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What I'm Watching
Hope you've enjoyed having a look around my little piece of cyberspace. Please feel free to drop me a line!
Penny
wrote:
Hey hun you've got some great photos from our birthday do! Thanks heaps for a great morning! :) Pen. xx
Sept. 14
Sarah Marshallwrote:
Wow! Talk about busy times in the the life of G. Def need a catch up soon!
x
Apr. 7
(no name)
wrote:
Mar. 14
KERRIE
wrote:
Gloria ...
Long time no see. I’m just hangin’ out at home today enjoying a relaxing Sunday so I thought I’d stop by and say Hi! Sorry I haven’t stopped by for ages to see what’s been happening in your neck of the woods. WOW!! I can say I truly wasn’t disappointed… your blogs are always so spellbinding and entertaining!! I was occupied for ages, with my eyes glued to the computer screen, like a good novel that you just can’t put down!! Blog entry’s from Holidays to Fat Bastard (Karma is B****, so don’t worry Gee) to Cops and Neighbours you certainly lead an interesting life. Keep up the great charity work
Nov. 4
KERRIE
wrote:
Hi Gloria
Just stopped by to say ( ^_^)／ Hi！
Cheers, Kerrie
Oct. 7
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6/30/2009 Renée's Birthday & Brüno PremiereMood: Smiling   Brüno premiered in Sydney last night with a glitterati swankfest at the State Theatre on Market Street. Apparently, Brüno arrived on a horse. We found out about the premiere the hard way. By being stuck in traffic for 30 minutes, inching Tom the Holden Cruze (and little to no help from TomTom) from Loftus Street to the Fish Markets, via Market Street. According to Google Maps, this trip should have taken us 11 minutes by car using the route we took. If we had chosen to walk, it would have taken 40 minutes. The only reason we were even driving in the city, not only in peak hour traffic but also through the mess that Market Street becomes when big red carpet events are held at the State Theatre, was that we were on our way to dinner with the family to celebrate niece Renée's 5th birthday. Having said all of that, we are glad we went to dinner, the featured dishes being the delicious emperor crab cooked in two ways (in ginger and shallots, and in garlic butter). The crab dishes were so good! There were plenty of other yummy dishes as well, topped off at the end of the evening by the massive Melody Mermaid birthday cake. We took loads of pictures and I'll upload them to my Picasa Web Albums shortly. I'm a bit behind with uploading photos over the past few months! 6/22/2009 The Caged BirdMood: Yay for Justice   Huzzah! Just desserts for Bird and his appalling behaviour against his bird and his one time mate. And about time too.Dumb git. White trash. Greg Bird, the bad boy footballer, was today sentenced to 8 months' jail time for seriously injuring his girlfriend Katie Milligan in August 2008. Bird reacted to an argument with Milligan by smashing a glass into her face, causing severe damage and permanent scarring to her eye. For a quick recap of what I think of these two, please refer to my previous blog. Throughout much of the past year, Milligan steadfastly stood by Bird, vowing to reconnect with him when the AVO lapsed and they were legally allowed to contact each other again. Reconnect they did, and after Bird's player contract was revoked, he linked up with a club in France where the pair resided together until today. All along, Milligan defended Bird, telling anyone who cared to listen that Bird is a gentle and loving man who would never intentionally hurt her. The scar above her left eye tells a different story. Anyone who picks up a glass and smashes against another person's face has every intention of hurting his/her victim. And no, I will never accept the excuses of "But I wasn't thinking straight at the time" or "I was drunk and didn't know what I was doing". Oh, and to try and pin the blame on his mate who wasn't anywhere near the scene of the crime is about lowest of low acts. Who would want to be Bird's friend when Bird has proven he is callous and selfish in a failed attempt to save his own butt? These two so deserve each other. A man who has a well documented history of being repeatedly violent towards women when drunk, and a woman who stands by her man even after he has permanently disfigured her face with a glass. It's bad enough that he has this violent streak which has been on display time and time again, on and off the field, but for his victim to publicly support his atrocious and despicable behaviour just boggles my mind. This bimbo could have been a great example to women everywhere by walking away from her thug boyfriend after he put her in hospital. But instead, she chose to stick with Bird over these past 10 months, and even went so far as to write him a character reference as part of his legal strategy to stay out of jail. That makes her a gutless vacuous idiot in my eyes. I'd been following the progress of Bird's court case with detached interest. Today, I celebrated a little with a happy dance when I read that he will spend time in jail for his actions. I sincerely hope that Bird will learn something from his stint in jail - respect others, own up to his own actions, deal with the consequences of his actions, man up. At 25, he is still a kid in many respects, but really, it's time to grow up and behave like one. Jail tolerates no fool. GREG BIRD JAILED FOR 16 MONTHS Harriet Alexander | June 22, 2009 - 2:39PM | SMH League HQ Rugby league star Greg Bird will spend at least eight months in jail for hurting his girlfriend, Katie Milligan, with a broken glass. Bird was immediately taken into custody at the Downing Local Court. He was visibly shaken and his supporters cried. Magistrate Roger Clisdell sentenced Bird to a maximum of 16 months in prison and said that he did not believe Bird regretted the reckless wounding. "In my view there in no contrition ... The accused has maintained a position of not guilty throughout the proceedings and maintains that position today. I do not accept that ... showing concern for Ms Milligan shows contrition in the light of his protestations of innocence," he said. Mr Clisdell also fined Bird $5000 on the charge of false accusation. "It was a despicable act and most un-Australian," he said. Bird's lawyer will apply for him to get bail this afternoon pending an appeal on the sentence. Catalans, the Super League club, has previously said that they will stand by their captain and want him to extend his contract with the French club beyond this season. Earlier, Bird's girlfriend has written him a character reference to persuade a court to give him a lenient sentence for recklessly wounding her in an incident at his Cronulla apartment last August. But his friend Brent Watson, who the former Sharks player originally told police was responsible for the cuts to Katie Milligan's face and eye, has described him as "selfish", the court heard today. He has been found guilty of hurting Ms Milligan with a broken glass at his Cronulla apartment in August last year. They had been arguing after she returned late from a night out. The prosecution called for him to serve time in jail. But Bird's lawyer, Les Nicholls, told the court that he had not hurt Ms Milligan intentionally and had not caused her lasting damage or disfigurement. The pair now live together in France. "I would ask your honour to accept the reference from the victim that at no time has Greg Bird ever intended ... to hurt her and it was out of character," Mr Nicholls said. A good behaviour bond or community service order would be more appropriate, he said. But the police prosecutor, Peter Stanhope, said Bird had not shown any concern for Mr Watson, whose reputation he was prepared to damage in an attempt to avoid police charges and the media attention they would bring. Mr Watson had described Bird as "a selfish person whose only concern was his football career and the Sharks", Mr Stanhope said. Mr Nicholls said Bird had been precluded from contacting Mr Watson since the incident, but he wished to apologise to him through the court. "It was never his intention that any detriment be suffered by Mr Watson,'' Mr Nicholls said. "He has not been in a position to offer his personal apology. He's asked me to do so today and to ask your Honour to take that into consideration for this offence." Bird was found guilty of reckless wounding and false accusation in April by the same magistrate, who said he had lied about how his girlfriend had turned up at hospital bleeding from her eye. He pleaded guilty to public mischief. Click here to see the whole sorry saga about the low life and his bimbo. 6/17/2009 I ♥ KFC!Mood: Yay!   I love my KFC. I really do. It really was love at first bite.I remember the crispy skin, the tangy spices, the succulent meat, and the oily juices running down my chin and arms as I held the hot piece of chicken in my hands. So artery-clogging, but so good! However, my body doesn't love KFC as much as my tastebuds do. I can only eat KFC sparingly, and only once in a while. If I have it too frequently, I tend to get bad stomach aches. Worse yet, I become physically ill. Let's not go there on what too much KFC can do to my system. And now, KFC has given me hope that if I wish to indulge, I may be able to eat it more frequently. By changing the oil in which the chicken is fried (to make it slightly healthier) and by introducing a new "grilled" menu, there's now hope that my body will not object to KFC slightly more frequently! FINALLY, KFC OPTS FOR THE GOOD OIL Kelly Burke June 16, 2009 (SMH Online) Yum! Restaurants, makers of KFC, will ditch palm oil for a healthier alternative, two years after the company stared down the Federal Government and refused to change its ways. The change coincides with the announcement today that a range of grilled chicken fillet options will be added to the Australian menu, following a successful launch in the US early last year of a grilled on-the-bone variation. Production of the oil has also been responsible for the illegal clearing of thousands of hectares of rainforest in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, but a KFC spokeswoman told the Herald the company used only oil certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. In 2006, McDonald's adopted a canola-sunflower blend, also low in trans fats but with only 12 per cent saturated fat content. The following March, Yum! told the Herald it had been using palm oil "for many years" and had no intention of converting to a healthier cooking oil, despite a directive by the then assistant health minister, Christopher Pyne, that the fast food industry draw up plans to phase out ingredients such as palm oil and report back in six months. Yesterday, Yum!'s managing director, Albert Baladi said any delay in changing to a healthier oil was due to difficulty in overcoming a number of problems. "The most important thing we had to do was ensure continuous supply [of an alternative oil], then that the oil delivered the same taste our customers expected. These are not things you can turn on or off with a switch," he said. Along with the switch to a canola-sunflower blend for cooking, KFC has now also made a commitment to reduce the salt content in its food across the board by 10 per cent. The company will reportedly spend $35 million introducing the menu changes, including a $10 million campaign to market the new grilled chicken products. Kelly Burke is the Herald's Consumer Affairs Reporter. 6/16/2009 Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal VideoMood: LMAO  From the ridiculous screaming banshee to the sublimely hilarious! I watched this at work yesterday. I nearly burst a blood vessel trying so hard to suppress my laughter during the entire video. Too funny! The Screaming BansheeMood: Bashing Head Against Brick Wall   Yes, this is YOU. This is exactly what I see when you yell and scream at your parents, your husband, your children, your family members; be it in public or in private. You bare your teeth without a thought for innocent bystanders. You scream like a banshee and shatter whatever tranquillity they had prior to your outburst. And because you think you're always right, you feel you have the right to do what you do. Well, you don't, and I'm sick of being embarrassed and harassed by you. I'm sick of walking on eggshells around you. I don't owe you. I don't have to live by your rules. Grow up and respect others. No one will respect you until you do. I don't respect you - I lost respect for you a long time ago, but I've tolerated you because I have to. I will continue to have no respect for you until you take a good hard look at yourself and realise how hurtful you are. But you won't. You'll continue to be disrespectful and think the world owes you. You will continue to act like the spoilt brat that you are. You'll always be immature and lowly in my books. By all means, go ahead and hold a grudge. Bitch all you want about something I've apologised for over and over again that happened nearly 6 months ago. It won't change anything, but if it makes you feel better, go ahead and hold on to that anger that will eventually swallow you into the black hole of misery that surrounds you wherever you go. And anyway, you're missing the point. Again. You continue to miss the point, because you think you're always right. I now choose to exclude you from my life because I'm not going to sweat the small stuff - and YOU are a petty insignificant gnat. Your loss. 6/15/2009 Pending Trip to the DentistMood: Amused  It's been a while since I've been to the dentist and after seeing this YouTube clip, I'm going to make sure J accompanies me, if for nothing else than to take me home afterwards! 6/12/2009 Chicken a la CarteMood: A Little Bit Sad  This short film called "Chicken a la Carte" by Ferdinand Dimadura moved me to tears. Produced in 2005, this documentary is about the hunger and poverty brought about by Globalization. There are 10,000 people dying everyday due to hunger and malnutrition. This short film shows a forgotten portion of the society. The people who live on the refuse of men to survive. What is inspiring is the hope and spirituality that never left this people. Chicken a la Carte was filmed as a fulfilment for the requirement to enter the Berlinale Talent Campus, a winter school for "up and coming filmmakers" that takes place at the same time as the Berlin International Film Festival, and screened as part of the 56th Berlinale in 2006. The film took out the People's Choice Awards. As a rule, I hate wasting food. I well recall my mother urging me to finish every bite of my dinner when I was much younger and quite a bit fussier about my food. She would always tell me how fortunate I was to have food in front of me every night, and any food that I didn't finish could feed whole families in China. Even a couple of grains of rice accidentally dropped on the table would be pounced up on by my mother, who would say "that could feed a family in China". I remember once, in a moment of rebellion (and as a result of a full stomach), I defied my mother by refusing to finish what was put in front of me. Predictably, my mother said "That could feed 4 families in China - don't you feel guilty that you're wasting food that could feed 4 families in China?" I still refused to the food, so she repeated her sentiments again, to which I cheekily turned to her and asked her for an envelope, so I could send my leftovers to the starving Chinese children and their parents. Even today, I hate the thought of wasting food. I try my best to never over-order, and if I do, I do my utmost best to eat everything that is in front of me. As best as I can, I eat all my leftovers for lunches and dinners after I've cooked a big batch of food, even if I am sick to death of the sight of yet another portion of leftovers. And if someone else is serving me food, my plate will always return empty, whether my stomach can handle all the food or not. A few weekends ago, we were invited to dinner at our friends' place, and they cooked this sumptuous 3-course gourmet meal for us. We started off with a gorgeous mushroom soup with homemade bread. I had to stop myself from eating too much of the yummy bread, and I was glad, as the main course was slow braised beef cheeks in red wine. The aromas were sensational, as was the taste and texture. The beef literally melted in our mouths! The only "criticism" I had was the fact that my beef cheek was the size of half a cow. And once it was placed in front of me, there was no turning back. By the end of the main course, I was ready to explode. I was so full that I actually felt dizzy and had some trouble catching my breath. I had asked J to help me finish my meal, but he was already struggling with his own, and gently told me that he wouldn't be able to assist. So I bravely battled on, and eventually I ate every bite. I seriously needed to lie down for a while after that huge meal, especially when dessert was still to come. Thankfully, dessert was pretty light - an apple tart tatin. I'm proud to say I ate every bite, but boy oh boy did I feel over-full afterwards. J took 2 days to recover from the meal - he had heartburn and indigestion after eating so much! After watching the short film, I will continue my efforts to not over-order when I'm out, nor waste food when I'm cooking. 6/10/2009 Westpac FAILMood: Unimpressed   Oh Westpac, how you have FAILED me. At the end of May, J and I went into a Westpac branch to open a joint account. Now that we are living together, a joint account was deemed necessary to pool our weekly contributions towards all the bills and other incidentals. Prior to opening the account, J and I had long discussions about which bank we would open the account with; J is long term Westpac customer, while I have been using NAB for about 15 years. In the end, as I was getting a bit dissatisfied with NAB, we decided to go with Westpac. So one drizzly Saturday morning, we took ourselves to the Chatswood branch of Westpac and found a helpful cheery customer service person to help us open our account. As J is an existing Westpac customer, it took no time at all to verify his details. The last Westpac account I held was closed nearly 20 years ago, and I knew Westpac would need to verify my details, so I made sure I brought many forms of identification on the day. Sure enough, I was asked to produce my drivers licence, my Medicare card, and one other form of ID (I think I gave them my NAB credit card). I met all the proof of identity requirements, and our account was opened on the spot. We received a letter of confirmation with our Branch and Account numbers, which also stated that we would be receiving our debit cards within 5 working days by post. At this point, I should mention that just after our account was opened, the computers in the bank branch suffered a meltdown. We waited and waited for the computers to come back online, but in the end, the customer service person assured us that all was taken care of and she had everything she needed to process our debit card application. We said we would wait for a bit longer, but she reassured us that there was no need, and we should shortly receive our cards in the mail. Fast forward to yesterday, and our cards still had not arrived. We have both been putting money into the account, but without a debit card, we have not been able to use the cash to buy our groceries or pay our bills. So I called Westpac today to find out where our cards were, only to find that our application for the debit cards has been blocked, because I somehow did not satisfy the identify verification process. Two painful phone conversations later with one apologetic but slightly incompetent person and one completely unsympathetic and completely incompetent person, I was told the matter would be looked into more closely by someone at the branch who knew what they were doing and I would receive a call later today. The second person (the unsympathetic and incompetent one) went so far as to imply that I was being hysterical for no reason ("it's only been 10 days, so it's really not that late"); the same person who readily admitted at the start of the conversation that she does not open accounts and is therefore not responsible for helping me, but she would try and find someone who could. A few minutes ago, I got a call from Joe from the Chatswood branch. He told me that he had fixed up the problem by taking the block off our account and the application is now being processed. The cards should arrive within the next 2 days. When I asked why there was a block in the first place, and why we weren't informed of the situation, he blamed the fiasco on "a computer glitch". Westpac, you have failed to impress me. I was thinking of switching my banking requirements over to you, but now I'll think twice before I make the big move. I just hope we see the debit cards in the mail soon. 6/9/2009 Babies, Weddings, Everything!Mood: Thrilled!   Something must be in the water, because so many people are expecting babies, or have just had babies!!! Congratulations to my sister, my cousin, and all of my friends who have either just had a baby, or have just announced they are having a baby, or are enjoying the journey that is pregnancy. I love babies, and I can't wait to meet all of these new bubs! And to my friends who have recently announced their engagements, heartfelt congratulations to you as well. I bet it won't be too long before you join the babies club! 6/6/2009 10,000 Views
Mood: Cheerful 
 Some time over the past week, this little blog reached 10,000 views. Thanks to everyone who has popped by over the past 3 years! 6/5/2009 Bedtime Follies
Mood: Frustrated 
Why is it so hard to get kids to bed?
I love my sleep. Most mornings, getting out of bed is the last thing I want to do. I love my bed and snuggling up under the covers. And lately, since I started sharing my bed full time with J, I love cuddling up to him on these cold mornings and nights that we have been experiencing lately. I love my sleep and my bed so much that every work day, J does 20 minutes of major battles with me to get me out of bed and into the shower. I have to set the alarm 20 minutes before I must get out of bed, otherwise I'd never make it to work on time. At night, I love nothing more than to get to bed and snuggle down under the covers with a good book or some juicy gossip mags. Before J moved in, I loved to watch TV in bed, often forgetting to set the "sleep" function and falling asleep to whatever is on the TV. More recently, I've been reading myself to sleep. J and I are both ferocious readers, and one thing we both enjoy is reading in bed. I love sleeping in on weekends. It's such a luxury to be able to lie in bed and snooze on and off without interruptions. Even though I know I'm wasting half a day by lying in bed and snoozing, I can well afford a day spent lying about on the weekends. J loves his sleep too, although he isn't one to sleep in too much in the mornings. J's always been an early riser, and 10am is the latest he's ever slept in with me. Although he is not big on the sleeping in, he respects that I love my sleep and goes out of his way to not disturb me if I want to sleep in. M, on the other hand, is a nightmare when it comes to bedtime. I have seen her completely lose it when we announce that play time has ceased and it was time for bed. By the way she reacts to bedtime, one would have thought we told her we didn't love her any more. M is also an early riser, as most kids are. In the past, she has been known to be up by 5.30am and wanting to play. J and I have been treated to phone calls from JX at 6am informing us that M had been awake for hours and asking when J was going to be around to collect her for their day visits. Thankfully, the days of JX calling at unreasonable hours are behind us - but not before I had a large number of words to J about it. M has on the odd occasion slept in till 8.30am, but usually she is wide awake and out of bed by 7am. Which is fine - J is a light sleeper and he gets up to sit with M and leaves me to sleep some more. During our last "sleepover weekend" a fortnight ago, she fought for over half an hour each night about being put to bed. We were treated to the whole repertoire of retorts, ranging from "I'm not tired, I'll never sleep" to "You're not my friend any more" to "I want my mummy". There were tears and tantrums, but we also had other issues a fortnight ago that are best left for another day. Of course, she would always go down and stay down not long after we put her to bed. M has a habit of waking up a couple of times during the night, but usually goes back to sleep soon afterwards. This weekend, I had hoped things would improve as far as bedtime was concerned. M has had enough sleepovers over the past 8 weeks to get use to new surroundings, so I was understandably a little reluctant to let J use the "she's still getting use to the new sleeping arrangements" excuse. We had had a lovely dinner earlier this evening - we made our own pizzas and M ate more than half of her pizza without too much fuss, which is a huge achievement. M wanted to play for a bit before bedtime, and she decided on our adapted version of lounge room rugby. Half an hour of play time passed, and it was time for bed. And that was when the tears and tantrums started. M fought tooth and nail against putting on her pyjamas. She fought against putting on her Pull Ups nappy. She fought against brushing her teeth - I had to tell her that little girls who don't brush their teeth risk having their teeth turn brown and fall out of their heads before she would go through with the brushing. She fought against getting into the bed. She fought against the 3 bedtime stories limit - she kept insisting that we read the same stories to her twice. She kept interrupting the stories to ask for an encore. She asked for water, and would not stop crying until she got her drink of water. She refused to lay down in the bed, and only laid down when I told her that she would have to fall asleep by herself if she kept up the whinging. When none of these tactics worked in her favour, she cried for mummy. I hate it when she cries for mummy. As soon as she does, I have to stop myself from saying things like "mummy's not here, so shut the hell up". And she only ever cries for mummy when she has run out of avenues. So annoying. Tonight, when she cried for mummy, J grew a pair and said "mummy would tell you to go to sleep, just like we're telling you, so go to sleep." So unlike him. He's always soft with M, which does go a long way to explaining why M gets away with as much as she does when she's with us. But tonight, even he'd had enough. It took a full hour from go to whoa. J stayed with M for a short while before coming into the bedroom. We heard her call out for J, but J wisely stayed put. M fell into a deep sleep after that. Is it wrong of me to want to put a sedative in M's dinner to make bedtime easier? Or that I want to shake her and tell her to enjoy the carefree sleep while she can? I would never do either of these things, but there are times when I've had to take a deep breath and walk away, for fear of what I would say or do if I was to spend a second longer witnessing the tears and tantrums. We still have tomorrow night to get through before the sleepover weekend concludes. One thing we will definitely not be doing is playing lounge room rugby with her just before bedtime, ever again. Too much excitement before bedtime is no fun for anyone. Fingers crossed she will go to bed tomorrow night with minimal fuss. 5/20/2009 Bogan FAILMood: So Embarrassed!   12:30 AEST Wed May 20 2009 By Jack Hawke, ninemsn A witness to a wild shooting in Sydney early Sunday has become an overnight internet sensation — so much so, she has engaged a PR representative to deal with the flood of media interest. The resulting public attention has apparently been so overwhelming for the 19-year-old from Sydney's northern beaches that's she's been forced to turn to a PR agency to manage her. "She's been inundated with calls this morning," spokesman Adam Abrams told ninemsn this afternoon. "We will be releasing a statement tomorrow." At around 3am on Sunday morning, a man in his 20s was shot twice in the leg outside a strip club on Darlinghurst Road at Kings Cross. (Read more: Man shot twice in Kings Cross attack) Overnight TV camera crews sought out witnesses and it was "There were these two wogs fighting," she told Nine News. "The fatter wog said to the skinnier wog, 'Oi bro, you slept with my cousin'. "And the other one said 'Nah man, I didn't for s***, eh' and the other one goes, 'I will call on my fully sick boys, eh'. "And then [he] pulled out a gun and went [gun-cocking sound "chk chk"] BOOM. " The shooter, who was wearing a black hooded top and jeans, fled police on foot while the victim was taken to St Vincent's Hospital in a stable condition. Her video interview attracted more than 100,000 views, a Facebook fan group with over 1800 members has appeared and even t-shirts featuring The group, " Forums are abuzz with threads on the video, and bloggers have been posting the video attached to their commentary on the event. Updated 25/05/2009 @ 15:51 Stupid is as stupid does, bogus bogan. 5/19/2009 Double TroubleMood: Oops!   Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives. How Sammy and Lucas and EJ!!!Classic. My question is: how will the mother explain this one to the kids? "Your daddy and I love each other, but I loved the rumpy pumpy more, and got twice as much as I bargained for. But know that we love you both just as much as the other, bastard child and ours." That's one famly meeting I'd rather miss - can anyone spell "awkward moment"? TWINS HAVE TWO DIFFERENT FATHERS 06:30 AEST Tue May 19 2009 By ninemsn staff A US mother had some explaining to do after DNA tests revealed her twin boys have different fathers. Mia Washington, from Texas, and her partner James Harrison sought medical advice when they realised their 11-month-old twins Justin and Jordan had different facial features. Doctors in the DNA lab in Dallas said the paternity test revealed a 99.99 percent chance the twins had different fathers. "I'm very shocked," Ms Washington said. "Out of all people in America and of all people in the world, it had to happen to me," she was quoted as saying by Fox News. Two eggs had been fertilised by two different sperm in a rare occurrence called heteropaternal superfecundation. There are only a handful of known cases in the world. The medical marvel can happen when a woman releases multiple eggs during ovulation and has more than one sexual partner within the same time period. Ms Washington later admitted she had an affair that resulted in two babies, born at the same time, fathered by two different men. The infidelity would have occurred within two days. "Most people don't believe it can happen, but it can," Clear Diagnostics president Genny Thibodeaux said. "I'm trying to let everybody else know," Ms Washington was quoted as saying. "Don't put yourself in my shoes, because it can hurt and it does hurt, but you still have to go on with life," she said. Ms Washington said she will tell the boys the whole story when they are old enough to understand. But she has no plans to tell the other father, who remains unnamed. 5/11/2009 Mother's Day 2009Mood: Happy  After all the grief that I went through with Mum's gift delivery, the cut fruit arrangement eventually arrived safely at Mum's place on Saturday morning at 9.30am. Mum was quite thrilled and called me immediately to thank me and J. RH's fruit basket arrived safely at J's parents' place as well, on Friday as ordered. MH took a photo of the basket and made sure RH saw what we got her, and in return, she sent us a really lovely and touching message. I'm really looking forward to meeting MH and RH at the end of August. Because RH is likely to be away for another 2 weeks, MH is going to enjoy what fruits need to be eaten before they go all squishy and rotten. When J asked MH whether RH is likely to be able to get home in time to enjoy the gift, MH replied "Some won't last until then. Yum."
We had a lovely day yesterday. I went to church with Mum in the morning, before meeting up with Penny and Robin and Megan for some yum cha in Chatswood. Even with my "connections", we were still really lucky to get a table after waiting 30 minutes - the restaurant was so packed with people yesterday as everyone wanted to take their mothers out for yum cha! After lunch, J and M and I went for a small shopping expedition to Target for some winter pyjamas for M. There were a number of choices, and after much deliberation, M chose a really cute set of Dora the Explorer pyjamas. We checked our watches and realised it was time to take M home, so she and JX and JX's family could prepare for a special Mother's Day meal. We stopped by the bakery and picked up a few treats for JX - our Mother's Day gift to her. M had a little nap in the car on the way to her house, so she was bright and chirpy enough when we dropped her off. No tears and smiles all round, making yesterday's handover quite easy. It also helped that S, JX's new boyfriend of 2 months was there. M seems quite taken with S, as was evidenced by her running towards him the minute we let her out of the car. From JX and M's place, we headed to the supermarket for a few bits and bobs, mostly for dinner for this week. Time flies when one is having fun, and before we knew it, it was time to race over to my parents' place for dinner. Dinner with the fam is always lovely. It was a pity that Georgianna's family couldn't make it with the boys both being ill, but we still had a lovely time with Grace's family. Renée and Kiran are gorgeous little things and I had fun playing with both of them last night. Mum saved her Aloha Delight to share with everyone, so after dinner, we all tucked into the fresh strawberries, rockmelon, honeydew melon and pineapple pieces. Grace brought some chocolate cupcakes along, which went very nicely with the sweet fruit. With Mother's Day for 2009 now officially over, I need to start thinking of something to give Mum for next year. What does one get for someone who has everything? 5/8/2009 Mother's Day Gift Delivery: NZ 1 v AUS 0Mood: Huh???   It's Mother's Day on Sunday, in both Australia and New Zealand. This year, with J's blessings, I decided to order things for both our mothers, to be delivered to their doorsteps today.I had really wanted to get something for J's mum RH. Even though J keeps insisting that his family is not too fussed on gifts on special occasions, I still wanted to do something because my family and I are very much into special occasions and gifts. After lengthy discussions, we decided to get some fresh fruit delivered to RH. At the same time, we agreed to do something similar for my mum. It took me ages to find a supplier in New Zealand near J's parents place that would deliver fruit to their house. J's parents live in "rural Auckland", and whilst there were a number of suppliers in Auckland that would deliver fruit baskets, only a small handful would do it for "rural Auckland" at a reasonable price. I finally settled on a company called Bestow Gifts, and selected the medium sized Orchard Fruits arrangement. Meanwhile, for my mother, I decided to go with Edible Blooms. Emily and I had bought each other things from this mob before, and I loved the arrangements I'd received, so I chose them to get a fruit arrangement. One could be forgiven for assuming the process of purchasing something from an overseas supplier to be delivered to an overseas address on time would be a drawn out dreadful process. One could also be forgiven for assuming that ordering something from a local supplier to be delivered to a local address would be easy and painless, especially if one has used the local supplier on several occasions and never had any problems with them. But then, one would be assuming, and to assume is to make an ass out of you and me. The gift for RH was ordered, paid for, and delivered without a hitch. The only hitch we encountered was that RH would be in Christchurch with J's grandmother, many many hours and almost the length of the country away from the gift. J wasn't aware his mum would be visiting his grandmother - if we'd known, we would have had the gift sent to Christchurch. Never mind - J's dad MH will enjoy the gift on RH's behalf. Unfortunately, the gift for my mother has turned into an epic FAIL. After careful consideration, I placed an order for the small sized Aloha Delight to be delivered to my mum's place today. After placing the order (a step I had to repeat 4 times after my details kept disappearing from the page), with very specific delivery instructions, I received a tax invoice that omitted every detail I had carefully typed into the box whilst placing my order. I called Edible Blooms, and spoke with a girl called Ashley, and gave her the specific delivery instructions, stating that the delivery must be made by 11am today. My folks have daily afternoon commitments for which they leave their home at 11.30am, so if the delivery was made after 11am, there'd be no one at home to receive the delivery, and there was nowhere safe for the delivery to be left either. Ashley assured me that she would include those details in my order and that the gift would be delivered on time. I was expecting my mother to call me when the delivery was made - after all, she would have spent a few seconds chastising me for "wasting my money" on a gift for her, all the while chuffed that I went to the effort of organising something. So when I had heard nothing by midday, I started to worry that the delivery guy was late and the cut fruit arrangement was left to rot somewhere in my parents' apartment complex. I went back to my emails to find the link to track my order, only to find that no such link was provided in the confirmation email. So at 12.30pm, I called Edible Blooms, and Ashley answered the phone. I asked about my order, and Ashley said that the courier was about to pick up the northern Sydney orders and they would be delivered shortly. At this point, I blew up. I all but accused her of lying to me in our previous conversation, when I last spoke with her and left her instructions, and she had promised she would do everything to meet those instructions. Ashley was very apologetic, and then told me she was one of two girls called Ashley in the office, and I must have spoken with the other Ashley. Whatever. I don't really care any more. They had missed the deadline and I wanted something done about it. In the end, Ashley II promised to prioritise my order for tomorrow's delivery, and do everything in her power to have the arrangement delivered by 11am. She also said she would call me later in the day to confirm. No phone call by 4.30pm, and I was getting antsy. So I placed a call to Ashley II, only to be met by an answering machine. I left a detailed message and hoped I would get a call back. By 5pm (the stated close of business), I still hadn't received a call, so I called again. Ashley II was again apologetic and told me that the gift would be delivered to my mother between 9am and 10am tomorrow. Here's hoping it arrives in one piece! Who would have thought ordering something for delivery to rural NZ would be MUCH easier than ordering from a Sydney CBD supplier for delivery to a location less than 20km away?! 5/4/2009 The 200 Bus & The Fat ControllerMood: GRRRRRR!!!   I like catching buses. Of all the modes of public transport, the bus is my favourite. As a matter of fact, I will go out of my way to avoid all other modes if buses will get me to my destination.I have reasons for liking buses over other forms of public transport. The people who use buses are generally friendly and polite, you can only cram so many people on to a bus before the bus driver deems the bus to be full, and more often than not, the buses are air conditioned, clean and comfortable. I have also had some bad experiences with trains. I was yelled at by fellow passengers for no reason, squashed like a sardine almost unable to breathe because there is seemingly no limit as to how many people could fit into a train carriage, and almost fainted from heat exhaustion inside steaming hot carriages with sealed windows and no air flow on piping hot days. And don't even get me started on cleanliness (or lack of) inside the train carriages. So it was with utter disgust that I had to witness an incident on my bus this morning that almost made me re-evaluate how I would be getting to work in future. The bus I catch to work is the wonderful 200 express bus that runs between Chatswood Station and Bondi Junction. I have been catching this bus on and off for the past 5 years with very few not-so-happy experiences (like the times when the buses have failed to arrive for whatever reason). I like this bus because it is usually air conditioned and clean, and I can usually get a seat at any time of the day. There are a large number of regulars who are of the same opinion as me, who I see almost every day of the week. One of my fellow passengers is a loud man who alights the bus just outside North Sydney Girls High (2 stops after my stop). A pudgy looking man, he has a flamboyant style about him and I've often seen (and heard) him talk to fellow passengers in an outlandishly animated way. Most of all, his features remind me of Sir Topham Hatt, aka The Fat Controller from Thomas the Tank Engine. I have never really got a good vibe about this arrogant little man. First impressions matter and he certainly did not make a good one with me. I have had the distinct misfortune of sharing a seat with him, where he sat at an angle and crossed his short legs, and leaned back into me like I was a seat cushion. Admittedly, I had never spoken to him in my life, but from what I'd seen (and heard), he appeared to be a shallow little man with a nasty streak. And today, my instincts proved correct. This morning's bus was packed to the rafters. I was running late, and ended up on a slightly later bus than usual. There weren't that many seats available when I first got on the bus, so I counted myself lucky to get a seat at all. The bus driver let in as many North Sydney Girls as he could, so we were jam packed as we headed towards North Sydney. At the NSGH stop, the students poured out of the bus, and in came The Fat Controller and his fellow passengers, one of whom was a middle-aged lady with a few heavy looking bags. At the front of the bus sat a mother with her young primary-school-aged son, who would have been getting off at the next stop anyway (the kid was wearing a school uniform that belonged to the school at the next stop). The Fat Controller got on the bus before the middle-aged lady, and as he did, he told the mother her son should stand for the lady with the bags. As he said this, the Fat Controller walked to the next row of seats, and sat down in the last seat available. To say the mother got upset is an understatement. And boy did she blow up at the Fat Controller. The mother launched into the Fat Controller, saying that he had no right to speak to her the way he did, and that the lady herself had not asked to sit down. The mother said had the lady asked for the seat herself, she would have stood up and given up her seat. The fact that the Fat Controller took it upon himself to ruin the day for the mother and son was too much for the mother to handle. She screamed and ranted at the Fat Controller, and unfortunately for her, the only time that the entire bus heard the incident was when she started screaming. The sympathy was misdirected to the Fat Controller, making him look like the hero in every right, when it was him who stirred up the hornets' nest in the first place. I felt so sorry for the mother. But I was too scared to say anything loudly. The only "chicken" thing I did was to say in a loud whisper directed at the Fat Controller, "YOU could have stood up for the lady". In my head, I was screaming all sorts of things at him. I wanted to say to him, "Wow, how chivalrous of you to give up your seat for the lady. Oh, wait, you didn't. So instead, you're doing the real man thing and pick on a woman and a child. What a hero to do such a thing. If you want to appear like a real hero, get up off your fat ass and let someone else sit down, instead of pontificating to others whilst seated. Who died and made you the Fat Controller anyway?" The mother's subsequent behaviour left a lot to be desired. She ran after the bus and pounded on the window after she and her son got off the bus. Scared the daylights out of everyone, including the Fat Controller, but by this time, everyone on the bus was siding with him. Everyone except for me. Oh, how I simmered and wanted to say something at him. If I wasn't running so late, I would have hurled my abuse and got off the bus in disgust to make my point. I am going to make a huge effort to not be on the same bus as him in the future. Seeing the Fat Controller's face will just leave a foul taste in my mouth that I will carry around all day. Jerk! 4/30/2009 Doh for Dough-Vo!Mood: Tee Hee   The AAP journo who wrote this must have had a lot of fun! DOUGH-VO A NO-NO: KRISPY KREME CONCEDES April 30, 2009 - 12:26PM The stakes were high when Arnott's took on Krispy Kreme to protect its Iced Vo-Vo trademark. Arnott's was defending big bikkies and Krispy was looking at a lot of dough. The battle was set to play out in the homes and offices of Australia at morning coffee and afternoon tea time, but the war of the clones ended today without a shot being fired. Arnott's threatened legal action action over Krispy Kreme's Iced Dough-Vo doughnut, which is covered in pink icing and coconut flakes, just like the famous Iced Vo-Vo biscuit. An Arnott's spokeswoman said Krispy Kreme Australia must have been coconuts to think it could take advantage of the 103-year old Vo-Vo trade mark. Krispy Kreme Australia had argued that imitation was the sincerest form of flattery and Arnott's should be tickled pink at the homage to its iconic brand. Now the doughnut maker has backed down and agreed to rename the Iced Dough-Vo from May 11, Arnott's and Krispy Kreme said in a joint statement issued today. A storm in a teacup, it seems. AAP 4/27/2009 New York, New York!
Mood: SqueeeeeeeeEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! 
Guess where I'm going in November??? Ok, so it's not confirmed, but I certainly hope to be in New York in November this year. There are a couple of reasons for going, the first of which being my friend Belinda marrying her lovely beau Pete. Be and Pete met on a Contiki tour a little while back, and their romance has been the stuff of fairy tales. Be made the decision to move to New York to be with Pete, and on her first trip there before the permanent move, after months of separation, Pete proposed to her at the airport car park. Be, of course, said yes. The wedding is planned for November, leaving Be with very little time to get everything sorted! The second reason, and the bigger of the two in my opinion (sorry Be!), is that J and I both harbour a huge desire to see New York. We have both always wanted to go there, in winter, and as we have been invited to the wedding, November is close enough to winter to complete the perfect picture. In order to get to New York and be able to afford to stay there for around 10 days, we must save like mad now, and sacrifice a few items along the way. J is going to resist buying new books and computer games, and I am going to forego new books and new shoes. There are also other luxuries that we will also limit, like dining out, buying lunch, and treatments such as massages and pedicures. I don't know how I'm going to cope, but if it gets me to New York in November, then I'm all in! 3/31/2009 In The DarkMood: Huh?   I was caught in the middle of the CBD blackout today. Not a fun way to end the day, but in a sense, it was an apt conclusion to what had been a dark day.Earlier in the day, I had been tasked with a horrendous task of pulling together some stats for my manager, who was asked by the Minister to confirm the figures before publishing them to the public. R, my manager, had been given a set of figures by my predecessor Ms Evil, and they represented the good work that the unit had done over the last 3 years. As these figures were about to go public, R wanted to be sure they were correct before they were published by the Minister. Even though Ms Evil wasn't exactly the nicest person to deal with, there were no reasons to doubt her work. No one said anything bad about her work - it was her attitude towards others that everyone had a problem with. That was, until today. When R asked me to double check the figures, I thought it would be a relatively easy task. I was to be proven very very wrong. I spent all afternoon trying to match up her figures. I used every trick in the book to try to come up with the stats that she had given to R. I even sought assistance from the internet to make sure I was using the correct formulae in the Excel spreadsheet. 5 straight hours later, and I was no closer to reconciling her figures with what I was coming up with. I have no idea where the figures have been extrapolated from, or how they were extrapolated. All I know was that the glowing report that R had originally passed on to the Minister was now looking not so good. The success rate R had reported was significantly lower according to my figures, and there was going to be a lot of explaining if my figures prove to be correct. No one from my unit wants to deal with Ms Evil again. R and I have both made it clear that we don't want to involve Ms Evil in our work going forward, and L (the junior in my team) has also said she is reluctant to deal with Ms Evil again. But it seems we may not have any choice - we are completely in the dark as to how she came up with her stats, and we need to resolve the problem now. R said he would speak to Ms Evil in the morning to find out where she got the figures from and there was no need for me to deal with her. I gratefully agreed he would be the better candidate for the job - I know he would employ much more diplomacy than I could muster. Right now, I just want to throttle her. Just before 5pm, I had almost finalised my figures when the building plunged into darkness. If I thought I was the dark earlier, I was now totally in the dark, literally. The silver lining from this mess is that R and I are developing a great working relationship. And I have a good ally in L, who I want to protect from Ms Evil if she flies off her handle at L again - I've seen Ms Evil lose it at L once (and L had nothing do with the problem), and I never ever want L to experience that again. Walking out of the office building this afternoon, I was confronted with chaos with all the traffic lights out of order. In a way, I was glad I had to think about keeping myself safe as I crossed the streets on my way to the bus stop - it made me temporarily forget the potential stink that will hit the fans in the morning! LIGHTS BACK ON AFTER SYDNEY BLACKOUT By Rhett Watson, The Daily Telegraph March 30, 2009 06:45pm Power and lights have been restored to Sydney's CBD and eastern suburbs after a power failure played havoc with Sydney offices, ATMs and traffic. Lights came on in Bondi and Darlinghurst at 6.25pm and were back on in Surry Hills and the city a short time later. Energy Australia said there had been a fault that had hit four major cables which supply two sub-stations in the city at about 4.45pm. Investigations later isolated the problem to one of the major cables and the other three were then used to get the power back on throughout central Sydney. The power short caused hundreds of traffic lights to blackout creating a traffic disaster for commuters on their trip home. Sydney Opera House was forced to cancel all performances for tonight. More than 70,000 homes and businesses were affected and without power for over two hours during the blackout. The Sydney Harbour Tunnel and Eastern Distributor were closed. Officials had estimated it could take until 9pm to fix the problem but were able to restore power just before 7pm. Earlier one person was trapped in a lift in state parliament for about an hour until the carriage could be wound from the 7th to the 12th floor and opened. Security could not confirm who was inside, except to say it was not the Premier. Fire brigade officials were reporting alarms going off in buildings, causing confusion and fear. In the CBD's Australia Square hundreds of workers were asked to leave the premises before they risked being plunged into darkness. Police were trying to send SMS alerts to city workers. "Lots of buildings were evacuated,'' one person leaving Australia Square said. "Traffic lights were out across George Street causing traffic dramas everywhere." One bureaucrat quipped that the "government has forgotten to pay its power bills". The blackout extended from the Circular Quay to the city out to Redfern and Chippendale. Eastern beach suburbs such as Coogee, Dover Heights and Bondi also reported power losses, plus Paddington, Rose Bay and Darlinghurst as well as parts of the inner west. Businesses only 20m apart were affected differently. The Martin Place Bar was doing a roaring trade with the business types seeking refuge while the Lindt Cafe on the other side of Elizabeth Street on Martin Place is dark and practically empty. "We have no idea why our lights are on but it's certainly helped business," one bartender said. An EnergyAustralia spokeswoman later told Macquarie Radio sections of the network had automatically shut down to protect itself. "Until we can pinpoint the exact problem we can't begin to restore power safely ... so we will complete all our rigorous testing before we begin to restore power," she said when the blackout first happened. "We don't know what it is at this stage ... the system is shutting down automatically to protect itself," The Roads and Traffic Authority said up to 100 sets of traffic lights were not working in the CBD and inner-eastern suburbs, while the harbour tunnel would remain closed until power was restored to its essential safety systems. Sydney Ferries and CityRail are operating as normal. A Sydney Opera House spokeswoman said Monday night's performances by the Sydney Theatre Company and Bell Shakespeare had to be cancelled, with the iconic venue running on back-up power. A NSW Fire Brigades spokesman described the situation as "bedlam". "We've had multiple lift rescues in the city and in Darlinghurst and Redfern," he told AAP. 3/25/2009 Ms Evil
Mood: Peeved 
I find people amazing. Everyone is different, and fortunately for me, the people who play big parts in my life are truly amazing, in that they are wonderful, caring, considerate, loyal and honest. The same can't be said for a lot of other people I've ever met in my lifetime, and this week, I met a horrible piece of work.
Let's call her Ms Evil, because she thinks she is so clever in her quest for world domination. I met Ms Evil last week, after I was told I would be replacing her in the job that I am now in. Ms Evil was lovely then, nice as nice can be and said so many nice things. I had heard she was a bit of a troublemaker, but had given her the benefit of the doubt as we were still to spend time together. Monday this week was the start of the training / handover from Ms Evil to me. Right from the start, she was hot and cold, saying nice things and then saying something not so nice to counteract the first comment. Or she would say something that wasn't so nice and then covering up the cattiness by saying something nice. I didn't know what to make of it, and decided not to play her games. I just wanted the handover and the training to be done so I can get on with my new job. Ms Evil was full of questions, and a lot of them were of the personal nature. I was already a bit antsy with her, but decided not to rock the boat too much and answered her with as few details as I could get away with. Oh how I wish I had just told her nothing, as what I said to her would later come back to haunt me. By 2pm on Monday, I was confident that I had sufficient training to do my job. It's really isn't brain surgery, and what Ms Evil had been doing in that role was stuff that I had done in the past. Nothing out of the ordinary and no red flags anywhere, so I readily agreed to being dispatched to my new office to meet my new team and actually get on with the work. I spent the rest of Monday afternoon working with my team, collating documents for the weekly meeting. Ms Evil was going to be in and out of meetings all afternoon, for which I was glad as it gave me a chance to get use to my new job on my own as well as getting to know my team. Turned out the meetings Ms Evil was attending came about due to some performance issues. Ms Evil was undoubtedly a capable and knowledgeable worker. There was never any real question about the work she produced. But there were a load of issues with her people skills as well as management skills. And she played stupid games to try and get the sympathy vote. All in all, no one liked her and no one wanted to work with her. From what I'd heard, and the little I saw, I had a good idea what she was like as a colleague - a right royal nightmare. She would yell at people, because she could. She would blame others for everything that went wrong, because she could. She would use the race / sex / age card to make herself look sad / small / better, because she could. And she would twist words and stories around to suit her needs, because she could. To say the least, she was not someone I wanted to have a lot of contact with, let alone work with. All this week, Ms Evil was called to many meetings with HR as part of her performance management regime. From what I've heard, Ms Evil had upset so many people that she now has to undergo performance management, with a view to being phased out of the Department. Yeah, you could say she was in a world of trouble. Ms Evil has been busily defending herself in these meetings, blaming anyone and everyone indiscriminately, and pulling the race and sex and age cards when there were no one else to blame and she was grasping at straws. Skating on thin ice already, she said things like "I have to fight so much harder to be recognised because of my race" and "I have to speak so much louder to be heard because I'm a female in a male dominated environment". And the best one: "no one takes me seriously because I'm so young". The Government is not an organisation one would ever accuse of discrimination when it comes to employment. There are too many policies in place to prevent any kind of discrimination. Even so, to accuse any employer of discrimination is a huge deal, one that should never be used lightly. And yet, here she was, accusing her bosses of discrimination. Is she stupid or what? Ms Evil had expressed a desire to stay in the Department and build a career. But what she is doing will see her out on her massive butt faster than one can say "your services are no longer required". And believe me when I tell you she will not be missed. Although I have only spent a total of 12 hours with Ms Evil, she had already tried to tarnish my reputation and burn me in that short space of time. Throughout the handover, I felt she was holding back on sharing the full picture with me, and I voiced my concerns when I was asked how the training was going on Tuesday morning. Almost immediately, she was told in no uncertain terms to handover everything, and she begrudgingly did so, but not before throwing a few choice words my way. Thankfully, my team has been great in showing me what I need to know to do my job. I really didn't need Ms Evil to do the handover - my team knew I was coming and they were prepared with a better training programme than the one Ms Evil haphazardly pulled together. And best news of all was being told yesterday afternoon that I will never have to deal with Ms Evil again. But that is not the end of the story. There was still one stink bomb to come. This morning, Dee called me with some not so happy news. For the past couple of weeks, Dee had been performance managing Ms Evil and quickly become fed up with Ms Evil's antics. Dee had been in enough meetings about Ms Evil's performance issues to last a lifetime, and the latest stink bomb was just about the last straw. According to Dee, Ms Evil told HR in one of their many meetings that Dee and I were related, and nepotism was how I got the job. It took me a while to work out what conversation Ms Evil had twisted, and then it came to me - she asked me on Monday how I knew Dee, and I told her Dee and I had met a few weeks ago through my best friend Suz, who was like family to me. Dee was told by HR of this latest lie, and was assured by HR that neither Dee nor I were in trouble; Dee for hiring me and me for working for the Department. But so Dee was aware, Ms Evil was still spinning yarns and asked Dee to be more discrete while at work. The solution was not one everyone was happy with, but it was the only way to stop Ms Evil from spinning more yarns. Dee and I now can't be seen together, and if we are, we can't be seen to be too friendly. And I have to stop having lunch with Dee and my new friends M and F for now. Stupid woman. Because no one likes her, and no one wants to be friends with her, Ms Evil became jealous of the fast friendships I had made in the short time I'd been there. She had no one to have lunch with, to share a laugh with, to sit and have a chat with, without the person she'd approached rolling their eyes at her. Yes, I saw the eye-rolling when she took me around for introductions on Monday, and there was plenty of eye-rolling. I really resent that I have to be strangers to my friends, but at least I can still email them. They are just as upset about the whole thing as me, which is comforting. Oh how I wish I could tell Ms Evil to piss off. If she knows what's good for her, she will stay well and truly away from me. Grrrrr! 3/23/2009 A Little List
Mood: Smiling 
It's been a while since I've done one of these lists. But lately on FB, everyone has been doing lists and then tagging a bunch of their friends so people can see the answers to the questions. Because it's been a while, I thought I'd indulge the little tiny part of me that likes doing these memes. Below was "borrowed" from Kirsten from her FB page.
1. If your doctor told you today that you were pregnant, what would you say? "How many are there?" or "Oh, we're a little bit ahead of schedule." 2. Do you trust all of your friends? Yes. If I didn't trust them, then they wouldn't be my friends. 3. Would you move to another state or country to be with the one you love? Definitely. 4. Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? Yes - definitely! 5. Can you make a dollar in change right now? I think so. Can't remember what is in my wallet. 6. Which one of your friends do you think would make the best doctor? Lissy - she is even better than a doctor - she's a super nurse! 7. Are you afraid of falling in love? Not any more. 8. Question was missing from the list. 9. Is there someone / something who pops into your mind at random times? All the time. 10. What's your most favourite scar? The one on my belly - my appendix scar from my operation at the age of 5. 11. When was the last time you flew in a plane? September 2007. 12. What did the last text message you sent say? It was a message to my sister trying to see if she was feeling better - she's been quite run down lately. 13. What features do you find most attractive in the preferred sex? His eyes and his smile - if they match, then he is one genuine guy. 14. Fill in the blank. I love: my gorgeous man J. 15. What is a goal you would like to accomplish in the near future? A permanent job. 16. If you were to wake up from being in a coma for an extended time who would you call? My parents, then J. 17. How many kids do you want to have? 2 - if I can arrange it, fraternal twins of one boy and one girl, and the boy would be born first. 18. Would you make a good parent? I hope so - I've been told I would. 19. Where was your FB profile picture taken? 2008 Redkite Electric Blue Charity Ball. 20. What's your middle name? It means "Beautiful Pearl". 21. Honestly, what's on your mind right now? Nothing - absolutely nothing - except completing this list. 22. If you could go back in time and change something, what would it be? I would say goodbye to my maternal grandparents. I never felt I got to say a proper farewell to them before they passed away. 23. Who was or will be the maid of honour / best man in your wedding? Suz - she will be my matron of honour. 24. What are you wearing right now? An old T-shirt that says "More Of What You Like" across my chest, and Tweety pyjama pants. 25. Righty or Lefty? Righty. 26. Best place to eat? I have some favourite restaurants, but it really does depend on what cuisine I feel like. 27. Favorite jeans? The ones that make my legs look slim and my bum look small. 28. Favorite animal? A King Charles Cavalier puppy. 29. Favorite juice? I love all juices. 30. Have you had the chicken pox? Never - and I'm scared that I will come down with it when I'm pregnant. 31. Have you had a sore throat? Yes, but thankfully not recently. 32. Ever had a bar fight? Yes. I won. 33. Who knows you the best? My parents. 34. Shoe size? Anywhere between 5.5 and 7, depending on the shoemaker. 35. Do you wear contact lenses or glasses? Yes. 36. Ever been in a fight with your pet? Yes. It wasn't pretty. 37. Been to Mexico? Not yet. 38. Did you buy something today? Yes - a newspaper and ingredients for dinner. 39. Did you get sick today? No - but I did get sick and tired of someone treating me like an idiot and playing stupid mind games. 40. Do you miss someone today? Yes. 41. Did you get in a fight with someone today? I wanted to slap someone down. 42. When is the last time you had a massage? A couple of weeks ago. 43. Last person to lay in your bed? Me and J. 44. Last person to see you cry? J. I think. Could have been my family. 45. Who made you cry? No one. I guess I did. I was just crying because I was sad about not having a job. 46. What was the last TV show you watched? Desperate Housewives. 47. What are your plans for the weekend? Too early to tell - but I know there will be some time spent with J and M. 48. Who do you think will return this? No one. 49. Who was the last person you hung out with? J. 50. If your significant other asked you to marry them TODAY what would you say? "OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG" followed by "YES YES YES YES YES YES YES" surrounded by a whole bunch of tears and cuddles and kisses. 3/18/2009 I'm A Public Servant!
Mood: A-Ok 
I have a job!
Really. Truly. Finally. I have a job!!! My beautiful friend Dee had worked really hard batting for me in these past few weeks. First, she got me in the door to cover for someone who was on secondment. The secondment period was only 2 weeks, and as we drew towards the end of the period (being this Friday), Dee somehow managed to get me another role in a different division. And this role is an ongoing one with no end date, and a lot more money! Love this girl!!! Love her work!!! Such a shame all those recruiters from all those recruitment agencies didn't feel they needed to work as hard for me as my friend did. Doesn't matter now. I'm well and truly in the Public Service door and the only way is up from here. And to be promoted to a more senior role in just 2 weeks has got to say something about my skills, right? Dee mentioned a few things that were of interest. Now that I'm working for the Government, albeit as a contractor, there is nothing stopping me from applying for any permanent roles that may pop up from time to time. Dee also mentioned that the role I'm going into from next Monday may well be made permanent in the near future. And as I'll be the incumbent, I'll more than likely be helping to write the job description, and the interviewers always favour the incumbent, unless the incumbent was incompetent, and I have no intention of being seen as anything less than very capable and highly competent. Dee has put in some really great references for me to the new division, and my new manager and I had a great meeting yesterday, so it's looking really positive at this point. The new manager wanted someone to stick around for a while, and Dee has told him that the only way he will lose my services would be if I found a permanent job. From what she's told me, the new manager will now work harder to make the role a permanent one. To say the very least, I'm quite happy with how things have worked out. I'm working with some really really lovely people in a grand old building and after 14 weeks of not working, it was really good to finally have something to look forward to on a daily basis. I am a creature of habit and it felt great to reinstate my daily routine of getting up, showering, getting dressed, going to work, working and going home from work. I'm even loving battling buses that are occasionally crowded and often late! My 14 weeks of forced vacation were really hard. It's not something I would recommend to anyone. If I had been expecting to be out of work; if I had had any real warning at all, I would / could have put something in place to prevent me from sliding into a deep black hole that had me in tears whenever someone asked "how's the job hunting going?" For the last 4 of those 14 weeks, I felt I had no purpose in life. Every day, I had to force myself to get out of bed, even though I couldn't see any real point in getting out of bed. Every day, I had to force myself to take off my pyjamas and put on different clothes, even though I knew there was no point as I wasn't leaving the apartment and no one would see me anyway. Every day, I had to force myself to look for work, even though I truly didn't want to as I couldn't face another automated rejection email response. I know there will be a time in the near future when I'll be taking another "forced" break from work, but that one I'll look forward to with relish, as I know it will be a very busy "break". It's getting a tad late, and I really should hit the hay so I can be fresh for work tomorrow. Yay for being able to say that! And for those with a keen eye, if you can work out what building is in the picture, you will have worked out where I'm working right now. 3/13/2009 Amazing Dolphins
Mood: Squeeeeee!!! 
Dolphins are amazing creatures. This YouTube video has had me in squeals of delight for the past 24 hours. Click on it and see for yourself. 3/11/2009 Back To Work!
Mood: Smiling Again 
I'm finally working again!
After 14 weeks of unemployment, I tentatively re-entered the workforce this week as a temp, working for the Government in the CBD. Thanks to my beautiful friend Dee, I hope to be working there for some time yet. I am still looking for a full time permanent job, closer to what I was doing before the involuntary redundancy, but at this stage, I'm happy to go back to my roots and be a good business administrator. There are so many pluses. The people I work with are so lovely. The job itself is not taxing, for which I am grateful as my brain needs to be slowly retrained to think after most of it wasted away from too much daytime TV. I'm working in the city - oh how I love working in the city. The job is a foot in the door to future Government work, and with the economy the way it is, working for the Government is the safest bet yet. And I'm earning money again, which is slowly building my self confidence. I've now got pretty much everyone looking for work for me. I have signed up with a number of agencies and the recruiters are all busy looking for work for me. I'm getting phone calls here and there, which is good. And my mates are looking for jobs as well. Today, randomly, I got an email from Ian who wanted to know if I'd be interested in working for his organisation. A job as an EA to a senior executive has popped up on the Positions Vacant board and he wanted to know if he could refer me as a potential candidate. After reading the job description, I wholeheartedly gave Ian the go ahead. Fingers crossed I get a call! It's now time for bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. But yay for being employed! |
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