Well well well, what a surprise. Australia's biggest outdoor advertising agency has refused to display ads for the Australian Atheist Foundation. Christian organisations get to advertise, why can't the Atheists? Is this not making sense to anybody else? Naturally I'd like to hear the other side of the story: this article is all from the point of view of the Atheists. But the advertising agency has so far been unavailable for comment regarding the refusal. Interesting, ja?

Well, I had my first ultrasound this afternoon! A little earlier than originally scheduled, due to some slight bleeding. But all is fine! I saw the Bean! The Bean is currently an indistinct blob, with a tiny flashing white bit indicating a heartbeat, or so the ultrasound tech said. It was just a flashing white thing to me. She estimated its age at 6 weeks and 6 days, and my due date is 11th July 2009. "No abnormality was demonstrated", which I think in doctor-speak means things are fine.

Ok, Jewel has tagged me, and I must put here "15 things I'm not afraid to admit". It could be difficult to come up with 15 things you don't already know, but here goes...

1. I love Meat Loaf. The musician, not the meal. I saw him in concert a few years ago, it was awesome.

2. I have attempted to lick my own elbow.

3. I don't like Dan Brown, for literary reasons.

4. I'm enough of a geek to love text-based online games. No fancy-schmancy visuals for me!

5. I'd much rather read a book than go to a nightclub.

6. I had a crush on David Tennant ten years before anybody else. By the time he was Dr Who, I was over him.

7. I neglect my fingernails terribly. What's a nail file?!

8. I don't care to have matching furniture or a tidy house. I LIVE here, for goodness sake, it's not a show home.

9. I'm clumsy. But I have a medical excuse. Labyrinthitis. Never heard of it?? You're lucky.

10. I don't get the hype about Guitar Hero. It looks lame, and I'm not even slightly tempted to try it.

11. I still wish I could go to Hogwarts. I would totally be in Gryffindor.

12. My idealism constantly battles with my cynicism. Sadly, cynicism usually wins.

13. I have three thick dark hairs growing near my belly button. No matter how many times I pull them out, they always seem to grow back!

14. I hate shoes. Shoe-removal is the first thing I do when I get home.

15. I hate the colour orange.

Wow, last night was panic time. The tiniest bit of old blood, and I was certain something was wrong. However, upon calling the healthcare hotline, I was assured this was perfectly normal, and this morning my GP sent me off to the hospital for a "just-in-case" injection of anti-D. Aidan (who was on duty, in uniform, armed, etc) came to collect me from work to take me out to the hospital, and we spent about two and a half hours waiting in the emergency department to get this little jab... admittedly we were hardly a high priority - I wasn't about to die or anything! They were pretty busy, poor things. The medical registrar seemed run off his feet. So anyway, by the time I got back to work, it was lunch time, and then after lunch I finally did some work! And that's my story, wasn't it exciting?!

hehe Thank you all for your comments below. Cazzie, you're slow off the mark ;)

It's nearly six weeks now, my baby is the size of a raisin (they always measure it in foods), and has a heartbeat. How cool is that?! There's a tiny person inside me. In a week or two it'll have its own blood type - that's something I have to watch out for; my blood type is O-, and if baby's blood type is positive, there's a chance my immune system may react against it. However, we'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.

My writing is also going very well - I have just over 15,000 words now, and I think they're rather good words. Whilst this month is more about quantity than quality, I'd still like to end up with something a little bit good!

I'm catching up with the Canberra writers again tomorrow, even though I can't stay for the write-in as I don't have a laptop. But it's good to get together and kick around ideas and stuff.

Here is a short extract from somewhere in the middle of my "novel":

Her wanderings that morning were aimless, indecisive. She simply felt that any direction was better than none at all. The rain had stopped, but the clouds were low, dark and menacing. She tried to keep moving quickly, but was frequently distracted, and forced off-course. A rat-surrounded corpse would make her hesitate and change direction, or a blocked street might send her retracing her footsteps to find another way around. In one place, an entire section of the street had given way and only a flooded hole lay at her feet. Before long Susan had lost her bearings, her sore muscles and tired mind only adding to her confusion. Only when she stopped for a moment and saw a droplet fall to the ground at my feet did she become aware that she'd been crying.

It was at that moment that she looked up, her eyes seeking further ahead than simply the next laboured step. She had reached the suburbs, where once houses had stood in neat rows, painted cheerful colours, with well-tended gardens. The houses had long-since been burnt; only charred black piles of wreckage remained. But the gardens remained. Overgrown, untended, but there still. Susan wept and silently thanked those with the foresight to grow vegetables, fruit trees, and herbs. The quality was poor; vegetables were choked by weeds, fruit had been feasted on by birds and insects. But it was food, it was fresh, the two runaways could eat.

Five Weeks


Feeling:

Tired, very tired

Irritable

Weepy

Sore bosoms

Flatulence

Fortunately no morning sickness to speak of, I suppose I should count my blessings!



In non-pregnancy related news: What I Did On My Weekend

The local NaNoWriMo kick-off lunch was held at the Pancake Parlour in Civic, so I went along to that. There's always something weird about a gathering of people who, almost be definition, are anti-social nerds. (Who else would volunteer to write 50,000 words in one month?) But it was a lot of fun, and the ideas being kicked around really helped me with my "novel". So I'm glad I went.

Also, I wrote a lot. I've got just over 8,000 words now, and a public holiday tomorrow on which to do a whole lot more. Hooray!

My wonderful friends.

You have read this blog and been part of my life, and Aidan's, through highs and lows, through engagement and marriage, moving city, changing jobs, almost everything momentous that can happen in a person's life. Now we are honoured that you join us in this next momentous occasion, and I hope to bore you extensively over the coming nine months by writing about almost nothing else. Yes, I'm pregnant. Four weeks and three days pregnant, to be precise (counting like the doctors do, not from the actual conception). Early days, but I couldn't wait to share the news! We had our first visit to the doctor today, she ran me through all the stuff I can't eat anymore, and said a few other things about hospitals and midwives and blood tests, but I was too busy missing salami to pay attention to the fine detail.

I hope to keep you all updated over the coming weeks, and here is a cool little countdown thingie so you know where we're up to!



Now I'm going to go and stare lovingly at some soft cheeses and wines, until this thing pops out and I can eat them again!!

Ok, the first 2,500-ish words are over at Stace Writes. Enjoy.

In the lead-up to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), my nerves won't settle down. Writing 50,000 words in the space of one month is a mammoth task which I'm not sure I'm up to - especially while working full-time, trying to see my husband every once in a while, and playing computer games. I may have to sacrifice the computer games. And some work. (Not time at work, just doing the actual work. That can wait till December.)

I've actually cheated a little and started writing already. I'm fairly sure most participants will do the same. You see, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what to write about; if I could have figured that out I would have just started on a plot outline now, and not started writing properly until November. However, with no real clue... I just wrote a sentence. And then another one. And another one, and so on. So my novel will go wherever the next sentence takes it, with no plan in my own mind. This novel will surprise its writer at least as much as any reader!

Fortunately it doesn't have to be good, it just has to be 50,000 words. If you're unlucky, I might post it (or some of it) here (or over at Stace Writes, my other long-neglected blog) when it's done. If I ever finish it!

Canberra is covered in white.



No, it's not snowing.

The trees are sending out their seeds in a haze of fluff - it carries beautifully on the wind...

What may appear to be poor quality photography up in the top left is, in fact, seed-fluff. (That's a technical term which I made up.) It gets everywhere. Up noses, down throats, into houses and cars.

I've never seen anything quite like it. Although I've seen some weird things.

What odd natural phenomena have you witnessed lately??

Somepeople expressed a desire to see me with purple hair again. Sadly it's a little difficult to tell that it's actually purple in this photo, but I can't be bothered taking another one. Just trust me. It's purple.

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It's a glorious day in this big country town also known as our capital city. And what does a lazy Stace do with a glorious day? She sits out in the backyard (well, what passes for a backyard when you live in an apartment block; that's half of it in that photo) and reads and eats strawberries!

I forgot to close the screen door, and now there's a fly buzzing around inside... at least it's only one. When this town gets hotter, in mid-summer, the air is like a kind of fly soup.


Canberra really can be lovely sometimes. It's the Spring weather that I like. The Summers are far too hot, and the Winters are far too cold. And it's not just the hot and the cold, it's the type of hot and cold. Sweltering heat that makes you wish you were in Antarctica, and biting cold that makes you wish you were on fire. But today, so far, is just perfect. I'm going to sit out in the yard and read some more, and eat those strawberries!

"Ugh" pretty much sums me up this morning. It's Tuesday morning and I'm back at work after a long weekend... my back and hips are killing me, I'm still about three-quarters asleep, and I just want to go hoooome!!!

However, having had that gripe, it was a nice weekend. We went geocaching on Sunday morning, found 4 in one morning, which we were quite pleased about. We did our first multi-cache, too. That's when the original co-ordinates given aren't actually the location of the cache, but a location with a hint to the cache site. Or, as in this case, a hint to the site of another hint which finally led to the actual cache. Lots of fun! And I saw a snake.

Other than that we didn't do much. The weather had closed in again, and was rather anti-outdoorsy stuff. Rain and wind and thunder. Nice weather for staying in and playing computer games, so that's what we did for most of yesterday.

And I've dyed my hair purple again.

As promised, some photos of our Sydney Trip!

The outside of Star City, the casino in Sydney. What can I say? It's a casino. My experience of casinos is limited, not being much of a gambler, but I hear Star City is pretty good as they go... Apart from the really tacky fake rocks and waterfall just inside.

The grand and graceful Sydney Town Hall at the fall of dusk. As you can see, we had beautiful weather while we were there.

This, I photographed for Aidan's sort-of-cousin Steven. He's a big fan of Hummers, and we figured he'd be a bigger fan for a bigger car. Isn't it cool, though??

Aidan putting a geocache back where we found it.

Ok, I haven’t blogged in a while. Again. There are several reasons for this. Donnnnnnnn, firstly, was correct: I have indeed been traipsing. Geocaching is teh uber fun, and takes up most of the daylight hours that I’m not working. Yes, I’m working. My temp assignment has been sort of extended – I’m still at the same company, in a different area of the business, until at least the first week of November. Yay!

Also, Aidan and I spent last weekend in Sydney! Neither of us had been there in years, and never together, so we spent a very nice weekend wandering the city (being in a city again, yay!!!!), geocaching, and generally having a good time. I’m blogging from work right now, so I don’t have photos, but I’ll put ‘em up later if I remember. It was wonderful to be out of Canberra, to be together, to be away from distractions like books and computers, and just “BE”, you know? We really haven’t been able to do that in a long time.

For anybody in Sydney reading this, I do apologise we didn't inform you and try to catch up, but we really just wanted some "couple-time", so maybe next time :)

Aidan has this weekend off too, so we're thinking of going away again, or at least spending as much time as possible out of the house and together. Fancy that - time together! It's something of a rarity these days.

So anyway, I'm at work now. Almost everybody is in a meeting, but the few temps don't go to meetings, so it's really quiet in here right now. The guy who's meant to be training me isn't here today, and wasn't yesterday either, so I really don't know what I'm meant to be doing... I've taken a few guesses, and done some stuff, but for all I know I'll have to undo it when he gets back!

And that's the news. All the news that's new and approved!

Weeeeeeeee I had my first successful geocaching expedition today! Up Red Hill, found two of them, what fun!! Plus a good excuse to get out in the fresh air :)

Ok, update time again.

I have a temp job right now, data entry, which I'm scheduled to be doing till Friday but I think I'll have the work finished by Wednesday... I hope they find something else for me to do, else I'll miss out on two day's pay! Anyway, it's tedious of course (data entry always is), but I'm glad to be employed.

I've finally bought a GPS unit for geocaching. I went exploring with it today, I found the site of a cache but couldn't actually find the cache itself. FAIL! Oh well, next time :) It was fun, anyway, a good walk.

I've been feeling a lot happier. I think I may have been suffering from good old SAD. Seasonal Affective Disorder. You know, some of these acronyms, I swear somebody comes up with the letters first, and then figures out words for them to stand for.

My mum has decided to run in the elections for local council this year, down in Euroa. That is totally awesome. I'm fairly confident she'll be elected; she's pretty well known and respected; and she's nearly a local, having lived there for 30 years now. (It's a country thing.)

And, in a nutshell, that's my life right now.

I got a job! Sort of :) A temp job, a week's worth of data entry. Yay!!

Dear Diary... Update...

I have job interviews this afternoon and tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's interview, I think I would very much like that job - it's as a receptionist for a recruitment agency, with a view to later becoming a recruitment consultant.

I have stopped eating gluten again. GF (gluten free) food is hard to find, not as nice, and expensive. But it does make me stop feeling ill every day. The illness has been a more-or-less constant feature of my life for the last... I dunno, 6 or 8 years? So much so that I rarely think to mention it or complain about it. But it had gotten quite bad of late, so bye-bye gluten. I'm lucky enough to know the cause, since my dad is also gluten-intolerant and I know from previous experience that going GF makes me feel loads better.

I've been feeling a bit happier in general recently... I think it's a combination of a few things. The weather is getting nicer, it's hard to be depressed when it's sunny and warm (comparitively warm, not actually warm). Also I know I have only 4 days to go in this miserable job. I'm no longer feeling constantly ill thanks to gluten. And I'm looking forward to hearing from CIT to find out whether I got into this course.

And that's about it.

Well, I quit my job on Friday. I gave two weeks notice, so I finish up here on September 5th. Lovely! I'm fed up with taking the same phone messages 6 times over the space of 3 weeks because she's unable to resolve issues immediately. I'm also fed up with being paid late, lied to, kept uninformed, and fed up with the complete lack of organisation or effeciency around here. I'm gone. The boss doesn't need me - she doesn't need an office administrator, she needs a co-manager. She's never here, she's unreliable, she doesn't get things done. She needs somebody to be here and do things. And NO, I wouldn't do that if she asked me to. I am a rat, deserting this sinking ship! (Yeah, we're so broke she can't afford to pay our couriers so now nothing is getting sent to our customers... and she couldn't afford to pay me until a week and a half late... the list goes on...)

So now I need to find alternative employment. This is a bitch of a city for getting jobs, for me. Most jobs advertised are one of three things: IT, retail, or government. I'm not qualified for IT, I don't really want to do retail unless I can't avoid it, and government jobs are all fancy-pants stuff like project management or policy making. You need degrees and contacts and smarminess to get jobs like that, even if you wanted them.

So, whilst I am applying for office admin/PA/EA roles, I'm also mulling over business ideas. Gothic clothing? Sci-fi bookshop? Gluten free frozen meals? I'm also hoping to get into the Diploma of Technical Music at CIT at some point, so should I already be thinking about co-ordinating working hours with school, and find a casual or part-time job? That can probably wait.

My future is once again a blank page, waiting to be written on...