So.

Guess who got a job?

Uh, yeah ... That'd be me.

Hahaha.

Only part time, to work around the other one.

Woo hoo :-)

In other news ... My back is not so great today. I dont know why, or what I've done. I've taken some painkillers, but nothing too strong since I'm working at 12. I think I need to start walking again, but since I drowned my iPod, then my little old MP3, I haven't had any music, so I haven't been walking.

I'm trying to form coherent thoughts ... It's not working too well :-) Oh well. Anyway, I gotta get going and get ready for work.

I'm out.

Stupid technology

So, I'm typing this on my old laptop.

Because, my computer (the one inherited from my mum a couple of months ago when she purchased a new one) died today.

As in, one minute it was fine, the next minute ... Not working.

What the??!!

I'm not quite sure what I did to offend, or upset, it, but it was BAD. Now the damn thing won't freaking work.

So I'm now deleting all the files and programs I don't need on this laptop, to try and make it run a little faster.

I'm just hoping that I haven't deleted anything I'll actually need in the future.

Anyway, I better get back to it ... I so hate technology.





- *** Oh, ANNNNNNND ... ... ... ... ...
I got a second interview for the reception/admin position I applied for ... I'm pretty excited, and I'm hoping it all goes well. My interview is Monday @ 1;30 ... Go me!! *** -

Yup, I've changed the look of the blog again.

I've also added more Caringbridge links, and I've updated the links. Just a reminder, the links with ** (Eg. *Hannah*) are children that have died.

There's also new random links somewhere along the right hand side. They're not in any particular order, but most of them are sites I visit a few times a week.

And now, I'm going to bed.

Are you there God?

Are you there God?

It's me, Snappz.

Just wanted to say thank you.

Thank you for allowing someone, somewhere, to invent WET2STRAIGHT HAIR STRAIGHTENERS!

Because they really are a god-send.

I think I might just be in heaven ...

The things we do for friends ...

So, let me tell you about my friend Chrissie.

She is, without a doubt, my best mate.

We moved in together in 2002. We were both entering our second year at uni. I'd lived with three people I'd never met the year before. It didn't end well. Chrissie lived with a couple of girls we'd gone to highschool with, and they also had problems. We met up at the student union at the uni one morning and started talking. She was miserable, I was miserable. We made a joke about living together the next year ... And somehow it happened.

Until then, we'd been friends ... Not great friends, not really close, but just friends. But the next thing I knew, we were looking at places to rent together, and all of a sudden ... We'd moved in together.

From day one, it was right. We're both pretty relaxed. We didn't have a single fight during the year. Chrissie managed to flood our entire unit during the mid-year break, and I almost broke her bed one night. Didn't matter. We never fought about music, or tv, who's turn it was to do the dishes, or having friends over. It was awesome. During that year, we had a great time, and it was nice to not dread going home after uni.

Since we had so much fun the first time around, at the end of the year when it was time to move again, we decided to stick with each other. We moved into a bigger place with another friend from school. Again, we had a great time. And somehow, Chrissie and I went from friends to best mates.

She has been there through everything. It doesn't matter how bad things have been, I've called her. When she moved back to Kerang for a year to help her mum after her dad had a stroke, she'd come down to Bendigo every Wednesday, and we'd hang out. I'd go visit George with her, we'd go see a movie or have lunch, then she'd head back to Kerang. When I left Safeway, at 11 o'clock on a Friday night, she was the first one I called. I was upset and confused, and she was on my doorstep 10 minutes later, listening to me as I poured my heart out. I was there when she went for her first nursing position interview.

She's the one I'd call if I was ever in serious trouble. Calm, rational, never getting flustered. She is an awesome nurse, working on a very difficult ward. My best mate.

Her one weakness?

Mice. Mousies.

Yup.

So that explains why, at 11:45 tonight, I got a hysterical text message, saying that she'd seen a mouse, and that she was now never getting off the couch, EVER AGAIN.

That also explains why, at midnight, I got dressed, went to Coles, got mousetraps and went to Christines.

Slight snag when I got there though, as she had locked her door, and I couldn't get in. I spent 10 minutes on the doorstep, explaining that no, I couldn't throw the traps through the closed door, or even the closed window, to her.

Finally, I heard her bolt to the front door, unlock it, and bolt back to the couch. By the time I got the door open, she was already back on the couch, standing up, screaming and pointing at where the little critter had been.

So, I searched high and low, moved things this way and that way, looked in front and behind ... And couldn't manage to find the damn thing.

I'm sure he'll come out of hiding when she goes to bed. (Not, as I told Christine, to chew off her nose - and that actually got a scream from her ... Hahaha) Not that she'll go to bed ... My bet is that she'll just sleep on the couch ... :-)

Anyway, it's now after 1 a.m., and I'm stuffed, so I'm going to head to bed. Peace out, and hi to any mousies that might be reading this :-) Hahahaha.

Dear B*** ...

Dear BH**

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to stay at your fine establishement - Hotel de Bendigo Hospital, thanks to a little something called pneumonia.

This was not a vacation I had planned for - thankfully, this great state of Victoria picked up the bill for me! Score!

Although my stay was short, it was not what I'd call enjoyable - strangely, being poked with needles, having blood taken, having sticky things put on my chest, and being woken to have a nurse stick something in my ear doesn't really make me all that relaxed or happy - I must commend you on your excellent room service. Someone always appeared when I rang for room service. Kudos! Although, when I rang the little buzzer I did not receive, as requested, a massage. Instead, one of your staff would mumble something, and walk away. Or, even worse, they would poke, prod, or stick me again. Oh, you lost some points there, Hotel de Bendigo Hospital.

I must also tell you that the food - far from being the five star cusine that one might expect while on holidays - was very ordinary. Although I was given a choice of three meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all three options were always very unappealing. And once the food arrived ... Well, what can I say? Very ordinary, very ordinary. Perhaps you should consider hiring Chef Ramasy? I've heard the man has a bit of a mouth on him, but I've no doubt he can whip your kitchen into shape!

I must also commend you on your linens. While they do not look to be anything fancy, housekeeping made sure that the sheets were clean, and the blankets were warm.

I did however request a queen bed when I was admitted, and was given a single. Now, what is up with that? It did not escape my attention that all beds in de Hotel are single ... Perhaps next year, the budget could stretch for some double or queen beds? Perhaps it will make your "guests" more comfortable!

In closing, I wish to thank you for my sometimes pleasant vacation. While some may argue that two days is not long enough for a holiday, I would say that at Hotel de Bendigo Hospital, two days is more than enough!

Yours truly,
Snappz.

P.S. I must also say thank you for the complimentary oxygen you had me hooked up to. That was a lot of fun! Not as much as a spa treatment though ...

Origin, 2008.

Game one is tonight.

GO BLUES!

Dude, where's my car?

So ... My ... third (?) day of unemployment was ok.

I had an appointment SAEP (employment agency). Went to the library on the way home to pick up some books ... I got plenty of time to read now! Spent most of the afternoon on the couch reading actually, as my back was really sore today, and I had cramps (Was that too much info? Sorry ... Just forget you read it. NOW! Forget! Now!). So yeah. I sat on the couch and ate jellybeans :-)

I did get a phone call about a job I applied for today, I have an interview on Thursday morning. It's office admin/reception, which is what I'd like to go into. So please, please cross your fingers, your toes, your eyes, and your knees for me. If you don't, you know I'm totally going to come after you and kick your arse, right?

Annnnnnnnnnnnnyway, I'm in the middle of cooking dinner, and there's only 18 minutes until (Totally Trashy TV) BB starts, so I'm going to take off. Peace out, dudes!

Big Brother is TOTALLY trashy tv ... And I love it! Hahaha. Bianca is a cow, and Dixie ... Oh my god. Total skank-face cow. Hahaha. Love it.

I think I've figured out why Buckley keeps destroying stuff. It's because when I say "NO!", he ... Doesn't listen. Doesn't seem to give a damn. I think that's the problem right there. I'm just not sure how to fix it ... How do you discipline a rabbit?!

Yesterday morning, I got up to discover that during the night, my roof had leaked. This is how my thought process went:

Walk into the kitchen, see something on the bench ...
What? I don't remember spilling anything on the bench.
Look over to the couch. Notice there are wet spots on the couch.
What? Buckley peed on the couch? But he hasn't been on the couch this morning.
Look up at the ceiling directly above me and notice that it looks like something has exploded all over the roof.
What the hell? Has someone been in my house during the night?
Look at the ceiling in the lounge and notice that that too, is covered.
What the hell is going on? Someone broke in and exploded a bottle of coke? Oh my god ... What do I do here? Call the cops? And say what, exactly? What the hell?

As you can see, it took me quite a while to realise what had happened ... I'm not sure how, but my roof leaked, all over the lounge and the kitchen. It took hours to clean up, first I had to get everything out (because it was actually dripping onto all my stuff)and put in the spare room/my bedroom, then clean off the ceiling, then wipe down all the walls, benches, the sink, clean the curtains, rewash everything that had been on the clotheshorse, then put everything back in the lounge.

Really glad I went to the effort of getting my carpets cleaned two weeks ago, too. They've got stains all over them, because the water that leaked in was of course dirty/rusty water. Yup, reallllly glad I shelled out $100 to get the carpets done.

Anyway. So after I cleaned up the mess I headed out to help pack up the cafe. Of course, by the time I got there they were almost done! It was a bit sad, but ... Oh well, shit happens. It's not the end of the world.

Today I had to get Centrelink stuff organised ... Did some job applications, made an appointment with an employment agency (SAEP)... Ahh, the exciting life of the unemployed bum :-)

Anyway .... I started this post hours ago, then wandered off to watch some tv, and have only just returned. It's laaaaate ... Uhhh, earrrrrly Tuesday morning now :-) And I better head to bed. I've got an appointment at 10 a.m. ... Fun!

Peace out.

*Tucker*

R.I.P.

You've earnt your rest. Forever young.

Some days you just want to pee on everything ... *

Helllllllllllloooooooooooooo?



Is anyone out there ... out there ... out there ... ?



*lol* Sorry. I'm just amusing myself.



So. It's been a while.



Firstly something from the "That's a little disturbing file": Someone found this blog by typing the following words into Google:



Some days you just want to pee on everything.



I kid you not. Seriously.



Ok ... Moving on.



Let's see ... What's new ... Well, it's only 18 days until my birthday. Woo hoo. Looking forward to it because I'm hoping to get a new straightener this year. My old one seems to hate me ... Keeps turning itself off, and occasionally won't even turn on! This morning it decided to turn on, but then started smelling like something was burning. Not good.



What else ... Well, I'm unemployed. Technically, not til tomorrow, coz the cafe doesn't close til tomorrow, but my last shift was yesterday. I was hoping to go away with some mates tomorrow, but I don't think that will happen. Tomorrow morning I'll go out and see the girls, maybe have some lunch, say goodbye to the stupid Market Centre :-)



It's not all bad though. I mean, being unemployed will give me lots of spare time. Yahooo! I'll be able to watch lots of crappy day time tv, read lots of books, hang out with that bunny of mine, keep my house nice and clean ... Yep, that'll keep me entertained for about a week, I'm not sure what I'm going to do after that :-) Guess I'll figure something out.



I have been looking ... Looking ... Looking ... for another job though, for about 8 weeks now. I've had a couple of interviews, gotten about 7 rejection letters already, plus a text message saying that i'd been unsuccessful ... I'll just have to keep looking.



Hmm ... What else ... Well, I was (as I mentioned earlier) planning to go away this weekend - to Finley, in NSW - but I don't think i'll be going, as once again, I'm sick. I don't know why I seem to be picking up every freaking sick germ that's going around - I've had pneumonia twice (and ended up at the hospital because of it twice) and a chest infection as well as that stupid gastro bug (all in the last two months) - but I'm hoping that when I kick this stupid flu, I'll have had my "fill" of being sick for this year and I'll stay healthy ... Well, a girl can hope, right?!



Oh. My mum's best friends grandson (Jayden) is still in a coma. Doctors operated last week to remove a piece of his skull, to release some pressure, and they're now not sure what's going to happen, or when they might start to bring him out of it. However, my mums best friend - Janice - fell down an escalator earlier this week and broke her leg pretty badly. She was operated on yesterday, and is still in hospital recovering. I can't believe the bad luck! If you're so inclined, please think good thoughts/send up some prayers/positive juju for Janice and family, who could probably really use them at the moment ... Thanks.



Anyway. I think I'm going to go back to bed. I'm tired, and cranky, and tired, and I have another fever. Argh. Goodnight ... and since I'm now unemployed, let's hope I can start blogging a little more often ... Peace out :-)

'Jamina. Five years.

It was raining that day.

I remember thinking that it was just some stupid mistake. Thinking that I had to get home, because if I did, it'd all be okay. He wasn't dead. If I was home, I could prove that. I could change it.

I could show that it was just mistaken identity.

He wasn't dead. He couldn't be.

I remember getting inside, and Christine looking at me. She knew something was wrong, something was so very wrong, but I couldn't find the words to tell her.

I couldn't say it. "Ben is dead."

My Benjamina. God, he hated being called that.

Ben, who listened.

Ben, with the beautiful eyes.

Ben, with the quickest temper and the most amazing smile.

Ben, who laughed with me.

Ben, who was so young.


The tears didn't come until the funeral.

Every minute of that day will be forever etched into my mind.

Into my heart.

Grief is often so raw, so striking. I remember, every so often that I'd see his brother, when I was home for the holidays. Seeing him, so similar to Ben, thinking, just for a second that it was Ben, ready to call out, talk and catch up ...

Then, the realisation.

Ben's dead.

It's been five years.

Miss you, Benjamina.

Serious ... For a change.

Tonight, there is no funny stories, no bitching about work, no stupid quotes from my day.

Tonight, there is just a request for prayers/good thoughts/juju/whatever works for you, for my mum's best friend and her family.

Last night, her grandson fell 4 metres through a skylight onto a concrete floor. It looks as if he won't make it. He's currently in an induced coma, with serious head injuries, fighting for his life.

So if you could please send up a prayer, a thought, or whatever you like, I'm sure it would be much appreciated by Janice, Mark, Jodie and family.

Edit: (Tuesday) 06/05/08 -
Jayden is still in an induced coma. Doctors are hopeful that on Thursday they may be able to start reducing the drugs that are keeping him under, to see if his body can handle it. Things are still critical for him, but for the last 24 hours he has been stable ...

Edit - 28/05/2008 -
It's been a long few weeks for Janice, Mark, Jodie, Caroline and family. Lots of unexpected issues thrown up - Jayden was operated on to remove part of his skull and release some pressure. He is doing ok, but still remains in an induced coma.

The Eagle has landed.

Well, Christine is home, so same thing, really.

Which means that Jersey has gone home and stayed home :-) Yay!

I went around there last night to hang out for a while since I haven't seen Chrissie in a week. We watched some dvds, ate junk and sat in front of the heater. Nice and relaxing.

When I was leaving Chrissie's, I grabbed my iPod from the bench and chucked it in my hoodie pocket. Usually I would put it in my bag, but my bag was full.

So, I got home, chucked on a load of washing, had a bath ... And it was while I was relaxing in the bath that I ... REALISED I'D PUT MY FREAKING IPOD IN THE WASH.

So of course I bolted to the washing machine, and yes, there was my iPod, still tucked in my hoodie pocket ... Literally leaking water.

I cannot believe I did something so stupid. I worked my arse off to buy that iPod. I don't buy myself a lot of stuff like that - occasionally I'll buy myself a dvd of a tv show, that's about the most I'll spend. But this was my christmas present to myself last year. I worked my arse off in that kiosk, with a sometimes-horrible boss to pay for it.

And now, it's wrecked. Dead.

I don't even know how I'm going to survive without it. I would use my iPod about 4 times a day.

This morning, I was up early to move all the furniture in the lounge and pull apart the spare bed. A guy is coming to clean my carpets today, because I've been in this house two years and haven't had them done once. Also, Jersey peed AND pooped on my carpets, so I figure I should get them cleaned. While I was in the spare bedroom, pulling apart the bed, I was bored. So my thoughts went something like this:

"I should go get my iPo --- aaarrrghhhgaaack. Dead."

When I was moving the matresses into the laundry I thought:

"Oh, I should put on the Nova 1069 podcas ---- aaaaawwww. NO! Dead."

What am I going to do??? Seriously. The thing is like attached to my body, and now I've drowned it and rendered it useless.

This may be the dumbest thing I have ever done.

Devil dog.

I have the devil in my house.

He's disguised as a cute little puppy dog, going under the assumed name of "Jersey", so when you look at him you don't realise that he is, in fact, the devil.

This dog is seriously going to make me lose my mind. Seriously.

I feel like I'm doing something wrong, since all he does is destroy stuff, and eat stuff, and break stuff and get into trouble. He is always into something.

And you know what's nuts? He looks soooo sweet. So innocent. Especially when he's sleeping, or chewing on his bone. He just sits there, quietly, chewing away, looking like he's never done a thing wrong in his life.

Five minutes later, he's chewing a book, or eating my $30 tub of Body Butter, or destroying my sunglasses. The sunglasses that are only three weeks old. The sunglasses I got to replace the last pair that were destroyed by ... oh, that's right ... devil dog.

I actually borrowed a book about puppies from the library. Hoping to find some tips, or something. I was reading the book in bed yesterday morning. Left the book on the bed. Came back to find Jersey chewing the book. So, great. Now I have to go to the library tomorrow and pay for the puppy book because the puppy chewed the book. Uh-huh. Great.

I know he's only a puppy, and he's going to get into mischief, but surely at some point he has to learn? He doesn't seem to be learning at all. Even a tiny bit. I smack him for doing something wrong, and five minutes later I turn around to find him destroying something else. So I smack him again. And the cycle repeats. And, as soon as you smack him, he's over it. "Oh well, she smacked me, I'll go back to being happy, destructive puppy now! Let's forget what just happened!"

I have also been putting him in the laundry to punish him. The problem there is that he whines. He whines like he's been in there for days, all alone, deprived of food and water and love, even though he starts whining about thirty seconds after I close the door. The other problem? He's started attacking my laundry walls, scratching on them. He's gouged two chunks of wall out. This is a rental property. How the hell am I going to explain that to the landlord?

The other thing is, he is so sneaky. And so fast. I try to watch him all the time, but he only needs 5 minutes (sometimes not even that) to find something and destroy it. If it's something that he knows he shouldn't be doing, then he'll do it quietly and sneakily. And speedily.

Crap. He was sitting on the bed, and he just took off. I have to go. I'll update again when I'm not so close to the brink of insanity ...

Lest We Forget.

April 25. Anzac Day.

The day Australia stops to say thank you to those who fought for our country.
Thank you to those who went, even though they were so young, often teenagers, when they went to war, for Australia.
Thank you to those who are currently fighting for our country.
Thank you to those who left their families to look out for Australia.
Thank you to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and died fighting for the freedom that we often take for granted.

Whether or not you agree with war (any in particular, or in general), or with the invasion of certain countries, you can't deny that the reason you have that freedom to have and voice your opinion is because of the people who protect, and fight for, this great country. We're so lucky that we are able to voice an opinion, and know that we won't get executed, or put in prision, just for having an opinion. We're lucky to live in a democracy, where we can speak up if something isn't right. We might not be able to change it, but we can try. And it won't cost lives to try.

I know a lot of older people say that younger people have no respect. For them, for what they fought for, for what they did. But more and more of the younger generation are going to Anzac Day services, more and more are marching with pride in place of grandparents who have passed on, more and more are keeping the Anzac tradition alive. My generation is the future of the Anzac tradition. Personally, I never really "got it" - until the last few years, when I realised all that has been sacrificed. I believe that the younger generation who are going to Gallipoli, who are taking part in marches, who are carrying on the Anzac tradition, will make sure it never dies out.

To me, Anzac Day has always been largely about the football. Collingwood v. Essendon. MCG. Sell out crowd. The Last Post played before the bounce. National anthem sung. It's always a ripper of a game.

Today, was no different. It was a great game. Essendon supporters probably wouldn't say that, though :-) The first quarter was close, made it look like we were in for a good game, but then the Pies ran away with it :-) Anyway, I'll do a post on the footy a little later.

Ok, I'm going to leave you with The Ode, that's always read out before the Last Post is played.

I'm out :-)

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

AFL, Round 6.

Boys: Good win today. Bloody good win today. Play like that for the rest of the season, and we won't have any more losses like last week (and the week before), will we?

Mick: Glad to see that you went the game plan that we worked out together. Good move there, buddy. Good move.

GO PIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jersey (A.K.A. Destructo)

So. Long story short - Christine's away for a couple of weeks, so I'm baby sitting her eight month old puppy, Jersey.


Now, let's recap.


The last time Jersey stayed with me, this happened:


In three nights he managed to pee on my vacuum cleaner, destroy my sunglasses, rip a hole in my doona cover, eat a Tupperware container, and rip apart a book. Good work, Destructo!


Christine left for Kerang on last Wednesday. On Wednesday night, I picked the pup up and we headed to my place. Since then, he has managed to:

- knock over the birds cage
- freak out the rabbit by trying to stick his nose in the cage
- get into my bin and my recycling container and spread whatever he can find all over my lounge room floor numerous times
- find a tube of lip gloss, and destroy it ... All over my new sheets, effectively wrecking them by staining them (that happened Monday night. I got so upset I actually cried. Yup. Pathetic, huh?!) - pee right outside my toilet door so I STOOD in it when I got up the other morning
- chew up two socks, a pair of thongs, and a book.

He has also given me several near-strokes, by running off when I let him outside to do his business. He's always got a leash on, because my street is usually a little busy (even at night) but I let him walk around as he wants when I let him out. He's currently in the laundry, being punished because he took off when I let him outside a few minutes ago. He ran across the road, and kept dodging away from me, like it was some fun, awesome game. Meanwhile, I'm nearly having a FIT, because I can see him getting run over or disappearing into the darkness.

I'm not quite sure when Christine is returning ... But my god, as much as I love that dog (and I do, he is gorgeous, and will always cheer me up after work. Plus, when he's in a mental mood, he's FREAKING HILARIOUS!) I hope that it's soon ... ! :-)

Edited: 9:15 p.m.

I just found Jersey, under my bed, CHEWING ON MY WATCH. He's obviously been there a while, because it's destroyed. You know what? I'm not even upset. It's more like ... "Eh. Oh well."

"The best things in life are unseen. That's why we close our eyes when we kiss, cry and dream!"

Please?

Tomorrow, I have a job interview. It's a business traineeship, something I'd love to do.

So ... I could use some good vibes, thoughts, prayers, juju ... Whatever it is that works you ...

If you could fling 'em my way about 3 o'clock, that'd be great! :-)