2009.... A Year in Review

Ooooh, looky me, sounding all business-like. But honestly I do like to look back on life occasionally, to see where I've come, what I've done, what's changed, and then to ponder about what my future might hold. And what better time is there to do it than at New Years Eve.




So, Big One, I got married this year. Massive change. Went on a European 5 week holiday that was so necessary it was ridiculous, discovering countries, cultures and people as we went. Also discovered that it's not so scary out there travelling, and that the rest of the world IS abundant with tourists, much like ourselves. Especially in Venice :)



Moved in with Hubbie. Moving away from home for the first time is a huge thing, but for me it was moving from the only place I called home, living with my folks, to living with Hubbie. Despite the lack of transitional period, I settled down well, once we received our furniture that is. I think it definitely helps to be ready for it.



I've gotten a permanent full-time job! It's the same job, but it just means there's no contract with an end date looming in the near future... so that's fantastic, with the economy scares around the world as of late.



As per usual I have Resolutions for the New Year.



1. To increase my Vitamin D intake by sitting in the sun more ( I love doing it anyway! ) and eating foods that are rich in the vitamin. This resolution comes after coming back from the doctor's yesterday, and being told my Vitamin D was a 29. It's supposed to be 75-250 or something like that. So that's WAY off. And now I'm pissed. I'm gonna try do it the healthier way, without tablets.



2. To decrease arm fat. My friends would kill me if they knew what I was saying. You can call me ridiculous, whereas I will call myself a perfectionist (even though I argue that there is no such thing as perfection, go figure) but the other day I looked at my arms - funnily after watching the doco Pumping Iron with Arnie in his early years as brick machine - and I thought "these arms can be more toned."



3. To generally get more toned, in particular to target my tummy and reduce the fat there. Once again I duplicate the second line of the 2nd point above. And the first half of the 3rd line there. This has been an ongoing thing for me, and I've realised that some stuff I've read online (the true stuff) about not being able to reduce tummy weight without working the rest of your body, is (SHOCK HORROR!) actually true, because since I've been married, my tummy has gotten flatter yet I've done no more exercise than usual, which is actually nothing. It's all the cleaning I do. And maybe the less carbs who knows.



4. To read more. Because I love it.



As you can see, these resolutions are predominantly health-related, because the key thing is, without health you can't have true happiness. It may be slightly appearance oriented, however I don't think my intentions are without merit, that is, I know what's most important. And that's to feel good inside out:)



Then the world smiles with you :)



May you have an incredibly fantastic New Year 2010.

December is what happened

Well, it has been one crazy month. Crazy busy as I like to say, and also crazy-blogless.




What can I say? December is my answer :) Christmas presents, thank you cards for the wedding, and it seems like a million other things, as we've been busy every weekend and even weeknights.



What is new? We have a bird. Well it's not a brand NEW bird but it's Hubbie's bird, having recently relocated to our place from his parents. He is quite the character. We reckon he's a Leo because he always wants to be the centre of attention and yells a lot.



We've done more to our house, which is great, it's more presentable and has more gadgety things (!) but at the same time, we're looking to move into a bigger house.



Two recent episodes from the last month which stand out to me now, are to do with the issue of invitations. Something about this topic I always come back to. Maybe because my very first blog was concerned with invitations I had verbally and electronically given out for my birthday.



But anyway, in the last month, I have been told I was going to be a bridesmaid by a bride-to-be, and then subsequently have had no mention of it by the bride-to-be at the next gathering (albeit not as drunk gathering.) I may speak about this in detail in a future blog, if I feel like it. It's complicated. I'm sure you have time.



And after that incident, in another blow, I found out my best friend and her boyfriend already had made New Years plans without us, passing on to spending New Years with her boyfriends best friend and girlfriend.



.................................................



Just giving you a moment to think about that one. It's not like we're exclusive to each other, that we only see each other and only go out with each other, nothing like that. Just don't say you forgot when I ask you about your New Years plans. I know it may not have been deliberate, but funny how they (minus my bestie) were talking about reservations at a hotel for their New Years plans a few weeks ago, while Hubbie and I sat next to them at a concert. Interesting to hear that we'd been 'forgotten' when we were within earshot.



Interesting.



I understand that I could be blowing it all out of proportion once again, as that's what I do best, because it could have been my bestie's boyfriends best mate's girlfriend

........................................................................................

catched up? - that had planned the night, therefore you can't really invite others when someone has invited you and planned it.



If that's it that's cool.



But I don't get the forgotten bit. Hubbie and I don't forget people. So how do people forget us? Like honestly, is that saying something about people in general? Or am I making an ant into an elephant, once again?



I think it's to do with my other issue..... of which I may or may not divulge in a future blog.



That's my bit for now.

Thanks, I'll take that compliment

I'm feeling very proud of myself. Very pleased indeed. It's definitely a good way to be feeling on a Friday morning, as you're about to embark on the fabulous trip known as 'the weekend.'


I passed a test yesterday. A very important one. I guess those who may not have received such a high score would be feeling a bit bad, they might even try to diminish the importance of the test, just so that they wouldn't feel so bad.

But let me tell you, that's a bad, bad thing to do. Because this test affects your life.

I passed a health check.

Yes that's right. Think about it. Various parts of you are tested. If the health professional finds that you are making the right health choices in your life, obviously you get a higher score. However if you haven't placed enough emphasis on doing the right things in life to keep you fit and healthy, well then........

You end up like some people around here. With a low score, feeling bad, and not talking much about it.

I didn't really know what to think, going into it. I consider myself a healthy person, but I've never really had my health checked. I never really thought I should. I guess that's a big mistake some people make, one I'm very aware of. Just because you're skinny it doesn't mean you're fit and/or healthy. But I always said to myself that once I'd settled down and the wedding was over, I wanted to get myself checked. And a few weeks back, when I got the email, advising of free health checks in our workplace, I knew it was something I HAD to do.

And I was soooo pleased I did do it. The health check was comprised of a blood pressure test, waist measurement, pin prick to test blood, and a simple questionnaire that asked about your daily health activities and choices.

My blood pressure was a good reading. It was low, and apparently it's good to be low. I can't remember the reading, but the numbers 105/73 are popping up in my head, so it might have been around that number.

It turns out, my cholesterol was like 5.3. I think that was my overall cholesterol reading, and it's supposed to be under 5.5, so that was good. But it was my good cholesterol that stunned the guy, myself included. Usually you're supposed to have like a 1.0 reading, I think that's normal. But mine was 1.6, 60% higher than the general population. It was not just good, but GREAT! I suddenly thought of all those almonds I'd been eating..... and felt extremely proud of myself.

My waist measurement was in check, it was 70cm, and I saw in the health pamphlet that it's supposed to be under 80cm. Well, I knew it was fine because the guy checking me said "perfect," when he measured me. I think he was slightly crushing on me!

I did have a very high blood glucose level, and he thought it may be because I had just eaten. He thought it was weird, because a high level suggests risk of diabetes, whereas all my other tests were suggesting an extremely LOW risk of it. So I ended up coming back at the end of the day, after fasting between that time, to get my blood tested again.

Yuck and Ouch. As soon as he had the blood, I was throwing jelly beans into my mouth so quick. And wonderfully, my level had HALVED, from 7.5 to something like 3-4. AND, in that time my overall cholesterol had dropped. He said my good cholesterol was so good, it was pushing down my bad cholesterol. Oh, come on, keep bringing on the praise!

The ONLY downfall, and I freely admit this (only after pathetically trying to convince the guy that my 5 minutes of walking from the car park to the work building should be added to an exercise total) is that I don't exercise, much.

Ok fine I don't exercise really ever. And I say it like that because I have tried in the last month or so, to lift some weights, do some sit-ups and stuff. But you just get so busy! And then it doesn't become a priority anymore. Which is bad, I know, health should be a priority. Food-wise, I'm a good girl, it's just the physical exertion I need to up.

So he convinced me that taking the train to work would be a better option, because then I could walk to and from the station, and possibly rack up more than 30 mins a day. And all you need is 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

It was such a simple solution, yet I felt like it was such a lightbulb moment.

!

Don't hate me yet, he did give me shit for not exercising. Or did he? When he was trying to work out why I didn't exercise, he asked "Do you have too many mirrors in your house?"

"No, only 2, and they're both upstairs."

Oops. Now he was going to think I didn't wanna WALK upstairs.

"I thought maybe your house was full of mirrors, and when you looked at yourself you thought 'I'm gorgeous, I'm perfect, I don't need to exercise!' "

I paused for a sec, unsure of how to answer that. "No."

Yeah, I've received a similar comment before. But the way this guy said it, and the way he was looking at me (he had the same look as this guy I used to work with had when he spoke to me, and I was PRETTY sure he was crushing on me then) I could sort of see where he was heading.

That's not bad. It's nice to know that although you're taken, whether in a relationship or married, that you're still desired. It's human nature. People want to be wanted. And though they may deny it, they want to be with someone, that's wanted.

So all in all, I was feeling pretty bloody brilliant yesterday. I was feeling damn fine, freaking fantastic about my health, and you know what the overall joy came from? I didn't even try.

When I eat I think about what I'm eating, yes. But I don't obsess. I don't weigh my food, or get obsessed by proportions. I don't restrict certain foods from my diet. I just eat. I crave stuff and I eat. I'm so used to eating good, healthy food, that by the time I'm done, I'm not needing to satisfy my sweet or savoury tooth, because I'm so satisfied. And the days that I am bad, with junk food, and where I just gotta keep eating that cake, I don't feel bad about it. I guess I'm a very balanced eater, and it's paid off for me.

So thanks very much. I will be proud of myself. I'll take that compliment. There is no reason to feel bad or wrong about praising yourself. Because usually, you deserve it. Because, isn't it right that you're your own worst enemy? So who would know you deserve praise better than you?

Indulge a little. I know I am :)

Rain

You know you're in the midst of a drought, when it rains all weekend, and you can't believe it.


When you're leaving home Saturday afternoon, and the rain simply descends. But it doesn't go away like it normally does, no. It just continues, harder and faster, pelting at the car you're in from all directions, until you begin to realise that it isn't going away just yet.

That's when you know you're in a drought.

When you look for parking closer to your destination, just so you can get LESS rained on, rather than totally drenched. When you open up the umbrella when you're still in the car, squirming your way out so to avoid any speck of rain getting on you, even though you know that once you start walking, the rain will give you no mercy. It will attack you from every which direction, and you will be amazed. You will be surprised.

That's when you know you're in the midst of a drought.

When you're walking to the soccer stadium, sharing an umbrella but wishing you each had your own, as your entire right side which is facing the rain starts to soak, and you start to wish you had worn your boots, rather than your open-toed flats. And you ask yourself why it is that last time you wore those flats you were caught in a similar downpour. You begin to question your rain-inspiring shoes. You vow next time to wear those shoes, when the rain is needed.

That's when you know you're in the middle of a drought.

Your shoes get damp, and then are suddenly soaked, through and through, feet and all, as you accidentally step into a puddle when you forgetfully fail to watch your step for a split second. You swear, yell at your umbrella partner, and regretfully begin to accept the rain sloshing through your shoes.

You shake your feet in the air as you walk, trying to get rid of the water, as you try to avoid more puddles, somehow, almost, successfully. You look around and see others around you, running without umbrellas, trying to avoid the inevitable raining crashing down on them, and for a moment you feel good, knowing you are somewhat dry.

Until you step again and the water sloshes around heavily in your flats.

And you ask yourself when was the last time you remember this happening. You can't remember. Other than the time from last week when you wore the same rain-producing flats. There's nothing.

That's when you know you're in the midst of a drought.

When you're on your way back from the soccer, the rain has ceased, but surprisingly, returns with full force once you're in the car, driving back home. This is surprising to you because you dont see rain often. It has become a rare event. You're in a drought.

The following day it rains, on and off. It isn't too severe, but still you're more amazed at the constant determination of the rain than anything else. Not only does it rain, but it comes back. Sudden and swift isn't in its vocabularly, it's a distant cousin of this rain.

That night, as your bed looms at you, yawns approach and everything becomes still, you hear it. The sudden rattling, thunderous pitter-patter that begins on your roof, and in moments envelopes the entire house, all that is around you.

The rain. It has returned. And provided a nice backdrop for sleeping, a kind of musical lullaby, to which you can close your eyes, tune out, and be secure in knowing you are in a good place. You are safe, warm, at home. Tired.

But still you are amazed. Amazed and at awe by this sensation, by this natural phenomenon of water falling from the sky. It falls, sometimes slowly, sometimes fast, in all sorts of directions. It falls and stops, then returns, and sometimes it just doesn't stop. It just varies the speed and direction and force with which it falls.

But all this is so new. Familiar but new, because rain is not a naturally-occuring phenomenon, not where we are anymore. It never comes too often, or stays too long.

That's why we are surprised. We can not believe our luck. The phrase you constantly hear everywhere is "But we need the rain." Perhaps everyone here has said it at least once. That's because we all feel its absence. It comes, dissolves the dryness, returns moisture to the plants, trees, land, animals and the people that so rely on it for survival. It removes the stresses and angers, from our lives. All washes away with rain.

It rejuvenates. It refreshes. But it has been surprising.

We are surprised by its sudden return. Because we are in a drought.



Today is the first day of Summer.

Part 2: my very LONG (but fantastic and in-depth!) New Moon Review

When we were finally allowed back into the cinema, instead of filing in in a single line, it was like lines of 6 and 7 merging together to squeeze into the gap commonly known as the doorway.


My bestie rushed up to our seats and everything was as it should have been: everything was in place, cardi, jacket, bag, mags, refreshments, and THOSE notes. Lol.

As all the Twilight watchers found their seats again, another girl now, also representing the cinema, came in and thanked us for our patience and co-operation. She said that we had been MUCH better than the other cinema-goers. Well of course we had, as more than half of the people in our theatre had already had seats, whereas the other cinemas showing New Moon had people coming in fresh, so they would have been frantically rushing and pushing in to get good seats.

Pat on the back, go us.

We then watched, amused, as all the 'new-comers; practically sprinted in, running to random seats and frantically asking "is this seat taken?"

And we sat, relaxed, awaiting the next couple of hours. So glad we watched Twilight first!

Since it had taken so long to seat everyone, the previews started late, and by this time, I'm sure everyone was hoping to have seen the first half hour of New Moon rather than still be watching film previews.

Every time a preview finished there was an anxious hush of silence. When another movie classification came up, you could hear the frustrated sighs run across the theatre, followed by "geez," and "come on."



"THE REVIEW"



It was all VERY exciting. Once the movie began, after repeated moments from me and bestie of "oh my gosh I can't believe it!' followed by high-pitched "woooooohhhh!" -s, the familiar Summit logo loomed before us and gave us the indication that something great was about to begin.

First the opener. Loved the full moon turning into a new moon to uncover the film title. That was a great effect.

The start was good: hearing Bella open with the Shakespeare quote about "these violent delights have violent ends..." that we first read in the book. Like in the Twilight book, where Bella talks about dying for the one she loves, and in the film, where instead of reading that scene we hear her future thoughts, we also have the opening and pivotal scene in New Moon of Bella rushing through the square towards the Tower to save Edward, much like it's narrative version.

And staying true to the book, we have Bella's dream in which she sees herself as her grandma, the beginning of her ongoing obsession with aging.

The moments I most loved about the film, occurred primarily in the beginning.

I was soooo looking forward to how, and if, the film would portray OR accurately portray the passage of time starting in October that is presented to us in the book by simply stating a month per page, showing us how basic, empty and quick the time has passed for Bella without Edward.

I was moved to tears in the film, I thought it was done brilliantly. The background song "It's a possibility..." looping round and round, as the camera circled her, accompanied very nicely by her emails to Alice, a screen addition that was able to show us Bella's thoughts in another way, was particularly FANTASTIC. I think it showed us her pain really well, along with her screaming nightmares.

When Edward first breaks up with Bella, and then she begins walking around in the forest, finally tripping and staying on the floor of the forest, as again the camera circles in an aerial view from above, although for some viewers I think this would have seemed like a pointless exercise and a bit monotonous, I believe it accurately portrayed how dizzying her world was becoming, and how things were now spiralling out of control. It was a nice metaphor.

The heavy-breathing effect, as Sam emerged from the darkness of the forest carrying Bella: LIKE.

The awkward 'date' with Bella, Jacob and Mike was HILARIOUS. Especially in the cinema, with the guys open and ready-waiting hands on either side of Bella: it was done to true form.

The climactic showdown between Edward and Felix, as Felix attempted to take him down in Volterra in front of the Volturi, was an interesting addition, and definitely added some action that I believe generally lacked in the narrative.

Victoria's run through the forest, coming into a gridlock with Harry Clearwater and then running from the wolves and jumping into the sea, that was good. It paved the way nicely for Bella's own jump, showed the wolves in action as well as the men's hunting, while providing the scene for Harry's heart attack. Applause for the combining of several storylines.

I also loved the little glimmer of the future through Alice's mind, where Aro saw Edward and Bella as vampires. THAT was great! I guess not knowing how things turn out, it was especially exciting for me!

I didn't mind the ending: the showdown between Edward and Jacob, and the way that it appropriately ended with the cliffhanger "Will you marry me?"

What DID upset me slightly in this ending was not the way that it ended, but in the way practically all the teeny-boppers in the cinema reacted: with disappointed and anxiety-riddled excited sighs and screams.

I KNOW that I am in the minority by having only read the first 2 books of the series to date, but I will safely presume that 99.9% of the people in there will have read all of them. So if you know what happens, why are you reacting so strongly? I mean, even with having read the end of New Moon, where the marriage proposal comes earlier in Bella's room and she declines it, I can safely assume I know what happens. (Please don't kill me with spoilers!) Why this blatant and ridiculous display of idiocy and drama from the other girls watching I can't understand!

Now, on the other hand, there was a feeling between our group there, sort of an undefined feeling, but nevertheless a feeling, once the film finished, of "oh."

And it's the same problem that you find with many book to film adaptations, of the film not quite living up to the book in some respect. Now I guess the main problem we saw with the film was that it couldn't quite show the development of the characters relationships: Bella's and Jacob's; Edward's feelings after Jasper attacked Bella; Edward and Bella's subsequent make up; and Bella's fallen out friendships during her hole-in-the-stomach period. This was going to be difficult to do anyway, given the length of time we are reading Bella's thoughts, AND given the length of the book in comparison to the film. Considering the difference, the film did do a good job, it's just so hard to separate the two when you are expecting so much on screen and you keep referring to what you've read: it makes it impossible not to compare as you watch.

I did not particularly like the way Bella jumped on the motorbike of one of the wild guys in Port Angeles: I didn't feel this accurately portrayed her. Yes, she was seeking a thrill, but I found it a bit of an extreme act considering she'd just discovered her adrenaline rush-producing hallucinations.

I see why they did it, with lack of time and all and in line with the general re-shuffling of some scenes and key points, but I didn't expect Bella and Edward to make up so quickly in Volterra. I guess it just came to be what I expected from the film. And I soooo much wanted Edward to breathe "Carlisle was right," when Bella jumped into his arms! But, alas it didn't happen. Much like the line I so much wanted to hear in the Twilight film that came towards the end of the book, after Edward had saved Bella from James, and after sucking out the venom, was now carrying her. I can't remember the exact line, but Edward expressed his love for Bella, and she replied, exhausted by the whole ordeal, simply with "I know." It was so hilarious, simple but poignant, but it missed the book to film translation.

As did the scene in Bella's room in New Moon, where Edward appeared after the Volterra ordeal and she burst out crying, believing she was dead, despite his reassurances of life and love for her. It was so desperate, sad, funny and touching, but something like that, a gem, all those narrative gems, you wonder how they could ever accurately translate into a film, when so much relies on passage after passage, chapter after chapter, continual story build-up, of heartache, desperation and nerves.

I guess there wasn't any real point of disappoint, in terms of a let-down scene, one that not quite lived up to the book, it was just a general run-through of knowing and seeing that the film couldn't keep up. Generally, a book can't provide you with the little details, set you up again and again by keeping Edward away from the action, and give you that incessant feeling of "what is going to happen next? where is this turning point I'm waiting for?" that the book provides. I hear so often of people when having read New Moon for the first time, of being so frustrated, in constantly wondering where Edward was, and always expecting him to turn up and save Bella, without ever doing so.

Although the film shows us the same scenarios, there is the difference in that in the film we do SEE Edward, in Bella's hallucinations. In the book, we can only imagine him, and although it may not seem like much of a difference, it makes us that much more separated and distant from him, makes us long for his character to return even more, and makes us feel as empty and desperate as Bella. Even as a Team Jacob fan, you would be constantly wondering if/how/when Edward was going to return and you'd be second-guessing everything.

I guess New Moon had such a build up and such huge advertising leading up to the premiere, that it was going to be hard, harder for it than for it's predecessor Twilight, to live up to all it's expectations. And that is a problem generally with sequels, none more so than New Moon. Although there was hype with the first film, especially with the die-hard fans of the book, once that became such a box office success, you could almost see the pressure and (unrealistic) expectations already mounting on all the remaining sequels.

The acting was spot on, absolutely superb. Kristen was looking better, more polished, I found Carlisle and Charlie to be so endearing, I love the way their characters are portrayed. Alice is so charming, and Jacob, despite myself being a Team Edward fan, I found really really good. Dakota Fanning as Jane: oh my gosh. Words cannot express how incredible I thought she was, she took on such a different role to others she's had in the past. She's so grown up, and she has fulfilled the role in every possible way, better than expected. Incredible she was.

Despite some of the failings, it doesn't make me love the film version any less. In fact I woke the day after watching it, unable to stop rambling about it to Hubbie, and insisted we must watch it, which we ended up doing a few days ago. My final verdict is: I love it. I guess time has helped me to understand the difficulty of translating text to screen, which I accept more freely now. It was harder to do that in first watching it, after midnight, after such a long anticipating wait and build-up to the main event! I also believe that New Moon is the book in the series that sets a lot of things up: Jacob is a werewolf, we know Edward is a vampire, Bella wants to be a vampire, and there are all sorts of vampires after them for various reasons. I belive there will be a lot of action in the final 2 books, which is why New Moon generally lacked a lot of action. Not having read the last 2, I can't safely presume this, but to me it seems to be the way it's heading.

In case you were wondering.... Hubbie liked it! He hasn't read any of the books, and perhaps because of that, he's liked both without having any problems with the translation of it. I've suggested that he start reading the next two, so that we can argue and debate the whole Twilight series together. I would definitely LOVE that!

Out of 10...... I'd give it an 8. In comparison to the book that is. I still need to watch it at least once more, with my bestie in Gold Class, so I can experience the joy (and sadness) of Bella/Edward/Jacob with refreshments!

However, ideally I'd like to watch it 4 times in total, so I can make it a Full Moon.

LOL. I had to put it in there.

My New Moon Review!

Only a week after the world premiere of one of the most highly-anticipated movie sequels of all time, and only hours away from watching it again with Hubbie (!), I now give you my New Moon review.


Well, part of giving you my review would be setting the scene, and explaining to you what happened that night. So first things first.

Last Wednesday at 9.15pm, we set off to first watch Twilight. As we arrived in the cinema, already you could feel the anticipation. There weren't a lot of people just yet, but you could see that something was brewing. There was a merchandise stand set up on one side, selling all these Twilight-themed items, from tops, bags and bookmarks. Girls were milling around the stand and excitedly pointing things out.

We wanted to get into the cinema early, in order to secure a good seat, especially after I found out that we would be watching New Moon in the very same cinema.

We came at a good time, we were lucky. We were positioned up the back, off to the left side of the centre seats, without being too far left in the left LEFT seats.

The cinema filled up a substantial amount, it was mad. A girl representing the cinema even came out to introduce herself and thank us for coming. She said that while New Moon was playing in the same cinema we were seated in, that we would need to leave momentarily while they cleaned the cinema between movies. However we could leave something like a jacket behind, to save our spots.

As the previews started, and then finally Twilight began, and the opening scene, it was all-too-familiar for everyone there in the cinema, and people were clapping, cheering even, and it wasn't even the main feature!

The one thing that stuck out to me heaps was that I kept turning to my bestie and saying "I love this part!" It happened A LOT. I think that just shows how well Twilight has done in comparison to the book, how the scenes, either the same or different, compliment perfectly.

We had a whole plan for what we would do after the film ended. We were secretly petrified that upon re-entering the cinema, someone would have stolen our seats and thrown our items on the floor, claiming that the cleaners did it. So we hatched an idea.

Once the Twilight credits started rolling, and everyone started leaving, my bestie and her sister left, and left me behind. I wanted to be the last one there. I arranged our cardigans/jackets over the four chairs (her boyfriend was joining us for New Moon), made sure our drink cups were in the appropriate seat cup holders, alternated our special edition popcorn with my friends empty handbag and our free Twilgiht limited edition Girlfriend mags on the seats. AND, I placed in the centre of each seat, a handwritten note that my bestie had scrawled in the dark, on 4 separate pieces of paper:

"Seat taken."

Ha ha. We were prepared. Desperate, crazy, some might say. But we were determined not to let our seats go.

Once there were only 10 ppl left in the cinema (and I did count, there was 10) the cleaners came in, and announced that we needed to leave momentarily while they cleaned. What they also said was that we were to go into a special line on the left of the cinema, for people who were re-entering the theatre, as opposed to the line on the right, which was for people just arriving to watch New Moon. Apparently we were going to be let in first, before the newcomers.

Phew.

As I left, I asked one of the boys if all our items would stay as is, including our drinks and popcorn, etc. He replied with what I wanted to know, and I left, knowing full well I had done the best I could to preserve our seats.

Well, the lines were long alright. The line on the right was growing increasingly fast and exiting the cinemas. I was sooooo glad we had decided to watch Twilight first, otherwise we would have been one of the poor buggers in that line.

Once I reunited with my group, plus the new addition of bestie's boy, (he'd had a Twilight ticket but decided last minute against 4 hours of squealing girls, opting only for 2 hours of squealing girls, so no, we did not sneak him into the cinema, he had a valid Twilight ticket!) we waited in the left line (oh, left never sounded so good) anticipating what was coming up ahead and simply observing the hysteria around us.

It was mad. The word 'Beatlemania' kept popping up in my head, I never experienced that particular music movement so I don't know how to compare, but I kept thinking, if this is how people are reacting to the premiere of a movie, where they are watching their idols/heroes/objects of affection on screen, how would they react to see them in person? Crazy.



Part 2 coming soon....

New Moon.......It's coming......

I sit here at work, anxiously observing the time on the computer. Every few minutes I look at my watch.
I preview the work I should be doing. Nothing interests me today. I'm nervous, excited and impatient.

Tonight, at midnight, I'll be one of the first amongst many, who will watch the first screening of the second installment of the Twilight Saga series: that is, New Moon.

The hysteria begins.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous now

So Sunday night, I'm sitting on the couch, with Kill Bill 2 on in the background, as I read some mags and ponder the thought of going to bed. I'm totally minding my own business. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see movement.

I look, and there's a big disgusting spider scurrying across the floor, past me. Scurrying as if it knows it doesn't belong there, as if it knows I can see it.

I flew into action. After a bit of impromptu swearing, I grabbed the insect spray from the cupboard and proceeded to hunt down the mother. It had disappeared somewhere beneath the lounge, so I knew that by spraying around the lounge area, the smell would eventually force it out of its hiding.

The undenying parallels between what was happening in my lounge room, and what was happening on screen, only spurred me on more. I would've felt even more comfortable with my supposed army gear and face paint, as Hubbie has jokingly suggested that I do in my spider hunts while he's in bed.

As I spotted the ugly thing and sprayed with all my might, running around the lounge as it too, ran from me, Paula faced off with Elle on screen, culminating in a brutal attack.

I was Paula and I was getting even with this spider. This spider was going to take the brunt of my anger, it was going to represent all the spiders that had intruded into our home over the past weeks, scaring me, upsetting me, confusing me and bewildering me. I channelled my inner Paula and the spider could not do a thing. It lost the fight.

Once I'd sprayed enough, and realised the spiders sticky demeanour meant it would soon become still, I got to thinking.

Where the hell where these spiders coming from? Honestly, there had been more spiders in the past 2 weeks in our house than I could remember in one summer at my parents. It wasn't just the quantity of spiders, though, it was their size that made them stand out. They were all HUGE mothers.

I started to worry, and panic. I left the dead spider lying somewhere beneath the lounge, and went to bed.

But I couldn't sleep. I kept imagining spiders crawling up to the bedroom, and crawling all over me. I couldn't help shuddering and wincing.

I dreamt of them that night. I can't remember clearly what it was I dreamt, but I know it wasn't pleasant.

I'm worried there's a nest somewhere. I mean, spiders of this considerable size, I don't believe they've all arrived at the same party (where they're not invited.) by coincidence, by chance. They must be in a pack. And I have a really bad suspicion that they're in the very place that we can't see. I think they might be under the stairs.

That scary place, in a corner, filled with shadows, that can never have enough light, that can never really be lit up. That's the only place they could be.

Today, Hubbie has the day off. I've sent him on a mission, to buy one of those massive insect sprays with a hose, so that we can spray all over the house, inside and out. I might get HIM to take out the stuff we have under the stairs, (there is NO WAY that I will go near that area now) just random shopping bags and our empty suitcases. Then we will spray the hell out of it, and possible watch as millions and trillions of spiders fly out, like maggots out of a dead fly.

Ugh. Shudder. I feel sick.



This saga to be continued....

Spiders and Moths vs. Miss S.

And so it is, the end of the week. And as I look back, the most prominent thing that stands out in my memories are bloody spiders and moths.
The freaking spiders and the freaking moths.
Although it's only Spring, this fair, ridiculously unpredictable city of ours, has experienced some bizarre heat wave in the past week, with temperatures barely dropping under 30 degrees celcius.
With heat like that, there have been some unexpected and unwelcome visitors in our home.
Now, with spiders, although I'm not a total arachnophobe like my sister is, I still don't like them. They totally freak me out, and I don't like them anywhere near me. I can handle them better than my sis though. Hubbie pointed out one of her bizarre talents only a week ago, it's hilarious. She has some sort of freaky spider radar. She can enter a room/area, and within moments determine and pinpoint the location of every creepy crawly, and with a dismissive hand point out to her husband the areas in which he needs to get to work exterminating.
Think Arnie in Terminator 2 scanning for the bad terminator via his radar, however in this instance it's spiders.
LOL it's great to watch.
Anyway, as I was saying, I don't like spiders. But what I have an unnatural phobia of are moths. Ugh. Shudder. Just the mere thought of them totally freaks me out. I won't go into too much detail about them, because it will start to make me feel sick, but let's just say the way they look, and fly, and the possibility of them with my hair....
STOP.
Move on.
Unfortunately for me we've had both spiders AND moths. More spiders, far more. Moths have been small, luckily, but still a decent size for me to have to insist on their death.
I've actually almost lost count of the times and places I've gone on my killing spree/demanded Hubbie to kill. Just tonight, only an hour ago, I killed 2 spiders. These aren't your little jumping spiders, these are huge Mothers, freakin' put all others to shame. That's why I'm so scared/fed up/overwhelmed. Why the hell are they coming out? Where are they coming from? I mean, how many spiders could there possibly be in one household?
GO away PLEASE!
I've chased them, killed them, tracked them, stamped on them, used my shoe, I've become a spider-killing expert. It's resulted in huge paranoia. I'm constantly looking around me, above to the walls and ceilings, scanning the floors, checking out every nook and cranny for a disgusting... thing. Ugh. The big ones are the scary ones, but usually kark it straight away from the mortein, despite their size.
Moths I can't stand. Those I corner into rooms, close the door, and then leave until Hubbie is able to get rid of them.
Just the other night, I was pleading for him to get a moth out of our bedroom, I needed to get stuff out of there. "Kill eat, save it, eat it, do whatever you want with it just get it out of here."
He raised an eyebrow "Does that mean you'll still kiss me if I eat it?"
"No."
"Well then don't say eat it."
"Oh." Scowl follows. Just kill the bloody thing.
Moths have generally popped up upstairs in the bedrooms, but spiders have been everywhere! Especially the lounge room, that's the 'hang-out,' especially for the big mothers.
Sigh.
I love summer. I LOVE summer weather. But what I'm beginning to realise, in this house anyway, is that summer heat is going to have a side-effect this year, a big annoying, constantly popping up and reoccurring nuisance.
I'm staring at one now. Don't worry it's not a live one. I flooded it with spray just a while ago, and now it lies dead, at the foot of the stairs.
Huh. Serves you right spider. You don't enter our domain! Tell your friends now to stay away..... oh, that's right. Well hopefully your friends have special spider radar and can sense your deadness.....

They will not control us, we will be Victorious!

From Muse's new song, 'Uprising,' such an awesome title, comes a fantastic chorus:

They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious

Ahh, such powerful lyrics, sung with such gusto. I love it, this is a song that has to be played LOUD.

A worthwhile mention to another fave at the moment. Actually, it's a little part of Fall Out Boys' new one, 'Alpha Dog.'

You're not the first, or the last, but you're possibly the prettiest.

It's great. Often it's not the words that are said, but how they are delivered that produces the meaning. That's true in all of life, not just for music.

AND, continuing from my recent all-things-Twilight theme (as there are only 6 DAYS TO GO! to New Moon) I firmly believe that Muse's uprising is a definite New Moon song, and deserves its place on the soundtrack despite the fact that it is not there. It astounds me that a song by Muse, the band that has been mentioned by many sources if not also by the person herself, Stephenie Meyer, that they are an inspiration to her in her writings, and then a song such as that should appear and not be on the soundtrack despite its clear connection the the movie! Come on, it is so clear!
Uprising? Lyrics like
and hope that we will never see the truth around;
and endless red tape to keep the truth confined;
we should never be afraid to die.

Yes, I realise what Muse are really referring to, but interpretations are unique, meaning you can read it in a number of ways, including from a Twilight-themed perspective. This song could have sooooo been utilised in a much better way.

(So come on!)

The Billboard of Desire

When I first started reading Twilight last year, I was trying to complete it before the movie came out. I was working on a tight shift, as I was working full-time and trying to organise my wedding at the same time. But I was managing to squeeze in a chapter a night.
As I was reading it, and as the movie premiere approached, a certain billboard came up. On my way into work, in the city, in a regular billboard poster spot, a Twilight poster had been placed up. The regular poster that you usually see associated with the movie, with Edward and Bella. I used to look up at that poster everyday on my way in to work, wondering how the book would conclude, and wondering if and how the movie was going to live up to the books' expectations.
After I finished reading it, and the movie came out, and I watched it (several times!), the billboard eventually came down, replaced by another one. I actually saw the 'billboard' men removing it, the day it was replaced, and thought "noooooo! Not Twilight!"
Months passed, and I wondered if when New Moon premiered at the cinemas, whether the Twilight poster saga would return to its rightful place in the city centre.....
And so, as I started reading New Moon only months earlier now, I started to wonder, and look up at that same spot every single day.
I finished New Moon, and still, I observed the billboard space, watching as they changed from promoting, drinks, lingerie and other random items, of which I can barely remember because they were not INTERESTING.
New Moon is only a week away from its premiere. And today, as I turned the familiar corner into this main city street, I glanced up, only a block away to the huge building that housed the billboard spot.
And I could see it was different.
The traffic distracted me from a moment, but not for long. Through the oddly bright yet cloudy morning sun, I could see those words. That font.
New Moon.
AHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I was sooooo excited! I didn't even really know for sure if the billboard would go up in the same spot that the Twilight one did, but after months of staring at that spot, and only ever thinking one thing "Twilight, twilight, twilight....." it's actually happened. Such a minor thing it may seem, but it has made not just my day, but my month, possible MONTHS, depending on how long it'll be up!
So happy!
It's like being a kid again. Hoping against hope that I'd get that barbie caravan, Wishing, hoping, praying and waiting all that time to Christmas. And then BANG! I got it!
Christmas has come early for me :)
The countdown is on. 7 days to go.........

WOW. What a weekend/s, what a week/s - Part 2 of my Marathon

Friday morning I had instructions. Before work I was to get half a piece of bread, make it soggy with water and then break it up into little-itty-bitty pieces so that the little-itty-bitty bird could eat it.
I was shitty because firstly, I had to do this. Why couldn't Hubbie do this, he found the bird? I'm almost late to work everyday as it is, let alone having a bird I needed to feed.
His excuse was it's still dark when he gets up. Yes, but.... hmph.
So, I did my bit. And I must admit, when I walked into the shed, and tentatively peeked into the beer box, through the old bbq rack, and saw this cute, so so so small bird staring up at me, my heart melted. It was standing, just staring up, quite unaware of all the trauma we were feeling because of it.
It was soooo sweet. I started crumbing up bits of soggy bread, dropping it through the bbq rack steel slats, and they just dropped around the bird. The bird didn't flinch, it just kept looking at me, it didn't even look down at what I had just dropped. Although I crumbed up the whole piece, I realised this bird was probably looking at me as a substitute for its mother, and expecting me to put the food directly in its mouth. After trying to aim the bread INTO its mouth, unsuccessfully, I whispered some words of eating encouragement to the little one ( I was growing quite fond of it now ) and left.
I had an appointment to get my hair cut and coloured that day after work, so I went there straight after without going home. Before I walked in, I called Hubbie to find out what had happened with the bird when he got home.
I was so surprised, both happy surprised and sad surprised, when he told me he had taken the bird to the local vet, so that they could feed it properly to eventually release it. Happy because this poor bird was finally gonna get some decent help, but sad because in that short amount of time, I felt like I needed to say goodbye to it first before it continued on its journey. Weird, huh?
But I was glad, glad that our efforts had paid off, and that this bird which would have otherwise been eaten by a neighbourhood cat, was getting a second chance at life. Albeit without its little family of birds, but better a life alone than death....
When I got home, more good news. Hubbie had left the fridge in its place, but now the bins were outside in the backyard again. Although we couldn't take them out through the garage anymore, we could just roll them through the house. A little price to pay to make everyone happy.
I had to wait for my U.S pal to stop by to drop off some stuff, and once she had, I rushed to the shops to FINALLY do my massive grocery shop. In my heels, I ran through the store, trolley flying in front of me, and managed to get everything in about 30 minutes. There was no checking for prices or brands, I was just randomly grabbing whatever it was I needed with no usual grocery shopping deliberation about which brand is better and/or cheaper. The store closed and I was on my happy way.
I managed to make my cookie batch that night, and then there was still heaps to do awaiting me the next day.
In summary, Saturday was spent going to the shops, making a lasagna ( and this is a lasagna! ) cleaning the ENTIRE house and getting myself ready for the wedding we had that night, my U.S bestie's sister. It may not sound like much but let me tell you, I barely had time to eat. And all this preparation, for my Hubbie's birthday the next day, where we were having both his and mine immediate families over for lunch, plus some close friends. And Hubbie and I don't do things in halves.
By Saturday night, as excited as I was about having a great night out with my friends, I was spent, and having a glass of red didn't help the cause either.
By the time I got to sleep at 1.30am, I was so tired, not just from that day, but from knowing what would await me the next day, and how much I still had to do.
7.00am I got up, it was painful, really. I'd set my alarm for 6.30am, but I just couldn't get myself up. I trudged out of bed and made my way to my tasks ahead.
Which included: making a cake, preparing the tables, making various salads and other foods and just a whole lot of preparation. If Hubbie hadn't gotten up and helped me out, I'd have been screwed.
Ha ha. The irony of that.
The day went fine, busy but fine. I barely had a chance to sit down, other than when I ate, and after when the cake had been cut and we'd sung happy birthday. I'd actually been finishing the cake throughout the day, so you can see how busy the day had been. The cake was a white chocolate cheesecake and it was a definite success! Everyone loved it, especially Hubbie, which is what mattered most :)
On top of everything that day, my friends came over that night, mainly because my U.S pal was now heading back to the States the next morning, so it was our last little get together.
Thank goodness I'd taken the Monday off. I had a surprise for Hubbie, I'd organised a Crime Tour of our city, after some lunch, and the tour alone took about 3 hours. It was nice, if not just to see our city through new, refreshed eyes.
That night our folks came over to help us eat the leftovers, and then more friends came by later on. It was fun, but the busy-ness was starting to look never-ending to me.
I thought the next night was gonna be quiet, but we ended up out to dinner with some OTHER friends, and then they came over for drinks. Sigh.
FINALLY my break came on Wednesday night. Once I'd finished my nightly duties, I think I just sat on the couch (actually I LAY down) and watched eps of The Bold and the Beautiful that I'd taped. And it felt sooooo good.
Although the previous week/s had been fun, because they had involved our close family, close friends and fun celebrations, I was still so wrecked by it all. As much as I love them all, I was so glad for it to be over. That following weekend we still had some stuff on, but this time it was different, because I didn't have to cook everything and clean the whole house in preparation! We were going out, which was easier....
We had dinner out Saturday night with Hubbie's boss and his wife (boss had gotten a bonus, so we were benefiting from it!) and Sunday night was another wedding.
A public holiday came during the week, and usually on a day like that where I would encourage Hubbie and I to do something with friends, you know what it was that I wanted? All I wanted was "peace and quiet." As my 7-year-old nephew says to his parents when they have a hectic weekend going everywhere, and all he wants to do is stay home and play with his toys. I just wanted to stay at home, and relax.
Which is what you need. Sometimes you need it. Nothingness can be so good.
We won't mind the story about the back-door neighbours stupid dog that dug underneath our fence to make it into our backyard and ruin the small vegie patch we had going. That's a stupid incident we won't indulge in here, because here and now, it's all well, and it's all good.
The weekend ahead looks promising. The forecast says the sun will be shining, there are blue skies ahead, and good times look like a definite. With weather like that, I think I'm ready to get busy again :)

The Compulsive "Checker-outer": An interlude

Do you know someone who just stares?

There's this person at my work. She seems nice enough, I don't work with her directly but occasionally I need to speak to her about a few work-related duties. And you know, rather than the meet-at-the-water-cooler thing, we have the meet-in-the-kitchen thing.
And usually in the kitchen, but not limited to there, whenever I walk by her or we're in a situation to speak and we exchange hello's, it is immediately followed by her once over of me.
Smile, look down to my mid section, check me out, back up.
It is really starting to get to me.
At first when it started happening, I was thinking, "shit, do I have something sticking out?"
Then after a few more times it was "She's checking out my outfit."
But now, it's just getting annoying. Predictable even. It happened both yesterday and today, And today when it happened, as I approached her, I thought to myself "I'll get the once over now," and BANG it happened.
It's just truly irritating. It's not done in a jealous way, at least I don't think so. It's done in an annoying compulsive way, where I think not even she is aware of it.
I'm so tempted to walk into the kitchen next time and not even look at her eyes, but just stare at her pants.
HA.
She's nice and friendly and everything, but even if she is THAT way inclined, she shouldn't do it so overtly. It makes me all uncomfortable.
I should buy her some shaded sunglasses for KK.

WOW. What a weekend/s, what a week/s

Definitely the right word. WOW.

It has been crazy-mania for a while now. Two Saturdays ago, one of my best friends flew on over from the States, to make it for her sisters wedding.
The same day that she flew over, we went out for her sisters hens night. Being the first girls night I've been to since getting married, the phrase "getting wasted" was a complete understatement to me. My friends found me particularly amusing and entertaining that night. As did Hubbie when I stumbled into the house, clickety-clackety, moaning that I was drunk.
The following day found me not only re-cuperating from the previous nights bender, but catching up wth my sister and brother-in-law, at lo and behold, a bar.
As if I didn't have enough the night before. With the family I had, I had no choice BUT to drink, unless I wanted to be ridiculed for the rest of eternity.
It was a really nice day though, and I didn't drink too much. It was a lovely family catch up.
The next day, Monday night, my U.S pal came by for a visit, and after catching up for a few hours she fell asleep on our couch. While we waited for her sister to pick her up, Hubbie and I took terms babysitting her sleeping self on the couch while the other got ready for bed! By the time she was picked up, I ended up going to bed about 1am.
That was 3 nights of sleep screwed up already. And it was only the beginning of the working week, meaning I wouldn't have much time to catch up on sleep until the weekend. And even that didn't look promising, as the following weekend was going to be busy, busy, busy!!!!
The following nights I can't really remember to be honest. But I know that when you have odd and insufficient sleep patterns for a few nights, you actually need to sleep IN to fix your body clock up. And getting up for work wasn't fixing me up much.
Plus I was busy trying to organise my Hubbie's birthday lunch for that coming Sunday. I had all these plans, to make some food earlier, make a cake and make coo kies, do the grocery shopping, plan my dishes, clean the house, etc, etc....
Thursday after work I had big plans, to do ALL my grocery shopping, make the cookie dough (so it was ready to be baked fresh Sunday morning) as well as get ready for work and other regular weeknight jobs.
Then the bird and the fridge happened. This is a freakin' book in itself.
Let me begin.
I'd come home earlier that day from work, and as Hubbie wanted me to wait for him to eat dinner (I think just leftovers) I had no choice but to wait. My first point of frustration was not being able to make sandwiches for work the next day, as we were out of bread. So I found myself wasting time, which I did not want on a night when I wanted to get a lot done.
Also that day, we'd received a fridge that we had previously ordered, an extra fridge that we wanted to keep in the garage for those family functions where there was just not often room in ONE fridge for all the food, drinks and dessert we had; in other words, this was a grog fridge.
So this fridge was now in our garage having been delivered earlier in the day with my Dad there to accept it.
Hubbie came home and one of the first things out of his mouth was
"there's a baby bird in our front yard and it can't fly!"
Upon further inspection, I saw that this wasn't a baby bird that you keep as a pet, rather it was one of the wild neighbourhood birds (like a sparrow) and it was quite literally in our front yard, so small, trying to fly but not even managing 20 cm into the air, as its wings were not strong enough.
Now I'm not normally a person that gravitates towards birds. I think everyone has one pet animal they prefer and mine is cats. I've never been a huge bird person, but because of Hubbie's love of birds and other random animals, I've grown fond of certain types of them.
Now this was, as I say, only a wild neighbourhood bird, but if you saw how tiny and vulnerable it looked, and the way its wings fluttered helplessly as it tried to take off, your heart would've cried too.
Hubbie and I KNEW what we had to do. We had to somehow save this bird. Another larger bird, possibly a member of its family, flew in a few times when it thought we weren't there, and either gave something to the little one or just checked on it. But then it never came back. And despite my wishful thinking, a flock of birds did not come and lift this baby bird off into the sunset.
It was going to get dark soon, and remembering the wild, vicious cat fight we'd heard outside our yard only nights before, knowing full well that there were plenty of cats in this area, this bird would not last 'til midnight. NO WAY.
So, hungry, with a new fridge in the garage that had to be adjusted because Hubbie's car didn't fit anymore, a baby bird in our front yard that couldn't fly and that would be eaten if we didn't save it, we decided to attempt the task of rescuing - ahem, catching - the bird.
Meanwhile time was ticking, and I still needed to get the grocery shopping done and make my cookie batch.
With an empty cardboard beer box, I stood in one corner, while Hubbie, with his gardening gloves, attempted to come at it from another side, in order to corner it.
The baby, tiny as it was, was also smart, and managed to make its way to a corner where it was almost impossible to reach. I kept saying "just grab it! It's a baby it won't bite you! Stop being so soft!" He attempted again a few times, and finally, managed to lift it and place it in the box. I quickly shut the lid.
As we took it around to the back of the house, (we were going to put it in the shed) I wasn't holding the lid down properly, and this little bird's head started popping out, as it tried to get out of the box.
Now it was me freaking out. I wanted to put it back in, but I didn't know how to do it without damaging its head.
I was totally freaking out and almost shrieking, and it ended up jumping out. Hubbie had to get it again and put it back in. "And you say I'm soft?!"
Yes he was right, I soooo ate my words. I guess its fear of the unknown, fear of this wild bird. No matter how small this thing is, logic flies out the window (ha ha) and you're left petrified of this little object that you could easily miss if you walked by it.
Well, we ended up setting up this poor little bird in our shed: we opened the top lid and slid over it an old bbq rack left behind from the previous tenants, that way the bird could see through and have heaps of breathing space.
Then came the fridge argument. Hubbie realised that the current position of the fridge prevented him from parking his car in the garage, as he could quite literally NOT get out of his car. If the fridge was moved up or down the side of the garage either way, it still meant there was minimal space in squeezing by. And he was not risking, in any way, a scratch on his car.
Sigh.
And then he suggested, putting our spare fridge, under the stairs. As in, in the house, under the stairs, only around the corner from the kitchen and in clear view of our other fridge there!
I was NOT a bogan! I was not going to have one fridge in clear view of the other, shoved into a house space like under the stairs, where you could still clearly see EVERYTHING!
The more we argued the more absolutely furious I got. There was NO WAY, he was keeping the fridge in the garage, with the possibility of scratching his car (he is very precious about his car you see, as it is a classic and on the not-so-cheap side) and there was NO WAY we were moving it under the stairs, where it was in clear view, as I was not going to cheapen the look of our interior. The thought absolutely disgusted me and made my lips curl.
We were stuck in a gridlock over the bloody fridge.
Then we thought of another option. Why don't we move the fridge to the other side of the garage, set up an extension lead, and that way it wouldn't be interfering with Hubbie's passageway to the car?
We realised that would also block one of our exits out - not a crucial exit point, but it was the way we brought our rubbish bins from the back of the house to the front. The fridge being in front of this exit now prevented us from moving our bins through the garage. For the moment we decided to keep the bins IN the garage, therefore removing any use for that door, which was good as we now had a fridge in front of it.
After eating, I frustratingly rushed to the shops. It wasn't helped when Hubbie called as I was getting out of my car and insisted that it was better for the fridge to be under the stairs. I nearly blew my top, the mere thought of that stupid idea turned me bright red. There was no way that was happening, and I let him know that as we hung up.
The rest of the night was just plain stupid. After getting just my BASIC grocery items, I left the shops to see a message on my mobile. I listened to the message as I drove home, and I grimaced as I got to the end of the message. Hubbie. Pretty much saying "get an extension cord...... 5 metres long........ don't leave the shops...... get the cord."
Sigh.
Back I went. And when I couldn't find the right length cord there, I had to go to ANOTHER store.
By the time I got home, I still had to wash the dishes, make lunches for the next day, clean up, and I didn't even get time to make my cookies.
He had moved the fridge in that time, but the old bird cage we wanted to get that resided at Hubbie's parents place, we couldn't get because they weren't home to drop it off to us.
At the end of the day we had a fridge wedged between an extremely frustrated couple.
And we had a bird in a cardboard beer box in a shed, perhaps more lost than when it started out.

To be continued.....

Do you have a laughing hyena in your life?

Now, I must be careful, I need to bite my tongue. Up front I want to make it clear, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being happy and enjoying a giggle.
And I'm all for positivity, and positive energy going out..... but sometimes people think their happiness is good, when really it borders on insanity.
There's this girl I know, I come across her now and then in my daily activities. There are times where I go "hmmmmm, she's not that bad," and others where I mutter "Shut the hell up."
Today is the latter day.
There's something to be said about a person who laughs hysterically at a simple remark.
You know, that type of person, when something is said and they move their whole upper torso down and back like they're convulsing?
The sort of person that you almost expect to start hiccuping, that's how out-of-control their laughing is?
But if for some reason you can't identify this kind of person (and if you can, take my advice, GET AWAY FROM THEM!) you can tell this person by the others around you.
Notice what happens when they enter a room. Do people roll their eyes? Do people make comment about their absence, and take peculiar joy in it?
Hmmmmm. Makes you think.
There's just something to be said for a person who tells you about what socks they've bought, what colour they are and when they will be worn; how they cleaned their house this morning, how long it took them, what cleaning products they used; someone that shows photos to people that don't care, while onlookers try to writhe away slowly, around the corner.....
Are you starting to get a picture??
Yes. That annoyingly, irritatingly person that drives people up the wall with their overly excitable, over-the-top, false, 'me, me, me' exterior.
Sigh.
Go away already will you?

Truth and Jealousy

I've been feeling a bit peeved off lately concerning work. There's this one little thing that's irritated me since last Friday, and now I can't stop thinking about it.
I had a conversation with a 'superior' of mine last week, there were a few others there though, so it was during a group coffee break when it happened.
One of them asked the rest of us whether we were going to a fellow colleague of ours birthday the following weekend. That fellow colleague wasn't there during the time. I didn't really hear the question because he sort of mumbled it, so when he looked at me, I asked what he'd said.
He repeated "you going to ........ birthday?"
I paused because then I realised what he was saying, and remembering that I was busy that night, replied "Oh! I have a wedding that night."
The guy joked and made some sort of comment about my ridiculously busy schedule, to which my superior added, jokingly, "Oh, excuses excuses."
Hee hee hee.
I just sort of laughed it off, and I think the conversation changed to something else. But something about it stuck with me.
That night at home I told Hubbie. He's met my superior, so he could imagine the person saying it. He may not know the person well, but he's a very good judge of character.
He told me that yes, he could imagine this person saying that. Having met this person, he could see how they would say something, in a friendly, joking way, but deep within be believing of that comment, that it was not a joke but in fact the truth.
So I was right. My superior didn't believe me. Believed that I was making up an excuse to not go to this colleague of ours birthday.
It really shitted me. And it still does. Yes, I know that every time we talk about our weekends, that my stories always include some dinner, birthday, christening, engagement, wedding or get together that I've had. I realise that normal people don't usually have a birthday and a christening on one day and then a bridal shower on the next. And I realise that my superior is probably secretly shitty because they went to my birthday and I didn't go to theirs, because of the birthday/christening day we had a few weeks back.
But you know what? Our family isn't normal. We don't have one cousin and a few uncles and aunties that we see twice a year for Christmas and Easter. We don't have family functions that include the whole family sitting on an extended stretched out table.
We have uncles and aunties that have several kids each, all of who have more kids of their own. We have our parents' cousins and family friends on top of all this. This isn't including our large group of friends, acquired through school, work and recreational activities. If you've worked in more than one place, like both Hubbie and I have, you can start to see how your group of friends suddenly becomes quite large.
If we invite everyone we know in our family to a social event, we need to hire out a RECEPTION. This is no exaggeration. We had under 400 people at our wedding. That tells you that we know a lot of people. And yes granted, a lot of those people are friends of the family that our parents had to invite only because they were once invited to their sons/daughters wedding 15 years earlier. But that's what our family is, that's what we do. The most distant relative will invite you to a function, and you're expected to do the same.
Add to that our friends, OUTSIDE of work, and you start to get a picture. Hubbie had this same issue a while back, where the guys he worked with stirred him and couldn't really believe how many functions he had, wedding after wedding, on the same weekend.
But if you think about it, what reason is there to lie? And if you were to lie, why would you make up some ridiculous excuse about having a wedding on a Saturday and then another wedding following on a Sunday? It's so far-fetched and ridiculous that it MUST be true.
We have a lot of people in our life, we are truly blessed. So, to someone that comes from a different background, with a smaller family, why should that be weird to them, why should they believe something other than the truth, why would they believe that I'm lying?
They believe this because they think I'm trying to get out of going to the work get together. Fair enough, I missed their birthday, now I'm missing this one....... it MUST mean that. Surely, you can't have that many functions, you can't have that many friends, you can't have more people in your life, and have more places to go to, and be more busy than me.........
Ahhhhhhhh. That is it. That is the answer. This person, if they wanted to, COULD believe me. If they wanted to. They COULD believe that it is possible to be that busy. But then it would mean accepting the truth that their life isn't as busy, filled with as much people and parties, as mine.
And that is the hard part to swallow. It's jealousy, as much as they don't want to admit it. Which makes me sad. I hate jealousy. I hate when I see it consuming people, little or a lot. It doesn't matter how much it is, because the end result is the same. Resentment.
So this person has disguised their jealousy and resentment with distrustfulness, because that is easier to accept. Rather than the truth. Which really peeves me off. Such a small comment, yet such a window into their mind and the way they think.
I'm a very honest person. So for someone to believe, and suggest even in a joking way, of me being manipulative and lying to get out of a situation, out of an event? Me, party person, always busy wanting to go out and do stuff?
Bull crap.
It soooooo gets to me. Like really truly. And I hate the way I'm now looking at my superior. I'm extra aware of our interactions, and just this morning when I looked up to say something, I saw them looking at me in an odd observational way. Sussing me out.
I hate it. Hate, hate, hate it. I can feel the jealousy and the scrutiny, and I need to set them straight, via my incredible subtle powers!
Because they're my superior, and I can't just come out and say it. Because of just that word. 'Superior.'
Annoying.
Sigh. Why are people so complicated?

My Karma, My Monday Night.

I had a big night on Monday. There came many realisations, tears, and after a few too many glasses of wine, acceptance and truth.
I've had a while to think about it.
I've actually had over a month to think about all the things that have been bothering me this last while. And although I blogged about my fainting episode a while back, there was an earlier episode that occurred only days before I fainted, which had me wondering whether my fainting was episodal, or karmic-al, if there is such a word.
Without going on about it too much, there was a family gathering of sorts. And someone close in the family offended me, very, very deeply.
Some could say I was right to speak up. Others may say that I was being overly sensitive, and looking too much into things. All I can say to that is, the way I have been brought up, if someone speaks in an overly condescending and arrogant way to someone else, with a continual air of attitude and self-righteousness, well they deserve to be told off.
So I spoke up to someone's negativity, and that person felt my anger.
This person has said stupid stuff before. And upset others more than they've upset me. But this time, after this night, I could not let it go. I was beyond mad. I was seething with anger, my blood was boiling and tears threatened to spill out every time I even thought of saying their name.
I was starting to feel that I could NEVER get over this. Ever. When you look at it, you may say to yourself "but it wasn't even that bad." But the culmination of receiving this attitude over the years, and the way it was put on the night, was as they say, the straw that broke the camels back. And it snapped me in half.
It placed stress on me. Very heavily, because everytime I thought of this person, or they were mentioned, a sarcastic smile would cross my face. I was mad.
It didn't threaten, but it did make things difficult between Hubbie and I. We had various heated talks. Heated because although he saw where I was coming from, he had been himself in my position so many times, and felt the anger himself, that he knew it was pointless. He claimed, that despite some of the negativity put out by this person, behind the flamboyant mouth lay a good-intentioned person.
I just couldn't accept that. I do not believe that a person should get a green card to do certain things which are normally deemed inappropriate, purely because overall "their heart is in the right place." This boils me to my core. It is absolutely ludicrous that someone should be let off the hook, and allowed to treat people disrespectfully, I don't care how good their intentions are.
In and out, in and out. The argument, all that was said, all the possible FUTURE disagreements..... this was going in and out of my head for weeks. And during this time, I fainted. I don't know if it was my increased sense of awareness due to my sudden intense and underlying anger, but I found myself constantly "accidentally" knocking into things at home, hitting myself, my arm, my leg, my toe, etc, etc.
I became increasingly aware of my foul language. Every sentence was "f, f, f..." and it wasn't even angry talk when I said it. It was being used as a word when there was absolutely no neccessary need to insert it in the sentence. However I did something good here: I started a swear jar, and in 4 to 5 days my swearing had significantly dropped. So that I was proud of.
But everything else.... I just felt as if I was bad. Things were going bad. And on Monday afternoon, driving home from work, I could have quite easily been wiped off the road. In a second. It wasn't even my fault, and the idiot driver could have removed me from the road indefinitely, and he didn't even look up to acknowledge his mistake.
That really stirred me. Shook me up a bit, in a day where there were countless things that seemed to be weighing on me. Future financial issues, (how are we gonna pay for all our new house items and renovations, and get that new car, and save for an investment and somehow live in our dream home one day?) worried about people close to me, (why do they keep doing this, I want to save them, help them, get them out of this cycle of bad decisions) and then THAT incident, the angry confrontation that every time I thought of it made me frown, quite literally.
I was seriously feeling low. Not only because of what had been occurring in my life, and all the worries that plagued my mind, but low because I was seeing everything that had recently happened in my life, as a cycle.
As Karma.
A cycle that had begun at around the time of that disappointing weekend, when I'd spoken up to some unreasonable behaviour.
This was something I just couldn't fathom, I couldn't grasp. I held such a strong belief in karma, belief in the balance of negative and positive energies, belief that what you put out you get back. So then why should I be receiving any negativity in my life, when I've done nothing wrong?
The way I believe in God, and my Faith, that's the same way I look at Karma. I just know it. I know it exists, and there is no need for hard evidence to determine its existence, because I see it in other peoples lives and in my life. So to believe so strongly in something, and then start to question IT, question YOURSELF, because suddenly, Karma is rearing its ugly head at YOU. But you're not bad.................. right..... ?
That's a scary thing. When you believe something so strongly, and something happens to make you question it. The feeling inside you is lost. You don't know what to believe, what to think, because suddenly, one of your very basic morals and rules of existence, seems shattered.
But then you start to think... If it's not your principle belief that is wrong, what does that say about me? Am I wrong? Why is Karma treating me so bad, making these things happen, when I believe in IT! I believe in it with every part of me that is in this world....
And that is what hurts. Much like unrequited love or affections, when you love someone and that someone doesn't give you the same love back. You believe in Karma, but karma isn't giving you a break.
So, after a tearful preparation of dinner, with my accusations at Hubbie that "he doesn't understand," and "you're not listening," we ate dinner. Poured a few glasses of wine.
And began to talk. I said everything. I told him my future worries, present fears, past angers, and finally admitted that I was scared. Was my intense anger, that I held deep within me, towards that family member, the catalyst that triggered the karmic wave of negativity towards me? I was putting out negative energy, so therefore I was receiving it back?
But how can that be, when all I did that night was speak up! Yes, speak up...... but my problem thereafter was that I held on to my anger, when I should've let it go. The air of negativity around me when I spoke that person's name, or thought of them, could have been cut with a knife.
Things started to look better on my second glass of wine.
Karma hadn't done anything to me, nor would it ever do anything to me. It was simply reacting to what I put out. I was the one that had created the negative cycle, and despite my unwavering belief, I should have known that not even I, believer of all Karmic energies, would be resistant to its power.
So, I had not done wrong, but I had put out bad energy, very bad. And karma was only responding to that. It had nothing to do with me as a person, and everything to do with my actions and intentions.
Which is reassuring. If you think about it, good people and bad people don't exist. It's their actions and what they put out to the world that create their 'bad' or 'good' personas. So no matter who you are, whether you're overall 'bad' in your intentions or 'good,' Karma's energy force will balance you out.
Not to say that you can easily pigeonhole people into two groups: that is in itself an entirely different blog. But for these purposes, you can categorise people according to their intentions.
On to my third glass of wine and I was a happy chappy. All was well in my world again. I wasn't going to let go of my anger straight away, even overnight. But I was going to try. And I was going to have to try and suppress my strong desire to let people know they're wrong when they're wrong, especially when it came to this person. I was gonna let it all go, because you know what?
Karma gets you in the end. And that's the way it should be.
Cheers to balance in this world.

I finished New Moon!!!!

Just thought I'd share that with you all :)

Now I have a dilemma. It's about 5 weeks until I see the midnight premiere of the movie at the cinemas with some friends. Ideally I'd like to start reading Eclipse after I've watched New Moon. But apparently, as filming has already begun on Eclipse, and spoilers are being released, I'm worried that I'll accidentally become exposed to something before I read it! So I need to spend the next few weeks aggressively avoiding magazines and the internet, which will be VERY hard especially with the net. I check my daily news on the net!
How am I supposed to avert my eyes when I see Rob Pattinson, that's impossible! I'll go "mmmm that's Rob," and then BANG! the Eclipse spoiler will hit me.
Ahhhhhh!
But I'll do it. For the love of the Twilight series, damn it I'll try!
As soon as I see New Moon, I absoultely have to get through the last 2 books pronto!

Children of the 80s rejoice!!!!

Oh wow did I make a fabulous discovery yesterday! So many years of searching, searching... and now I have my long-awaited answer. Ahhhh, the beauty of the internet....

But first, to how I made my wonderful discovery. Another day at work, another day bored, wanting something interesting to do. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but things are slow at the moment, and I find myself constantly looking for things to occupy me which are non work-related.
So I went into my "Fun" folder. Now, EVERYONE who has a desk job absolutely has to have a "Fun" folder, it's where you put those funny emails for future retrieval and laughs, those wacky websites, it's just a folder for all your random crap that you wanna keep. It is definitely NOT work related, it is very random, and very necessary.
I clicked onto an email that contained a link to a TV Themes website, thinking I would just browse through and listen to random TV themes: hey, this site is huge, it has EVERYTHING, I don't think there's something it doesn't have.
So here I am, browsing....browsing.... and then a thought strikes me. Not a new thought, it's something I've often wondered over the past 10 or so years, when something old-school has reminded me of it. Looking at this TV theme shows, scrolling down over shows from the 70s, 80s, 90s..... I asked myself
"what is the name of the show I used to love to watch as a kid?"
This question has posed a problem to me many times. I don't know what this show is called, but I know it was a US show, where a group of kids/teens acted out various skits in a parody style program, and the show would end with a 15 minute crime show, whereby by the end of the week after 5 episodes, the crime would be solved.
I've asked my friends, posted on facebook, asking about this show, whether anyone at all would remember it, but to no avail. My friends remember T-Bag (wasn't that just the best?!) but although I watched that show at around the same age, and the same time in the morning (I think they even followed each other) my friends would have no idea what I'm talking about. They look at me like... "okkkaaaaayyyyyy...."
Damn it, it's real! I didn't dream it.
So I decided to go on a proper hunt. Hey, bored at work, nothing to do? It seemed like a fabulous idea, one I could dedicate myself to for at least half an hour before I started feeling guilty about my lack of work productivity.
I googled 'kids 80s tv shows' or something along those lines, and came up with a few good sites, one listing the old school Saturday morning schedules, others listing in general shows from various decades. That's all well and good, but this show was on during the week.
I came across a site that seemed to be a blog, where the blogger had listed their fave shows as a kid growing up in the 80s, and then a multitude of people had responded by adding in their faves. This was hilarious to read.
Clearly there are a lot of people out there like me, who are keen to get to the bottom of what show they loved as a kid but can't remember. And they were all there on this blog, commenting on their faves but more often begging others for any info on their fave shows as a kid by trying to describe what it was all about.
HILARIOUS. Really. You get this group of people together in a room and get them to swap stories, and you'll start to think that they were all on acid trips as a kid.
Fantastic lines EVERYWHERE, from people asking for info on robotic sheriffs on robotic horses, hippo chick and frog people in costumes dancing around, bears with flying horses, kids in a bus with an old man looking for salamanders, a green-faced curly-haired witch named Grotbag, boys sucked into Nintendo games, a Cecil character with a tubular nose that lived in a forest, fighting colours, mini-me doll land..... oh my gosh I could go on FOREVER!
Honestly do yourself a favour and read it: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/jjameson/entry/cool_80s_cartoons/
After amusing myself there, I saw a link that one of these bloggers posted about checking out the site "Retrojunk," as so many people were desperate to find their fave shows.
So I jumped on there. And started to scroll.
I didn't even know what I was looking for. I had a feeling that if I saw the title, I might recognise it. I needed a title that represented my search: a group of kid teens acting out in various funny sketches, things like game shows, canteen scenarios at school, etc, ending with a 15 minute crime show.
Now I sound like the one on the acid trip. Hey, at least there were no flying bears on horses.
So, scrolling, scrolling, occassionally clicking on a random show to see if it was the one.
Then, I came across IT.
SQUARE ONE TV.
I froze. Because I realised this was it. And when I clicked on the accompanying link, saw the program photo, and read a few lines, I knew I was right. Described as a series "dedicated to making math fun, " it included "pop-culture parodies, great music, excellent skits and so much more."
That's right!
I'm so glad I found it! My on-again, off-again, intermittent 10 year or so search has come to an end.
Now that I have a name to the memory, people can't raise their eyebrows at me anymore.
It is pretty quiet today at work...... I think I'll do a youtube search...... :)

Sun is shining.... the weather is sweet....

Oh what a gorgeous day it is today. Real spring weather, it is. Although this whole week has been a repeat of our brilliantly freezing icy cold winter, and there are a few remnants of that season in our evenings and mornings, I've just come back to work from morning tea outside, and oh my gosh. The sun is blinding. The sky is blue without a cloud in the sky.
Think of all the cliches, and that's what today is. Perfect :)
My body is aching to be out of this place, to experience the crisp spring air, bathe in the warm sun, sit and finish my New Moon..... LOL
Speaking of, I've been reading a chapter each night, in order to get through the book before it comes out in the cinemas. Which is an easy feat as 1) it's not hard to read when you're obsessed with the story and 2) I'm up to the last chapter before the epilogue, and seeing as the movie is released over a month from now, it will be done by then.
But last night my parents visited, and we all talked and watched Hey Hey's reunion on TV.
Harry Connick Jr and Jackson 5 wannabees??? That's a WHOLE different blog.
But by the time they left I didn't wanna rush my reading experience and so I left it for one night.
And going to bed I felt..... incomplete. It sounds soooo silly, I even feel like an idiot writing it, but because I've been doing a chapter a night, and when you read, you're playing out the scenarios in your mind and seeing them like a show, it almost becomes LIKE a show you're watching, and I was left thinking "Hmmmm, I wonder what happened to Bella and Edward tonight?" Yes, that makes NO sense, since I am the one in charge of running the show, but still it left me going... "must.... read..... every.... night."
LOL
Obsession with New Moon. And I just KNOW there are those out there who will be like "You're still reading New Moon?"
My retort to them is: Try planning the wedding of the decade, work full-time and research EVERYTHING wedding related, go on a European non-stop sight-seeing holiday for 5 weeks after that, come back to an empty house and start the process of refurbishing your new home with everything from furniture to furnishings and dishes and everything in between, constantly try to move things over from your parents home and find spots to put them in (WHEN THERE IS LIMITED STORAGE SPACE) go through the month of August which is filled with not only your birthday but EVERYONE IN YOUR LIFE YOU KNOW (many parents have had fun during the Christmas periods) be invited everywhere and have people constantly coming over to your house because they want to catch up with you after your wedding/holiday, and on top of that maintain a clean spotless home, cooking and organising.
What's that I hear? Hmmmm, right. Silence.
'Nuf said.
Go New Moon!

Bridal Shower presents and Matron-of-Honour stuff....

Well the conclusion to my whole "will there or won't there be an appropriately priced gift left on the bridal shower registry" saga is, YES, there was a few gifts left!
I put a few items together, to add up to the approximate total that my bestie and I were intending on spending... and pleasantly enough when I purchased the items they were LESS than I thought. However our sister's friend, the recipient, won't know we got the items on sale, and will assume we got them at full price.
Cool, huh? Yet I still feel slightly guilty, thinking, "oh gee, if only she knew!"
The other bit of information that put me in a super-duper GREASH FLANTASTIC mood yesterday afternoon was a conversation that occurred with my bestie during the bridal shower.
We were much too wrapped up in talk of watching the midnight premiere of New Moon at the cinemas when it comes out, as well as random offerings of wedding talk on her part, which is nothing surprising, seeing as a lot of close family and friends suspect she will get engaged soon, only how soon we don't know. And her boyfriend is constantly hinting at things, like engagement rings and proposals, but simultaneously promising her that he will shock her with the way he does it.
So in amongst all this wedding talk, of what style of ring she wants, and what colour dresses her bridal party will have (ah, such girls, planning weddings that don't even have a set date yet! - royal purple, by the way :) )she told me that because I'm married, rather than put me as a bridesmaid and have me paired up with a guy when I already have a hubbie, she's going to place me as matron-of-honour!
I was soooo excited! But a bit unsure of what to say. I mean, it's not an official invitation yet, because she isn't getting married, but then again it's a promise of what's to come, and what's to come looks awesome!
I've only been flower girl before, so the thought of being an ADULT in a grown up bridal party role, that I will be able to remember (when you're a kid things just wizz by you) is super-exciting! But I can't get too excited, I wanna save it for when the day really comes.
But I'm also so touched. I mean, with the family and friends that I have around me, a lot of them don't generally do the matron-of-honour thing, just because it's not customary in their religion/tradition. My sister had one for her wedding. And I just recently had my sister as MY matron-of-honour, because she was married and I so desperately wanted her part of my big day, in an official way. However, I know how it is, because there were some amongst my entourage that questioned my choice, wondering why you would have a married woman in your bridal party, simply assuming that bridal parties were only for unmarried people. When you need to explain to someone the role of a matron-of-honour, especially in our modern day and age, it feels like we haven't moved forward much in society and the world as a whole. Some people are that closed-minded that they don't see the world for all the possibilities out there, rather they assume that what they know and what they have lived is the only way. And that shits me. And shitted me, mostly during my getting-married period.
So I know it may be similar for my bestie. My experience may be similar to hers when she begins planning her wedding. And despite that, she is still willing to create a 'role' for me, despite how unorthodox it may be in her traditions, and despite the questions she may receive. That's how much she wants me as a part of her day.
Now that's what you call friendship :)
Now I just need her boyfriend to propose soon. I wanna be a matron-of-honour!

The best laughs come out of your husband doing the grocery shopping!

Hahahahahaha, I'm still laughing and I've got a bad case of the giggles.
I'm making two cakes over tonight and tomorrow morning, to bring to a 1st birthday and a christening that hubbie and I are going to tomorrow.
He has the day off today so I wrote him a list of items I need to make my cakes.
LOL
He just called me only minutes ago, asking "I can't find the ..... dis-in-te-grated coconut."
Oh my gosh, kill me with laughter. I corrected him and said "dessicated coconut" giggling slightly, and helping him through the rest of the list, by telling him which aisle would most likely have what.
Again, when he tried to read my shopping list he said "disintegrated," and as he was looking then for shredded coconut, another type I need for my recipe, and looking at all the different styles they had, he was reading them out to me again, and AGAIN said "disintegrated coconut," after I'd kept correcting him.
Laughter central, I can not stop giggling!
Disintegrated.... LOL. If it was disintegrated there would be nothing there!
Hahahahahahaahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaha
What a fantastic way to spend your Friday morning at work, laughing at your hubbie!!!!

The Art of Recycling your Gifts

I have a bridal shower on the weekend. It's one of my closest friends sister who is getting married, and although I knew from over a month ago that I was attending the shower, I've failed to do the one thing I swore that I would do immediately: that is, buy a gift from the registry.
I know how these things go. Hey, I've gone through it myself just recently. When you're having a shower prior to your wedding, and you've set up a registry in order to receive gifts that you and your partner want, and to ease the buying angst for your guests, you still end up with countless problems.
How many presents should I place on the registry?
How much should they be priced?
Should I put more expensive items, or more cheaper items?
What if I can't find any normal priced items I want?
What's normal??????????????
AHHHH! So glad it's over for me. And then you have people, calling you up and saying "what should I get you?"
Um. The registry. Look on it. I've made a registry, because..... I want those items. Duh.
But their excuse is "I've had a look and there's nothing good."
Hmmmmm. Nothing good. To them, apparently, there's nothing good, but they fail to realise that if it's on the list, it must be what you want. So that tells me it's something else all together.
It's nothing to do with their approval of the products you've placed on your list. It's all about the right price. No one is actually willing to say that bit, but if the price fits, then the present is GREAT. Your relationship suddenly gets a price tag. What they feel about you is reduced to a price: the mental map of it goes something like this.....
"So she's my friend, but I don't see her often.... but I have known her for 10 years, and she's funny, yeah I like her...... what did she get me for my birthday last year..... oh right I didn't call her..... hmmmm.... I'll spend $50 bucks."
And everyone does it. Which is why yuor closest spend the highest amounts, and the not so lose spend.....moderate amounts.
Which leads me to today. The shower is on Sunday, and today after work I'm planning on going straight to the store to check out the registry. I was messaging my best friend this morning on the way to work (not the one whose sister is getting married) and she was asking me if I've bought anything for the shower yet. She said she had a look at the registry and that there's not much there (!) and there's only really expensive items.
ALERT ALERT ALERT went off in my head. Oh no. Now I'm one of those people. Left desperate and present-less only days before the shower. I suggested we all chip in together to buy an expensive present, and she agreed, saying her own sister will be chipping in too. Which leaves me praying really hard that tonight I find an "appropriate present" one that's GREAT! (= the correct $$$$$)
But then a thought came to my head. What if the only presents left were as my bestie had said, "really expensive?" I couldn't justify spending a huge amount, likewise I don't think I could convince my friends to help me out with the present if it was too much. She IS our bestie's sister. But exactly that, HER sister. She's not our bestie. And you need to keep money for yourself. Thngs are expensive, and ....... Yes I know excuses, excuses. Now I'M the one placing a price tag on our relationship.
Then I remembered. My wedding presents.
I know, I feel bad. Just the thought of re-wrapping presents I received for my wedding makes me feel bad, let alone doing it, but for our wedding, we got a few things that we'd already received at my bridal shower. These were from people who weren't at my shower clearly, so they weren't to know that I'd already received like-presents.
What I can picture right now in my head is The Blender. A good brand, modern blender, that we received as a wedding gift. When in fact we'd already received a blender, one we picked out ourselves for my shower.
We have two great blenders. One open, out of the box, and one still packaged up, the one which is THE double.
And I'm thinking....... maybe the the double blender.... being the double and everything... and being totally GREAT..... would be valued at the about price.... we were thinking of spending.... and being a wedding present.... my friends sister the maybe-recipient of the double blender.... wouldn't have seen it at the shower because we're not giving away the shower blender, we're giving away the double!
Ok, that just assumes we ARE giving it when in fact I haven't even concurred with my bestie, and I haven't even seen yet what is part of the registry. But what if we just give her the blender? We would save money, in fact we'd save all our money because we wouldn't be spending any on a gift!
But the question arises: does she want a blender? That blender in particular? The variety of choices these days leaves one open to a multitude of possibilities.
And what if, shock horror, she already chose a blender for her registry, it has been purchased, and because of it's purchased-ness, the registry fails to show it.... and we turn up with a........ double blender for her.
And a year from now she'll be in my situation. Late in buying a bridal shower present, and contemplating giving my double-blender which is now HER double-blender (would that make it a triple blender?) to some unsuspecting triple blender receiver.
The cycle of blender-ness. Hey, it's not that bad. It could be a toaster.