Catherine’s Blog

120/365 I can haz internets

Originally uploaded by LPM

There has been a miracle, I have internet at home, this is for the win. It took a lot of carry on to get it on, bloody hell. Iinet would be in worse shape if the speed of the internet was not so fast.

So, a fairly quick update because, I really want to get in the habit of blogging every day or so on this site. I am not sure how feasible this is because I am a little hermit like at the moment and my life is not that exciting.

The best thing is that a week ago Tudor arrived from Ballarat. Joyce and Arnie came down and spent the day doing jobs and helping her settle in. She and I have been getting reacquainted with each other. I am now covered in cat hair and love it. I so missed having a cat in my life. So much.

Work has not been as busy as last week and it may slow down next week. All in all it s okay but it is certainly not a long term job, it will drive me nuts.

It is only five weeks until Rikard arrives! Whhhhheeee

Not much else to report besides I think besides a TV the house is done and I am going to through myself into sewing aprons this week.

58/365 Sleepy

Originally uploaded by LPM

Well, the job at LRC is going quite well, up until Friday I had no log ins for the computing system so that was made of fail. To be honest I was surprised it has taken so long but I have very little experience of large corporate environments. On Friday I was let loose on the unsuspecting customer base and answered phones. Very much the same as renewing books over the phone, take the details and hit the right buttons. I think I did okay, there are a lot of things to remember, although I did huge amounts of data entry last week, I have not really had a chance to explore all the options on a couple of the systems as I can not log into them. I hope that will change this morning.
Due to work, photos have lacked a certain amount of inspiration, I have been very tired when I get home. I am yet to work out how to take photos in the LRC without giving away where I work because the brand is displayed prominently. I have collected the DSLR, took some photos, cannibalised it for removable parts and packed in the box. I have taken some photos of Bato, the older kitten I shared with at Toby’s place. He is a delightful thing and loves to chase paper and purrs very loudly.

Friday night was very thrilling, I packed a bit and the decided transport two bottles of Gin and tonic was a little overboard. So I drank the part empty bottle, finished the tonic and then went onto mixing it with coke zero. Not as revolting as it sounds, rather like odd Dr Pepper. I spent an entire 5 hours chatting with Rikard, it was great fun, we exchanged youtube clips and other links. It was a fun night and was lovely catch up after his trip to Sweden. We are going to have re-evaluate our catch up schedule with my having to be up at 6am and not making much sense at that hour of the morning.
Saturday I managed to pack all my goods into the car and head out to the new place I am living.
I am staying with Aliz and Callum in deepest darkest Werribee. They have a large house out there and have offered me the use of their two spare rooms. I had a lot of fun putting brand new linen on the bed. I was in heaven. I bought myself a cotton quilt, after sleeping under polyester ones in the UK i found the movement of feathers irritating. I suspect the cotton one will be too light for winter but at the moment it is perfect and smells wonderful. I am grateful for Aliz and Callum putting up with me, it is going to make life that little bit easier and gives me somewhere to live whilst looking for a flat of my own.

On Saturday I looked at the unit in Strathmore I tried to look at on Wednesday. The real estate agents were made of fail and had no key and a lot of standing around happened. The unit was run down but not squalid, there is a water leak that worries me but other than that it was fine. It has a fair amount of traffic noise as backs onto Pascoe Vale Road but the bedrooms are away from the noise and considering I generally play music or put the TV on this should not be too much of a problem. There were a lot of people looking, singles, families and share houses. There was one couple and a companion looking which would have been very crowded. For me it is the perfect size, not huge amounts of storage but two bed rooms and pleasant set of units it is in. Will see how that goes later in the week.

Sunday I went into town with Rachelle attended the Sydney Road Street Party. Lots of stalls and people. A pair of excellently decked out stilt walkers. One as a Scots man, resplendent in kilt and hat, walking on well made leg extensions, the extra bend in his leg not being noticeable with his kilt. The other costume was an excellent mascot costume, a dog that walked on all fours with the aid of stilts. Very nicely designed and very anatomically correct with bum hole, balls and willy that the operator could shoot ‘pee’ terribly accurately with. Spraying the crowd to the merriment of the people. I was very impressed with both outfits but the dog from a design point was a wonderful shape but I have no idea how hard it would be to walk in but I suspect the word difficult comes to mind.


All in all it has been all a great deal less stressful this week in many ways. Work, I think will become more interesting, I understand the need for data entry but it is really not for me. Tonight I am attempting to go swimming, this could be either fun or embarrassing as I have put on weight and may not fit into my bathers, oh dear. I am trying to get a handle on the eating, now my head seems a little less crowded I should be better at stopping the craziness of food being the all powerful source.

Ohhh, another achievement is I have hit 60 days of self portraits, I have missed one day, I am rather pleased with that.
Here is day sixty, I went swimming.

54/365 i have a head ache

Originally uploaded by LPM

Well, I start with large retail company (LRC) today, this is what they will be called as i have signed stuff saying I won’t talk about them on the internet.   Also I think the secret squirrels of LRC may read this.  You never know, well I do and hence being on good behaviour.
I am exhausted, i still hate full on data entry as it is guaranteed to give me a head ache and I make mistakes and there are no red lines. That is possibly a Gin in the background to help sooth my nerves.  I know this is training and it will change thankfully.
So the last few days in pictures:

Yesterday job and house hunting, really depressing. I went out for dinner.

With Catherine whom I went to High School with. High school, for me was not a very happy time of my life and my first year out of school was up until last year the horrible year from hell. Catherine and I had a great summer 1993 to 1994 and we rocked it country girl style. Since then lots of things have happened and we lead busy lives, we have now an agreement of catching up every three weeks for dinner and and seeing how awesome stuff is.

I have done a little pattern drafting but am finding it hard to settle, just a lot of stuff in my head. I will be okay once I have some space.

Rikard is in Sweden, we are not communicating that much which is very strange, I miss him but he is taking photos, stunning ones with his camera phone. I can not wait to see what he does with film!

Ice cube soup,
originally uploaded by anglerud.

He has a lovely eye and although he is unsure of himself he seems to have that in built geek talent for photos.

I have also had the most flattering photo job offer of my life as well, but more on that possibly much, much later.

Tomorrow i pick up the camera and send it off to the insurers.

48/365 We are watching you

Originally uploaded by LPM

The last couple of days have been quite funny, there was a job interview but there has been other stuff happening after that. I am in Ballarat with Joyce and Arnie, in my old room that is the guest bedroom. There are some leftovers, my Cabbage Patch Kid and sampler cross stitch from 1990. Wow, 20 years ago, hells bells. The bed is the frame from their bed before they replaced it with a queen bed.
My father has become involved in cosplay, of all the odd things, he is making wooden swords for a girl who dresses up as computer game characters. She has won a lot of competitions and is heading over to Japan. So, yesterday and today Arnie constructed a sword that may come straight out of World of Warcraft. It is not actually WoW, it is from another game. It is quite funny to watch my dad carving out fanciful shapes because he likes a challenge.
Joyce and I spent last night sitting on the couch giggling; we were making origami butterflies and gold fish. We are not sure if cutting makes it real origami. We also watched the Top Gear winter Olympics special, the ice hockey with the Suzuki swifts and the flying mini being favourites.
We have been mother and daughter bonding with cake and fabric shopping, there is a new patchwork fabric shop opening in Ballarat. It is called Victoria Street Patchwork. It is not quite open yet but the array of fabric and the lively owner look promising. I am planning a steampunk outfit, western and Japanese combination, there is a thing in March I want to go to.
Yesterday Joyce was given a letter, hand written from my grandmother to a friend when her husband passed away. I have not read much of grandma’s writing, her handwriting is different to either Joyce’s or mine but the tome of the writing is very similar to my mother’s and I think to my blog writing. Very interesting.
I have been doing some sewing, finally putting together a dressing gown, it is satin, I had forgotten how slippy it all is. There will be a photo, no doubt. The next couple of days will be putting together some orders of adult aprons.
Joyce and Arnie are off to Queenscliff this morning, there is banging around and stuff. I am looking after the house whilst they are away. Tudor will hopefully sleep on the bed more whilst here, she is already spending more time with me. I need to pop to Melbourne at some point and pick up my camera which is being replaced. That was a surprising outcome, let me assure you. Also taking some rings in, including my engagement ring, to be remodelled, the promises are broken so it holds no emotional value in the form it is now.

36/365 Snip, snip

Originally uploaded by LPM

It is late, i am curled up in my bed after going to “Gulag” a little goth night with good friends, bowed out early as we are off to check out craft markets.
Today, I got my hair cut and applied for Jobs, what an exciting life I lead.

I have returned from the road trip.  Blogging about it will have to wait because the server this website is on is undergoing critical maintenance.

there will be a glut of posting when it is done.

7/52 Back in Black

Originally uploaded by LPM

Well, I am in Australia and have been so since Tuesday. I have been gathering myself for want of a better way of explaining it.
I arrived on Tuesday to Fergus with a sign and my parents with a banner on a pirate flag! There may have been tears and excitement. We gathered my luggage and headed out to Melton, my new residence. I am living with my brother and his family. I have neat little room with a comfortable bed, it was good to be able to unpack my case.
There was roast chicken, fresh rolls and plenty of salad. It was good! Then Joyce produced a wonderful Lemon Meringue Pie! It was the best pie and welcome present! I distributed gifts and Joyce and Arnie headed home.
I settled into the room and slept.
Wednesday was the beginning of getting stuff in order. Vic Roads and the Bank, changing names and reinstating my licence. It was a little bit of a fail but it was a start. Also sorting money out from other places as well.
Thursday, similar sort of day, phone which is a fail in general but will be sorted soon enough. I lost the afternoon to a nap and the rest of time writing a job application. I was on baby sitting duty while Michael and Nat went shopping but the boys were in bed, so not too much work.
Today was Ikea followed by the rest of the family going out and leaving me to have some down time.
Nat and I have spent most nights on the couch with beer/cider/gin and chips/dips/biscuits. Very pleasant!
This week end is up to Ballarat with Mum and Dad and having a look at my stuff in the chook shed and cuddle my cat!!
The photo this astounding tree house in the back yard, not my bedroom.

Leaving

Originally uploaded by LPM

I have been very busy and stressed the past while. The lack of posts possibly says that all really.
When I last wrote Michael’s family where heading off to the lakes district to see pencils, and the land of two Potters, Beatrix and Harry.
They came back tired but pleased on the Friday (25th September), we celebrated their return with Pizza and chilling around the house. Natalie and I hit the supermarkets for Halloween goodies to take home with us, we had a ball!
Saturday saw Michael entertaining the boys and Natalie and I heading off to hit the shops for relaxation. We began the epic journey on Tottenham Court Road, hitting habitat, Heal’s and Paperchase. Then it was Oxford Street for on sale runners for all then just meandering down Oxford Street. The crowds were not too bad which made for an only moderately mad time. Natalie found a cute bra and knickers set in Marks and Spencer’s. By this stage we were starving so we set out for Carnaby Street, somewhere I am not that familiar with. This became more apparent as the realisation the Carnaby Street stretches further than the street and into the lanes beside it. We found a Chinese restaurant in the style of Wagamama ate and then it was back to pounding the pavements. We headed to Camden and trawled our way through the markets and dodged the tourist hordes. We finished our grand shop at Cyberdog. There we both bought a number of t-shirts.
Then it was home for dinner and catch up with the boys.
Later that night I headed out to the club night, Vagabonds, a night I enjoy a lot and was sad it was my last night.

Sunday was sort of a day of rest, I started late due to being home late. The sun was shining so we piled into the car to sit in it for an age to go to Hampton Court Palace. Once there we spent time looking at the gardens from a horse drawn tour bus and marvelling at the great hall. We then got lost in the maze to be guided out by the turn choices of a three year old. Fergus really enjoyed the Tudor kitchens, playing with the pretend food and cooking up a storm.

Monday was an interesting day for me as Natalie and Michael headed off to Paris for the day. The boys got to spend the day with me. We started slow with a journey of Covent Garden on the tube. The buskers were out in force and the fellow dressed in plastic bottles seemed to appeal greatly. We then found a juggling man and we settled in to watch him. At one point he asked Fergus if he wanted to join in, Fergus declined but Ewan volunteered himself and me. This caught the street performer by surprise. We stood up on a carpet whilst Fergus took photos like a professional. During this, Ellie and Rod arrived and Rod joined us on stage. The performer requested we all lie down. Ewan seemed to be in his element and lay down, allowing me to return to Fergus and Ellie. I was pretty sure if Ewan made a dash for it Rod’s six nine frame could handle it. Ewan must have laid there for 15 minutes, possibly having a snooze and was then very still as the street performer walked on his hands over the prostrate bodies.

Then it was lunch which included Ewan and Fergus getting air plane rides over the table. They were restless at the end of lunch and rod joined in the fun which included running around, being tossed around and running under rod’s legs. At one point Ellie and I were wondering who the children were when all three of them had their jumpers over their heads and were running around with their bellies showing.

Then it was the London transport museum, a museum that gets top marks for its displays for children. Interactive and engaging. The boys really liked being able to ‘drive’ the buses and the things they could push and pull as well as dressing up as bus conductors. The hardest part was getting them out of the museum they were having too much fun.

Then it was home, dinner, bed and me collapsing! It was fun but very tiring.
Michael and Natalie came home quite late, exhausted but pumped abut their time in Paris.

On Tuesday Michael went off to explore the bits of London he had missed like the houses of parliament among other bits. Natalie and I headed out of London to the Roland Dahl Museum which again was another well design space for children, the boys really enjoyed themselves. I would have liked to see more on the stories, rooms dedicated the ins and outs of some of the big names would have been cool.
We were home early and there was a lot of napping and Fergus and I played on the Wii.
The last day in London was meant to be laid back because everyone was tired. We did some shopping, playing in the park and relaxing. Then it was packing and Michael and I headed out to take photos of London at night. This was followed by late night, midnight shopping with Natalie picking up last minute presents.
The next morning, Thursday, we were all up early catching a cab to the airport. The boys excited with the prospect of robots and noodles in Japan.
Coming back to the house was a little sad, having it filled with life was really nice. I had a house viewing that night so it was a mad dash of cleaning and tidying to make the place respectable. It was good being able to send the roomba around whilst I did other stuff.
The rest of my time has been involved in trying to sort out movers, household belongings and communicating with lawyers. Some of this has been very hard and depressing. Having said that I think I will always be very grateful to all the people that have helped me out with hard moments. Fran with sorting out stuff and Miko for help with Japan and feeding me with mead when the movers came. I have had all my worldly goods packed into twenty nine boxes. It is a small amount to show for five years in the company of one man and living in a foreign country. There were a lot of tears she in the process.
There have been some great times as well. I have bought myself a tiny laptop and am using that whilst I without my main PC. There was the socially busy long weekend that started on the Thursday with a dive bar in Soho, moving to Friday and the Goth night, followed by Saturday and one of the best birthday club nights for CJ and Fran and finished off with Ed’s 30th quiet dinner night. I had the lovely Ed turn up on my doorstep the following Friday, helping set out up the laptop and generally eat, drink and talk about anything and everything, there was also ice cream. There was the HUGE farewell party last weekend, we filled a room in the Shaftesbury pub and lots of people came to say hello. It was a grand night, many friends, lots of gin and fun moments. It made realise I am going to miss the people the most in London,the warmth and love was something I have never really experienced from a group of people before.
This week the packers came and moved me and I have tried to get organised for Japan as well as tying my life up here in the UK. It has been incredibly stressful. I have sort of bimbled through and had a lovely stress release with the London Goth Sluts. We met in the Flask in Highgate and a whole bunch of people who don’t always turn up came.
Of course through out all these social bits and pieces I have had the camera so have taken lots of photos. Unfortunately I have not had the time to up load many, life in general has got in the way. I think some time in Australia locked up with the computer and possibly photoshop. I have also began a new 52 week project, things are going to change a lot, I think a self portrait is a good way to document it all.
So, I have about 12 hours left in the country, lots to think about.

Lion’s Den

Originally uploaded by LPM

The highlights, good ones over the past couple of weeks have been really good.

On the Friday od last weekend I headed over to Pir’s and generally hung out, chatting and getting lots and lots of kitten hugs. Cats, love them.

I trundled off to meet Psyche at a picnic on the Saturday, it was very nice lounging around on Hampstead Heath eating and relaxing. That was a Saturday afternoon filled. The night was at home, flopping around the flat. I really had nowhere to go besides Slimelight and that was not that exciting for me.

Sunday I was going to sew but did not get much done, I ended up spending a lot of time with the next door neighbour and her singing students. It was a really nice day. I played mah jong which was great fun even though I had not idea what the conversation was about because it was all in Cantonese. I managed to win to hands and I was given quite a lot of praise for my playing style and learnt a few more tips and tricks as well some scoring techniques. I may get to play with them again! The photo is me playing!

Sunday night I came down with a bump. Not having Anthony to share this all with is very hard. I ended up chatting with Dave on skype and generally debriefing. It is odd chatting to people who know you well and before going out with Anthony.

Tuesday Psyche popped over for dinner, I repaired a shirt and she filled out important forms.  The other exciting discovery was that gem squash are nice fried.  Nicer than boiled in my opinion.

Wednesday night Ela came over and she watched as I cut out her dress for her. I have liked being able to share my sewing, having it not treated as a nuisance because of the mess it makes is lovely. I forget the ability to sew is a worth while skill and one I have worked hard on trying to master.

The weekend just been was a long weekend here in the UK.

Friday was very sad, not going to Aunt B’s funeral was very, very hard. I headed out on Friday to say farewell to Elle and Richard, they are heading back to New Zealand to look after Elle’s sick dad. I picked up a spare duvet and jacket for Anthony whilst there.

Saturday I pottered around the house for a bit before getting a new hairstyle. Then it was off to Hampstead Heath again for a picnic and Ellie’s hen do. There followed a pretty full on social day. We came back to mine and everyone got changed before heading out for dinner, followed by Vagabonds. It was a lovely night but yet again a large chunk was missing. I like going to Vagabonds with Anthony, he loves to dance and it is always a good night. I caught the night bus and that freaked me out, I really worry that no one will notice I am missing with no one at home and travelling on my own. Driving now feels like the safest option but that is not always helpful.

Sunday I pottered around home a bit but having go in late and sleeping badly meant I lost of my day through napping and general apathy for life. I sewed some of Ela’s dress and then pottered off to a house cooling, I did not spend that much time there, going before I got mopey.

Monday I went to gym and shopped for some little bits and pieces at brent cross shopping centre. Then Ela and Graeme came over and I sewed her dress whilst a picnic was made. We ate in the backyard and then I did fittings of the dress whilst bad movies played on the TV. Quite relaxing.

We then ate too much ice cream and then processed to dig up the dead tomatoes and stake the living tomatoes in the hope we get some form of tomato crop after the dreaded blight.

I only have a few more days here at work and then the family descends on me. Between now and then I hope the rest of my life has more idea what is happening and I am off to a wedding.

The last week or so has been very stressful.

Anthony has returned from Cape Town. Aunt Barbara came out of the ICU and is in a normal ward. It is all quite difficult because we have no idea how long things are going to take. She is never going to be the same and understandably Anthony is more than a little upset over this. Last reports are that she can nod and seems to understand what is happening. The sad thing is she appears not to be swallowing, this is more than disappointing. The stroke has done a lot of damage. Aunt Barbara has been getting frailer over the years but this is a massive stroke has pretty much permanently depilated her. It is heart breaking after she struggled through her hip op and finally was out of pain and getting mobile. Her long term prognosis is not good and I suspect time with her will be limited.

Once she has ‘recovered’ enough she will be moved into a nursing home. The situation is very difficult being so far away. At the moment it is a waiting game to see how things pan out. We have looked into moving to Cape Town to support L and L but at the moment without knowing how things are going to go in the next little while as well if the support is needed,  it is difficult make that decision. Needless to say, the whole thing has been extremely stressful and has placed situation that where already under strain under greater strain.

With work being quite stressful, with new managers flexing their muscles, not knowing when I am moving sites, general lack of direction and the negative atmosphere. I am finding it beyond difficult and things have to change.

Anthony and I had some long discussions last night and I hope we may have started repairing some foundations but it is all a bit wait and see. At the moment I am keeping my hope quite guarded as it has been squashed a lot before.