Members' News

Molto congrats Dave and Wendy, that's great news although not much of a surprise, you li'l luv burds you

Gypsy, hang on in there, dealing with relatives' mental health issues - depression especially - is a pain in the arse, it's so hard to feel like you have any kind of control over it, no matter what you try, you're not in their head... You can only do what you can, and that's one of the hardest things to accept. Just be there for him and make sure he knows you are, there's not much more you can do.

Hello, more news from me...

I'm doing much better, and my dad is starting therapy...and he seems to be settling back into work and home life well.

I started work again today - no more summer holidays, waaaaa!
At least that's how i felt before I saw the students agin. Put a smile right on my face, and they all seem a lot less shy than I remember. SPaking english and yelling hello across the schoolyard, it reminds me that i did enjoy working here pre-summer holidays, and I will again, no matter how much i miss munging out at home.

To all teachers going back to school, have a great term!
To anyone on holiday now: run and frolic while you can!...

and i am SO jealous! Might come cattle prod you for fun...

we had great fun with Jaccairn yesterday and all you what didn't come are really badly rubbish.

Sorry I missed it, Kat. Was really looking forward to seeing you guys, but couldn't find my scuba gear. I learned my lesson last time, don't try driving across the big pond. I was planning on enjoying a nice swim to the Emerald Isle, but i still haven't found my flippers.

Guess I'm just one of those equilaterally rhomboid shaped people. But, I have been re-writing my web site. (unashamed advert).

Only if you include a link...

Glad you two had fun. With less people there there was probably less faffing around and getting down to the important business of drinking and talking.

I've got nothing news wise. Nothing. Oh why am I so boring?

Well, did everyone already know you were boring? That could count as news, i guess...but in telling everyone about it you become less boring, which makes it a lie which makes you a bit more interesting which could be news in itself!

Um.

I am BORED.

NOTE: Silmaril, this has to be the longest topic of all time, with over 80 000 views and over 3600 posts.
Great choice - people do love to talk about themselves (and i am no exception).

Out to sea, wow! Have a great time in New York.

I went to work today only to find that the place is shut down for two more days, I guess they decided that a day after I called to tell them I'd be okay to come to work today, and HR doesn't feel obligated to inform anyone that they don't have to come in, we are supposed to have mental telepathy I guess. So I get to try it again at 6 am Thursday. I'm glad on one level and sort of scared on another, I don't think missing more then two weeks of work is going to be easy to catch up. But it hasn't turned too cold yet and probably won't for a little while. It is just rainy today so it will be nice to be able to hibernate again.

I had a lymph node behind my ear swell up on me over the weekend. It kept getting a little more sensitive each day, so yesterday I went to the doctor. Turns out, I have strep throat. I don't have a sore throat. I'm not running fever. I had no symptoms at all of strep, but the culture came back positive for it. So, now my dad is throwing up and feeling like shit. I more than likely gave it to him. He's heading to the doctor tomorrow to find out what's wrong. I still feel rather well for being sick and not knowing about it.

The best kind of sick there is.

In my health news the antibiotics i had for the sinusitis didn't work so I still have sinusitis and need to go back to the doctors for something stronger.

I got so sucked into the board, reading and posting and the like...that I stayed at work an extra 36 - no 37 minutes later than necessary!

Oh the shame!

As the board is in a bit of a lull at the moment I'm taking the opportunity to go on my honeymoon, meaning that the everyone can start posting again until I get back...

I'll think of you when I'm lying by the pool with my cocktail in a coconut and a masseusse rubbing my shoulders... Can't wait. Suckers.

Congratulations, but if I read that second part correctly, isn't hubby going with you? Or is it an Aussie thing? :biggrin:

Well I'm off to my pirate party, on a boat, and it's beautiful and sunny and there are swans flying past up the river. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Yikes Hsing! Take care of yourself (and hubby and child...and wear a hard hat!)


Kat - I hate you, in the nicest possible way...

Enjoy it Kat, but don't forget the plank! (Changes to envious green colour) Avast you Bunnies!

Hsing - I hope you're all still in a safe situation over there. It sounds like the scorpion pit would be too nice a fate for your landlord. Sue her for at least a million Euros and have a good holiday whilst they rebuild your walls and roof.

Wow Hsing! I'm glad there were no casualties, well, minus the roof of course. I also love that picture of the cat watching the goings on, I like the blurred background. (And I thought it was just rain on the window)

I'm tempted to get my landlord to do something about the state of my stairs after slipping in a puddle and injuring my left foot....although, I could just wear shoes with grip on the bottom.

Pirate Parties and falling houses, oh my! I haven't been doing a whole lot lately, but I have been feeling strange sensations in my legs that I'm wondering are side effects from some new prescrptions I've just had refilled, so I'm taking a break from them to see if the symptoms go away, I have permission from a doctor to try that but i do have to find something else to take for the trouble the drugs were for, High blood pressure. My Adam swears by some dietary supplements and I may just try some of what he is using. If the symptoms don't go away then I've done something to my nerves , more then likely anyway and I'll have a whole new set of problems to deal with. Uck!

I wrote the story of Connor and Snickers over in the "for those with pets" thread. to update, since they checked on Snickers that last time Connor hasn't talked much about him, but he likes to bring Rex ,Snickers grandson, in the house as much as his Great Grandma will let him. Mom confided that she's not thrilled with that because with Connor and his toys and Celina and hers and dad's stuff and everybody else's stuff,she needs a shaggy dog underfoot not that much at all. But she is making a place on the deck for Rex to hang out because he won't have Snickers to play with anymore. I'm betting he does get to be a house dog before spring.

I've also been trying to learn something about Jewish holidays, so far I have gathered that we are coming up on a pretty busy time for them. Add in all the fall birthdays and Halloween and Thanksgiving and that Christian thing that Adam hasn't talked about yet and we are going to be celebrating our butts off.

And just lately I've started reading Piers Anthony's newsletters, the ones he's written since he got his website going, he's been the source of much useful information for me as well as one of my favorite authors, I can't say i like that he's been so typecast, the Xanth books are okay in my opinion but I liked his other series more, at least he's still trying to get his other non Xanth stuff out there while not looking the gift horse in the mouth so to speak.

Ouch, Hsing, that does suck! Nice pics though...

The Pirate Party was great, although no-one took tha plunge and came dressed up. Except me of course. However, my dear colleagues did spend a long time making Guinness beermat eyepatches, napkin headscarves and black straw mustaches and goatees... They also had great fun drawing a treasure map on a napkin and playing with the inflatable parrot, leading to a series of bird songs like... well they couldn't think of many so it ended up being things like Meatloaf's "bird out of hell", "Happy bird-day to you", and other very bad musical punes. Oh the joy of taking geeks to a Pirate Party

After the party, we had booked a hotel for the night, so we wouldn't have to drive a full hour home... Well, it turned out to be a bad idea, or rather, the choice of hotel was pretty bad. The whole place looked like something out of Psycho and smelled of damp carpet. The floor was scarily unstable and the bed was barely larger than a single bed. The glass of the window was so thin that not only did the cold air and car noise of the busy street outside come in, but so did the very annoying "beepeeepeepeeepeeepeepeeep" of the pedestrian crossing outside the building. Needless to see, we didn't get much sleep and didn't even dare to attempt the full English breakfast that was included in the price.

the joy of geeks! I do love that!

Today, we had to run a gaunlet of crane flies to get into our building at work. There was a thick carpet on the tiles outside the main doors and the doors themselves were dotted all over with them. An advance guard had made it through to the outer lobby and stairway, like dark stars on the doors and walls, and a few scouts were through to the inner lobby but they have yet to make it pass the security doors to the inner sanctum.

The steady tramp of feet as people come in, and an assault with a feather duster in the lobby seems to have reduced the numbers, but those of a nervous disposition are taking the long way round to the back doors to avoid them.

Hopefully a few cold nights and the wind will help clear them away, but I can't understand why there don't seem to be lots of birds around having a feast!

Yay ! Make good use of both, eh

Twenty one hours on a train journey. I didn't know British Rail operated that far east.
Best of luck with the rest of the journey and may you have an interesting time.
Going a shade green as I type.

That's just his smell, it does make you a bit queasy doesn't it...

Rinso, you lucky bastard, make the most of it, take plenty of pics, enjoy yourself and remember we all hate you.

I'm still stuck at work when I should have left over 2 hours ago. I have been chasing people for the last 2 months at least for information and decisions on a project that is to go live on Monday, they finally came back to me this afternoon. Did anyone say Bloody Typical?

I've ordered 3 PTerry books on Amazon, and the first one should be knocking at the door this morning! Agghhh! The agony of anticipation!

I hope they didn't try to deliver while i was sleeping....I just couldn't bear it!

Have returned from the land of smiles and tropical sun and beautiful beaches to the world of endless emails and marking... Why do holidays have to end?

Anyway the trip was great, involving getting very wet on an elephant, a nasty ping pong show and days of lying on the beach. I will try to get photos arranged but don't hold your breath I never did get the photos from the wedding together so the honeymoon may take a while...

So how's everyone else doing?

I've never heard the Isle of Wight described so generously and it sounds like you even included a trip to Blackpool

He he... welcome back. As you can probably see, the boards are still fairly quiet, even Kat is reduced to posting only once a day. :bunny:

Welcome back Aussie dudette... *glares at Joc*

I've been eye-balled in a lot more threatening ways than that.

Huh! Amateurs!

Be careful, Joc, I have a loaded cat and I'm not afraid to use it!

Heads for the hills*, covering face with clawproof skin care cream

*Realizing that the one thing worse than an unexploded cat is a Vorpal Bunny!

I have given up cigarettes. Again. We'll see how long for.

Hi All.

Good luck Maze. The hubby started his 'how much I saved from quitting smoking' 5 years ago. He still has it and periodically proudly announces some huge figure. Put it this way on the money he saved from smokinh we bought a house, went on holiday and have a dog. Its not all bad.

Hsong, I'm waiting with baited breath. ALthough if it accidently ends up in suface mail I'll die of suufication but them's the breaks. But at least I won't be smelling all them onions. As to your daughter that upside of being 4 is that all losses are forgotten as quickly as the devastation was felt.

Hey, well done you !!

That's a great idea Hsing, a benifit t you and to the dogs. That's so sweet.

So yesterday Ethan was born, my oldest nephew's first boy. you might recognize him from the ultrasound picture from a while back, and my mom sent a couple new pics of the older kids, the big news there is 5 monthold Celina has her first tooth. She has really been getting going on becoming a little kid lately, the other day on the way to town she and her brother had a squealing contest, want to make a bet that stops being cute real soon? The picture of her sleeping was taken this morning.

Congrats on the new arrivals, Tamyra And the pics are wicked adorable!

Hsing, that's an absolutely awesome idea! If we had a dog-shelter within walking distance, I would totally steal it. Come to think of it, our street is full of dog-owning families, maybe I can offer my services as a stand-in dog walker.

Mazekin - good luck! If you miss cigarettes the way I miss ham and sausage, I totally feel for you! (I cope by reading and munching on something, ANYTHING in order to keep both the brain and the mouth distracted)

Mazekin. When I gave up smoking I just kept on telling myself how much I hate every single thing about smoking, cost, smell, health damage, ad infinitum; over and over and over. And now a couple of years down the line (after having a 2 pack a day habit) I loath smoking to an extreme point. Worked for me anyhow.

Hsing, strangely enough i may actually have to pay someone to walk my dog, Bonnie, soon, as I work really long hours now and Mrs. R. can't walk far, and the nights are 'fair drawing in'*.

Hey, if you move to Scotland you may have the job .

R


*Colloquial bunkum for having 5 hours** of daylight in winter in Scotland.

** 3 of which you get from the TV...

Hmm, good idea, however, I love the smell of smoke and cigarettes. Sigh, it's not going well.


Hsing, that's terrible about the poor dog! No walks means no exercise...which equals pent up frustration and too much energy. Poor guy, if he doesn't get walked, he might get to the biting stage if he wasn't there already. Poor wee lamb... You are doing such a lovely thing, walking the poor things.

I am now a blonde, and therefore, am preparing to have more fun.

The colour is a happy accident, as my hairdresser (who speaks a bit of English) asked me if I want black (meaning brown/a darker colour as we originally talked about) so I said no. I usually have brown and blonde but this time it was blonde all the way. I feel like Moist - brightening up the world like a little sunbeam...

Well... Am still slightly reeling from finding out that Reg's job is sending him away to Paris for 2 whole months, from November to January, so our Christmas is going to be horrible sucky. And so is my life for 2 months. When we moved over here we were apart for 10 days and I spent a fair share of that time crying and squirming in my own self-pity at missing him so much, so 2 months? He will be able to come home every fortnight, paid for by the company, and all expenses will be paid, but still, this sucks.

Hmm, what's that squishy noise? Oh, right, just my poor beating heart that's been ripped out and jumped on. Oh well, at least Ba won't have too far to look for ingredients for tonight's pie...

I know how much that sucks, Kat! ::hug::

awww. I know the feeling. My BF is away for a week on holiday and I miss him loads:sad:

My news: I'm new here

also I'm on holiday I love school :razz:

Aaah, Kat, that sucks!

I'm going on holiday on saturday for a week...sun, sun, sun!

Have fun, Maze!

Just a thought - Katcal, how come you can't come to Paris for Xmas to be with Mr. Katcal?

Hello everybody!!

I went awol for a while basically because work went insane and I ran out of time to tell everyone I was going to San Francisco. But now I'm back and work is still insane but have carved out a few minutes to catch up. SF was great, very expensive and made worse by a plummeting Aus dollar... e.g. my hotel bill went up $900 from when I booked it to when i paid it. That's money I'm never going to see again.

Lets see poor Kat, have fun Maze and Hsing also have fun with the dog but be careful not to get too attached.

Well, things have kind of been worked out after much scribbling on calendars, bribing of bosses (with chocolate) and purchasing of plane tickets, looks like I will be spending a week over there at Christmas and we will even get to go Down South to see our families and friends, so not quite so sucky, but the weeks will be long and lonely.

On a more positive note, my work team and I have been invited to the big black tie, champagne and limo premiere of the new Bond movie this evening, so part excited part scared silly...

I'm going to a book signing by Robin McKinley on Thursday evening. Hopefully it won't be a wet day in London.

I saw a strange sight when I was out walking yesterday. There was a huge pile of branches and bit of hedge in a field and rabbits running around and then I noticed a rabbit moving through the branches at the top of the pile. I've never really considered rabbits being in any way arboreal before! This one looked quite confortable.

That IS pretty weird, jaccairn! But I guess critters will dispense with stereotypes where possible food is concerned!

(ex. one of our cats has taught himself to like vegetarian fake-meat - veggie burgers, veggie chicken, etc. - much to Brad's dismay. I guess he (the cat)decided that veggie table scraps is better than no table scraps at all, and carnivor's reputation be damned. I keep telling him that he's embarassing himself - not to mention leaving less food for me, and man, do I need it nowdays! - but I get no peace until I give the bugger his cut :tongue

1. The internet people came to install my new modem which of course meant that I had no internet for 3 days. They buggered off without setting it up, saying 'you have the CD' even though I told them my disc drive was busted. I finally got it working again.
2. My ipod stopped working which means it's back to listening to the Love Actually soundtrack in my car 24/7...eep!
3. I spilt water on my laptop at home and have lost the use of the letter 's'. So much for my novel.

On a lighter and happier note, I had my first salsa dance in 8 months on Sunday night! Yay!

Hey Gypsy, you could always substitute "c" for "s"