Banned Books Week

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/29/philip.pullman.amber.spyglass.golden.compass.banned

I love Banned Books Week for the exact same reasons Pullman mentions here ..... I agree with his views on religion too - and the difference between private faith and public institution/organisation.

New Job honeymoon is over

Had a staff member walk into my office 5 mins before official start time, and abuse the heck out of me.

I have officially reported it and asked for an independent mediator at all times that I have to speak with this staff member until I can feel assured that the behavior will not be repeated.

My crime? I've been here two weeks and I do not just know the minutiae of what each of  17 staff do.  Gee is that why I have these one-on-one meetings set up all week - so I can find out?

What does he do that he feels so threatened by me and this process that he has to be that aggressive that quickly?

Sorry buddy - you do not establish dominance over me that way!

OK Now I *know* I'm not normal .....

Watching Buffy, Season 1, episode 1 ...

Buffy meets Cordelia in history class where the teacher is talking about the Black Death ...


Is it wrong of me to wish they'd focus more on the Black Death and actually provide the answers to some of the teacher's questions like "What social changes did the Black Death bring to Europe at that time" and "how was the Black Death an early form of Germ Warfare?"

WOW !!!!!!

I think this is the building I work in !!!!!!!!!

Squeeeee!

[AU] Nullus Anxietas 2: The Second Australian Discworld Convention February 27 to March 1 2009 Storey Hall, RMIT, 342 Swanston St, Melbourne

http://ausdwcon.org

If you want to stay on top of the latest news, sign up on the mailing list: http://ausdwcon.org/subscribers

Does this seem familiar to anyone else?

http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20080928

This is very cute .....

http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/languagetranslation/sortedbooks-sharkjournal.php

Oh I hurt

Well I know the walking to and from is doing me good .... my legs hurt.

I was fine until I got to work this morning ... then sat for 30 mins at my desk and then went to stand up.  Ooooh my legs ache.

Well I know the walking is obviously making some difference!  Now to watch the scales ...

Oh and I know I've landed on another planet.  I listened to the 6:00am news this morning and the *only* news story was something called a "Brownlow Medal".  Apparently there's nothing else going on in the rest of Australia or the world today ....

There are some immutable laws in the Universe ....

Whenever you go to sew on a button - all the other buttons need sewing too!  Especially if its a new shirt, all the other buttons loosen and start to fall off while you are sewing on the first one.

Never watch a DVD that makes you cry while sewing on buttons.  A black button, on a black shirt, with black cotton, is difficult enough to see in uncertain light.  It is not helped by tears in the eyes.

Bones - Season one - the episode where Angela's boyfriend is killed in the desert.

Made it !!!

 Survived week one of the new job.

I have Eion Colfer's Artemis Fowl to read.

I have crackers and dips
I have beer
I have chocolate icecreamTrub

I have Tank Girl, Hellboy and Sweeney Todd.

Good cheap way to unwind and enjoy the end of the week without bemoaning my lack of being paid status :)

Enjoy Friday night everyone.  Trubs already thinks I will be sound asleep by 9pm.  I'm not going to bet against her - its been a loooong week!

Personal Details

OK this is friends locked and I'd appreciate if you didn't send this info on without asking me first :)

Address:

3/981 Rathdowne St
Carlton North VIC  3054

ph: 03 9387 9793
mob: 0412 766 284

You'd better ring before visiting - especially after 8pm at night .....

Is it Strange ???

My beloved just visited for around 18 hours.

My cat misses him tonight more than I do .....

From the TMI Files ....

My period started this morning.

Stephen will be visiting tonight (one night only)

And then I just found *this* via Boing Boing .....

http://community.feministing.com/2008/09/your-period-according-to-disne.html

Communications

I'm at work and am allowed to check home email etc at lunch times and in personal time (ie before and after I clock off).

First work day going well so far - completely overwhelming with new people and places but I think I should fit right in here :)

I've literally worked my mobile phone to death during the move though.

The txting function is completely gone - so no more txts from me until I can afford a new handset.  Also the phone part of the phone appears to be going too - so if anyone who regularly rings me wants the new home phone and doesn't have it - drop me a PM.

Otherwise phone too will be working when I get around to affording a new handset ...

I'm alive ......

I'm alive - kinda. So Trubs.

All the stuff arrived - I'm really pissed at the packing - they might have done it faster than me - but definitely *not* better!  I'm really pissed that I had to fork out thousands of dollars for what I consider substandard packing.  I'm definitely letting the removal company know.

Always be wary of removalists that use sub contractors.  You really want (wherever possible) the same people unpacking as packing, that way you *can* say "well you packed it that way - *that's* why its broken/bent etc"

Thanks so much to Claire for keeping everyone updated! THANK YOU !!!!!!!  You guys really *are* my support network so I've been lonely as heck through the past few days.  Been txting my little fingers off just in a subconscious effort to have people to talk to :)

I still have about 10 of the 137 boxes left to unpack.  The biggest headaches were unbolting and moving the sofabed upstairs on my own (it really is a two-person job to hold everything in place to rebolt it together again - not to mention moving those frames upstairs on my own on a twisty staircase).

Also this place is a *lot* smaller than my old place.  It isn't a house, its an upmarket flat/apartment.  Most of my time is being taken up with trying to find creative ways to store everything.  If I had the same amount of storage space as I had at the old place then this would have been done days ago.

I've definitely had to stop and go shopping a few times for more storage units, another bookcase and other odds and sods like power boards, extension cords, a wrench/shifter for the sofa bed etc etc.

Putting the computer together was fun (god I can make some idiot mistakes sometimes) but its up and running - just waiting for the broadband at home now.  After dealing with one ISP that had a good reputation who took nearly three weeks and hadn't managed to actually lodge my application!  I gave up, gave them a large piece of my mind (its never a good sign when the customer says "so *why* would I continue to give you my business?) I changed to another ISP last Thursday.  On Friday they txted me to say the broadband will be connected here Tuesday.  Yay!

Thursday night I gave up, unpacked the Port bottle and the glasses and played Civilisation for the night.  Last night I did the same.

Today is Saturday.  I hung curtains this morning and then went shopping and the hairdressers :)

Tomorrow I will hopefully finish putting everything away and do my weekly house tidy (vacuuming, washing, ironing etc) and then Monday I start my new job.  Tuesday broadband.

Wednesday I will be blogging about not being able to afford food as I wont get paid for another three weeks .....

Its good - really it is - you know me - I'll whinge about everything :) :) :)

Got a txt from Stephen yesterday saying there might be a good job for him in Melbourne available NOW.

I'm not ashamed to say the VERY first thought that went through my head, nay it *screamed* through my head was "I'm not moving !!!!!"

{sigh}  And on that happy giggle I'm signing off ....

I still can't access my email - for some reason the library is blocking my efforts to reach the webmail client - so I will online via email on Tuesday night I hope.

Now you know ...

... why I love this strip .... and the author mentioned ....

http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20080907

Mel's Sunday Update

Eben and Snooch?  Garfield and Nermal?  No just Trouble and Hemingway sitting in front of mum's fireplace :)

Well this is my first Sunday update in a while - and might be my last for a couple of weeks :)

I'm driving to Melbourne tomorrow and it could be another two weeks after that before my Internet is connected at the new place.

Stitching Update:

Corn and Beans by Inkcircles designs
This is the last of the stitching I did on the train commute.  There isn't much progress, but it is the very last of the "stitched on a train" production, so I wanted to commemorate it with an update.

Sisu's RR - Friendship Tea Sampler 
A difficult project - I hate blending thread and metallic filaments :) :)  But I did a good 10 hours and got this little bit done after mucking around with a previous bit that had a a few problems.

Garden Cat by Cross Stitch Art
This one was in mum's stash.  A recent acquisition she showed me.  I loved it so we looked through her stash and mine and we kitted it up.  I started it Tuesday evening and finished it Saturday evening.

As well as the pics in its own album - I also have a pic on my 2008 Finishes folder.

Finally I've also got another section of BoInk finished - but pics for that will have to wait until this part is released.

Updates

Afternoon all,

Mum is getting better but still off work until next Monday at the earliest.

The Removalist company called and my furniture will be delivered next Tuesday.  So I will leave mum's next Monday.

So I guess Monday will be a possibly good day for both of us.

In the last couple of days I've been helping mum whenever she's let me (but she did emotionally blackmail me into doing the vacuuming so she hasn't lost all her "mother" skills).

We've both been relaxing and I've done a small amount of stitching and we've watched some interesting documentaries on TV.

Oh and eating and sleeping.  We are both doing lots of both.

I suspect we both needed this down time ....

Now I'd better run before mum tries to hang the washing on the line or bring in a load of wood for the fire .....