Airconditioning, where are you?

Bright Monday morning and the work air conditioning is failing. Yoiks. It's now 27C in the office. Stuffy! And I only mentioned to MOTH this morning it was almost a pleasure to go to work for the air conditioning. Looks like I broke it.

I've had my weekly meeting with Super. There are plenty of things on my To Do list now. And I have had some clear deadlines set. They might be a little tough to meet, but this makes things easier and I wish it had been done before. Things are going a little smoother but it's too late now.

Filled the car with fuel the morning, and I can't wait to get to work. Because I love driving the car. MOTH is having to get used to the view from the passenger side when we go out. And I don't think he's happy.

Christmas shopping today. But I allow MOTH to join the Club first. This is seriously going to decrease our chances of getting a park at the mall I want to shop at. For both the big malls you need to arrive early. Parking is very much at a premium by 10:30am. We joke with the others that we need peace, and karma, good will, and a parking space will be available for us. Traffic is very heavy when we finally get to the mall. There are cars everywhere. We decide that we will check where we normally park for the Dr and if there's nothing there we will go home and shop early on Sunday. Nope, nothing. We exit the upper car park ramp to go home and there, right there, across the other lane of traffic a space opens up. I put the indicator on and wait for someone to let me across the traffic. We park and head for the shops. Now most of my shopping is done, only three more to get. I know what one is, but have no idea what to get Mouse and Rabbit. Not a clue.

MOTH keeps the bird feeder stocked with seed. I've thought about putting out some honey for the lorikeets but they seem happy enough to eat the seed. We usually get crested pigeons, turtle doves, rainbow lorikeets, and crows by the ... too many. Occasionally we get a galah or two *quiet peanut gallery!* and a cockatoo. MOTH really likes this cockatoo. He's been close enough to notice it's banded so maybe it was once someone's pet. It comes to the fence and if there is no seed it screeches loudly. And often. Till MOTH comes out and puts more seed out. It sits on the fence near the feeder and watches MOTH will a beady eye till it's satisfied there is enough. MOTH can stand directly below it and hold up his arm. It doesn't jump on, but nor does it fly away. MOTH waits patiently for the day it steps onto his arm.

Wet season is beginning to come through. There have been some big storms but we keep missing them. We get some rain, a bit of wind, thunder, and a lightening show. And a sticky hot humid day the next. I don't mind some rain but it never seems to help. If only a cool breeze would blow after so things aren't so hot and sticky. The weather makes me torpid and more angry than usual. Even though I wake up sweaty, I keep dozing off and can't muster up the energy to do much of anything. I even turned off the computer on Sunday....

Song sung blue

I kept the eye paint. I could wear one of the blues. It's a dark grey blue. And I didn't bother getting the refund. It was less than $10.

So I'm staring at the light, blinding myself and watching the fan go round. Trying to think of what I did last week. Must have been exciting!

Things have been alright at work. It's like ... maybe she's taking lessons. She's not been over my shoulder as much. She stopped to listen to Admin2 and said "as good as that sounds, I think we should..." Very surprising. Work has mostly been preparing for Admin2 to go on leave. She takes six weeks so it's a big build up. She has to rush to complete as much as she can before she hands over to me.

MOTH has been in a great deal of pain, his back in spasm. I ask if he needs a carer for the day but he insists not. Darn. It's still grabbing but as I walk to the back door today after work I notice he's been busily chopping trees. Naughty, naughty, very naughty.

I drive the new car to work. MOTH says it should be okay but I'm a little wary. I am right to be. I slow down to stop at the lights, she's not too happy to get moving again. I slow down for the next lights. I miss them - she won't move. The engine revs and the car stays put. Uh oh. I turn it off. And turn it back on again. Yes, I know. Totally geeky, right? She moves again but the process repeats when I have to stop at the next lights. Eventually I make it to work and phone MOTH. He calls me back later and comes to take the car to Ash. Ash, the service chappy. That is where she is right now. Waiting for a part. And a gearbox service. I hope that she doesn't require any more. *crosses fingers*

Please hurry up and get that part!

I hope to meet with Super today. Her suggestion, but she's too busy. I'm okay with this as I'm sure she will want to go over what I've managed to accomplish and take me to task for what I haven't. She reschedules for tomorrow.

I have a meeting today to discuss something for the conference next year. We have the discussion and it's suggested that I look into stuff and take on a project for next conference next year. I say nothing. She schedules another meeting for this afternoon. And changes it again. I decide I will have to take the initiative.

So this afternoon I have handed in my notice. It's totally terrifying. But it's done, effective at end of year.

Super appears to be gobsmacked.

MOTH and I go out for dinner. I order a seafood plate. And this arrives at the table....

I HAD TO PEEL THE PRAWNS MYSELF!! *ugh* MOTH spent time laughing at the faces I pulled and noises I made as I peeled them. A waitress came over with a plate for the shells. Not long after she came over with a bowl of water with lemon wedges. She chuckled a little and said "you might want this too". I reckon the staff may have been laughing at my faces too....

I ate most of it. Especially the calamari. I like the stuff they cook there, tasty coating and tender squid. I left the salad and chips and one of the seafood sticks. MOTH laughs at me as I pick up a chip with my fingers and dip it in the sauce. Typical you, he says, out to dinner and you do that. I just grin....

Now I know I have feet.

The last two weeks have gone quickly. Too quickly. I remember on a Tuesday that I haven't updated then, bam, it's Friday again and I've still not done anything. I think I've made a big decision, and had a really great time as well.

Right now I'm wrestling with a dilemma. I ordered an eyeshadow from Avon. They've substituted a different one. It's twice the price of the one I paid for. But of all the ones they used for substitution, it's the one duo in the palette range I won't wear. It's blue. Grey blues, but still blue. Do I send it back for a refund or not? Ah, first world problems!

I make it to induction. There is not a single person I know there. I'm feeling a little strange and I sit down the back. They introduce themselves then break up into teams. I'm in the Guest Management team so we head out of the room to sit. We are the largest group as our area covers quite a bit. There's a small chat and then we break into smaller groups to get to know each other. Then it's back into the big room for the rest of the session which covers quite a few topics. Of course, there are the usual people who ask the weird and the dumb questions. I sign the disclosures and other stuff about understanding health and safety and off I go. The volunteering session looks to be a lot of hard work! I wonder how I'll go?

I've been given THE LIST at work with all my tasks and my expected deadlines. My super has stressed that all deadlines have to be met. I've missed one of them so far, but I wasn't particularly worried. It was something small, due on Friday which I handed over on Monday. I had a quick question for another manager but I didn't expect him to want to call a "committee meeting" before he gave me the answer. Ah well. So, I'm working to my deadlines so "I can learn to use my initiative and judgement". I've been working on reports. I need to complete about 70 of them before end of this week. A tough call but I had to wait for others to review the template and first couple of reports. I wasn't going to prepare a heap of them just so I could go back and change them! I do have about 20 of them prepared now, but this time they've let me review them myself and send them out without further review. Amazing!

It's Friday night and I have to see if I can get across to the Valley to meet Nicole for a briefing. It's nearly 6pm when I get there. There are other volunteers sitting around and a small woman standing with them. Her name is Jade. I'm left with her while we wait for Nicole. Eventually we find her. She's a little brusque and checks to see if we are people she's been emailing. Apparently there is no briefing tonight, it's too late. She sends us back to Jade. More waiting about and eventually we find out that I'm on line control, and marked as a "cover". The cover is the person who 'cover's the other's lines when they go to break. I have four lines to cover. Eve is a spare. We're told our call up is at 8am on Saturday. Right. Till then, then.

8am Saturday and I'm ready for briefing. There are some of us gathered around. Most of the table, line, and barrier set up is done. Jade does a roll call and half of those who are supposed to turn up aren't there yet. She tells us to organise ourselves into small groups. There are a couple of younger ones standing near me and they look like they know each other very well. I said well I'm supposed to be a cover and they jump to my side. Ok, that's our group. Briona knows where she wants to be and we head off for those lines. Jade takes Beau and Kirsty away and I get a line to myself. I'm line control for Todd Lasance. Whoo. Another girl joins us to look after the line next to me. She seems a little hopeless and unprofessional. She sits on the floor when she's not supposed to. She doesn't look as tidy as she could. She spends all her time on the phone. Not good.

I'm on my feet all day. Jade drops by occasionally to see if we have breaks covered and what we are doing. We're fine. We call her the ninja because she appears when least expected. And with no fanfare. It's hard work but I'm enjoying myself. It's a great line to begin on as it's not terribly busy and I have time to figure out what's expected of me. I'm checking to make sure no one takes photos, and everyone has a token to get the signature *no freebies!*. I need to liaise with his PA to make sure that I'm ready to fetch anything they might need. His PA seems very efficient.

I've forgotten my phone today. And I have to contact MOTH to come collect me. I have notes, but no change for the phone. Hmmm. I'm so tired I don't figure out the solution till I'm halfway home. Hopefully my end station has a vending machine!

Home for a soak, and I crash to bed about 9.30pm. It's not a good night and MOTH wakes me in the spare bedroom at 6.20am. We need to leave at 7am for an 8am call time. Again. I know what to expect this time. Or thought I did. This time we have a full and proper briefing. I notice the hopeless girl has missed the briefing. It seems the PA on the line she was minding put in a formal complaint. There's a chance she might be moved. She moves briefly to the merch store and is back again at 10.30am. Not long after she says I've been told I have to go. We don't know what she's meaning but she says she was told to just go so off she's going. Briona and I look at each other. And I have two lines to mind. I'm not worried. I'm having a blast. My feet are not, but I am.

Our boys are all from Spartacus. Liam McIntyre, Todd Lasance, Christian Antidormi. Only the three best looking blokes on the entire guest panel. Ok, so Joe Flanagan, Sean Maher, and Dominic Monaghan are easy on the eye too!

The day ends, the volunteers pack up and fall. I head down to HQ for a snack and to sign out. Jade is there and thanks me for my help. She also tells me I was awesome because I could self manage. The lass looking after the sign outs tells me they don't often get that. I'm very very happy. Confidence back and I know it's definitely not me then!

MOTH collects me from the station. He's slumming it because he has the bluebird. He's walked out of the house and forgotten to fetch the BMW key from my desk. My feet are sore and swollen. I can barely walk. Luckily I thought to take tomorrow off work so I can recover! We'll see how we go....