Wot?!

It's been a slightly stressful week this week.

I mentioned in a previous post that my favourite manager is leaving. Now you can add another three of the GTs to that. Those of us who are left behind are a little shell shocked and there are a couple more expected. I think I also mentioned that the leaving of the manager left behind a task that I am really interested in.

I approached the GM to tell him I was interested. He couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice, said he'd think about it for a bit. I started to tell him a little bit of why I wanted it, he reiterated that he would think about it and turned his back on me and went back to his screen.

Talk about brushed off! The cynic in me says he will dismiss my request out of hand because it doesn't fit in with his plans for his current golden boy.

That task is the only thing about my job that I really like. So, we shall see how soon I move on.

Apart from that, I guess the week as been pretty regular.

Friday night, Sunny brought a friend over and we settled down to eat, drink and watch a dvd. The Elder and the Teen with associated hangers on were due to arrive later that night. The movie was Shutter Island. I expected it to be creepy but it's not! There are a couple of atmospheric points, but nothing like the shorts led me to believe, and a big twist in the plot.

I'm not sure the others enjoyed it, but I liked it.

Everyone arrived safe and well later that night. We talked. We drank. We watched Rage. The Teen, Elder and others trundled off to bed. Sunny and his friend left around 1am, I chased Judah out around 1.45 am. It was a late night.

Saturday morning we were up early to take a trip out to the airport. We were to meet an ex of Raisin's to swap some stuff. The only thing was, we had no description. On the way we noticed a cruise ship docked in the river. I've not seen that before but we thought we would see if we could get a couple of photos on the way back.

We met up with the Ex and did the swap. I've finally got my rings back. And the bonus was some coffee, kopiko coffee lollies, and a handful of dvds. The only problem with that is that my player is very fussy and won't play a lot of dvds that are marked. And some of these are. I think they are copies. At least one of them is damaged and it won't play on either player, but will play on the mac. *sigh*

We paused for the pics on the way homeAs you can see, it's as tall as the buildings! This was about the best I could do. There isn't really anywhere you can stop on the side of the road for a good pic. The best view is on the main drag!

Saturday afternoon was quiet. I spent some time flashing the bling around. Saturday night the Teen and her boy went out to a friend's place. At around 12.30 we got a call to come pick them up. Her boy was too ill to get himself walked home. MOTH went out to get them. When he came back, I could hear voices but didn't pay much attention. MOTH came back to the bedroom. He told me he had to get some help from the Elder's lad to help get the boy out of the car! There is some suspicion of drink spiking because the onset of the illness was too quick to be much else. And he has no memory of what he said/did/happened. And the Teen swears he only had 3 drinks.

It was a rough night by all accounts.

The boy was very embarrassed in the morning.

Sunday dawned, bringing with it MOTH's birthday. I asked what he had planned. Not much. I asked what he wanted for dinner that night. He chose chicken braised with lemon grass. We had to nip out and buy the chicken and a lemon *i use that instead of lemon grass* and stuff for dinner was set.

I did a small spot of washing. Not much else. That afternoon we spent some time watching the some of the dvds.

Until dinner. It's not difficult, just a little time consuming by the time you flour, egg and flour the chicken and brown them in the pan. But the end result is absolutely delish. It's a popular fave among my lot.

After dinner MOTH requested that they do the washing up. I don't know why he does that - we have a dishwasher. Before I wandered off to bed, I stacked and started the dishwasher.

Goodnight everybody. Gosh I'm so tired!

I blinked. Where did that week go?

The week started well. A short week *maybe that's why i missed it?* because Monday was the Queen's Birthday long weekend. I stayed in my jammies ALL day. It was BRILLIANT! Yes. That's right. All day.

Then it was back to work and back to reality. Huh. I reject that reality and substitute my own.

Work has dragged by. There are things to do but my get up and go has got up and went. I just don't seem to have the energy or the motivation to accomplish any of my tasks. Or the interest. Perhaps it's time to consider a change? But that means I have to leave the security of my current position. I like the security. I work for a university so there is job security. Well, more so than if I were employed in the private sector.

Big decision.

I've been getting a lift to work with one of the GTs. It takes him a little out of his way, but also takes me a little out of my way. But works out cheaper than taking the bus every day. I hope. It does change the hours I work though as I match to his. Late starts and late finishes.

Thursday morning I had a training course, so I took the bus. I had to be there for a 9am start. Since I didn't know the location of the office *well i knew the location, i just didn't know the LOCATION* I thought I would arrive at 8.30am. Give myself plenty of time to check out the surrounds.

But on the way through the city, I caught a glimpse of someone dressed as a penis. Yes. A penis. There was someone else dressed as something else. I didn't see but thought it may have been a cell cluster. I have no idea what it was for - I didn't get time to find out.

Friday brought with it the news that my favourite Manager is leaving. He is going to work for the opposition. There has been some talk in the news about the proposed changes and the introduction of a new government funded provider. We will be continuing - business as usual - but it has been demoralising and will mean some changes to the way we put ourselves forward.

Saturday I relaxed a little. We nipped out for some grocery topups we hadn't managed to pick up on Thursday. Back home. I think I spent most of the day with the heater on. I'm not sure that the weather has been that cold really. But I certainly have.

Sunday I had a 'date' to meet a friend I used to work with. I left home in plenty of time to catch the bus into the city. It only comes once and hour and I didn't want to miss it. Busy playing kick-the-stick I failed to see the bus coming until the last second. Panic! I hailed it as it flew by and as I loped up to it I read the banner. Oh. I'd flagged down the outbound bus and was destined for a very short run to the shops up the road. *facepalm* Boy, did I feel sheepish....

The Divine Miss P and her boy joined me at the Coffee Club in the city. I had been looking forward to it for a few days. I arrived a little early and grabbed a table. Uh oh. I spotted a large spider crawling down the wall. Another lady did too and she moved table. I watched it progress down the wall and toward me.... *wary* It ran toward the centre of the path and away from my table. *still wary*

Miss P and Mr Vic snuck in the back way. I pointed out the wayward arachnid. I'll herd it she says. And it promptly begins to run toward me. I did a quickstep I can tell you. I congratulate myself on not yelling. It ran under the table, under my chair *VERY CLOSE TO MY FEET* and continued on. A woman at another table was sitting there with her feet in the air.....

I've not seen Miss P for some time. Mr Vic was a new quantity. He was very easy to talk to. We talked a lot. And laughed. I had hot chocolate, and a deluxe steak sandwich. We toddled around the market and went back to the shop for dessert. Talk was abruptly silence as an old gentleman wandered by outside. He was wearing a cap, hot pink suit, pale pink shirt, dark coloured bow tie and casual footwear....

Jay was working at the Coffee Club and due to finish at 3pm. I haven't had any time to spend with her for ages either. Miss P, Mr Vic and I finished dessert and talked some more. Suddenly it was 4pm and Jay was finishing work. We all said our goodbyes and Jay walked with me to the bus stop.

Whew. I finally got home around 6pm. Time to cook dinner, settle and watch a movie. Dang, back to work tomorrow.

Weekends are never long enough....

Queen's Birthday holiday. A long weekend. Last one for the year. How depressing!

This week has been a little hectic. I've been working on getting my travellers up and going. The ones headed for USA seemed to have managed to get away ok. At least, I've not had a phone call, so I'm guessing all worked out.

The one headed for Africa hit a rather major snag and decided not to travel. Apparently to travel to that area, a yellow fever vaccination is MANDATORY. It has a 10 day withholding period before you are allowed to travel. He found out he needed the injection less than 10 days before date of departure. No travel for him!

I haven't really be motivated to do an awful lot of work. Most of what I have lined up on the task list requires waiting for responses from other people. Unfortunately, I have those responses so I had best do something with them when I get back to the desk.

It's been cold this week. I don't like being cold. One morning I had been basking gently in the sun near one of the office windows. I turned around and started to move into one of the other rooms. Suddenly one of the young GTs is looming over me doing a zombie impression. I JUMPED! I'm sure I squealed like a girl. The GT collapsed laughing. And each time he saw me the rest of the day. *shakes head* I should be used to them looming. MOST of them are tall....

Thursday I had an hour off to attend a function for people who book travel. This time they served wine and cheese while Qantas did a presentation. Admin2 won a $50 voucher from quickbeds.

I love Friday afternoons. Have I ever told you that? Mmmm yes. Friday afternoons. I was determined to relax. Sunny didn't come over for movie night so I had the evening to myself. I settled in for an evening of Facebook and WoW.

Around 8pm I got a text from the Teen. Gin Gin sure is a hole during the dark! ?? What was that all about; thinking she was on her way to Bundaberg or such with a bunch of friends. I'll tell you in 4 hours is the reply. What?!

Yes, somewhere around 1 am, Teen and the Elder rocked up. With a guest.... I wasn't sure at first, but he's a very well behaved dog!

It was a surprise! Saturday we went out shopping with the Elder while doing not much in particular. The Teen stayed at home and snuggled in bed. *smart* On spur of the moment we thought we'd go to one of the other shopping centres where Elder put herself in line for a set of gel nails. They look good and didn't take too long either. MOTH and I sat in the food court and waited. Home after that. And that took most of Saturday. Saturday afternoon Sunny came down and they went into the city to spend some time together. The girls rocked back in time for dinner though. I had to pick them up because they ended up on the bus that stops at the shops, not our way. It was too cold to walk home! We girls took over my rumpus room and they drank some alcohol and msnn'd friends and laughed and giggled. And I played WoW.

Sunday we walked Freddy *our guest* up to the markets. Dog food was on the purchase menu. And a trip round the Sunday markets. Freddy was popular! But what can I say. He's a good looking dog. He behaved really well, even to the point of only cowering when enthusiastically sniffed by a VERY BIG DOG! No growl, no hackles. From either of them. We did see a very pretty young lady advertising a pet boutique. Sunday afternoon they went home and all was quiet again.

But they have promised to return in a couple of weeks! *does happy dance* Especially since they have to pick up the dog food they left behind.... *grins*

Dinner is in the first stage of prep and I'm relaxing while I wait. I'm thinking that I should be putting a load of washing through but I'm not there yet.

It's potato bake tonight. Should I have it with salad? I'm not sure. Sunday night should be a lazy dinner I think.

I love it when I get to see the native wildlife doing their wildlifey things. Last Tuesday I was dreaming out the bus window in the morning and happened to spy some kookaburras in the trees. Two were huddled together on one branch and a solitary one on a different branch in the same tree. A little further on I saw one on the wing. *smiles dreamily out the bus window*

On Tuesday I finally received the approval I needed to go ahead and book travel for a couple of the GTs. When I finally let the travel agent know we could go ahead, so much time had elapsed that the price for the airfare had doubled. This is not unexpected - the closer you get to the departure date, the more expensive the fares. I let my GM know. He was not pleased. There was not much I could do about it! Since the price increase was so dramatic, he decided he would have to speak to his boss and gain approval to spend the extra money.

Wednesday rolled around and no further action on the approval front. I thought I would let the travel agent know what was happening. My GM asked me to email his boss directly to advise what was happening. I did. Then the travel agent got back to me asking if the travellers would be willing to travel a day earlier. That dropped the price of the fares back to a more bearable level. I thought I would do the costs again, this time with the earlier days travel. It worked. Instead of a price increase of $2000, I had narrowed it down to an increase of $200. My GM was please but not effusive. He asked me to email his boss with the details. I emailed his boss. Surely enough, my phone rang. Can you please come around and explain this to me? I snuck around - who wants direct contact with the Director? - and explained what I had done. He was sooo happy! Happy and enthusiastic and sang my praises to the heavens for saving him having to explain to HIS boss. My GM was happy that his boss was happy and thanked me for my excellent work. Those travellers, he said, owed me big time. Huh. Somehow I don't think it's the TRAVELLERS who owe me, thanks!

Everything is booked and ticketed on Thursday and I can relax a little. But only a little. One of the travellers is not happy that he has to travel a day earlier and doesn't get to stay at the hotel of his choice. Not much I can do about that.

Thursday evening is grocery shop. We headed out to our favourite shopping centre. It's not the local one. This one is bigger. We are nearly home and suddenly we are not able to continue but instead are diverted through our local shopping centre car park. The road is closed. There are flashing red and blue lights, ambulances and fire engines. We follow the detour to the next road. No, that's blocked too. Luckily, there is another way for us to get home. Not long after we get home, they block off the intersection at the exit to our suburb. That's two entire blocks unpassable. The police cruiser parks at the intersection and stops the traffic. During the night, each time a fool tried to go past the cruiser, the lights flash, the siren blares and the horn announces THIS ROAD IS CLOSED. You'd be surprised how many fools there are.....

The cruiser is a few meters down from our house. MOTH, being MOTH, wanders down to talk to them. He reports back that a motorcycle and a bus have come together. The rider did not make it. It's after midnight when they finally clear the roadblock.

*dinner is delicious*

Friday is quiet. I think I'm coming down with something and I'm hoping not since we are joining Bestie and her hubby for lunch tomorrow.

Saturday I'm awake at some ungodly hour with a terrible headache. It's not helped by the nausea which accompanies it. I take some tablets and drift off to sleep again. It's after 8am when I wake again! We head out to finish the rest of the grocery shop and pick up drinks to take to lunch. Half twelve and we head our for a 3/4 hour drive to Bestie's place. She's happy to see us - it's been nearly 6 months since our last visit I think. The afternoon flies by and suddenly I realise we've been there 5 hours. I decide it's time to pack up, and I'm beginning to feel unwell again. Later that night the headache arrives again and I'm in bed by 10pm. I've gritted my teeth and hung on till the end of Happy Feet on the telly.

Sunday the headache is still there. I stumble out of bed around 7am and take more medication. We are supposed to be going to the movies today; I'm hoping it will ease by then. MOTH heads out for his smiles and I take the opportunity to vacuum the floor. Yes! I did. Don't fall over. And I mopped the space around the kitchen bench where the oven and stove top is.

I've decided to sell the laptop so I spend some time uninstalling some of the programs. I'm still not completely finished. Small things now like disconnecting from my home network. I'm thinking of asking $700 but I'm not sure. It's a Toshiba Satellite, 2.0 GHz intel core duo processor, 4GB ram, 1GB cache, 250GB HDD and Vista Business. Am I asking too much?

I'm feeling ok and we decide on Ironman 2. It's a great movie! I think I enjoyed it just as much as the first one. Which MOTH insists he hasn't seen.

Home at 4pm; I'm still feeling a bit iffy and it's time for a hot bath and a good book. Then to cook dinner. I still haven't started that washload. I think I'd better do something about that.