Members' News

Hope your parents get better soon, Tamyra, and good luck with meeting guys online. It's always complicated, whatever the age, but it works sometimes

I am not at work. I should be, but my glasses broke today, leaving me utterly useless.

Why did i never forsee this!? Such a minor thing like the arm snapping has left me unable to leave the house. I'm now wearing my mums prescription sunglasses, which are not my prescription at all, and giving me a headache. Also, I look ridiculous in them. I've been tottering around in my house which has suddenly turned into something like a surreal, dark bouncy castle, all wavering walls and fuzzy outlines. gah. You know (well, you will if you also wear glasses) what it's like when you try somebody elses on.

And, I can't even get to the opticians yet, because in some freaky bastard coincdence, the fridge also broke last night. So, before my dad can drive his squinting daughter to the optician, he needs to fix it, lest plentiful supplies of food dies a sweaty death.

the worst thing though? one whole day of precious, precious work holiday allowance wasted!

Oh, yeah, also, my mobile is broken. Somebody isn't very happy with me. Perhaps my punishment is to live like a blind monk in the middle of nowehre. With no fridge, of course.

Ella, you sound like its a tough life for you at the moment. *hugs*

can you not tape the arm on for a couple of hours til you can get to the optitions? I know it wouldn't look good but at least you could see people laughing at you.
I hope you get it sorted out hun, it's no fun feeling helpless.

Well i felt really shitty this morning, so under strict orders from he who must be obeyed, I am in my PJ's watching the tele with the fire full of wood and smokeless coal (burning of course, no point in just looking pretty) with my quilt wrapped round me, doing nothing. It's killing me, i'm dying to go do the hoovering. In the back of my mind i can't help thinking i'm gonna get a good hiding when he gets home. I have to keep reminding myself Dave is my new life and that doesn't happen now.
I am gonna sit and wait for him to come home and then do something nice for dinner (if he lets me)

Nah sit there and watch tele till Dave gets home... then make him do the vacuuming AND THEN get him to make you dinner too...

Theres no point being down in the dumps if you can't make someone else do all the work and hence making them miserable too. Its sadistic but soooo satisfying.

I have no real news. It was a long weekend here but it rained for half of it, so we sat at home watching tele and DVDs in the true meaning of time wasting.

I've been very busy preparing for a interstate trip to the Ian Wark institute + meetings in South Austalia, so many things to do so little time. Still everything has a plus, the trip is "all expenses paid" and the hotel is across the road from a big casino :smile:

My day was made today when I realised I could do a friction measurement with the AFM (atomic force microscope) by doing a lateral force measurement. This lead to a stack of potential idea's for experiments that could give me not only a PhD chapter but a chance to do fundemental research into tribocharging (friction charging).

Also I got a new phone, a Nokia 6233, it rocks.

I only understood half... no...hmmm...1/34th of what you just said. Mainly the small words.

And if your expecting the Adelaide casino to be big and exciting then you maybe in for a shock and disappointment. Its about as big and exciting as a country RSL Club*

*For foreigners and RSL Club is a Returned Servicement League Club, initially set up to support soldiers but now all they do is provide dens of poker machines, cheap booze and strangely vomitous carpet.

All quiet on the western front. Pretty much.

ummm

im still here, kicking it...
k
not really
but im here!

We had presentations due in my Humanities class today and nothing in the world will ever make me like speaking in front of people but we worked in a group of three and one of my partners said we were the calm ones while she was nervous. I don't know what she was seeing but I think my hands were shaking. We had to vote on the best presentation and ours won by quite a few votes even though our videos didn't work because we had no sound on the computer. We were told we would get a prize.

I have another project due in that class in less than two weeks which I'm researching now. We have to find a foreign film and view it in terms of globalization, modernity/post-modernity and the visual images presented in the film. My town library carries no foreign films so I'm going to check their online database and see if I can get one from another library and my mom works at the school and she is going to check there. Right now I'm just browsing lists and looking for anything that sounds interesting.

Faerie - presentations are always a challenge. My school is good in this area (or bad depending on your view point) as we do at least 2 or 3 presentations of some sort for various classes a week...which sounds a lot but you get used to it quickly and it makes anything assesed oraly much less daunting. I've managed to perfect getting up and doing spontaneous presentations on topics I know next to nothing on. Try talking the presentation out beforehand to get used to what your saying and remember that the people infront of you are poeple you know and are not exactly the most intimidating.

Me...

I'm getting rather overwhelmed at school right now...with coursework by the gallon load and exams comming up as well as this wonderful project week which is increadible cool but very stressful life is just full of 'to do' lists that wont end.

FOr this project week thing, our entire grade gets into groups of 3-5 and organises a trip to anywhere in Asia to get involved in any worthwhile project (orphanages, building houses, working with animals). Then we spend about a week there. No teachers, no parents, just you and a few others helping out somewhere.

I'm going to volunteer in a zoo in Malaysia then I'm going trecking in the rainforest for a few days - swimming in waterfalls, getting bitten by leeches that sort of thing. Anyway should be good, particularly for some people in my group who have had no experience travelling alone.

Went to London today, went on a "duck tour" (which was a converted D-day U-boat that took us around the city centre then into the Thames) which was fun, met the Bury north MP (I live just outside of bury... its next to manchester) and quizzed him on the trident weaponry renewals and the status of the soldiers in Iran. I cought him off guard, he was expecting questions about the local area, the look on his face was priceless.

Went up big ben which was fun and quite interesting then went "shopping" at some park that began with "c" but wasn't camden... oh that'll buig me all night. anyway after holding the group up due to a tesco till misbehaving and ... getting lost went came back. I've just got in. I got up at 4:30 this morning and i think i deserve an early night.

A good day though (especially for only £20)

::keeping fingers crossed for sick/glassesless/overschooled/overtripped/under-Easter-egg-hunted people::

Missy, hope you're feeling better! I've finally learned NOT to do housework while sick - it took a while - and am now all about the stay-under-the-blanket-while-drinking-lots-of-tea-with-lemon therapy! It works

Dane, that sounds like an awesome daytrip! Last time I was in London was 8 years ago to this day and I really really want to go again!

Well we have had our ups and downs but we did it......one whole year without him murdering me with an axe and without me killing him with PMT.

One year ago yesterday, i told Ella (who told Doors) I was going to meet the tallest bloke i ever met! And the rest as they say is a very hilly (lots of ups and downs) history.

I don't mind admitting i owe my new life to this board.

I know alot of stuff i have posted has not been good, you have all been here for me though and that has got me through it. That and the fact that i don't think i could be in a better place with anyone better. Dave has celebrated a bit more than me, i feel a bit guilty that i hadn't had the strength to leave my ex before i met Dave. Don't get me wrong, i have no regrets, I just wish we could have met in different circumstances.

We have celebrated with a pizza and Red Dwarf in bed (not a red dwarf, nothing like that, just the BBC 2 series) and it has been a great night. Charlie joined us and we spent the night together laughing.

For this i would like to thank you all for being my friends and i would like to thank Dave for being Dave.

Well, as Missy posted - it has now been one year since our first meeting!

It is amazing how the time has flown by though.
I have gone from living all alone, to having a family - most of which are non-human, but that isn't so bad...

In spite of the trials that life has thrown into our path - life is so much better now than I would have thought it could be...

I blame Garner! - Thanks mate...

I deny being tall though - whatever Missy says

I took a one night trip to Splash Village in Frankenmuth with some friends. It is a hotel/waterpark and it was fun. I stayed up until 4 in the morning taking pictures of a friend leaping onto the bed with a sheet tied around her neck. Our neighbors mentioned how loud we were in the morning but we didn't think we were really loud and we got no official complaints. Its a good thing we didn't start up the karaoke game we had.

I just died my hair tonight. It has been multiple shades of red and I even meant it to be purple once but it turned out purple, green, blue, red, and blonde and later faded to all blonde. My hair has never been darker than my natural brown but now its black and I actually meant it to be dark brown. I like it anyway.

Happy anniversary Dave and Wendy, it's good to know that 2 people who weren't are now happy and have a better life than they did a year ago. May it be only the first in a long long story of happiness. **hugs**

Hair dye can be an adventure. Just a few weeks ago my mom's was bright orange and she works at a school so all the kids loved that.

Dave if you were any taller you'd have to wear an oxygen mask because there is thin up there.

Congrats to the 2 of you. You both sound very happy, even if Dave is on a diet, going to the gym and putting on weight.

I have no real news. I spent the last 2 weeks in battle with the uni defending my honour against some weirdness. But as I have to wait some indeterminant period of time till they come to a decision its back to the grindstone of procrastination

Happy anniversary Dave and Wendy, I'm glad you've both been (and I hope will continue to be) so happy together.

Hope everythings ok with the Uni spiky, I have had some pretty crazy hair in the past too Fearie. Currently i'm an "Owen Wilson" Look-a-like :? But its still better than it was before, my hair was longer than most of my girl friends!

nothing much to say, i bought the ten year anniversary edition of Clerks on saturday and i havn't laughed so hard in a long time. I saw Clerks two a few months ago without realising it was Jay and silent Bob, which is what drove me to buy the first clerks film. I had no idea it was in black and white but its a really nice story. I watched the Documentery on one of the other DVDs (Its a three disc boxset) and i'm impressed with the commitment of the people involved.

I'm on Easter Break at the moment, I'm going to see katy next week but nothing to do until then. she went to spain last night on tour with her orchestra so i wont even be able to chat to her. aww well, at least i'll be able to catch up on my sleep

Rejoyce! I'm finally getting rid of my brother! And not in a "take two foot of cheesewire, his neck, a vat of lime and add a dark and deserted forest complete with shovel" way. After battling with the bank for a very long time, dealing with incompetent fools who take three weeks to get back to you on one blooming phone call etc., the woman we were originally dealing with has come back and within half an hour has sorted every damned problem we came against. She's a miracle worker. An absaloute star. And to give you some idea of the time frame, getting him off the mortgage and paying him off should have taken three months. In the time it has taken to get to this stage, she has gone from being medium pregnant, to heavily pregnant, gone on maternity leave and had her baby which is now six months old. (That's approximately eleven months). Thank god there is someone out there that has a clue!

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! ::Mazekin punches air in elation, jumping up and down yelling Woooohoooo:: something in my life is going right at last!

On the redundancy front, we still don't know who is going and who is staying. They lied to us. Again. We were supposed to find out yesterday, instead they just told us how many. Wankers. We have another two months to find out now because they hadn't submitted it to the Works Council. But due to a sentence my boss blurted out in a one on one meeting with her, I think i may just be safe, but in a team where I will probably have a nervous breakdown within a month or two. Ho hum, time to start the job searching I think

Congratulations on the 'getting rid of the brother' front. Hope you didn't damage anything with all that jumping around (yourself or inanimate objects):biggrin: .

Best of luck with the not being made redundant. It doesn't hurt to have an idea about what else is out there.

I would explain more about whats going on but I don't think I'm allowed to...What the hell...

You may be aware I did some PhD data gather ing at the recent ausDWCon. it went rather well and no one seemed to have an issue when I was there. I get back to uni and someones put in a complaint to the university ethics committee that I was unethical and unprofessional and I'm a bad person and I got the impression that they thought the uni should hang, draw and quarter me.

I think its rubbish, but its still quite upsetting that someone can dislike you enough to go to this extent to cause trouble. So anyway, I had to come up with this letter (an epic and minutely edited piece of writing) to defend myself... Which takes a lot of time and a lot of people to read and check and offer advice on. Its gone back to the committee so I'll find out eventually if this will stick.

You guys don't think I act inappropriately or unprofessionally do you?

Enough about me. Congrats and good luck Mazekin. Hope it all turns out well.

Congrats Mazekin. Good luck Hsing, see you in a few.

I have just returned from helping out with [WIKI]Habitat for Humanity[/WIKI] on Drexel's Alternative Spring Break. Quite tired, and possibly cracked a rib. Good times though.

We just had a week or so of almost 70°F weather and now there is snow on the ground. Curse the stupid weather of Michigan, I'm ready to be out of sweatshirts and jeans and into t-shirts and shorts.

I've had an interesting week or so. Spend 4 days working in the zoo in Malaysia raking leaves, feeding paranas and chopping lots of carrots. I also went trecking up mountains, swimming by waterfalls, slept in a bed with a LOT of bugs*, got bitten to death, ate lots, and spent 9 hours on a bus.

I'm now back in Malysia (after having left for a day) and went visiting big towers and buildings, and been up tall mountains to see multi coloured buildings. Pretty impressive for someone with an increadible fear of heights (and I'm not understating how uncomfortable they make me...I started to turn green on the sky bridge in the patronas towers**). Anyway I did manage to get out of th cable car...which I am eternally thankful for.

Now after a long period of excitement, I think I'll snuggle up with a good book

*damn bed bugs...the phrase 'don't let the bed bugs bite' has never been so real.

** was the tallest building in the world, is now the second I believe)

hoot! Fairyliquid, I want to work in a zoo too ! Sounds like an awesome week,except for the biting bedfellows.

Spiky, I hope your complaint-thingie blows over quickly! Do you need references?

We got the same snow Faerie has, I stayed at work an extra 12 hour day because I knew it was going to be so ickky I wouldn't do anything at home, and I'm having extra time off this coming week. Jon and I have almost finished up filling out our divorce papers but we were too long getting the copying done and we will have to wait until he gets back again to file them, I hope they are in enough order that we can get it over and done with. So far we have been sickenly civil to each other, maybe we will even end up as friends, after all.

I bought a new pair of shoes on my way home, now I have to remodel a denim dress I bought a few months ago so I have something fun to wear for Easter. I have been shrinking in a good way lately, I don't know how much I've lost but I'm at least one or two sizes smaller then I was at the New Year. I credit it to less stress and vitamin laced water, I've even noticed I can now walk fairly normally down stairs, even two weeks ago i was still having to take them one step at a time. I hope I don't slip back over that threshold. Well I'd better get to sewing, I hope everyone has a happy Easter.

p.s.- Delphine I thought I had lost my glasses last week and I just about cried when I finally found them. times like that make me think hard about Lasick!

I thought I lost my glasses awhile ago but it turns out they were on a shelf in the shower. Not sure how they ended up there, I suspect my sister. Mine have metal arms with plastic ends which I removed because they kept catching on my hair. I wear contacts too so even when I lose my glasses I can still see. Its just more work to put contacts in when I would usually just wear my glasses around the house.

My sister and brother (and their families) have just left, after devouring lots of food, leaving peace in their wake. This is the first time I've hosted everyone and just managed to squeeze eleven around the table, though I did have to use one of the garden chairs.

My two youngest nephews are nearly 4 & 5 and I bought some foil-wrapped hollow eggs to hide in the garden so they would be distracted before lunch. However, as I was busy in the kitchen I asked Dad, who had come down with Mum earlier, to hide them. I distinctly remember telling him to remember where he'd put them in case there was trouble finding them. He's rather deaf though and I don't think he heard.

So the egg hunt started and eight of the eleven were found quite easily, but the others proved more elusive. I will confess that, while I've cut the grass, the borders still need clearing and there's enough vegetation there that the soil can't be seen. Every one else ended up involved in the searching and after half an hour another one was found. My brother-in-law found the second during a break between courses. The last one remains elusive, my sister was suggesting we do a fingertip search of the garden, (she's been watching too many police shows), but I'm sure that at some point, when I finally clear the borders, I'll find some remnants of foil to show where it was.

This year, I skipped the tradition of easter with the family and instead I went to Slovenia to visit Petra (Lipi). We have been talking for a while and decided, about a month ago, to meet up. The Messageboard of Love has struck again. :smile:

I flew down on the friday and got back home today, monday. Slovenia is incredibly beautiful. I will put up some pictures from the trip in my online photo album later, but for now, this one (negotiated by thrusting a camera into a poor tourist's hands) will have to do. It was taken at the Ljubljanski Grad (the castle of Ljubljana). I am the tall one.

I do hope everyone had a nice easter holiday.

My weekend was absolutely wonderful, not so much for the almost summer weather, (which was wonderful, after the rain we had the week before, by the way), as for Jonas being there with me. You can tell that by the ear-to-ear grin the short one (me) is sporting this spring. :wink:



And sorry for the little lie, Garner, but I didn't want to jump the gun on the whole thing before we met.

I may not have been very active on the board lately, due to my busy busy schedule of work, studying, work and lately MSN with Jonas. But I must say, the Board has brought me many good things during the years and helped me get through some hard times, and I do want to thank you all for making it what it is.

Mazel tov, Jonas and Petra

Woah. By now announcements like these shouldn't surprise me, but they still do.

Go you two. :smile:

it should be OK but thanks anyway

lipi and KK sitting in a tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

My easter has been such that I have regressed to childhood.

Congrats guys!

BTW I'm glad you pointed out which one was you KK, otherwise I may have been really confused

KK and Lipi, congratulations. I had the traditional family Easter, but I bet it wasn't as fun as yours!

Connor has a new favorite thing, he calls it magic. you wrap him in a lapquilt and hold both ends with him inside and swing him around in it. It looks terribly dangerous and uncomfortable but he can't get enough of it. Its good exercise for those of us who are willing to try it, my sister and his mom won't do it. Deann has a rule about that " don't do anything you aren't willing to do forever" I gave it a whirl but I hope he thought it wasn't a good enough effort and doesn't ask for me to do it again, it is sort of scary swinging a little boy around when you can't tell for sure if he's okay or not.

I have a picture of my nephew with some co-workers at Eilson
AFB. He's not in dress uniform but at least you can see him

I'm trying to get a picture of my nephew on here. I hope it works
edit: this isn't the best picture of Mike I've ever seen but you can get some idea of what he's like

Oooooh, news of budding love and a picture of a hunky guy !! SPRING IS HERE !!!!!!!


Yay for you two lipi and KK, and thanks for explaining the pic, like spiky, I could quite easily have mixed you up :biggrin:

Oh well, you may not be able to read this before you have to go through the 3-day-desert, but good luck to you Mal, and make sure you negociate extra hugs all through the convalescence period. And ice-cream.

I thought Ice-cream was for Appendix removal!

Good luck Mal and just enjoy the 3 days rest, You'll be working overtime catching up after.

A perfect time for book-tapes and music. No eye-strain at all!

Ice-cream is for everything (it's also recommended for sore throats, tonsils removal, and wisdom teeth pains too...)

I think I would go a little crazy if I couldn't read for three days. Good luck if you decide to go through with it.

Good luck Mal. My mum had it done and she was OK.

I'd say download the radio series of HHGTTG to keep you occupied.

Whew, Mal, that's awesome - I've wanted the same surgery for YEARS, but never had enough time/money/nerve. Hopefully, you're all done by now and are enjoying your 3 days of music, ice cream and general chilling-out. See you when you're back!

Tamyra, I used to play the same game with my brother, when he was little - I would stuff him into a bed sheet, then grab the corners and swing him around (over a mattress, just in case I'd lose my grip). He seemed to love it, and is now a relatively well-adjusted 21-year-old, so hopefully there weren't too many adverse effects .

Yay for KK & Lipi!

Mal, I hope the eye surgery works out. It's something I've considered getting too. I think the change would be incredible.

I loved this as a kid.

Okay "magic" will stay in my repertoire of things to do with Connor, like blocks and Thomas the Tankengine. Sam has been buying stuff for Thomas, there are now two sets of extra track and 15 vehicles. I think my mom really wants him to stop getting Thomas stuff, but she and my dad just brought home a rocking horse for the boy, so she should talk about buying him too much stuff.

He's 34" tall and weighs 31.5 lbs, a little heavy for his height but then he's been cooped up by the icky weather for a while. Mom says when he gets outside he just goes and goes, a lot like his daddy I guess. There has been a lot of discussion on how they are going to set up his new fort with the slide. He got that from his Grandma 'Nette and Grandpa Rich for Christmas.

My mom has been so concerned about his developement, but she has had so many reassurances from friends that deal with that. They have a friend that is a pediatrician who said there is nothing wrong with that boy and one who teaches little ones with speech problems that said she would like to take him with her as an example of how to talk. They had a little problem with him swearing a while back, but I guess they nipped it in the bud. Mom told him if he used certain words that his mom was going to wash his mouth out with soap, and he did and she did and now if he hears someone say one of those words he says "you aren't supposed to say that word" and I haven't heard him cussing at all. He is a pretty sharp cookie.

If you go to my myspace page I have a few more photos of him and one of me with my siblings and our Grandma. I'd like to put some in an album here but I haven't figured out how to work it yet, I keep getting a message that says I can't do that. the URL is www.myspace.com/TamyraDeW. I am DeW instead of McG because I want my name back, and thats as close as I can get to that until we get the paperwork filed and finalized.

Strangely enough, I can really relate to wanting to be swung around in a blanket, but I have a real problem grasping how american's can read Thomas the Tankengine :shock: :lol:

Thomas the Tank engine was on Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood and they are still rerunning those shows for the little kids on PBS even though Mr. Rodgers died several years ago. Connor has liked Thomas for months now, he knows the names of every car or engine he has. My teen aged nieces and nephews remember Thomas, even though they didn't have the toy trains. I really like hese toys, they are mostly plastic but it is a sturdy tough plastic, they hook together with strong magnets and a two yearold can do that by themself, I would reccomend them for anyone who has a little kid to buy a present for.

On a much different note, today I stood up one guy and got stood up by another, Oh dear. I decided I just wasn't up to making a 250 mile trip (500mile round trip) to meet with someone who wasn't even willing to pony up for the room. This afternoon I got a call from someone else who was already at a hotel but he called me back before I could get on my way to say his sister and mother were coming instead. He likes to keep certain parts of his life seperate from other parts. It is just a good thing I'm such an understanding woman and I wasn't really loking forward to driving the 100 miles or so to get to Milacs. I'm not sure we really have a future anyway,he is a lot older, even for someone as old as me 18 years seems like it might be too much difference. I guess I won't know for sure until I actually meet him. So far he is a lot of fun to talk to so at least I want to meet him.