Monday, June 30, 2008

Welcome ... Jawsome

He arrived on Saturday. He walked in the door on Saturday afternoon, followed by the Elder. It felt strange. I have chatted to this boy on line; I have seen him on web cam. And lo, there he is in person. Looking just like he did on cam. Strange, almost deja vu.

The Teen says she wasn't phased by that. Most of the people she meets are from msn or mySpace anyway. She's used to it.

Wow, you're not a four foot midget with a monobrow after all I remarked. He laughed and ducked his head. In reality, he's 188cm tall. That's about 6ft 1inch in the old scale. I think that's about the same height as Sunny, but we aren't sure. He's a full head taller than the Elder.

He's still a little quiet, but has the potential to be a very funny lad. The Elder took him out to the local bottle-o Saturday night. And he went out in normal clothes, but included in his ensemble a knitted orange hat thing. That pulled down over his ears and included the dangling strings that tie under the chin. Hillarious. The Elder just shook her head. And smiled at the same time.

Yesterday he went out in public wearing a bright pink tee with the words I'M GREAT! on it. In large black block letters. Game, I'll give him that.

He's willing to laugh at himself. And that's not a bad thing. Like telling us that he fell out of the shower - at his home - and skinned his heel. And showed us the wound. We don't know how he fell, and I'm not quite game enough to ask.

They get along just fine though. There doesn't seem to be any awkwardness between them. So. I guess we will just have to see where this leads...

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Donations accepted for the Save the Desititute Daughter fund

The Elder drives a car. A piece of shit car that she is strangely proud of. The fact that it is an old volvo has nothing to do with it. Really. It's a little dinged around the edges, but it adds character.

She likes it because she can do crazy things and park in strange places. She tells me that people will just look at the car, note that it's a bloody volvo driver and shrug.

But just lately, the romance hasn't been going so well. The car has been breaking down; becoming tempermental and throwing the occasional temper tantrum.

Last night, he refused to start. Again. The last time this happened, it was a weekend and she was stuck in the car park. Luckily, she's got RACQ. You know, never be without it. And when her knight in reflective yellow turned up, he got the car going. Without two fuses. Which freaked him a little. Because that just shouldn't happen.

This time, the thing she should never be without, she's without. And no RACQ to the rescue. Luckily, a knight in shining Ford Focus came along. He lives out our direction so offered us a lift home. The Elder wasn't sure about taking it. She didn't want to leave her baby alone. But I talked her into it and the knight dropped us home. After dinner, we went out to see if we could fetch the volvo. I drove our car and MOTH came with us.

He twiddled some cables. No go. He put in more oil. No go. He played with a switch. And hey presto! It started. Apparently a switch for the headlights wasn't fully off and it was shorting. Fortunately, it seemed to like the adjustment. And it was time to bring the baby home.

MOTH insisted he was coming home with me though. He wasn't going to ride in that piece of shit car!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

10 9 8 7 .... countdown!

And no, it's not that 80s music program either. But those were fun times. On the odd occasion that I was allowed to watch it. ABC always had such appalling programming timing. It - and Dr Who - were up against the news on channel 9. And we all know which programs had preference!

But we are on the countdown. At least, the Elder is. And she makes sure that everyone else is too. Jawsome arrives on the weekend. On Saturday. And we are counting down the days. Hey that would be a good line for a song. There are, apparently, only 4 sleeps to go.

Sunny is away this week. Last night was his second night away. It's quiet. And I have had two early nights so far. By early I mean I'm in bed before midnight. A little closer to 11pm. Television isn't really entertaining; the Elder and the Teen are usually on the computer. So I trundle off to bed and sit staring over MOTH's shoulder at that television. Or read. And get bored, so I snuggle under the blankies and settle for sleep.

The Teen has lost her phone. By lost it, I mean it's broken properly now and won't turn on. We have a very old panasonic that I thought to loan her. It won't turn on. Sunny has an old nokia and an old LG. She went for the nokia. It won't turn on. So that leaves the LG. Wonder if it will turn on?

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Going nowhere ... fast

I decided to vote myself a day off. And I told my boss that too. I told him I was going to take Monday off. If the travel I was working on was finished. Guess what. It wasn't. Still isn't. How difficult can it be to get a hotel in Canada booked? Pretty difficult apparently. And they need it by Friday. Wish me luck e'body!

Needless to say, I didn't get to have Monday off. Though for all the progress I made, I may as well have. I thought I might take this Friday off. So I can have a long weekend like. No dice. The other office girl has that day off. Hmmm. Maybe I can have the following Monday off. Although my stress levels will have dropped by then. But hey! My calendar tells me that there is a report due that day. Will I ever get this day off?

Next week is going to be a quiet one. Sunny is off this weekend to go visit Judah. He leaves Sunday and is gone for the week. It's going to be so quiet. And I will desperately miss the dvd nights. Sunny and I were talking about why we like that time so much. It's the recharge. We sit in the dark, don't talk to each other, stare dumbly at the screen. Although he plays on the hiptop until he falls asleep. And the noise level is down and it's a brilliant way to destress. I get a bit narky when someone else is in the area because they are usually on the computer. And the screen generates light, and the keyboard clicks. And I get stroppy because of the distraction. But then, I'm a stroppy old bag really.

Judah. What can I say about Judah. He comes from a country church background. A couple of years older than Sunny. He's pleasant, thoughtful, fun. He's capable of giggling and squealing like a school girl. When he's tickled! I really like him. I like him a lot. He's my favourite of all the friends Sunny has introduced me to. And he seems to like me too. Which is a bonus! He makes Sunny deliriously happy. And that counts for a lot in my book. I hope he's around for a long, long time.

Jawsome. This is the Elder's new beau. *sings* You must walk feminine, talk feminine, smile and beguile, feminine ... that's what every girl should know, if she wants to catch a beau. It's a song from Disney or something.

But I digress. Jawsome. It's hard to describe someone you haven't met. We have chatted on msn and facebook. He's a bit of a ratbag. With a wicked sense of humour. Like most young blokes he's been known to do stupid things. Like injuring himself jumping off a couch while playing guitar hero. I've seen him sitting in front of the webcam while wearing a promo cardboard headband for the movie Kung Fu Panda. As an aside, I really want to see that movie. Yes. Yes I do. Sunny is fully expecting to be greeted by a 4 foot midget with a monobrow when he arrives. He is popping up to meet the Elder in person for the first time. He arrives a couple days before Sunny returns. He's staying for a week. So it's going to feel a little crowded for a while.

But we should be used to that by now. And speaking of which, I have another in the house for about three nights.....

Ah me...

Friday, June 13, 2008

I'm a travelling (wo)man

These days, most of my day at work seems to be organising travel to places I'll never go. This last nightmare involved Europe, Canada and the USA. Lately, they seem to be a little better organised, but this trip ran true to form.

I seem to have spent the last week almost constantly working on getting this trip booked and paid for. The flight itinerary had been organised but not ticketed. Qantas usually hold the itinerary for a couple of days before they cancel the booking. This time they didn't. When I was finally allowed to go ahead, the booking was still there. Sometimes something has to work!

Accommodation on the other hand... None of the places I wanted to book were available on the dates I needed. And the agent couldn't get them booked through their wholesaler. I had to book through an online service, or direct with the hotel. This usually works because I now have access to a corporate credit card. It was truly a horrific experience before then! But I had 4 hotels to find and book. I managed to get 2 of them before the card maxed out. That's right, the card maxed out. The credit limit is pretty generous. And it doesn't 'refresh' again until early next month. I had to get someone else to book one of the hotels. I have 3 of them booked but no way to pay for the 4th! I still don't know how I'm going to do it. They are due to arrive at wherever I have booked for them on 21 June. And they depart Australia tomorrow.

I hate organising travel. Especially last minute multistop jaunts.

___________

In my last post (the dogs have stopped howling now) I mentioned a friend of Sunny's. He shall be called Judah. No, he hasn't sold anyone out for thirty pieces of silver. He has his own business judaharmourindustries.com.au. If I'm honest, I wasn't certain at first. The Elder wasn't happy and things were a little awkward. But after the first night things smoothed themselves out and all was hunky dory. He's wonderful. I like him a lot. He was shy and quiet but was coming out of his shell by the time he was ready to leave.

I'm still not sure about the PDAs; I don't like too much mush. But I guess I could get used to them. *grin* It's just great to see Sunny so happy.

In a couple of weeks time I get to meet the Elder's new squeeze. Although I don't suppose I can call him a squeeze yet. They haven't met yet to squeeze. He's coming for a visit. We have chatted before via web cam and msn. He's Jawsome, and seems to be lots of fun. Not sure yet if MOTH will be happy though. Jawsome seems to be predisposed to fun.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

I lurve long weekends

This week has been a write off. Things have been off kilter since the conference. I think I need a holiday to recover!

Sunny has had a friend stay over. Originally it was to be Wednesday night. Until we realised that Sunny needed to work a late shift that day and start an early shift the next morning. Thursday sounded a better proposition. So, Thursday was go!

Thursday came. And some time after dark, Sunny brought him home. He was tall! Taller than Sunny. And he's from up north. I had never heard the name of the place before. But I know the general area.

So, it's Saturday and he's still here. How did that happen? I've watched them interact, and Sunny seems quite smitten. In fact, it's downright sickening. PDAs! Get a room ferfksake! Gah! I've never even seen the Elder or the Teen snuggle as much with their partners. *grins and shudders at the same time* Actually, now I think about it, they couldn't get a room. At least, not here. There isn't one...

But I hope he's going home soon. I want the house back. And there is another one apparently wants to stay next weekend as well. MOTH doesn't mind, so I guess it's ok.

Oh, and Teen has a new piercing. MOTH is SERIOUSLY less than pleased. I confess that although I expressed disapproval, I didn't specifically say NO so she went ahead and did it anyway. Now MOTH flat refuses to acknowledge her. Those two are so alike it's not funny.

So, on the whole, I'm really glad that I'm not at work for a few days. It's Queen's birthday long weekend. Being an Aussie, I'd be terribly upset if becoming a republic meant we lost a public holiday! We don't get enough of them as it is.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

In which I moan about my job...

Just for something different. I am organising a trip from Australia, through Europe then on to Canada and the USA. And home. They are supposed to depart in about a week. But the way things go here, I'll likely have the go ahead the day before they depart. It's really quite stressful.

I thought about applying for a job in Sydney once. Same sort of thing I'm doing now, but for a much better employer. And, hopefully, not as much of the bureaucratic nonsense. Working here is like opening a gift every day. There is just so much red tape. But ... MOTH nearly had apoplexy. Poor dear. I really shouldn't do that.

So there goes that idea.

The Teen celebrated her birthday the other day. I had hopes that it might have been good for her, but they were soon dashed. Silly me. Getting all optimistic there. She is going through a really tough time right now. She is being bullied. Badly enough for her to seriously consider taking a complaint to the police. She's terrified, but resolute as well. I absolutely admire her strength. I'm so proud of her. So strong, so firm. I don't think that at her age, I could have handled it myself. We'll stand by her, whatever she decides to do.

Just lately, I'm standing back and watching Elder and Sunny, wishing things were back on an even footing. I love them both dearly, but I can see things are sliding and I don't know how to help fix it. Not that I'm a fixer-upper by any means. They just need to talk. But something happened between them and both are a little unsure of where they stand. Elder withdraws from everyone - not just Sunny - and he's left bewildered and wondering what's going on. He tells MOTH that he's tried to talk, but I don't think that's the kind of talk they need. Right now, they just need to be silly with each other. Just to talk about the silly stuff, nothing of substance. I'm sure that's how they started out being friends. Just a hug in passing, some silly talk and things will right themselves. *optimism strikes again*

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Late nights. Or boredom!

Wow. It's 11pm and I'm sitting here, wishing it wasn't Sunday night. Tomorrow is Monday. Ok, bad case of stating the obvious here. I'm not looking forward to Monday. Hardly ever do actually. I really love the idea of getting paid, but don't like the idea of going to work.

Sunny has adjusted his medication. But in order to do that, he had to come completely off his current meds. It hasn't been pretty. Although it's not great right now, crisis has been averted by having one of his friends sleep over.

So, it's Sunday evening. I've been watching the Rob Zombie Halloween remake. I like what I saw of it much better than the 1980whatever version! But two of the audience complained about it, and there was nothing from the other so I stopped it and put Zoolander on instead.

We did manage to get through Hitman though. And I really like that one. So did the friend.

I think this post is a little disjointed. Sunny has a 7.30am start tomorrow. I'm thinking about going to bed. I usually do alarm clock duty and if I do it for tomorrow, I need to get him out of bed about 4am. He needs time to shower, wash his hair, let it dry and straighten it. I don't know, males these days!