True quote
nobody said it was interesting
... and I didn't make you read it.
I am so far from interesting right now. So. Very. Far.
All sorts of things are happening - some new, some business as usual.
The Monkey and me bought another house. We're gonna keep the old one as a rental.
This is the new one:
This time it's on a full block with 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms, etc, etc.
Mum's happy. She's of the opinion that breeding is imminent.
I am not.
Don't get me wrong - anything is possible - the monkey and me just haven't made that decision yet.
On the flip side, my uncle has been diagnosed with cancer.
Diagnosed seems the wrong word, as if he has any control.
In the 12 weeks since doctors identified several large tumours in his brain he's undergone chemo and radio therapy; but the tumours have still grown 50%.
He's at the point now where I think nobody's talking about the fact that he's got weeks to live. His youngest son is 16 - it's terrible.
Speaking of the youngest, he's just come out. More power to him.
It's all happening here...
hi internet, it's been a long time
I have a chest infection. This is not a welcome development because it is greatly reducing my quality of life; and, if pressed, I'm forced to concede that my quality of life is not all that high to begin with.
You know the drill.
Sleep. Work. TV. Repeat.
It's a common theme here. Did I used to be interesting? I don't remember what that felt like.
So I'm propped up in bed with All The Used Tissues and a creeping complacence regarding the work I need to be dong.
I'm in charge of a new project. A new project with a hefty bonus attached to it and the opportunity to splash egg all over less competent people's faces. Money AND comeuppance – it doesn't get much better than that.
I'm serious. No, really. No drinking for a month.
Hi Y'all,
I have decided this year to throw probability to the wind and battle through a month-long dry spell; and I want YOU to consider joining me in this difficult adventure.
I am giving up alcohol this February to score as much cash as I can for FebFast, raising funds to help hundreds of young people with serious alcohol and drug problems get a second chance at a healthy life.
If you don't feel up to the challenge you can always chip in by sponsoring my team, Temperance Skillz Development; and by guilting everyone you know into throwing a little sugar our way.
To join me, or sponsor the team, click the widgety-thingy on the right.
I look forward to your ridicule and contemptuous guffawing.
xx Cass.
The League of Extraordinary Gaylords
Although I am a self-professed geek; I am more culture vulture than technophile.
With that in mind, imagine how much fun I am having at my very first LAN party. So far, whilst witnessing a file swapping frenzy, I have had the opportunity to explain the premise of the TV program Quantum Leap, discuss my feelings on the Alien vs Predator franchise and download all 5 seasons of Daria.
Of course this came at a price. Specifically, having to listen to the banter of 8 nerds as they battled to blow each others' virtual heads off.
Bogan, bogan, bogan. Oi, oi, oi!
I spent the long weekend (happy birthday EII, even though it was in April) at Seacombe with one of the Monkey-husband's employees and his immediate family.
Those readers not familiar with the Gippsland Lakes may be wondering whether it's a worthy tourism locale. I can give you no greater advice than that found on the official Gippsland Tourism website which suggests that whilst there you might like to "visit the largest concentration of open cut mining and power generation activity in Australia."
Would I! Where can I sign up?
But I digress.
I did not, as it turned out, see any open cut mining or power generation activity. But because the monkey and his coworkers mix the bogan with a healthy dose of geek, I did witness the spectacle of a bunch of blokes destroying old computers with 4 kinds of firearm and ride dirt bikes around a disused paddock. Observe:
Film credits belong to Rob-the-coworker. It's not enough to do these things. You're not a true geek unless you film them and cut together your own shorts; thanks Rob.
And thanks for letting me ride your GF's postie-bike.
Keep yourself nice
Where I come from (i.e. my mother's uterus) there is a saying.
"Keep yourself nice."
Since I only have a sister I'm not sure whether it applies to the male of the species, but I'd like to hope so because boys can be truly revolting.
Keeping yourself nice means, basically, that you:
- can hold your liquor - this means not being the girl who has to have her hair held back while she vomits into the bushes at the end of the night;
- practice safe sex, including protecting yourself from STI's;
- don't say cunt - I fail at this one frequently;
- don't chew gum;
- don't dress like a slapper - which is not to say that you can't sex it up, but there are clear distinctions between flaunting your assets and just looking like a pole dancer - which reminds me;
- don't dance on tables, with poles or in your underwear unless you're at a midnight screening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show; and
- know when you're old enough to know better.
With that in mind, I present to you exhibit A:
This is my cousin's birthday cake. I believe the adjective my mother applied to it was "uncouth."I'm not entirely sure what would possess a 30 year old woman to invite her friends and extended family to feast upon an effigy of her ample bosom rendered in cake. Perhaps too much self confidence? Whatever the inspiration, it certainly ruffled a few old chooks' feathers and made some of us feel proud of our credentials as "nice" girls who are "old enough to know better."
Well, maybe that was just me. Am I a snob? Possibly. But this kind of public display does seem distinctly skank-tacular, am I right?
Also, the picture is apparently so offensive that the good people at photobucket deleted it for breaching their terms of use, or something. God bless my trashy relatives...
It was love at first sight
I spent $266 on a handbag this morning. Good for me.
I've never spent more than about $60 on a handbag before; but I saw this one on Friday in the evil shop near my office that seems to have been opened simply to suck all the cash straight from the wallets of those of us who are susceptible to the psiren call of kitchen porn and miscellaneous homewares and it was love at first sight.
I spent the whole weekend thinking about it, trying to decide whether or not I could justify spending so much. Common sense told me I shouldn't, but I just couldn't get the damn thing out of my head.
And then I got to thinking.
I would happily spend as much or more for a night out is a swanky hotel; and I really did need a new handbag - my old one is falling apart and can't hold nearly the amount of crap I seem to find it necessary to cart about with me; and this bag was soooo nice; and where would I ever find another one capable of measuring up to what would surely become mythologised, at least in my own mind, as The One That Got Away; and, and, and... I WANT IT!!!!
You can't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need. I needed a new handbag and I knew which one I wanted. It was an open and shut case. I opened my wallet, handed over my Mastercard and shut my eyes. When I opened them again the nice sales assistant was wrapping my beautiful new bag in tissue paper, ready for the short journey to my heart.
Winning = awesome
Check it out, we won a digital camera at one of the Monkey's speed dating networking things last night.
Of course we already have a great digital camera but, now we've got two, there won't be any excuse for me not to take lots more shots-about-town.
Stand by for amateurish photos of Melbourne's Victorian and Edwardian architecture.
