clicked on the link yet, it's basically something to get people like me, who've always wanted to write a novel and never have, to get off their butts in November and get it done. There are no prizes, and you don't have to submit your novel at the end to the organisers (although if you do, you get a certificate apparently), the only thing you really need to do is get to 50 000 words before the end of November.

So, I've decided to give it a try. I have absolutely no idea what to write about, and I will probably give up after Day 2, but hey, it's worth a try, right? So if writing a novel is something you've always wanted to do, why not give it a try in November? Blogger has even chipped in and have set it up so people can use a blog to keep their novel writing in check. Or, you could just stick to a pen and paper if that's your fancy. And hey, whatever gets written, it's got to be better than something written by Pamela Anderson, surely.

Mixed Tape

Well it's Monday already and already I've had enough of work for the week. Luckily I made myself a music CD to listen to which Bron has termed my "mixed tape" so I'm listening to it now, occasionally mouthing lyrics to myself and generally just counting down the minutes until I leave work for the day.

The afternoon has completely dragged on! I still have this work to do for my boss but it's all numbers and I'm tired of looking at numbers so what the heck, some blog updating and web browsing is all good, right? Right? Right.

Saturday night after Ivan left was really quiet. We were all a bit tired for some reason and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was on TV so Mum, Dad and I settled in to watch that. When they started dozing off I went to my room, logged on for a little while, kicked Ivan's butt in Tiger Woods Golf over the internet (as you do), then went and watched the end of Chocolat and fell asleep.

On Sunday morning Mum and Dad left quite early, at about 9:30am, so for the rest of the day I sorted through mountains of mail I've had piling up since I moved from all the environmental clubs I'm in. That took quite a while, then I watched the Indy 300 from the Gold Coast inbetween reading chapters of Harry Potter. When the reading made me tired I thought I'd better clear up some more hard drive space on my computer so watched League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (wasn't as bad as I expected) and Catch Me If You Can (not too shabby but long). By this stage it was past midnight and I realised I should have been in bed hours beforehand.

And today, here I am! Gripping and rivetting, hey? The most exciting thing to happen today, apart from my Mixed Tape ofcourse, was checking out the new Noodle Bar that's opened recently for lunch. One serve is enough for two I reckon, so from now on Bron and I are gonna split an order we reckon.

Hope y'all had a good weekend :)

Full House

I decided to stay in Berri this weekend and so Ivan and my parents have come up to visit me, instead. I was originally planning on going to Morgan for a bit of a camping trip since it's been almost a year since I've been on one but a weekend home is long overdue, so here I am!

Ivan just left to go back to Adelaide and I miss him already :(

Yesterday morning, before I'd even left for work, Mum and Dad arrived and the driving me crazy began. Yeah yeah, I love them, I do, but they can be so "in my face" that it just gets too much with their constant fussing. I came home from work to have lunch with them and then just after I got home at 5pm Friday Ivan arrived too, so I was happy.

We didn't do much last night except watch The Amazing Race which Ivan had taped for me and then watched this movie called The Terminal which would have been good if they didn't make it so "Hollywood" by throwing in a love interest, then Mum and Dad went to bed and Ivan and I went for a bit of a walk. We then checked out some stuff on the computer and went to bed too.

Today has been quiet and really lazy. Mum and Dad went fishing this morning and Ivan and I got up at around 9am. Didn't do much except read the paper, played a game of golf on the PC and then went for a walk to the shops to get some things. For a late lunch Mum and Dad fired up the BBQ for the first time (I got it when I moved here but a BBQ for 1 person is no fun) so we stuffed ourselves full of food royally, had a nap and Ivan just left. That's been pretty much it, a very quiet and relaxing weekend.

I'm not sure what we'll do tonight, apart from me colouring Mum's hair, or when Mum and Dad will leave tomorrow but I have a feeling I'll be a little grateful to have the place to myself again. I know, I'm horrible!

Work?

It's been so long since I had some work to do that would take longer than an hour that I've forgotten what it feels like! So, I have enough work to take up the next couple of days now, and I tell you what, I'm so happy! It gets so boring just sitting around and doing odd jobs like filing, it's a relief to have some proper work to do again. Our system is still not up and running but the boss has given me a semi-big task and I'm glad. I think he sensed I was going slightly loopy!

There's not been much going on in the last 24 hours worth writing about. Our work social touch football team is up and running and we're having our first get together in a couple of weeks. I'm happy because it will be lots of laughs but I know I'll embarress myself, especially considering I've never played before! Plus I'm so unfit right now I will probably pass out after 10 minutes, hehehe!

I'm feeling a bit better but am still hardly sleeping, still waking up with a blocked nose, so I feel a bit blegh but during the day my hayfever has improved, it's just the not sleeping at nights that sucks.

Last night I watched a couple of movies to clear up some space on my hard drive. I watched Resident Evil and then started the second one, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and then realised I only had half the movie, so I've only half watched that. Oh well, it wasn't as good as the first one anyway. That's pretty much been it actually! Hooray that tomorrow is Friday! :)

Less than exciting

I really don't have anything cool to write about today (actually, I never do) but thought I had better update this to... well... keep it updated! So, I had yesterday off work. I'm not sure whether what I have is hayfever or something more but, even after buying stronger drugs, I can't get a decent night's sleep. It takes me ages to fall asleep, and then when I finally do I keep waking up at around 4am and then don't really fall back to sleep, I just drift in that sorta dozing off phase. So when the alarm went off yesterday morning I just thought to myself, "I can't do this" and called up work then went back to bed. I feel bad because I think I have had far too many days off sick since being employed here, but there was no way I could function yesterday.

I went back to bed, drifted in and out of sleep for a couple more hours then dragged myself out of bed around 11:30am. I thought to myself, with a day at home, there could be so much housework I could do, but I did absolutely none of it, so instead have left it to do when I get home from work tonight. Good plan.

Watching daytime TV was pretty rivetting though, I must say. I got to watch Dr Phil uninterrupted, followed by Days of Our Lives (omg, Marlena's going around killing everyone!), watched some Oprah and then decided to move myself over to the computer. That is where I sat for a few hours until TV time kicked in during the night. After that, I read for a little bit then went to sleep, and so here I am, at work today, feeling not at all refreshed and thinking about all the things I have yet to do around the house! Excitement plus! This weekend I'm staying here in Berri and my parents, and hopefully Ivan, will be coming to visit. Although I know they don't care about what the house looks like I'd like it to look relatively clean so I need to vacuum and mop tonight, having already done the bathroom. Like I said, this is gripping stuff!

Ah well, at least I finally finished reading Tomorrow, When The War Began yesterday (I want to buy the rest of the series now, like I don't already have enough books) and I've read a few chapters of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I seem to be going through this phase of books for young readers lately, hehehe.

Anyway, that's it from me for now. I was hoping this would kill a lot more time, seeing as how I have nothing to do and lunch is still half an hour away, but oh well! If nothing more exciting happens, I might just have to make up a story or something.

*sneezing fit*

So, this hayfever's a bitch. Even though I've been regularly using my nasal spray, yesterday was the worst hayfever day I've had yet this season, so today I had to go and buy something stronger. I really, really need sleep! Stupid sinuses wouldn't let me fall asleep until around 1am, then I woke up at 4am totally unable to breath and with a drippy nose. Sexy. Finally fell asleep about an hour later but was having some weird-ass dreams so woke up many times, until the alarm went off and I crawled out of bed. Ugh. So I'm feeling really seedy today.

Anyway, enough whinging, time to fill you in on what I've been up to. For the last couple of days last week we ended up going to Banrock Station Wetlands and also around Lake Bonney at Barmera and it was great, but there seems to be a fly plague or something in the Riverland at the moment. Friday was pretty much a write-off. It was Rory's farewell lunch and so the time around that was spent doing as little as possible by everyone it seemed. On Friday afternoon I headed home to Adelaide, getting home just before 8pm. Ivan had recorded a bunch of TV shows for me during the week (we don't have Channel 7 in Berri and The Amazing Race is back on), so we just watched those and attempted to get some sleep.

I'm in the slow process of a computer upgrade (getting about one part a month) and my most recent purchase was a computer case. I probably didn't need a new one but I wanted a cool one I could personalise. Purple is my favourite colour so I want a purple computer. So, I got the case, and Saturday morning I went to the local paintshop to get some paint mixed because I'm getting it airbrushed. After 3 attempts I finally picked a purple they could actually mix right then so that's all sorted. After that I met up with Tash for a coffee and late breakfast at a Cafe in Unley. It was her birthday on the 12th, and she'd recently had a trip to Europe, so we had a lot of photographs to go through and catching up to do. I can't believe how lucky she is to have seen some of the things she saw, like they went to Italy and she got to see Michaelangelo's David, and the Vatican (even though I'm not Catholic it'd be cool to see) and the ruins of Pompeii. Lucky thing!

Anyway before we knew it, it was around 1:30pm so I headed home to spend some time with Ivan before I headed out again. He sufficiently kicked my ass playing golf on the computer and then I was off to have dinner with Michelle and Craig. The kids have grown so much! And Jacob is all scared around me now, gone are the days when he would sit and show me all his toys, hehehe! I need to try and see them more often I think. After a delicious chicken pie baked by Michelle (by the way, it didn't make me sick Shelly, hehehe) we headed off to go and see her parent's new place. Heidi and Mark were visiting as well and it was so lovely to see them all. After a while we headed back to Michelle's and Craig taught us a couple of versions of poker, and it was such a laugh, I honestly haven't laughed like that in a while. Eventually, a much more real and serious game of poker was starting on Foxtel, and it was time for me to head home.

Even though I wanted to, I just didn't manage to sleep in on Sunday. I did the usual, wasting away of the morning, before packing my things and heading back to Berri. Again, as usual, I stopped into Mum and Dad's, then dashed home, unpacked and walked across the road to Bron's and we headed out to the Drive-In. I have never been to the Drive-In in my life and it's about the only place we have here in Berri for movies (the picture theatre only plays movies every so often). Both movies were ones I had seen before (Mean Girls and The Bourne Supremacy) but I didn't want to pike on Bron after promising her I'd go. She has a cold and me with my hayfever, so we were sitting there with a box of tissues sniffling and sneezing, quite a sight to behold!

Anyway so that's what I've been doing. Work is still very boring because our system is still not working, It's about 3 hours until I get to go home, and I just want to fall asleep at my desk. Tonight is TV night (as is tomorrow) so I think I'll go home and lie in bed and hope for a decent night's sleep :)

Busy x3

How can it be Thursday already? I thought I had better write this in the morning before I go to work, otherwise it will never get done, so here I am! As I said, I can't believe it's Thursday already and that the next weekend is almost here already!

So, what's been keeping me busy? Well, truth is, this week in the evenings I'm not so much busy as just damn tired. But, I'm jumping ahead, I'll update you with what I've been doing from the weekend.

Friday afternoon, as usual, was the drive to Adelaide, seeing my parents on the way and then moving on to see Ivan. Mum and Maria wanted me to colour their hair so I did, but they bought a colour that was way too light so none of their grey hairs got coloured at all. Weird that my sister has grey hair already, I think she takes after my aunty like that. I hope I don't start getting grey hair by the time I'm 30!

Anyway, so Friday night was quiet once I finally got home and unpacked and fell onto the couch in a tired stupor. Saturday morning Ivan and I were both awake at 8am (a shock I still have not recovered from, that we should both be awake so early) so we decided to get the voting out of the way. I then had a waxing appointment and then we decided to go look around Marion for a few hours. After spending some money we headed home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, which was nice. Since there was nothing on the TV except election crap that night, we watched a few DVDs and had a relatively early night. Sunday, as usual, we did nothing and then before I knew it, it was time for me to head back to Berri again.

So, since I've been back, this week I've been out of the office, finally having the opportunity to check out some more of the Riverland. Sure, I've been out on the road with Andy, the meter reader, before, but that was only for one day so having the opportunity to see some more of the Riverland, I wasn't going to pass it up. Unfortunately, Monday and Tuesday were so freaking hot that I didn't enjoy things much (Tuesday got up to 41C). Being in the car was ok but man, it takes a lot out of you and so I've been exhausted. Yesterday and the rest of the week look great weatherwise though, so thank goodness the heatwave didn't ruin my entire week. Yesterday I got to see a bit more of Loxton and we also went to Monash briefly. Tomorrow is only going to be a half-day out though, because it's Rory's last day and we want to get to his farewell lunch, so I'll probably hang around in the office after the lunch, before I head back to Adelaide again.

So, that's pretty much where I've been! It's either been watching TV at nights or collapsing and sleeping deeply, because this driving around, especially the two days in the heat, has taken a lot out of me. I hate the heat at the best of times, going out in it moreso. Anyway, better wrap this up and get going, don't want to be late! Hope you guys are well and have a great weekend :)

Friday frolics

I thought I had better do a quick update today because I will be out of the office all next week (although, technically, still working) so those of you who email me at work will get my Out of Office Autoreply, and let's face it, I very rarely find the time to update my blog from home. Although, next Friday is Rory's last day at work so I might get a chance to load up my office computer then and check emails, since he's having a bit of a farewell thing in the afternoon I'd like to be here for. I'm looking forward to getting out of the office actually, even if it is for just a week. I will still, ofcourse, be contactable at home in the evenings, and will check my home email every day as always.

Anyway, now that the housekeeping is done, onto our regular programming. This office cracks me up every day, I love the people I work with. Well, not all of them, every place has a bad egg or two, but the people that sit in the cubicles around mine just make me laugh so much! I'm hoping, that if these positions in Adelaide pop up, that I'll be surrounded by similar people, because I'm gonna miss these guys so much.

Ken is my immediate supervisor, used to be a policeman in NT, but makes us all laugh so incredibly much. We look at him and think he'd make a cool Dad, because he has really great morals but can also have a good laugh. Bron is my closest friend here, we have a lot in common in terms of books, music and movies, and I'm glad to have found a friend like her so far from home. Andy is hardly ever in the office, he is ALWAYS out in the field (lucky bastard) but we always give him crap because at work he pretends he's all that but his wife truly wears the pants in that relationship. Jo is a beautiful person who has had a tough life but seems finally happy, but she tells so many dirty jokes it makes me roll my eyes after a while. All incredible individuals that I'll miss when I leave this office.

Anyway, thought I'd give a little background into the people I work with. Ken wants to start a touch football social team at work. Great idea but we probably need someone to play against. I've never played touch football in my life so he started by giving me a 2-page rundown of rules. Then yesterday he gave me a 10-page more in-depth version. He's already printed out the 35-page version ready to give to me. Riiiight...

So, not much else has been happening really! I did realise something last night though after a conversation with Michelle, my oldest and dearest friend. I'm guilty of just taking her for granted. I guess, after being friends for 20 years, I found myself just assuming she would always be there and not putting effort into the friendship, and for that I am mega sorry. I'd hate for my stupidity to cost me this amazing friendship, and we're probably all guilty of taking others for granted sometimes, particularly when you've known them most of your life. Something profound to wrap this blog entry up anyways :)

PS Stupid election adverts, I'll be glad when this Saturday's vote is over!

Testamathon

I'm trying out this new Blog feature I found where you can upload photos. This is Ivan and I at my 25th birthday dinner in June. Hope this thing works ok, it will make sharing photos a lot easier :) 

Points to mention

Well, they're probably not all worthy of mentioning but it'll all clear my headspace somewhat anyway so may as well.

- Work has given us pedometers for this 4-week program to encourage fitness by walking. The first week is supposed to measure your normal routine and then you have to build on it. It should help to encourage me to get up and do something about my weight, but truth is I'm not that motivated.
- Mum and Dad always say I should use their AMEX and I never have, because I don't want to sponge off them, but with it being so damn hot here lately and me really needing some more summery things (because my fat ass won't fit into things I already have) I went and bought a few things yesterday at lunch.
- The book club at work seems to be the only way to buy books in this town since there is NO bookstore (disgraceful) and my recent purchase arrived yesterday. It's called God's Callgirl and it has now been added to my ever expanding pile of books on my bedside table. I suspect one day I'll return home to find my bedside table has caved in on one side.
- I haven't loaded up The Sims 2 in about a week. It's an addictive game and yet I've managed to get time to myself in there.
- Most of the time now, when I log on, I don't bother loading up trillian. Last night was a great reason why I probably won't for another week (well, after tonight, because the clan has a DC scrim on tonight and I kinda need some contact with my clanmates).
- Saying I'm being "artificial" (i.e. fake) with my feelings, and then resenting me and telling me I "drive people mad" when I actually want to talk to you about something that bothers me, only proves to me that my observation on how certain people treat me when things get tough was sound.
- How the hell did the connection between what was bothering me last night and what happened months ago get made? I certainly didn't get that connection, you did. It seems you're the one dwelling on the past, not me, seeing as what I needed to talk to someone (a friend, I thought) about last night had absolutely. nothing. to. do. with. months. ago. Maybe if you had actually bothered to listen to what I was saying and not jump on the defensive immediately, you might have seen that.
- In other news, this weather is messing with my sleeping patterns, although I've started taking the trusty hayfever medicine now. Let's hope I sleep better tonight.
- Bron and I have decided to go to the Big Day Out next year. The lineup looks great and I've only ever been to one Big Day Out before (in 1997, when it was supposed to be the last one) so I'm already looking forward to it. Only 4 months to go!!
- I'm currently listening to the latest Eskimo Joe CD thanks to Bron's awesome CD collection. Incidentally, they'll be playing at the BDO :)
- I miss Glen heaps, he'd always keep me sane in cases like last night. Sure, we SMS every now and then but it's definitely not the same, and the phone calls got too expensive.
- Ivan's emails cheer me up without him even knowing he's doing it :) Bless him :)
- It has taken me a long time to write very little.
- I hope I don't forget to vote on Saturday.
- I'm mad at myself for so many reasons today.

Karma

Well the net died here just as I was posting my blog. I actually wrote a heart-felt blog too, and it's probably a good thing the net ate it. Karma and all that.

Short weeks rock!

After a long weekend I'm here, back at work, with time to update my blog. I thought it was a long weekend all around Australia but apparently not, SA, NSW and ACT were the lucky few, yay!

So the weekend was pretty damn good! On Friday morning I left for Adelaide, had lunch with Dad then went to a meeting in the city. The meeting only lasted about half an hour so I got to Ivan's at around 2pm and had the rest of the afternoon off. It was great but my weekend felt all out of whack because I didn't really work on Friday at all. Friday night was quiet, as was most of Saturday, with Ivan and I spending time practising our computer games for the LAN we were going to on Sunday.

All that I had to do on Saturday was go for my last facial peel. The place I go to had just moved to new premises and now I can see myself spending even more money to go there more often! They're in this old house, so each room is set up for different things, and when you get there they get you to even change into this really cool bathrobe and stuff. It all makes you feel so special, like it feels like an actual beauty spa now. Dull to you guys but to me it was exciting :) That night was another quiet one, so Ivan chucked on some TV shows. We watched the pilot episode of Knight Rider which was HILARIOUS to look back on, then watched CSI: New York and Joey, both which were quite good.

So, for some reason Darren started his LAN on Sunday at 9am. This is an ungodly time! So Ivan and I managed to get there at 10am (still a personal best I believe) and the day began. We started of with the Call of Duty expansion which was quite a bit of fun, with all the new tanks and things they'd added. We stopped for lunch (which seemed to take forever) and then tried to get Battlefront working but when more then 2 people got into a game it lagged out which was a pity. On abandoning that we got into some Golf, where each person had set up their golfer to look like them so that was pretty funny. Incidentally, my golfer looked nothing like me. After a great effort on my first 8 holes I choked and Ivan ended up winning the prize which was this golf bag thing that sings, hehehe! We had a few quick games of some Motocross game and then it was time for dinner. The pizza took forever to get there so I sat down with Christine and watched the ending of Final Destination with her, then after we finally got our dinner it was time for some C&C Generals. Our team got our asses kicked. Finally, we played some Raven Shield, then got home at about 1:30am, so it was a full-on day.

On Monday I had a bit of a sleep-in, packed my things up and started the trek back to Berri. On the way I went and had lunch with Mum because she had to work, then stopped in and spent about an hour with Dad, and finally got home at around 6pm. The weekend was great, and although there were some days where I didn't do anything I came home completely stuffed. And then, last night I couldn't sleep, I don't know why, but I kept waking up and had a really restless night. Anyway, that's what I got up to on the long weekend. So, this week is a short week, and then next week I won't be in the office at all, yay!!! I get to drive around and sightsee a bit, so I can't wait until this week is over :)