Cat-astrophes

Why is it that when granted time, time escapes?

For some reason I have an expectation of holidays such that I spend hours a day running through meadows, sipping pineapple juice from a coconut shell on the beach, sleeping under a shaded tree, sailing dreamily down the river, watching the sunlight play on the ripples whilst napping on a gondola on the harbour...

Instead, I have been filing papers, paying bills, organising budgets, washing clothes, dusting and reorganising cupboard space.

Oh how romantic.

Still, it makes me even more appreciative of Christmas day. Some lovely person took me to a lake nearby that I didn't know about. There are some amazing views there and they showed me a few vantage spots. I think I might frequent it a bit more. At least I can say I've done *something* these holoidays so far!!

xxx

Long time no blog.

My motivation for writing was the fact that I'm now on holidays - hooray!!

I actually began my break with yet another blood test (what a way to celebrate), though the bruising was nowhere near as bad this time through. However, I did almost pass out on the way out...though I think that was more to do with the fact that I had to fast for the 12 hours prior to it.

Anyway...will find the results of those in a fortnight...my doctor conveniently went on holidays....

I've discovered that I am teaching year 1 next year...exciting and scary at the same time. Non-English-Speaking ankle-biters...this ought to be fun.

It has also been brought to my attention that I didn't bring closure to shannanigans. Let me just say there is a reason why I act before I think.

My partner in crime was a little too excited and decided to tell a few people. A few people became a lot of people. A lot of people think too much. The lady who was looking after the keys began to rationalise too much, and, well...let me just say she refused to let us anywhere near the car.

Talk about no humour.

So the car is safe...the boss is clueless...and now the rest of the staff has cottoned on to the fact that you have to watch the quiet ones. *sigh*

xxx

Is it really appropriate for 'exes' to send Christmas Greetings? I know intrinsically there is nothing wrong with it. So why am I reacting so negatively to a cutesy-wutesy card? Is it simply because I partly never want to hear from the person again? (There is no unforgiveness here, I just have no desire to maintain any contact.) Is it because of what was written?

"The best part of my year was getting to know you..."

Go jump.

Is it because it reminds me that I'm still single? (I don't think that's the one) Is it because I'm overly cautious that he's trying to keep his options open (so to speak)? Is it because I over-analyse...?

Bingo.

The funny thing is, when I saw his name my reaction was 'who??'. The same thing happened about a month ago when he called.

'Sorry, but who is this?'
'.... Guess'
'Jonno?'
'no'
'Bob'
'no'
'Lenny?'
'no'
'Dave?'
'no....'.

He seemed a bit offended. Pffft...when I move on, I move on! Total memory erasure.

Nothing constructive to say, just had to vent.


xxx

Two days at school camp and I feel 10 years older.

The kids had a great time. I had fun with the espresso machine. Infact, since dancing around it on arriving at the campsite the principal is looking into getting one for the staffroom!!!

yay!!!

Aside from a near-drowning experience and waaaaay too many sick bodies it was a great little retreat. The workers at the site were fantastic.... very nice.

I had to try not to laugh when my colleague marched 6 girls outside at 10:30pm because they would not stop giggling and waking up the others. As they were lining up against the wall, I remembered all those past school camps where the same thing would happen. I would close my eyes, breathe a little deeper and always get away with it - nobody ever suspects the quiet ones.

Now, years have past and I'm the one throwing shoes at the walls at 5:30am telling over-excited munchkins to 'shush'.

Hah...bet they sure were scared when two teachers wandered into their rooms in pyjamas, tangled hair and those deadly teacher-stares. It sounds like something out of a horror movie.

xxx

Hmmm...so far I've had a total of 9 hours sleep this weekend.

I met an interesting lady last night. She is from Canada and is over here on business. She by chance happened to come to church (where I met her) by taxi and is staying in a hotel 5 minutes from where I live. Coinkidinkal indeed.

I ended up giving her a lift home, and in the meantime discovered that she is researching the emotional reppurcussions of children who are refugees or immigrants from other countries. Coincidentally the school I work at is made up of a large proportion of children that fit these categories. She was quite a wise woman - I learnt a lot in that car trip.

I picked her up for church again this morning - it's her last day in Sydney. The sweet thing had a card for me and a little 'Canada' pin. One thing that really struck me in the card was this:

God is using you to meet my needs for worship and spiritual refreshing.

When we do those 'little things' we have absolutely no idea of the impact they could be having on another - even if they seem so insignificant to us. Picking up someone and spending a little extra time driving around is no big deal for me - but for her, it meant she could go to church on a Sunday (which she said she hasn't been able to do for the past few weeks) and was able to have communion (which she hadn't done since being back in Canada) which meant so much to her.

Anyway...she'll be off to Melbourne now. It's amazing the amount of people we could potentially impact if we made a little bit of space for strangers.

Just a thought.

xxx

Beware, I feel a rant coming on...

A few weeks ago I recieved a letter in the mail informing me that my local council is installing parking meters in my area. They work on a zoning system, and I can apply for a parking permit if I wish, for a annual fee (of course...).

What's more, if I do not have visitors parking (which I don't), I can apply for a parking permit for my visitors also. Again, for an annual fee (of course...).

However. They did fail to mention that these parking permits are restricted to one car only and must have the car rego number printed on a sticker that is permanently placed on yours or your visitors windshield. Not only that, but you are restricted to two visitors permits.

I'm sorry, but you can't have any more than two members of family or friends.

Oh but it gets better.

If I want to apply for one of these little stickers, I must apply in person with two pages of forms and documentation of proof of identity and ownership of vehicles for both myself and my visitors. Oh yes, and did I mention that I can only apply weekdays between the hours of 10 and 2???? Sorry kids, but I have to duck out and give some council worker some money.

This all happened over the last few weeks. Plenty of time to deal with it all. What pushed me over the edge was this. Here is a quote from the letter I recieved at the end of October:

parking near your area will be meter parking between 8:00am and 6:00pm Monday to Saturday limited to four hours.

However the signs that have been newly inserted in the turf outside my building read 2hour parking 8am-6pm and then 4 hour metered parking 6pm to 10pm.

Are they just trying to get my attention away from the fact that I'll be paying $100 a year just to be able to park at my own house???

I think the real victims are going to be the small businesses surrounding me. They can't afford to lose customers due to crazy parking. Most of them are dependant on street parking, as their little 200-year-old federation style buildings don't exactly have ample guest parking built in.

The thing that gets to me most is this:

Revenue from parking meters will be reinvested in the local area in which it is collected

In otherwords, I can sleep easy at night knowing that I'm paying the council workers well. (A friend who is in fact a council worker confirmed this one for me...)

Good move, local council.

xxx

Last night I had BestFriend and her husband over for a Christmas/tree decorating celebration. Whilst sweating over a roast elbow-to-elbow with BF who was making her famous pavlova (YUM) we were reminiscing over the silly things we used to say as wee-nagers.

After a sigh I said "huh...remember when we used to say that we'd never be old and boring and do things like cook dinners for each other for fun...ahhh...I wish I had've been there when I said that..."

Hmmm...

Getting prepared for camp on Monday. We had our last meeting at lunch today. One boy whom I taught last year put up his hand:

Miss, will it be dark when I close my eyes?

xxx