It has been a very busy few days, I feel quite the little socialite! Went to a Rotary dinner in Rye on Wednesday, then just the two of us went out for dinner on Thursday, then Andrew and Chantell came round last night which was lots of fun, then Russian class this morning, and later this evening I've got my first motorbike lesson!

Speaking of socialites, I see Paris Hilton has claimed to be a changed woman since her time in jail. I sincerely hope so. For her own sake, and for the sake of all those who want to emulate her, I hope she will settle down. But I confess I harbour my doubts. I will wait and see if she gets up to more shenanigans, and if she does you can all tell me I was right! For once, I don't want to be right.

I have nothing more to say. I'm a bit tired! Brain working isn't properly! I might have some caffiene before motorbiking...

A couple of weeks ago in Melbourne, a very kind man intervened in a volatile situation to give assisstance to a stranger. For his troubles, he got shot and killed.

Last night on the Mornington Peninsula, a very drunk man was daft enough to try to drive, and ended up bogged in a ditch. He walked away without a scratch.

Do you ever wonder if there is any natural justice at all? Any karma? Is there a God? What kind of God would let the good die young and tragically, whilst the foolish survive their escapades and often hurt others in the process?

Needless to say, I don't believe in God. But I do kind of believe in karma. What goes around comes around. I just hope that guy's payment is coming soon.

Yes, yes, thank you everybody, my leg is healing up very nicely! There's still a bit of a scab, but honestly the allergic reaction to the band-aid was worse! Even that's almost gone now.

I made a funky decision and acted on it in the last couple of days - I've signed up for motorbike lessons, yay! I can't even drive a car (well, I can, but not very well and not without somebody in the car with me), but I want to ride a motorbike instead! For some reason, even knowing all the inherent dangers, a motorbike seems less daunting than a car to me. So I start this Saturday, and will have 3 four-hour lessons covering theory and practice and the acquisition of a learners permit. Now I just need enough dosh to buy a motorbike - anyone got a second hand one for sale?!

As you all no doubt know by now from reading his blog, Aidan passed his physical test, so we're getting all excited and happy - things are finally happening, after almost 18 months of going through this application process!!! We're now seriously considering the implications, such as having to move to another city at some point - I suppose it could be worse, for instance, we don't have to move to the Western suburbs of Melbourne! (Sorry Cazzie, just kidding!)

What else have I been doing? I don't really know! Time runs away sometimes, particularly when life is especially enjoyable like it is just now. I'm still loving my job, and I've been reading some really good books lately (sadly I finish them all too quickly) - George R R Martin and Tad Williams and Neil Gaiman. Yeah, I'm a bit of a sci-fi/fantasy fanatic. I know, I know, I could replace the word "broadsword" with the words "throbbing member" and I'd have a tacky escapist romance novel. But it's different, I promise!!! (If you believe that to be true of all sci-fi, read Tad Williams' "Otherland" series and become enlightened!)

What else... oh yes, the Transformers movie is coming out this week, and fortunately I think Aidan is planning on seeing it by himself so I won't have to pretend I want to see it, or pretend I liked it afterwards, or even pretend I really remember the original cartoons or whatever it was! (He's gonna grumble at me for that, apparently being unaware of certain 1980's television programs or movies is a near-divorceable offence!!)

I have used a LOT of exclamation marks in this post. Sorry about that!!!!!! I'm just happy and stuff.

Now, to embark on that task I have left too long undone - reading and commenting on all my friends' blogs... This could take a while!

I can't believe how cold it's gotten. A few weeks ago every day was 25 degrees, sunny and warm, and then BAM, suddenly we're getting frosts in the mornings and all-day fogs. I don't like it! If I must be cold, I'd rather be cold somewhere that's meant to be cold: Siberia, Antarctica, England, and so forth. Why, oh why, am I still in Melbourne? Maybe I'll start up a charity fund: Help Stace And Aidan Travel, donate now because they're so bored with staying in one place!!!

Update on my leg: The original wound is healing up very nicely, but I had an allergic reaction to the band-aid. Now I have a big red rash all around the wound, which has actually been more painful than the wound ever was.



In other news: My boss went on holiday for a week and left me alone in charge of the office! I'd only been there for a month before he left, I was a little nervous, but it turns out I did really well on my own. He actually brought me a present from Hong Kong - a lovely fan with a display stand - for looking after the office. He seems happy with me, and that in itself gives me a bit more confidence in myself and my own abilities. I guess I'm a real Office Administrator now, yay. That reeks of conformity and corporatisation, but it can't be helped. At least after I've chalked up a year or so experience I'll be able to get a well-paying full-time job just about anywhere in the English-speaking world. If I want one. What do I want? I don't know! That's ok. I'll have fun finding out.

That was a lot of inane rambling. Sorry about that! Have a nice day!

They say a picture says a thousand words. So here's a picture of my leg:



Don't worry, it doesn't really hurt, it just looks like it hurts. It's quite impressive. I considered taking it to hospital, but instead I've just antisepticed it and put a band-aid on, that seems to be doing the trick!

In other news, I have a new life plan. I want to create a micronation. I don't want to be part of any country currently existing, except maybe Albania because it has a cool name. So I'll make my own country instead! I realise, of course, that this will take time and money and quite a lot of work. That's ok, I've got my whole life to get things organised. First I need to find some land and buy it. Well, first I need to earn some money with which to buy the land. I thought perhaps a nice big country property which could be worked. I'll make primary produce the focus of my economy, and I'll base the value of my dollar on the cost of licorice all-sorts instead of gold. My laws will include: no cars, no smoking, no spitting, no intolerance of minorities. Each breach will incur a small fine - to the value of ten packets of licorice all-sorts. Further lapses will result in forcible expulsion from the country. I don't want unruly sorts! Just lovely social harmony and peace. Citizenship will be available to all, with no residency requirements - only a small fee of perhaps the value of three packets of licorice all-sorts. I will declare war on absolutely nobody, no matter what. I will grant citizenship and residency to any illegal immigrant willing to work the land or do something productive within the country.

I'll keep dreaming away and planning and plotting, and very probably my micronation will never actually exist. But a woman is allowed her dream!

Welcome to July! Apologies for the week-long break - Aidan's a computer-hog, what can I say?! My hand is fine, thanks for asking, and I haven't punched any more walls.

I did cry yesterday, but that was unrelated to hand/wall collision. We went to see "The US vs John Lennon". It was quite brilliantly done, touching and insightful. The focus was on his life and the positive aspects, and the scene dealing with his untimely demise was tasteful and not overbearing. However being the massive Beatles & John Lennon fan that I am, I couldn't
help but be effected. I was pleasantly surprised by Yoko Ono's appearances; although I haven't blamed her for the Beatles' break-up since I was quite young, I still never quite LIKED her. But she came close to changing my mind with her presentation throughout the documentary. So anyway, if you get the chance, it's a movie well worth seeing.

In other news, my new job is STILL going well - although today I had to pretend to be an accountant. Maths and figures have never been my strong point. I'm sure I'll get my head around it as I do it more often, but today was a bit of a struggle!

What else have I done this week? My mother came down to shop with me in the city last Saturday, which was rather fun! I scored a nice jumper and a pair of jeans. Sadly last night I found a jacket/coat/thing which I rather fell in love with, but it's about $300 and who can justify that on a single item of clothing?! Well, probably almost everybody. But not I! Not with intentions of travelling and having babies and other expensive things in the just-barely-forseeable future! Not to worry, I'll just have to find other ways of keeping warm over Melbourne's winter instead of buying coats.

I'd better go and help Aidan clean and cook - we're having our favourite vegetarian over for dinner tonight, and we are therefore making our favourite vegetarian dish! (Does that make it sound like I intend to cook Andrew? Oops.)

I'll try not to leave it a week next time!

My hand hurts. You may be curious as to why my hand hurts. It's because I just punched a wall. You may wonder why I punched a wall. It's because I was unable to punch the guy who drove by as I walked home and yelled "SLUT!" at me out his car window.

I'm beginning to think that our justice system should more closely resemble the process of training a dog. If a dog poops on the carpet, you reprimand him immediately and sharply - if you delay, he will have no understanding of why he is being punished; and if you are not sharp with him he will be unsure if he is actually being punished or not.

As such, it should be perfectly legal for me to punch somebody in the face in response to him calling me a slut. In fact, it should be illegal for me NOT to punch him in the face for calling me a slut. By not punching him, I am allowing him to escape his offence unpunished, and he will have no hesitation in re-offending. I am contributing to the overall lawlessness of society. I am failing in my duty as a citizen. I'm a bad dog!

By the way, Frank, my favourite Canadian writer would have to be Gordon Korman!!!

Ever seen a 24 year old wear a paper hat with no sense of irony? If not, you missed your chance last Sunday night. There I was, along with Aidan and two other mid-20's rockers, standing in a queue (yes there was a queue) to see Peter Combe. We had previously been to a burger place and stole their newspapers with which to adorn ourselves, and we were not alone in this.

For those of you who did not spend your childhood in Australia in the 80's, allow me to explain. Peter Combe once had a 5-minute segment on ABC TV each day, during which he sang. His songs were topical, relevant, and very deep. With songs such as "Wash Your Face With Orange Juice" and "Newspaper Mamma", who could fail to love him?

He got up on that stage on Sunday night, and all of us who were fans at the age of 3 were still rocking on! There was not one person there who didn't genuinely have a good time - it was a return to innocence and better days. Nobody gave a political message, nobody was trying to rebel against anything, and nobody was selling anything. Iit was just a happy reliving of childhood. He got three encores, and he came out the final time to say "We've played our entire repetoire, so we'll just do one of them again!" Yes, we mid-20's crowd exhausted the repetoire of a children's performer and loved every second of it.

The world needs more of that.

According to Google, "Stace needs" the following things:
- to re-configure his [her???] luggage
- to learn someone's ass some respect
- a vacation already
- mental institution
- to contribute more
- a new boyfriend
- to start saving
- to find something more constructive to do with her free time other than pissing of people she doesn't know
- a proper education

According to Google, "Stacy was arrested for" the following things:
- DWI [I don't even know what that means... Drunk Within Tent?]
- passing out in her car with her children present
- being a slut

I googled "Stace is bored" and it only came up with links to my own previous posts. Searches for my own names (maiden and married) fill in a little time... there's quite a few people out there who share my old name and my new one. Mostly men, thanks to my parents weird foresight in giving me the traditionally male spelling of my first name.

I'm bored.

There is a wonderful old computer program called NIALL - anybody know it? Niall attempts to learn English, or whatever language you care to teach it, by breaking down the sentences you type in, remembering words and connections between words, the number of times a particular connection has occured, and start/end sentence markers. So you start by typing in something - "It's a nice day," or whatever you like, and NIALL responds, and as you type more things it "learns" more word combinations. I used to have loads of fun with it years ago, and I've re-discovered it tonight (http://www.lab6.com/old/niall.html) so I'm having lots of fun again. NIALL just told me, "I've missed you like a computer program and then why don't know." I've been feeding it song lyrics and profound or amusing quotes in the hope that it will pick up something useful, but it's all to no avail! Lots of fun, though. Give it a shot if you've got a spare few hours!

Ok, time now to address your blog topic suggestions. Thanks for nothing, Steve, I'm sure I've done a DP blog at some point in the distant past!

Funniest thing that ever happened to me
Probably not THE funniest, but pretty funny anyway... Whilst in the company of a very good friend of mine, I saw another friend. I tried to introduce the two of them, only to find that they went to uni together and were already very good mates. I then saw a third friend, and tried to introduce him too, but they all knew each other!!! Ever since then, I've never tried to introduce anybody to anybody else without checking if they have a prior acquaintance!

People from Primary School
I have no idea at all where any of my primary school friends are.
- I bumped into one of them in the city fringe a few months ago, she was working nearby and studying in the city. (Oddly enough, she used to date a good friend of somebody I used to date. Make sense?)
- I know through another friend that somebody I went to primary school with has been in a car accident and is now blind as a result.
- At my old job, I used to receive faxes from a company signed by a lady with the same name as sombody I was at primary school with. It's not a common name, but I never asked her if she was the same person.

At about 5pm yesterday, all of these bottles were full. In fact, we'd only just bought them. This photo was taken at approximately 9pm. What can I say, I love Midori! See:

Well, I had a little "end of first week" feedback from my new boss today. He says I've done a good week's work, and seems quite happy with me. He has also informed me of certain dates when he will be away, and it will be my responsibility to manage everything in his absence. He evidently believes that by the time those dates roll around I will be sufficiently capable. This is good!

My last few posts have ALL been about work - interviews and leaving and starting. What else can I blog? Should I do another endangered species?

Actually, here's a thought: give me a potential blog topic in the Comments, I'll pick one and research it and blog it in the next week or so.

No, I haven't disappeared off the face of the Earth! Just off the face of the blogosphere for a few days. It's hard to find time to blog when I can't do it at work and my evenings are occupied. Not any more though - I finished my bartending course! Passed all subjects, so now if I wanted to I could bartend. I don't know yet if I will. Perhaps 2 or 3 nights a week - something to do, and a little extra cash.

The new job seems to be going quite well - as far as I can judge after four days, anyway. There's a lot to learn, but I'm fairly sure I'll pick it up quickly enough. My boss says he goes easy on people if they screw up during their first week, so I'm semi-dreading next week!!! He won't tell me what he's like if people screw up AFTER their first week, he just said, "test me". Hrrrmm!
The good stuff: Part time hours, casual clothes, relatively close to home, better pay (on an hourly basis) than previous job.
The bad stuff: I haven't found any yet.

Life in general is ticking along quite nicely, I'll try to post something more interesting and more frequently now I'm done with evening classes!

It is done! I have left. Quit. Nicked off. Scootled. Resigned. Gone. And all that!!! They got me flowers and a nice card, they got me slightly tipsy, they hugged me, one of them gave me a lift to the train station so I could get home, and that was that! I'm unemployed until I turn up at my new job on Monday. It feels a little odd - I can't quite grasp the fact that I will never see some of those people again, I will never work in that office again, I will never again get away with quite as much as I did there!!! (I have told them that if the new job doesn't work out, though, I'm coming back!) So there you have it. I'm going to stop writing now, and go and get some more alcohol. I deserve it!

I don't know a song about frogs
There are songs about lizards,
koalas, and dogs
But no-one writes songs about frogs

I don't know why I like frogs. It's not an obtrusive obsession, it doesn't occupy a lot of my time or mindspace, but I just like frogs. Did you know there are 13 endangered and 2 critically endangered species of frog in Australia?

The Armoured Mistfrog was last seen in 1994 in Far North Queensland. Currently, nobody knows anything about it - how many are left (if any), the gender balance, breeding season, tadpoles... it's all a bit of a mystery.

The Mountain Mistfrog is in a similar situation, with just as little really known about it, but it hasn't been seen since 1990. Surveys conducted in 1991, 1992, and 1993 all failed to find any trace of this frog.

Somebody's got to care about frogs. Even if all I can do is blog it, that's better than forgetting entirely.

It's the final countdown! (Hat-tip to Europa) - Three days left! Slightly less, actually... just under 25 hours of working time left. That's excluding travel time and lunch breaks. Am I getting too excited about something mundane? Yes, I am! But that's ok! It is excitement-worthy, although I'm sorry to waste your time by crapping on about it! I promise at some point soon I will blog something interesting.

Some people just make me want to SCREAM!!! They call up and I tell them what happened and I apologise and explain what I will now do for them. BUT IT'S NEVER ENOUGH!!! They just want more and more and MORE,or they just want to complain and whinge and moan about it, and then they try to sound menacing by asking for my name again at the end of the call - as if they're actually going to tell somebody about it or lodge a complaint. I just felt like telling her, I don't give a crap because I've already quit and it's because of people like you!

 

It's calls like that which make me realise that yes, leaving the call centre industry is the best thing I've ever done.

Stuff I forgot to say:

Yes, the job "trial" went well and I'm starting my new job as Office Administrator on Monday! Yay me!

Yes, I'm doing a bartending course which started last night and it's fun. Yay me!

Yes, I'm really tired now but also very happy with the way things are turning out. Yay me!

Yes, I'll stop saying "Yay me!" right now. Yay me! Well, ok, NOW I'll stop.