OptaMISStik

Finally!

nobody@vox.com(OptaMISStik) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:47:55 +1100

I finally finished the cross stitch for mum. Here it is, in all it's painstaking glory...

Then I framed it, and it looked a bit better... and in case you were wondering, the silver mess at the bottom right is supposed to be a silver fern (national emblem of NZ) not a pirate sword, although I know it looks more like a sword right?

Homesweetas2

I don't even want to tell you how long it has taken me to complete, but suffice to say, if there was a monetary value placed on this, based on the number of hours I worked on it - it would be the most expensive present I have ever given someone.

Hope she likes it!!!

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What the hell was I thinking?

nobody@vox.com(OptaMISStik) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:50:43 +1100

I did the spin/boxing combo classes this morning.

About 5 minutes into the spin class I realised this was a bad idea. But there was no way out. I was trapped in a sea of sweaty cyclists and had to stay for the entire class. I had my bike set on about half the resistance that the instructor told everyone to be on and I still sweated like a pig and could barely make my legs turn the wheel around. Then I staggered down to the boxing class and I don't know how I made it through. It killed me.

I can hardly walk now. I'm not kidding. I am so, so, so, so tired I just need to go home and soak in a hot bath. But I don't have a bath... Another long shower and a day spent hugging the couch would do.

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Don't waste your money

nobody@vox.com(OptaMISStik) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:48:26 +1000

On going to see 'Couples Retreat'. I'm just saying, because you won't get that hour and a half, or your $20 back.

I was really looking forward to it, and we even went to the drive in to see it. But it was so lame. Vince Vaughn is just not that funny, and I say that with love because I like him, but he co-wrote the damn thing so has to get some of the blame right? He seems like one of those people that, in real life, are pretty funny, with a dry sense of humour and all. But this didn't translate on screen as his character just monologued on about random subjects such as Richard Simmonds (FFS) while missing the point and making you lose interest in whatever he meant to get across.

After the couples ending up on the island for 'couples therapy', it seemed to negate the point when they all had their character break-throughs on the 'party' island across the ditch. And the one couple that were all fucked up and intent on cheating on each other, only stopped because he caught her dancing with the yoga instructor. That probably doesn't make sense, but neither did the movie. Keep your money in your pocket and use your time to go do something that won't make you feel like you've just spent it being subjected to a film reel about why you should not get in to a relationship but remain single.

In the Tik rating system, this lead balloon gets a 3/10

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Windy with a chance of the apocalypse

nobody@vox.com(OptaMISStik) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:57:40 +1000

This is Sydney this morning. Everything is covered in red dust from 'the worst sand storm Sydney has ever seen'. I knew we were in for some fierce winds, but had no idea I'd be woken to a red sky.

It's not only the red sky that's causing the fanatics (ok, the radio announcers) to call for the end of the world, but today is the spring equinox, (where apparently you can stand an egg on its end and it'll stand up - I haven't tried this....) there have also been earthquakes in Melbourne and the chance of bush fires up in QLD, so all in all, the Australia forecast is looking quite biblical today.

The paper's are saying we should stay home and not go out unless necessary. But my house is so old and dusty that I think its almost as bad as being outside. I stayed at The Pilot's last night, so when I walked into my house this morning I was greeted by a fine layer of dust settled on top of everything and the windows blown open wide. Awesome, that's going to be fun to clean up tonight.

Weather bureau has also forecast winds up to 100km this afternoon.

It's kind of strange outside now. It's like I'm in a sepia photo. Everything has an yellowish tinge to it.

Apart from the weather, not much else is happening with me. Boring as hell. I tried to write a couple of emails to friends but realised I had nothing to tell them. I've even taken the week off the gym, after going too hard last week and nearly killing myself.

OK, if you'll not update your posts more I'm forced to go and do work on work time even when the bosses are away and I should be taking my chance to bludge *stomps foot and grumbles*

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Random thought

nobody@vox.com(OptaMISStik) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:39:03 +1000

G's post on age bought it back to my mind, but I was thinking the other day about when I started showing 'the physical signs of aging' and ironically it was AFTER I stopped smoking, dabbling in recreational drugs and drinking myself (literally) under a table two or three times a week.

This strikes me as a little bit unfair. Now, when I'm healthy I get punished?? I mean, had the lines or the bags under my eyes shown up while I was dancing on a table while gut-dragging a malboro under the influence of whatever I'd stuck up my nose/down my throat/inhaled, I'd most likely have taken a bit of notice and thought about stopping it all sooner than I did...

So now, its when I'm not smoking (almost one year!), and am drinking in moderation, and haven't touched any drugs in as long as I can remember, that the wrinkles jump all over me and everything starts to head south.

Not fair.

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I'm not kidding

nobody@vox.com(OptaMISStik) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:16:30 +1000

Everything hurts. This 'next level' of fitness is bloody painful. Even my fingers are sore. It kind of hurts me to type.

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Walk, walk, walk

nobody@vox.com(OptaMISStik) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:09:31 +1000

I don't know quite what is out the back of my house. Well, obviously there is a backyard and a walkway to the lane, but its the business across the lane that I don't quite know about.

There are no signs. There is a skip that is full of boxes and other rubbish. I never see anyone coming or going. But every Monday morning at 4am an industrial truck pulls up and does 20 minutes worth of scrapping and making so much noise that it must wake up the entire neighbourhood. Maybe they are emptying the skip? My place is pretty sturdy, but it shakes like a Tokyo apartment in an earthquake, whenever this truck arrives. It's so annoying. So, I've been awake since 4am.

I'm tired and grumpy and its only Monday.

***********

It's going to rain too. After yesterday I'm not surprised. We had a 32 degree day. Was beautiful, but very, very hot.

I went for a walk to Newtown to get an ice cream around 4pm. I nearly died. Came home and passed out on the couch... Did my nails (bright pink for the toes and light purple for the fingers) then dyed my hair and watched 5 episodes of Arrested Development. It's a little better than before, but not by much. I still have reverse regrowth - light roots and dark tips. I dyed it dark brown, because I couldn't go black... the tips of my hair are black though. I look a bit strange.

***********

I did the Bay Walk on Saturday. It's a 7km walk, which was nice. Beautiful day for it. Then I came home and washed my car before going to boxing. The class was soooooo hard. Most of the class were men and they weren't there to mess around. I went so hard, and I'm still hurting now. I think that with all my walking, this weekend I probably clocked about 20km...

No wonder I'm exhausted.

Which explains why this post is so boring...

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This is good

nobody@vox.com(OptaMISStik) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:44:25 +1000

Laura Ling and Euna Lee speak about events leading to their capture in North Korea

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Apple, you bite.

nobody@vox.com(OptaMISStik) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:37:11 +1000

I used to be a massive Apple advocate.

I've used them (both privately and professionally) for years. I was one of those annoying people who totally aligned themselves with the 'cool' stereotype of Macs and thought that PC users were boring and annoying. I believed that Apple = creativity while PC = work station.

This theory extended to MP3 players. iPod's were the way forward, everything else was just catch-up technology sure to be outdated by the mighty Apple.

This was all until I bought an iPod Touch last year and had the thing replaced THREE times because it's software kept failing - it wouldn't recognise wifi signals, or it wouldn't hold a battery charge or it just plain died. ugh. I gave up, sold my third replacement on eBay and bought the iPhone earlier this year. In doing so, I paid my contract out on my old phone to the tune of $400.

Now my mother f*cking iPhone won't let me hear call's unless its on speaker. Piece of crap.

I'm due for a new computer. I was going to buy a Mac, but there is no way that is going to happen. I'm vowing right now, Apple's not getting anymore of my money.

\ / take that Steve Jobs.

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Weekend plans

nobody@vox.com(OptaMISStik) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:50:57 +1000

Is it the weekend yet? No? OK, it's close, only one sleep away...

Can't wait.

The end of my month-of-living-breathing-hell is coming to an end. After today and tomorrow I should be able to function like a normal person, with the busiest projects of the year out of the way. Woohoo. I don't know how we have pulled this off. We're a tiny team at the best of times, without throwing a trade show complete with major events, plus a bi-yearly 400 page resource book into the mix. Usually we have one month to get our main magazine out, this week we have 4 days - hmmnnn, not that my bosses expect too much from us...

But, it's nearly over. I haven't taken my blood pressure in days, ever since I couldn't get it lower than 90 I decided that I'll leave it until next week when Vippy and Big Boss are up to QLD for an event and I'm sleeping in a lot and eating lots of good food and having NO stress. THEN I'll take my blood pressure and give it to the Doctor to make her decision about whether or not I need to be on blood pressure medication. My mother who is a nurse, doesn't think this is a good representation to give to my dr, but I argued that I'm not measuring my blood pressure over the highest stress-period of the year and giving that to the dr who will determine if I need to take medication for the rest of my life. My mum said, 'I'll not argue with you, it'll increase your blood pressure'. Mum's are funny.

So, for this weekend I'm chilling. And I'm so, so, so excited about it. I'm staying home tomorrow night. I'm curling up on the sofa in my oldest, ugliest, rattiest clothes and doing guitar tutorials off youtube (loves having the interweb at home!), and eating pasta and ice cream and having the hottest, longest shower in history before sleeping the hell out of my bed.

Saturday night I'll do the boxing class in the early evening before heading out to see a band at one of my favourite clubs, The Metro. Sunday night I'm planning to see 'Inglorious Basterds'.

It's going to be a wonderfully chilled out, relaxed and drama-free weekend. I'm going to sleep and rest so much that come Monday I'll be a new woman.

I am so excited by the prospect of sleeping for more than 4 hours at once. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait.

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