on Friday I ended up doing 7326 steps according to the pedometer, and Saturday 8400 - Saturday included a 3km run, so it means that the rest of the day was pretty inactive.
We reviewed our insurances and fire plan yesterday which was really good, but living in the bush and talking about the threat of bushfires and what we must do in the event makes me feel physically ill.
Last night I dreamt that I was working in a government organisation and that an old lady told me to look in the paper where they had been quoting me from The Gurge - I was horrified and scoured all of the newspapers in my dream but was unable to find any reference to the blog - hardly surprising as its not particularly newsworthy, but it made me uneasy.
I bought myself a present from ebay recently - a Nintendo DS and Animal Crossing its rather addictive and meditative
Saturday 12 January 2013
Thursday 10 January 2013
Three hundred and fifty five
Its about 35 degrees in Bendigo at the moment. I just left there to drive back down to Ballarat after meeting with a few folk up there - in our office right now, its about 16 degrees, so its rather confusingly hot when you go outside for any reason.
Its 2.05pm and I have only walked 3500 steps so far - most of my day has been yet again spent in the car driving from Waterloo to Bendigo to Ballarat and later back to Waterloo.
I had planned to meet up with some of my ex colleagues this afternoon for a coffee and a chin wag, but they are busy with the Municpal Emergency Control Centre because today is a very, very high fire danger and there's a couple of grass fires burning here and there around the shire - so people in threat can go to the MECC or call them I think for advice - I only ever did one afternoon in the centre when I worked at the City and that was when it flooded, so it was sending folk out to assess damage and what not.
I have stacks of piles of snow drifts of work to do on my desk and I am just knackered and don't want to do any of it.
But I better, or no pay for me.
XX
Its 2.05pm and I have only walked 3500 steps so far - most of my day has been yet again spent in the car driving from Waterloo to Bendigo to Ballarat and later back to Waterloo.
I had planned to meet up with some of my ex colleagues this afternoon for a coffee and a chin wag, but they are busy with the Municpal Emergency Control Centre because today is a very, very high fire danger and there's a couple of grass fires burning here and there around the shire - so people in threat can go to the MECC or call them I think for advice - I only ever did one afternoon in the centre when I worked at the City and that was when it flooded, so it was sending folk out to assess damage and what not.
I have stacks of piles of snow drifts of work to do on my desk and I am just knackered and don't want to do any of it.
But I better, or no pay for me.
XX
Wednesday 9 January 2013
Three Hundred and fifty six
I wore my pedometer for most of the day - its only about 5pm as I type, and I have already taken 11,340 steps so far.
I read this on the About.com webshite:
Classification of pedometer-determined physical activity in healthy adults:
1) Under 5000 steps/day may be used as a "sedentary lifestyle index"
2) 5,000-7,499 steps/day is typical of daily activity excluding sports/exercise and might be considered "low active."
3) 7,500-9,999 likely includes some exercise or walking (and/or a job that requires more walking) and might be considered "somewhat active."
4) 10,000 steps/day indicates the point that should be used to classify individuals as "active".
5) Individuals who take more than 12,500 steps/day are likely to be classified as "highly active".
Now, I spent the most part of today sitting on my bum in the car driving to Daylesford and Ballarat and Waterloo for meetings, some of which were actually conducted in the car, and I was able to achieve over 10,000 steps easily. I went for a 30 minute C25K session which took up about 6,000 of those steps, and chased the goat around the paddock for about 10 minutes when I got home from driving all over western victoria. But I REALLY don't reckon that I can in any way be classed as "highly active"unless you are talking about me being highly active in kissing and thinking about kissing - I am defintely highly active in that area.
I am just about to start week 4 of my running routine C25K which is upping it just a bit more on the running vs walking point - there will be 5 minutes of continual running a couple of times in the session interspersed with walking at the same pace and a couple of shorter running stints - I am actually finding the walking parts a bit of a trial at the moment, I just want to run more, but I know building up to it is half the fun... a bit like kissing.
I weighed myself this afternoon and was actually quite surprised to see that I had lost 3 kilos since I started weighing myself again (despite my better judgement) a couple of weeks ago. I haven't altered my diet, although I am not as compelled to snack since I started running again, curiously. I am about 5 ft 7 inches and I started off at 86 kg (BMI 29.8) which was just horrible - When I lay down on my side, my tummy lay down next to me like a puppy, which you know, is comforting and huggable if you can put it down sometimes, but my tummy is / was attached to my front, so its like carrying a dead puppy in a sling... which really actually motivates me to get rid of it. I am currently 82.5kg (28.5 BMI) and now have a slightly smaller puppy to tote around.
My tummy is still baggy and interesting in a way that is not in anyway associated with kissing (scars from badly conducted operations in my youth coupled with the landscape altered by childbearing and ageing) but it IS smaller and my bum is way, way, way tighter than it was but sadly, at this point, and probably each point on the circle of points in my life, I am yet to look like the atomic gorgeousness that is, was, and shall ever be Julie Newmar
I'm sorry... just how does one get hips like that with a waist like that?
Lets take another look:
My goodness... that is something to aspire to- usually not a fan of ankle boots, but hey... but wait just a minute... who is that behind you Julie?
Could it be Batman?
Why don't you turn around and take a look...
Holy latex coated bowling balls Batman!
I read this on the About.com webshite:
Classification of pedometer-determined physical activity in healthy adults:
1) Under 5000 steps/day may be used as a "sedentary lifestyle index"
2) 5,000-7,499 steps/day is typical of daily activity excluding sports/exercise and might be considered "low active."
3) 7,500-9,999 likely includes some exercise or walking (and/or a job that requires more walking) and might be considered "somewhat active."
4) 10,000 steps/day indicates the point that should be used to classify individuals as "active".
5) Individuals who take more than 12,500 steps/day are likely to be classified as "highly active".
Now, I spent the most part of today sitting on my bum in the car driving to Daylesford and Ballarat and Waterloo for meetings, some of which were actually conducted in the car, and I was able to achieve over 10,000 steps easily. I went for a 30 minute C25K session which took up about 6,000 of those steps, and chased the goat around the paddock for about 10 minutes when I got home from driving all over western victoria. But I REALLY don't reckon that I can in any way be classed as "highly active"unless you are talking about me being highly active in kissing and thinking about kissing - I am defintely highly active in that area.
I am just about to start week 4 of my running routine C25K which is upping it just a bit more on the running vs walking point - there will be 5 minutes of continual running a couple of times in the session interspersed with walking at the same pace and a couple of shorter running stints - I am actually finding the walking parts a bit of a trial at the moment, I just want to run more, but I know building up to it is half the fun... a bit like kissing.
I weighed myself this afternoon and was actually quite surprised to see that I had lost 3 kilos since I started weighing myself again (despite my better judgement) a couple of weeks ago. I haven't altered my diet, although I am not as compelled to snack since I started running again, curiously. I am about 5 ft 7 inches and I started off at 86 kg (BMI 29.8) which was just horrible - When I lay down on my side, my tummy lay down next to me like a puppy, which you know, is comforting and huggable if you can put it down sometimes, but my tummy is / was attached to my front, so its like carrying a dead puppy in a sling... which really actually motivates me to get rid of it. I am currently 82.5kg (28.5 BMI) and now have a slightly smaller puppy to tote around.
My tummy is still baggy and interesting in a way that is not in anyway associated with kissing (scars from badly conducted operations in my youth coupled with the landscape altered by childbearing and ageing) but it IS smaller and my bum is way, way, way tighter than it was but sadly, at this point, and probably each point on the circle of points in my life, I am yet to look like the atomic gorgeousness that is, was, and shall ever be Julie Newmar
Lets take another look:
My goodness... that is something to aspire to- usually not a fan of ankle boots, but hey... but wait just a minute... who is that behind you Julie?
Could it be Batman?
Why don't you turn around and take a look...
Holy latex coated bowling balls Batman!
Tuesday 8 January 2013
Three hundred and fifty seven
I bought a pedometer today, hooked it on at about 1pm - I am going to monitor how many steps I take in an average day and see how close I get to 10,000
I hopped on the scales last night and was rather pleased to see that I had lost 2.5 kg in the last two weeks - I think its all off my bum, although my belly isn't quite as baggy as it has been so maybe that's tightening up too.
I hopped on the scales last night and was rather pleased to see that I had lost 2.5 kg in the last two weeks - I think its all off my bum, although my belly isn't quite as baggy as it has been so maybe that's tightening up too.
Three hundred and fifty eight
Fire! Fire!
the Ballarat sky was orange and green last night with the fires at Carngham / Chepstowe. By the time I had reached home it was about 10 degrees, threatening to rain and not a whiff of smoke in the air, but it was an anxious night for some of my colleagues.
I had nothing in the tank last night but had commiteed to myself that I would get on the treadie and do another C25K session, and half way through I found the magic stuff that makes you want to keep running. At the very end of the session in the cool down, Madonna's Ray of Light came on, so I pumped up the volume and the pace and brought it home at 7 km / hour
Later I weighed myself and it seems I have lost 2.5 kg in two weeks, just from running most days for about 30 minutes - my arse is definitely smaller than it was two weeks ago - it was getting a bit Mums Bums
This morning I woke up with a groan - had some very interesting dreams last night, but probably not great reading unless you were in it. I scraped myself together and put on my favourite blue shirt that I haven't been able to wear because I got too fat for a while, hopped in the car and listened to the fire reports, and when that became too depressing, switched the iphone to random music and this song came on:
Which never fails to make me smile, and I knew then I was going to have a good day, and possibly burst the speakers in the car.
the Ballarat sky was orange and green last night with the fires at Carngham / Chepstowe. By the time I had reached home it was about 10 degrees, threatening to rain and not a whiff of smoke in the air, but it was an anxious night for some of my colleagues.
I had nothing in the tank last night but had commiteed to myself that I would get on the treadie and do another C25K session, and half way through I found the magic stuff that makes you want to keep running. At the very end of the session in the cool down, Madonna's Ray of Light came on, so I pumped up the volume and the pace and brought it home at 7 km / hour
Later I weighed myself and it seems I have lost 2.5 kg in two weeks, just from running most days for about 30 minutes - my arse is definitely smaller than it was two weeks ago - it was getting a bit Mums Bums
This morning I woke up with a groan - had some very interesting dreams last night, but probably not great reading unless you were in it. I scraped myself together and put on my favourite blue shirt that I haven't been able to wear because I got too fat for a while, hopped in the car and listened to the fire reports, and when that became too depressing, switched the iphone to random music and this song came on:
Sunday 6 January 2013
Three Hundred and Fifty Nine
Another stinking hot day in Western Victoria today and another day trying to maintain focus on work.
I spent some time at one of our other facilities today and then headed to the lake to enjoy my salad - driving up one of the posh streets in Ballarat near the lake, a little hatchback car was just sitting in the middle of the road, not moving - there was a lady wearing a hat in the drivers seat and a car was coming in the opposite direction, so I just waited behind her. The other car was traveling quite slowly and there was plenty of room for the lady to pull off to the side, but she didn't, so I waited patiently behind her, as did anothe three cars. Just as the on coming car got close to us, the old lady waved out of her window in a pissed off manner for me to pass her on the right side...which I did when it was safe, and gave her a nice little wave with my middle finger on the way past. I birded a pensioner today.
I spent some time at one of our other facilities today and then headed to the lake to enjoy my salad - driving up one of the posh streets in Ballarat near the lake, a little hatchback car was just sitting in the middle of the road, not moving - there was a lady wearing a hat in the drivers seat and a car was coming in the opposite direction, so I just waited behind her. The other car was traveling quite slowly and there was plenty of room for the lady to pull off to the side, but she didn't, so I waited patiently behind her, as did anothe three cars. Just as the on coming car got close to us, the old lady waved out of her window in a pissed off manner for me to pass her on the right side...which I did when it was safe, and gave her a nice little wave with my middle finger on the way past. I birded a pensioner today.
Saturday 5 January 2013
Three hundred and sixty
Good morning
I finished reading Ewan Morrison's Close Your Eyes last night but I didn't put it down for a few minutes after the last word. I just pressed it to my face with my eyes closed. Pat Kane in the Independent wrote: "Indeed, the whole of Close Your Eyes is an admirable and intimate wrestling with the damages incurred by trying to heal, as Adorno once called modernity, "a damaged life"."
It's a haunter that one, no mistake, in the same way that Tim Winton's The Riders is a haunter, and a book I need to revisit after about 20 years of it sitting on my shelves.
After I had a bit of a think about Close Your Eyes and that I couldn't possivbly get to sleep with that in my head, I picked up another birthday / Christmas present book: Camp David the autobiography of David Walliams.
I have had a bit of a crush on David Walliams since I first saw Little Britain - I had seen him in other stuff (Black Books etc) before and clocked him, but only developed the crush after seeing Emily Howard. I had a dream years ago that I was at a posh function somewhere and David Walliams was near the punch bowl, we exchanged steamy looks across the crowded room and I got all hot and bothered and then woke up.
Anyway, its only 12 hours since I picked the book up and I'm close to half way through - and I slept for a good 8 of those hours, so that gives you and indication of the ease of the read style - also its a big hard cover book with a 14pt font for the myopic among as.
While writing this I just noticed that the Keith Richards book, Life, that I started before Christmas is sitting forgotten on my desk under a copy of 1001 Albums you must hear before you die - life before death, music before life and death. Or something.
I ran again this morning for about 3km. Well, ran and walked with the aid of the C25K program - I am at day 2 week three so its longer running sections and shorter walking ones, which is coming as a bit of a relief because I don't slow the treadmill for the walking bits and have realised that at a pace of 6km - 6.5km an hour it is much easier to run than to walk. I am feeling my legs getting stronger again and my fitness is certainly increasing, I am finding it easier to get into and don't really want to stop after 30 minutes. Today I jumped off the treadie and did a few sit ups at the end. I have little or no core strength and sit ups are like some sort of torture. But I have had success in the past with V lifts and planking and what not, so I will persist.
If I didn't have a bloody deadline to write a strategic plan for 5 home and community care providers which I MUST work on today, I would pull my old bike out of the shed, pump up the tyres, rehome the spiders and go for a bit of a ride.
I might do that anyway, its too nice outside to stay in here all day tapping away like a crab.
I finished reading Ewan Morrison's Close Your Eyes last night but I didn't put it down for a few minutes after the last word. I just pressed it to my face with my eyes closed. Pat Kane in the Independent wrote: "Indeed, the whole of Close Your Eyes is an admirable and intimate wrestling with the damages incurred by trying to heal, as Adorno once called modernity, "a damaged life"."
It's a haunter that one, no mistake, in the same way that Tim Winton's The Riders is a haunter, and a book I need to revisit after about 20 years of it sitting on my shelves.
After I had a bit of a think about Close Your Eyes and that I couldn't possivbly get to sleep with that in my head, I picked up another birthday / Christmas present book: Camp David the autobiography of David Walliams.
I have had a bit of a crush on David Walliams since I first saw Little Britain - I had seen him in other stuff (Black Books etc) before and clocked him, but only developed the crush after seeing Emily Howard. I had a dream years ago that I was at a posh function somewhere and David Walliams was near the punch bowl, we exchanged steamy looks across the crowded room and I got all hot and bothered and then woke up.
Anyway, its only 12 hours since I picked the book up and I'm close to half way through - and I slept for a good 8 of those hours, so that gives you and indication of the ease of the read style - also its a big hard cover book with a 14pt font for the myopic among as.
While writing this I just noticed that the Keith Richards book, Life, that I started before Christmas is sitting forgotten on my desk under a copy of 1001 Albums you must hear before you die - life before death, music before life and death. Or something.
I ran again this morning for about 3km. Well, ran and walked with the aid of the C25K program - I am at day 2 week three so its longer running sections and shorter walking ones, which is coming as a bit of a relief because I don't slow the treadmill for the walking bits and have realised that at a pace of 6km - 6.5km an hour it is much easier to run than to walk. I am feeling my legs getting stronger again and my fitness is certainly increasing, I am finding it easier to get into and don't really want to stop after 30 minutes. Today I jumped off the treadie and did a few sit ups at the end. I have little or no core strength and sit ups are like some sort of torture. But I have had success in the past with V lifts and planking and what not, so I will persist.
If I didn't have a bloody deadline to write a strategic plan for 5 home and community care providers which I MUST work on today, I would pull my old bike out of the shed, pump up the tyres, rehome the spiders and go for a bit of a ride.
I might do that anyway, its too nice outside to stay in here all day tapping away like a crab.
Friday 4 January 2013
Three Hundred and Sixty One
I just ate half a can of canned pasketti. Because it was in the fridge.
I have been keeping up with my running program, today will be day one of week three. Its getting easier, in fact after 20 minutes I want to keep going rather than start to cool down. I'll be back on the tready this arvo when I have finished tidying up after our recent guests.
And the parrot that I found mangled in the hall because everyone forgot to close the cat flap this morning.
I visited a friend in Ballarat this morning who was having a garage sale - they sold their motor bike even though it wasn't for sale, and I came home with a 5 string banjo to babysit for a while - I don't know yet how to play a banjo, but am open to any suggestions about good tutorial websites.
I have always had a bit of a banjo fetish which was solidified when I first saw Harold & Maude when I was 12
Spolier alert!!
I am so going to learn to play the banjo
Yesterday I met up with one of my friends who is also my former boss who I would like to work with again because we work well together. I get shitty with him sometimes because his world doesn't hinge on my opinion, and he doesn't think its all about me. Equally this is why I love working with him and having a brutally honest friendship with him, we keep each other's feet firmly planted on planet earth. Anyway, I think we will be working together again this year when I finish what I am doing now, and that is enough to turn my frown upside down.
Although... we met at the art gallery in Ballarat in the cafe yesterday - it was about 43 degrees outside and so no hot drink was going to be right, we ordered 2 x iced coffees, which came to $17.00!!!
The lady assured us they would be worth it, but my friend/former/future boss and I had a discussion about the cut off point where something as simple as an iced coffee could be worth a certain amount. We came up with about 6 bux. These were way out of the park. And they tasted like iced coffees. And I got milk breath because I don't drink milk in anything because it gives me milk breath. So you know. That was a word of warning if you're planning on a trip to Ballarat art gallery on a hot day and you would like some coffee. Go to another cafe.
Back to Harold & Maude - it really is probably my favourite movie ever - that and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Here is a little preview for the uninitiated - also "Don't Be Shy"is a song that must be played at my funeral
And from American New Wave Cinema (my favourite kind) to Howard Hawks Hollywood extravaganza:
I have been keeping up with my running program, today will be day one of week three. Its getting easier, in fact after 20 minutes I want to keep going rather than start to cool down. I'll be back on the tready this arvo when I have finished tidying up after our recent guests.
And the parrot that I found mangled in the hall because everyone forgot to close the cat flap this morning.
I visited a friend in Ballarat this morning who was having a garage sale - they sold their motor bike even though it wasn't for sale, and I came home with a 5 string banjo to babysit for a while - I don't know yet how to play a banjo, but am open to any suggestions about good tutorial websites.
I have always had a bit of a banjo fetish which was solidified when I first saw Harold & Maude when I was 12
Spolier alert!!
Yesterday I met up with one of my friends who is also my former boss who I would like to work with again because we work well together. I get shitty with him sometimes because his world doesn't hinge on my opinion, and he doesn't think its all about me. Equally this is why I love working with him and having a brutally honest friendship with him, we keep each other's feet firmly planted on planet earth. Anyway, I think we will be working together again this year when I finish what I am doing now, and that is enough to turn my frown upside down.
Although... we met at the art gallery in Ballarat in the cafe yesterday - it was about 43 degrees outside and so no hot drink was going to be right, we ordered 2 x iced coffees, which came to $17.00!!!
The lady assured us they would be worth it, but my friend/former/future boss and I had a discussion about the cut off point where something as simple as an iced coffee could be worth a certain amount. We came up with about 6 bux. These were way out of the park. And they tasted like iced coffees. And I got milk breath because I don't drink milk in anything because it gives me milk breath. So you know. That was a word of warning if you're planning on a trip to Ballarat art gallery on a hot day and you would like some coffee. Go to another cafe.
Back to Harold & Maude - it really is probably my favourite movie ever - that and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Here is a little preview for the uninitiated - also "Don't Be Shy"is a song that must be played at my funeral
Thursday 3 January 2013
Three hundred and sixty two
I am in pain today
I have a nasty sinus headache that just won't budge from under and behind my left eye.
I am up in Bendigo this morning and then off to Kyneton and then back to Ballarat before driving home again. Complete madness.But it gives me time to listen to RadioNational and BBC podcasts. I have been enjoying the Infinite Monkey Cage lately and yesterday learned aboout a creature I might like to have in my top paddock. The Spider Goat. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am rather fond of both goats and spiders and that making the most use of both of their attributes makes a whole lot of sense to me. Imagine this: you have a lovely wee saarinen nanny goat who keeps the grass down,makes poo for the garden and is a pleasure and joy to behold - and when you milk her, you get silk as strong as steel that you can make bullet proof vests out of in preparation for the shit going down. Brilliance.
OR you are playing tennis and TWANG!! there goes your achilies tendon... but wait, you have a spider goat in the back yard, you can just knit yourself up a replacement tendon.
I just tried on this dodgy laptop for about 20 minutes to put a pictureof a spider goat in this blog, but its not going to let me . Maybe just go here if you are interested.
My brother in law and his two kids have come to ours to stay for a couple of days- the last time they were here a few months back, my nephew ran through the screen door within about 2 minutes of arriving. Last night his sister did the same thing. Mars took the door off and repaired it and resinstalled it and then about 10 minutes later my nephew ran through it again... quick learners these ones. In this instance I am glad to say that I am not related by blood. I'n thinking we might weave some coloured thred into the mesh while they are staying so it doesn't keep happening
I have a nasty sinus headache that just won't budge from under and behind my left eye.
I am up in Bendigo this morning and then off to Kyneton and then back to Ballarat before driving home again. Complete madness.But it gives me time to listen to RadioNational and BBC podcasts. I have been enjoying the Infinite Monkey Cage lately and yesterday learned aboout a creature I might like to have in my top paddock. The Spider Goat. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am rather fond of both goats and spiders and that making the most use of both of their attributes makes a whole lot of sense to me. Imagine this: you have a lovely wee saarinen nanny goat who keeps the grass down,makes poo for the garden and is a pleasure and joy to behold - and when you milk her, you get silk as strong as steel that you can make bullet proof vests out of in preparation for the shit going down. Brilliance.
OR you are playing tennis and TWANG!! there goes your achilies tendon... but wait, you have a spider goat in the back yard, you can just knit yourself up a replacement tendon.
I just tried on this dodgy laptop for about 20 minutes to put a pictureof a spider goat in this blog, but its not going to let me . Maybe just go here if you are interested.
My brother in law and his two kids have come to ours to stay for a couple of days- the last time they were here a few months back, my nephew ran through the screen door within about 2 minutes of arriving. Last night his sister did the same thing. Mars took the door off and repaired it and resinstalled it and then about 10 minutes later my nephew ran through it again... quick learners these ones. In this instance I am glad to say that I am not related by blood. I'n thinking we might weave some coloured thred into the mesh while they are staying so it doesn't keep happening
Wednesday 2 January 2013
Three hundred and sixty three
Awkward moment just then
I was over at Central Square in Ballarat. Don't judge, just listen. Reading a bit more of Close Your Eyes, eating a very loose chicken beetroot and tomato sandwich on white bread with one hand because its a hard cover book (I'm posh, don't you know) and it won't stay open this close to the end - I was getting pretty absorbed in the story, it was a particularly graphic episode involving a scalpel and a young man's arm and it made me curl up a bit, losing chicken from my sandwich and grimacing with the horror of it - baring my teeth grimacing... with chicken and beetroot in my teeth. I looked up to see a woman of about 70 with dyed russet brown hair and painted on surprised eyebrows scowling at me, surprisedly and a little concerned.
After I had sucked all of the gunk off my teeth and regained my normal composure, I headed out to the Armstrong Street exit where normally there are wanton youths howling obscenities at each other. This is the kind of place where they pipe dreadful country and western music in a feeble and futile attempt to discourage the gathering of young folk with light fingers and bad language. But there were no youths today. I was half way up the side toward Sturt Street when I realised they were playing Belle & Sebastian's My Wandering Days Are Over
I was over at Central Square in Ballarat. Don't judge, just listen. Reading a bit more of Close Your Eyes, eating a very loose chicken beetroot and tomato sandwich on white bread with one hand because its a hard cover book (I'm posh, don't you know) and it won't stay open this close to the end - I was getting pretty absorbed in the story, it was a particularly graphic episode involving a scalpel and a young man's arm and it made me curl up a bit, losing chicken from my sandwich and grimacing with the horror of it - baring my teeth grimacing... with chicken and beetroot in my teeth. I looked up to see a woman of about 70 with dyed russet brown hair and painted on surprised eyebrows scowling at me, surprisedly and a little concerned.
After I had sucked all of the gunk off my teeth and regained my normal composure, I headed out to the Armstrong Street exit where normally there are wanton youths howling obscenities at each other. This is the kind of place where they pipe dreadful country and western music in a feeble and futile attempt to discourage the gathering of young folk with light fingers and bad language. But there were no youths today. I was half way up the side toward Sturt Street when I realised they were playing Belle & Sebastian's My Wandering Days Are Over
It took me so by surprise that they weren't playing something poxy that I started to drift back to the entrance to get a better sound, not looking where I was going at all, and ran straight into the person I referred to in my last post that I was composing diatribes to at 2am the other morning... and I said "Hi, how ARE you?". Thing is, it looked like I was purposefully walking toward him from his point of view, like I just really needed to know how he was today. Because I am thoughtful and concerned, and a little bit odd. After I had been assured by him that he was fine thank you for asking, I turned on my heel and headed back where I was originally going.
Some days I am beyond awkward.
Lets put another awkward song on by an awkward band written for the awkward among us:
And what about our Jenny Macklin hey? She'd have to move house if she thinks she can live on $35 a day - I think she's on about $850 a day currently, bless her cottons. And a week is not long enough to try it out. Single parents not only have day to day costs and extra childcare costs etc, they may very well be going through family court dramas and have to pay significant legal costs as well - I'm not sure it can be tested by having a crack at not spending more than $35 a day for 7 days.
I left uni in 1990 smack in the middle of a recession and there were no jobs for over educated arts graduates with little or no practical skills, so I spent a number of years on and off the dole. Apart from not having any money, the invasion of privacy, of having to attend futile meetings with the likes of ,,, well, me now...and having them 'inspect' your home because both your flatmates are also on the dole and they want to make sure you're not sleeping with them and therefore be entitled to less payments - not something I would like to revisit
Tuesday 1 January 2013
Three hundred and sixty four
Bloody Norah!
Back at work this morning.
I had every intention of rising early to go for a run before work this morning, however I was awake at 2am until about 4.30, so the alarm was not going to make any impact at all.
Not sure what woke me up at 2am, but whatever it was started off a chain of pissed off thoughts about unrelated people and situations I can do nothing about, certainly not at 2am. At one moment, I found myself composing an imaginary conversation with someone who may or may not have done me wrong (depends on how you look at it) or may or may not be a ... bit of a prick...and how I might tell them so, should I ever get the chance, all the while knowing I would never say those things to that person, because I actually quite like them when all is said and done... see? Usefull, productive stuff to spend ruminating on in the wee small hours when you could be astral traveling.
So normally, the first day back at work after the Christmas break is pretty cruisy, innit? You know, organising your diary, getting your head around what needs to be done... tomorrow, catching up on emails and what not.
NUP. total freaking opposite. Yuck Yuck Yuck, I want to go back to bed.
I work in Disability Employment Services in rural Victoria and the organisation that I work with currently has lost the contract for disability employment from March this year, which means that a large portion of our employees are having their roles made redundant from then, including the role I currently hold as employment and quality manager. The organisation itself will survive with the social enterprise arm of the business and will continue to work closely with the incoming providers to ensure people with disabilities will have the same or better access to employment opportunities in this region blah blah bloo bloo all very good stuff.
I knew some of our employment consultants would be on leave at this time of year before we got the announcement and I also knew one of them was planning a move to the other side of the country, so I had lined up a team leader to join us along with a replacement consultant to be able to handle the caseloads effectively, however, I had to pull the pin on those placements when the news came through and try to manage a caseload of around 400 clients with a decreasing workforce of employment services staff. Which I might say, we are doing spectacularly well given the circumstances, but its a lot of work and strain on everyone running up to March.
When I said Yuck Yuck Yuck above, its because I am a melodramatic sook, not because the work I do is yucky or the people I work with are yucky, they are the opposite of yucky and I have the pleasure of working with people who really care about each other, not in a hippie nonsense way outlined in the book I am reading at the moment (Close Your Eyes) but in a 'give me a hug, you big sook' kinda way.
And meanwhile America is teetering on the edge of a fiscal cliff and I heard on Radio National this morning that the Republicans were pushing for cuts to social programs like Medicaid. I will let you guess my opinion on this one. In fact, I can't really have an opinion until I do more research, but it does make me think that the amendments made to the Corporations Act back in the early 2000's in Australia through the Financial Services Reform Act, as painful as it was at the time, were GOOD. Certainly taking the longview now, it seems to be a good thing. It took the HIH crash to make it happen (I think... please don't quote me on that), but bless us, we did something about it before it got to the magnitude that the US is experiencing - but you know... what happens there affects us here.
Back at work this morning.
I had every intention of rising early to go for a run before work this morning, however I was awake at 2am until about 4.30, so the alarm was not going to make any impact at all.
Not sure what woke me up at 2am, but whatever it was started off a chain of pissed off thoughts about unrelated people and situations I can do nothing about, certainly not at 2am. At one moment, I found myself composing an imaginary conversation with someone who may or may not have done me wrong (depends on how you look at it) or may or may not be a ... bit of a prick...and how I might tell them so, should I ever get the chance, all the while knowing I would never say those things to that person, because I actually quite like them when all is said and done... see? Usefull, productive stuff to spend ruminating on in the wee small hours when you could be astral traveling.
So normally, the first day back at work after the Christmas break is pretty cruisy, innit? You know, organising your diary, getting your head around what needs to be done... tomorrow, catching up on emails and what not.
NUP. total freaking opposite. Yuck Yuck Yuck, I want to go back to bed.
I work in Disability Employment Services in rural Victoria and the organisation that I work with currently has lost the contract for disability employment from March this year, which means that a large portion of our employees are having their roles made redundant from then, including the role I currently hold as employment and quality manager. The organisation itself will survive with the social enterprise arm of the business and will continue to work closely with the incoming providers to ensure people with disabilities will have the same or better access to employment opportunities in this region blah blah bloo bloo all very good stuff.
I knew some of our employment consultants would be on leave at this time of year before we got the announcement and I also knew one of them was planning a move to the other side of the country, so I had lined up a team leader to join us along with a replacement consultant to be able to handle the caseloads effectively, however, I had to pull the pin on those placements when the news came through and try to manage a caseload of around 400 clients with a decreasing workforce of employment services staff. Which I might say, we are doing spectacularly well given the circumstances, but its a lot of work and strain on everyone running up to March.
When I said Yuck Yuck Yuck above, its because I am a melodramatic sook, not because the work I do is yucky or the people I work with are yucky, they are the opposite of yucky and I have the pleasure of working with people who really care about each other, not in a hippie nonsense way outlined in the book I am reading at the moment (Close Your Eyes) but in a 'give me a hug, you big sook' kinda way.
And meanwhile America is teetering on the edge of a fiscal cliff and I heard on Radio National this morning that the Republicans were pushing for cuts to social programs like Medicaid. I will let you guess my opinion on this one. In fact, I can't really have an opinion until I do more research, but it does make me think that the amendments made to the Corporations Act back in the early 2000's in Australia through the Financial Services Reform Act, as painful as it was at the time, were GOOD. Certainly taking the longview now, it seems to be a good thing. It took the HIH crash to make it happen (I think... please don't quote me on that), but bless us, we did something about it before it got to the magnitude that the US is experiencing - but you know... what happens there affects us here.
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