OUCH!

This week is REALLY going to hurt!




Gulp!

Another Year Older...

Not much wiser though.

So, it was my birthday last week. For some reason I only ever seem to remember my age every second year. It's like the even-numbered years don't exist for me so I get a very nasty shock when I realise I'm actually two years older than I thought I was. This happened last Thursday. Never nice.

I don't really like my birthdays. I'm not very good at accepting good wishes gracefully. Along with compliments and people paying for me in a restaurant, it makes me uncomfortable. Probably some psych thing I should work out and get over but can't really be bothered as it's only once a year. I do however always tend to be a little morose on the day.

I wish I'd actually had the forethought to take the day off work - I felt guilted into buying some biscuits for everyone at work (as it is a 'tradition' here to bring stuff in on your birthday) and by there-doing announced that it was an occasion and so got congratulations. Actually, they weren't too bad, realising I was grumpy about it, and left me pretty much alone, which was nice.

I did like my cake though. Carol made her first Black Forest cake and it was very successful as a chocolate cake... not quite as sure about the whole sour cherry thing, but I wanted a chocolate cake so I wasn't disappointed.

Other than that, I just kept wishing the day was over. And now it is for another year. So forth and so onwards.

NaNoWriMo 2008 Wrap Up

Another belated blog harking back to November last year, and written as if I were still in 2008, as I was in fact when I wrote it:

***
I actually managed to complete NaNo again this year and I am quite proud of myself.

So far I haven't read any part of the story I wrote though. Going on what happened last year, it too will be an unmitigated mess. You see, instead of reading this years (as you are supposed to give yourself some distance from a new story when first finished) I have started to go through last year's NaNo story. I'm rather appalled. The vision I had in my head has not been transferred to paper at all and the number of spelling and punctuation mistakes - not to mention half-sentences and unfinished thoughts - are legionary. I honestly don't know where to begin sorting it out. Most of it literally doesn't make sense.

Ah well. I enjoyed doing it and I finished it and that was what mattered. But I hate to think how bad this year's story is. I got interrupted so many times on the train - which was my only real writing time except for weekends - that the amount of disjointed sections, half-sentences and repeats are going to be incredible. But I did it. And if I ever want to become a writer in actual fact and not just in my head, I'll keep doing it.

So now I have two stories which have beginnings, middles and ends. Pity they go from A to Z through Alpha Centauri.
***

Still haven't read it. Am afraid to now. Will attack it some time soon. The old one has been put into a bin until I have more patience than I do now.

Mum's 60th

Way back in October of last year - a year in which we had Chris's 30th and Tim's 25th as well - my mater had her 60th.

The clan gathered, the shopping was done, the party plates were bought, the paths swept, the mosquito coils were strategically placed, the balloons were strung up one minute and burst the next, the salads were expertly prepared by chef Chris, a terrified Kat baked her first cake in four years and it turned outok, the party poppers were ready and the tables groaned under the weight of the provender.

And then the guests started arriving.

All four of us younger family members pitched in. Tim became our entertainer for the evening and did an excellent job of amusing the troops, Adam made sure there wasn't a mosquito in sight and kept us all varmint free, Chris manned the BBQ with a brilliance that made Ali's gourmet cook of a boss praise him liberally and I ran around making sure at least some of the mountains of food got eaten and that everyone had clean glasses.

And although I will admit to being a bit of a martyr at times due to a chronic lack of sleep (thank you Adam for a very timely cup of coffee!), Ali had a wonderful time and didn't notice, or so she said, and that was all that really mattered. All her friends praised us kids on doing everything without a fuss and that pleased her a lot. She also got to spend the entire evening without worrying about a thing and she got loads of ginger chocolate from people she didn't think knew of her love of the stuff and that pleased her even more, so I think we successfully managed to give her a stress-freeish sixtieth.

All in all it was a lovely evening and we had copious amounts of left overs left over like all the best parties, so a Good Time Had By All.

Holding Pattern...

Um... yes, well. I AM still alive and I DO have stuff to say but have been off somewhere in la la land lately... Am sorry. Will get back to writing this thing VERY SOON!

... until then, hold please and cue the elevator music: di di do do, di-di-di do do...

Salutations!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you All.

May the season of silliness be a safe and enjoyable one.

Love Kat

Well Bugger Me!

Have I been on a roller coaster today. Take a piece of me, no, take two! I'm not sure there's any more to go around but what's left of me feel free to scavenge.

At 5pm ish I got a text from mum (btw, Yay mum for mastering the art of texting and of leaving her mobile on!!!). She sent, and I quote "hi dearest need address royal mail arrived BIG HUG NOT OPENED MA". My stomach immediately sank. I think you all know dear readers that I have been waiting quite anxiously for a parcel to arrive from London containing my response from the British Immigration Agency in regards to my UK stage 1 HSMP visa approval. This would decide the next stage of my life. Big moment. Well, I immediately rang mum and demanded she open the thing, and got the shock of my life when she said, quite mildly, that I'd been approved.

oh.

right.

Hadn't been expecting that. I was kind of appalled and kind of happy and kind of teary and kind of... well, no, completely thrown. Mum wanted to send the package to me asap so I could apply asap (thank you love!) but I had to process and so told her I'd let her know when I'd read up about the stage two bits I had to do.

Then I proceeded to let all and sundry know, as you do, that I'd been approved, not really knowing myself how I felt about it, but sure that very soon, I'd be winging my way back to the UK and my life there.

So, I got home in a state of shock, and told Dad and Carol and had a whisky to settle myself. Then I went onto the Internet and discovered, to my absolute horror, that I wasn't quite finished jumping through all the hoops and that the next one I had to go through was ringed by fire. The BIA have mashed the old and new processes, so whilst I qualified for the old, I now had to also qualify for the new... The next hurdle was proving I had money and in an Aussie bank account and it had to have been three for three months before I could apply.... but...but...but

Oh Crap.

So now I have a minimum three month wait. And only then can I apply to see if they'll accept me as a potential citizen of the UK. I so want to be there right now. And I had planned to go over after Christmas too, to see everyone and clear out my crap and go skiing one last time.

Now, well I won't be going skiing in Jan, but I could possibly, maybe, probably, hopefully be able to go skiing many, many more times.

Come on March, I want to see you as fast as possible please. Then I can apply... again.

And then, who knows, I might actually get a definitive answer.

I hope.

NaNoWriMo on the horizon...

The time has come yet again dear friends when I shall be disappearing into the pages of a 50,000 word novel of my own creation in an attempt to complete NaNoWriMo 2008. It matters not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game, and I intend to have as much fun this year as I did last.

Wish me luck and keep track of my progress here and here.

And please excuse me if I disappear - it's hard not too when an imaginary world is occupying my every waking moment. :)

What a slack friend am I!

I discovered today, by dint of a long-overdue phone call, that my friend Sally is about to have another baby. Yes, I do mean about - well, in two months anyway. But this means that I haven't spoken to her for about 7 months. Geez but time does fly. Sorry to all of you who may have been expecting communication and got none! I've been slack and just totally did not notice the time going. And congratulations to Sally of course! Wow. So bummed I'm not there. But Yay for Sally and Tarrig and Aisha! ... And yay for another excuse for me to make a quilt!! :)

Meet the newest Oppermann

Ted, aka Teddy Bear ('cause he apparently looks like one), aka Psycho Dog.

Believe me when I tell you he is no where near as docile as he appears in this photo. But he can be quite adorable when he's got a mind and is certainly entertaining. And not yappy either - he's got a very loud bark for such a small animal. Thankfully he doesn't use it all that often.

So, Welcome Teddy!