Members' News

Went to see the Mighty Boosh yesterday evening at the brand new O2 in Dublin. Got free tickets from work, with access to the private lounge (private cloakroom, toilets and bar very handy I must say, especially when everyone rushes to the loo during the interval and you just wander upstairs past the queueing masses!). The show was awesome, had a great time with my workmates, and the new venue is amazing!

Scuse ignorance but what's the Mighty Boosh?

pah, just google it lady! To briefly and crudely explain it, it's a comedy show on BBC, that's a tv channel we folks have here...

Latest news: Friday morning I was in at work at 5am so I stayed in the hotel next door because it's handier and cheaper than a taxi. Couldn't sleep because of lousy flu so went home as soon as work was finished. House was cold, no heating, no hot water, boiler dead. Tried gas board, they can't send me anyone until monday pm. Tried elsewhere, finally got a guy who was to come Saturday pm, didn't show up. Reg is still in Paris so no car for me... My landlady kindly brought me a small fan heater. Last night, neighbours partied until 4am. Doesn't matter much as I can't sleep because of flu. Finally curl up in front of tv and drift off to sleep at 6am. 6:01: general power cut, all surrounding house alarms go off at once, and my only heat souce is gone. I think in this case it may just be admissible to say FUCK!

At this point it is not only very permissible, Kat, but borderline requirement. Hopefully today will be better, or at least with some heat.

Ah, Kat, you have my sympathies. I spent half of last week with no heating in the house, car or work. Without the added annoyance of the flu. If you can afford it, book into a hotel or a B&B for a few days. At least you will be warm!

nope, am stony broke at the moment as reg has had to advance all his expenses over the last 2 months and he won't get them back or get paid until Feb 10th. Also I was paid earlier last month as our pay day is the 24th so because of Christmas we were paid on the 16th which means that the same amount has to cover christmas AND an extra week of living... not the best of times unfortunately...

Bugger the heater come visit me... Here is the forecast for the next few days:

Tuesday Min 14 Max 34
Wednesday Min 18 Max 37
Thursday Min 19 Max 36
Friday Min 17 Max 32

I blame aliens.

Spiky, I've just sent you a plague of frogs through the mail.

Back in Japan now after almost 3 weeks in sunny Perth, and still wondering what the hell i'm doing here. The day I arrived it was 32 back home and 5 degrees here, but it's dropped enough that we had snow over the weekend. I've always liked...the idea of snow...but in reality I know it to be bloody miserable. A childhood in Canada cured me of liking winter and snow...once I got too old to like running around until the blood froze in my veins. Snow is like a blue ringed octupus. Interesting to watch, but you don't really want to touch it.

Me, bitter?...

Ah well, just be damned glad you aren't here this coming week. We are supposed to be getting another coldspell, no warmer then -5F and down to -30F, it was 12 above one day last week and it felt WARM to me, that just isn't right!
Adam was in Zurich this past week, but he's flying around tomorrow and should be here to pick up Cat Wednesday. Thank goodness for Virgin Mobile. Cat had a quieting effect on my two for the first few days but they have been fighting like brothers today, fur all over the place. Obnoxious little brats cats can be.
Speaking of little ones, my grandniece Celina can sit herself up now and is happiest when she can be on the floor learning her crawling and pulling up on things and standing. She got to play in her brother's blanket fort the other day and he is giving her cars that he doesn't like to play with. Mom says she even "drives" them. Not too bad for someone who isn't even eight months old. I have a feeling she hasn't been too scarred by her unfortunate beginning.

I take your frogs and raise you a cane toad... Dying of heat exhaustion in my study!!! Can't type too tired...

I see your cane toad and raise you some frostbite (%5 bodily coverage). Area of your choice...I'm kind like that.


I actually went for a nice walk in the snowfall today, bundled up in about 14 layers of clothes. And to think, it's only -4!

I'm going to be an Aunty!!!

Ok, so technically I'm not allowed to tell anyone until my most favourite sister (ie, the only one I have) has told the rest of our relatives, her friends and her workmates, but you guys aren't just anyone, are you?:biggrin: And besides, if I don't tell anyone, my smile might just spontanously combust and that would be painful.

Downside is, I've just been volunteered for babysitting duties. Nuts.

I have had a ton of news given to me this past week or so, birth( my cousin's second boy- Dakota Ray)injury (her older boy fell downstairs and broke a tibia) Illness- ( my aunt has failing lungs and a stomach bug has been making the rounds in my family[ I had it Wednesday]), a house fire ( another aunt) waiting for news of a biopsy( another aunt)a[same sex] marriage(a childhood friend) a store is closing, it just goes on. Personally , at work I found out I'm getting to work on a special project called a fast team. we will be investigating confined spaces in the plant and developing safety protocols for dealing with them. I hope to be challenged and able to contribute a little something and it means a month of working five days a week and having weekends off. Adam is pretty happy about that idea.
Winter has been harsh but we had a couple of days where the temps got into the twenties above so I know it is still possible, however tonight it is really cold again, and I am glad I didn't do what I was planning to do, drive about 40 miles to see a drag queen beauty contest in a firehall. I went to that town yesterday to see Adam take pictures of the bonfire and fireworks and kids singing karaoke and to see a comedy show, so the fire hall thing even with a spaghetti dinner in the senior center thrown in just, well it didn't seem worth the trip again. Thankfully Adam's car is in the blink again ( or maybe the brink) and we decided to pass.

Wow, that is a lot of news Tamyra.
Congratulations, and commiserations, respectively.

Awesome!
I applaud your decision not to go...I have sympathy for anyone NOT having sunmmer right now, but now I have some nice images. Drag queens can be so beautiful! I've seen some really great ones, and some really terrible ones too...but a beauty pageant, never! Where is this occurring? Which country?

My news...
I'll see my fiancee in 60 days! I'm looking into booking a ticket home now, and trying to figure out what to bin, send home, sell, and give away. I have 2 months to get everything sorted out....and then we're meeting in Thailand for 10 days of summer before I head back to Perth for autumn and winter (again).

Coming up a little sooner...I'm going snowboarding this weekend! I've never done winter sports, as when I was last in Canada, I was 10 years old, and the only winter sport I had was tobogganing down the hill behind our house and trying not to land in the icy creek. I've joined a tour of 45 people, 5 of them friends who live in Kyoto, and we're bussing it up to Niigata (north of Nagano) on Friday night, and bussing home on Sunday arvo. Yay!

There is this little town called Hackensack ( home of Paul Bunyan's wife or girlfriend, Lucette)about 40 miles from me and they have a winter celebration around the middle or end of January each year, they gather in the firehall and select the Snowflake Queen in a parody of all the summer festivals that crown the this queen or the that princess. If you want to see pictures you can go to Northern Herald newspaper - revised 01/19/09 and search the back issues, Adam has covered it for years. It is called the Back to Hack days. The contest is actually open to women too, no discrimination you know, but the drag queens get all the votes.
In the too weird to make this up front, yesterday I was on yahoo chatting with one of those guys I met a while ago and he sent me pictures of himself, for the first time, of him in drag.
Jon's new wife called to ask me if I can take care of my dog while she and Jon go to Phoenix for her mother's funeral. I was going to take care of him while she was visiting her mom last week but Jon's sister was living with them then, and took care of him, but Jon said something she didn't want to hear(that she should try to control her child) and left to go to another sister's. I was sort of jealous of Jon having her and Henry staying with him, but it turns out trouble was just around the corner. And to think my neice thinks our family is nuts...

Well I think the brain is functioning, at least partially - I know we are past the 20th Jan, but the exact date:question: I have to keep checking. Somehow I managed to delete all my bookmarks, and have spent hours getting all (or at least most of them back)!

Anyhoo my news...
:smile::smile::smile::smile:

Baby girl born 12 Jan, 9lb 2... hopefully the pics will work! First one baby R is 2 hours old, the second one no idea how old - think the pic may have been taken later on the same day. She was born with all the hair too! I think there is a slight curl to it (hope so).

Alas nothing went to plan and ended up having a 'section, but both me and the wee one doing fine.

Slowly getting through the seemingly endless list of folk that I need to speak to, so this is just a short & sweet post...

Rewr

rewr congrats, she looks very cute of a little miffed to be in the world.

Glad everything worked out...

BTW back to the weather, after being 36 yesterday, its going to be 37 for the next 5 days. I need aircon badly. Although my husbands old home town was 45 yesterday or a measly 116 F... You bastards and your snow...

Wee - congrats on your daughter, Rewr :smile: What's her name?

Congratulations Rewr. Hope she keeps the hair.

Congrats Rewr, sweet little chick indeed!

Congrats Rewr.
R.

Congratulations Rewr, I'm positively jealous of all that hair

She is asolutely beautiful, I hope she brings joy to you and your family.

Well, I'm up in Iraq once more in the Baghdad area - and it seems pretty different. I'll share more after I've had a bit more boots on ground time. Things are going well so far *knocks on wood* - although the internet is being a bit squirley right now. Take care! (-:

Oh my....Kat,I am so jealous right now!The Boosh(Do you love me,are you playing those love games with me???)Ooh,I get all giddy. I was gonna go to that show,had arranged to go to Ireland and meet up with friends and go to the show,but something came up....wasn't it magic??I'm positively giddy.

Wow Rewr,that is one good looking baby.I am so not the type to fawn over all new born babies,but that IS a beautiful baby!Congratulations.

She is beautiful Rewr!

Keep safe, Brad

Ah, a connaiseur! (connaisseuse, actually...) Yes, it was mightily awesome, had great fun, many many laughs, and great admiration for how they pull off all the complicated stuff on stage despite a few very funny glitches that they completely laughed off anyway. Pity you couldn't make it, we could have met up for some madness! Maybe next time!

I head out at five in the morning to do relief work in Mayfield, Kentucky. They were hit with a huge ice-storm a few weeks ago and a group from here is going to help with debris removal. Since I'm handy with a chainsaw, my dad thought it would be good for us to be the ring-leaders. So we've been trying to carry on business as usual while preparing for the trip. Now I'm headed to bed so that I won't sleep through my alarm clock. My body knows it's not right to wake up at 4:15 in the morning, so it needs the rest in order to do it.

You're a good man, Nate :smile:

Sorry Grace, I plead guilty, my franglishness makes me tend to spend French words the French way even when they have since been bastardised by the English language Also, I am just about to shoot the next person who pronounces the name Peugeot as "Pew-joe". Having just changed car for a Peugeot, this will most certainly be quite soon.

Yesterday was a good day, not valentinesey in the least: we went to join in Free Hugs on one of Dublin's busiest shopping streets, we had done it last year and enjoyed it massively, and it was very enjoyable yet again. We then popped by the church where (some of) the relics of St Valentine are kept, because Reg had never been and it is a beautiful place. After that we went for a bit of shopping, a bite to eat, and a couple of movies. First we saw Bolt in 3D, which does rock (the hamster is just the best) but the 3D glasses gave me a splitting headache!

And the finale of a great day was seeing a film called I Sell the Dead as part of the Dublin Film Festival, and meeting the director, who happens to be a friend of one of my colleagues. For a first film, shot with a tiny budget, it looks as good, visually, as a Hollywood blockbuster, has an amazing casting and the story and the humour in it are just kick-ass... They have yet to sign the deal(s) for its distribution, but if you do have a chance to see it, do, because it rocks. (see the list of festivals on the site, including Glasgow, Philadelphia, Amsterdam...)

Just back from the trip. Had a good time, drove 500 some odd miles, am very sore, and ready for bed.

We finished seven work orders and tarped a roof. Three of our piles were over sixty feet long and ten feet high. We had twenty people go with us; thirteen men, four women, and three children.

I spent most of the day yesterday cutting limbs out of trees. As a matter of fact, I was in the air more than I was on the ground, that's why I'm so sore. I've gotten spoiled not having to climb as many trees lately because of our bucket truck. Now I'm looking forward to not climbing another tree for a few months, but we may be going back in a couple of weeks so I'll probably be climbing then too.

Over all a very good trip. No accidents, got a lot accomplished in a short time, and had fun.

I was woken by an earthquake today. The third one i've experienced in 11 months.
This was a 5.1 in Fukui but only rated a 2 here. It took a while to realise what it was...at first I thought it was the usual train rumbling past, but my house doesn't usually sway like that. After waking up enough to realise what it was, I stumbled over to the nearest doorframe to wait it out. I doubt if most Japanese people in my area even woke up for it, but being a simple gaijin girl I did what i've been told to do 'in case of quake' since I was ickle.... Next time i'm staying in bed.

On that note, I leave Japan in 36 days and head for Thailand, meeting my beau in KL on the way. We're having 2 weeks of summer together before heading back to Perth. Yay!

I've never felt an earthquake, but I have strangely always wanted to, not a nasty big disatrous one, just one that makes everything shake around a bit. Does that make me a bad person?

Congrats on meeting up with your fiance, Gypsy, sounds wonderfully exotic, meeting up in KL Enjoy yourselves!

Well so be it then, at least I'm in good company

Count me in :tongue: I've slept through two earthquakes as a child, and both times was rather sore at my parents for not waking me up in time to experience it!

Gypsy, I took a look at your photographs and a lot of them are REALLY impressive! You go!

Aww shucks *blushblushblush*

I've been meaning to update my blog more frequently...as it's still in October...but I just end up procrastinating! Lots of photos to come...at some point...hopefully ^_^

Well, I'm just back from one of the strangest and most strained and emotional weekends I have had in a very long time.

When people I love go away for a period of time more than a handful of days, I get emotional. I guess it's an ingrained fear that they just might not come back. I have no idea why, but...I just get worried.

It started off on friday when my parents headed off on their first proper holiday out of the country in years. I waved them out of the driveway as they left for the airport, and the second they left my view I started crying. Not a lot, but I did get teary-eyed as I was doing their washing-up. Managed to stop blubbering like an idiot, just in time to meet my second eldest brother who was over from London for the weekend. I only ever get to see him once in a blue moon, so I got a little bit teary-eyed then, too. Mainly because this weekend is the last time I get to see him and his partner before they move to South America.

Saturday afternoon (should have been morning - lenthy delay which added to a lot of strained emotions) I drove a big car for the first time, I drove an automatic instead of a manual for the first time, and I drove across the country for the first time (so it was definately a day of firsts!) because my brother was exhausted and my pregnant sister has carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands and can't drive for more than fifteen minutes at a time. We got to Wexford just in time for my brother's partner's mother's 70th birthday party. It was...strange. Going outside for a smoke, I had to explain who I was to people who didn't know me...and then had to explain that the person who had invited me and my sister was actually the woman of the moment's eldest son. Who organised and paid for the whole thing. That was very, very strange. I think half the people who were there had no idea who he was. They have a very, very odd family.

I of course got seated to a very elderly drunken man who seemed delighted to have me next to him and regailed me with tales of Dublin Zoo which seemed to date from the 1970's until now - complete with photos of recent additions to the zoo which were on their digital camera. At that point, all I wanted to do was to go up to our room and hide. In between that, I had to cut up my sisters food, run up to the room twice because I now seem to be her personal servant, and keep the old man from stealing my glass of wine - even though the wine was free and the waiters were refilling glasses every 5 minutes or so.

Then came the speeches from all 4 sons. I counted 64 'Ums' in the first speech alone. And I felt like the whole night was very hypocritical mainly because during the week practically the entire family had stopped talking to my brothers partner who had organised and paid for the whole thing, because of something stupid regarding the band and had only started talking to him when he arrived because otherwise they’d all look like morons.

The Jazz Swing band was not exactly my cup of tea, but the one bright spot about them was the fact that they all knew and had worked with one of my cousins.

My sister had a hissy fit because all of the trip switches for our room had tripped and there were no lights when we finally got there and she is completely unable to do anything now apparently, including phoning the front desk of the hotel or dealing with anything other than removing her nail varnish.

We ended up leaving Wexford three hours later than we were supposed to today because my brother went AWOL, and then I had to have a little cry in the toilets because I had just said goodbye to my brothers partner because that was the last time I'd see him before they moved away, and pretend that I’d just had a sneezing fit to explain my red eyes.

Drove back across the country and the second my brother got into the car to drive away I started crying again. I mean, I'll probably see him about as often as I used to...but all the same, he’s my big brother and he will be so far away...

So now I am tired and emotional and still feel like breaking down and blubbering like a 2 year old that just had their favourite toy taken away. But I feel better for having this little rambling rant.

I think I'll go to bed early...

Aww... *hug* sounds like quite an eventful and emotional weekend, there.

No problem Grace - I got more of a thank you from you than I did from my sister :smile: And I am nothing if not helpful to pregnant women - which is why I didn't get out of work until 8pm tonight and spent nearly five hours copying and pasting email addresses into a computer system and removing duplicates. Joy of Joys, a 13 hour day :sad:

Yup, the word 'Manager' is in my title but it still means I do the grunt work:smile:

At least I got 2 trips to the vending machine from my work mate!

So, on a complete whim, we decided to go off for the weekend, randomly picked a B&B in Galway, packed our bags and drove off... We spent Saturday on the road there and then walking around the center of Galway, which was quite pleasant despite the spittly rain. We did a bit of impulse shopping, and then drove off along the coast for a bit, gawped at the views and the sunset, took plenty of pics... Sunday we left the adorable little B&B (breathtaking view from our window, lovely lady and a brekky to die for!) and head off toward the Connemara, wandered around it in the car and on foot for most of the rest of the day, had yet more nice food, and drove off home. Oh, and took about 6 trillion photos on the way because it is an amazingly beautiful and breathtaking place! We really must go back and spend more time there, maybe even do a horse-trek or something with a calmer rhythm and less glass between us and the magnificent views. Loved it!

And here are ye pics... Kathy Calmejane's Photos - Galway/Connemara Feb09 | Facebook

Aww, the memories... I got my very first Irish Coffee on the way to Connemara! The nice bartender lady gave me a VERY odd look and asked if I knew what's in it. No, I wasn't preg at the time!

(Lovely pictures, Kat!:smile

Noice photos, me darlin'... written in a bad Irish accent.

Loved the shot of Zatsúma.

How could anyone paint a house that colour? It's not really Emerald green.

Hmm, dunno, maybe it's just to provide camouflage for the leprechauns...

It's snowing outside! It's March and it's bloomin snowing outside! In Shannon! It never snows in Shannon - or at least, it never snows and stays! Fingers crossed I wake up to a winter wonderland in the morning

PS. Now I've said it, it won't happen. I'll wake up in the morning and it will be raining

Leaving Japan 3 weeks from today! Home in 5 weeks! Having snow withdrawal symptoms after coming back from boarding in Nagano! Have planned a snow trip with freinds this Aussie winter! Am writing with too many exclamation marks! Found out sending stuff home is cheaper than I thought - by boat! Will be selling almost all of my appliances tonight! Keeping the kettle!

:wink:

Out of Breath!:wink:

WHy the kettle?

Now I have my breath back and becasue i'm curious (aka nosey) I second Spiky's question.

And Buzzfloyd there are any number of things you can do without a kettle,
including Snowboarding.
You just cant have a cup of tea afterwords.*

R.

*Unless you have a thermos, or a pot, or running supply of hot water, or...actually i'll stop there as I have things to do with the rest of my life.