When the cat's away...

I'm actually sitting in the manager's office right now and typing this. I'm feeling a little guilty... Even though I know she wouldn't mind. I think. It does feel a bit weird though... In the manager's chair, at the manager's computer. And Facebooking in the other window. Hihi.

Yeah. This is the last trading day for 2007. My husband is doing research on my machine (he works waaay too hard), so I had no other option really than to use the manager's. We have not had a single sale today. Only one bloke came in looking for some books we didn't have...

I'm totally being a little rebellious today anyway. Not wearing my work shirt, or anything remotely smart really. But my prized Australian outfit from my sister-in-law.

So.

I will only be able to post in 2008 again. Til then!

Has it lost its lustre?

Another blogger bites the dust.

OK. Not all that bad. But blogging has really taken a back seat for me lately. I wish I had time to put down all that's on my mind. But perhaps I feel this medium is not secure enough to pour out my deepest emotions.

I could take the route of current affairs. Ranting and raving about Jacob Zuma being the new ANC president. I mean, not that I didn't expect it. In South Africa nothing surprises me anymore. Not even when supposedly educated people vote for a man that was on trial for rape, had sex with an HIV positive woman and took a shower afterwards as an "extra precaution", has dodgy credentials i.t.o corruption, and sings about picking up your AK47s. But people love him. Goodness knows why. I'd like to believe that people have more sense than to be swept up in a wave of hero worship for a prolific speaker. He can't seem to do anything wrong. He's the leader for the people. But don't they all promise that? More jobs, less poverty blah blah. It's all idle talk. Perhaps I should have more faith. Perhaps Jacob Zuma will turn out to be a good leader that actually does get stuff done...

What's the chance.

The NPA is out only hope.

Well wow. There you go. Current affairs wasn't all that difficult to write about was it.

I sometimes feel that writing entirely about myself all the time - my random daily experiences - must be pretty boring for the expansive blogosphere out there. Here's this question again. WHO am I writing for?! Myself? Or the people I know will read this. It's kinda like when psychologists do experiments with people. The fact that the people know that they are in an experiment changes their reactions. So does my knowing who reads this change what I write? ABSOLUTELY. It shouldn't be like that. I should be able to just express myself the way I want. But then, I don't want to tread on toes...

Dilemma.

Do I put my best foot forward in what I write? Of course! I don't want to be subjected to criticism about myself when this is MY blog. Where I can write what I want. But I can't.

HA! Yeah. That's got me all in a knot.

I haven't been feeling very Christmassy lately. It's been all work and worry and blah. But yesterday we managed to find a real Christmas tree! And my manager has given me the afternoons off this week. It's been so great cause my mom in law is here, and we're going shopping, and having coffee together, buying Christmas decor etc...

Soon I will be on leave for a few days.

Be good all. And have a merry Christmas!!

Nothing of consequence

I woke up this morning hoping against hope that it was the weekend.

It wasn’t.

This day has but d r a g g e d on. I’m so tired. The other day we had dinner with our friends who are leaving this sorry town for the holidays. Before we knew it we were on Smirnoff Storm number 3 (not to mention glass of wine and G&T before that…), and suddenly it was midnight and I was sipping (involuntarily) on a huge glass of wine. I just don’t know how it happened. Good food, good company… Somehow we just got a little carried away. So not planned…

Yah. So Thursday was a little fragile for all of us…

So we have this new guy working here now, replacing my favourite colleague. The new guy’s really nice, but he’s just not the old guy. He is really such an eager beaver. Seriously. I mean, when the phone rings and he’s busy making coffee he’ll sprint from the kitchen to answer it, shouting “I’ve got it!”. I hope his enthusiasm wanes soon because just looking at him makes me tired. I mean, I of the Well Done Certificate: I work hard. But this guy is just over the top. He never takes his full hour of lunch. Dude – you have a whole hour break – TAKE IT PLEASE.

And then he talks really softly. I was making tea today and he was standing like 5m away mumbling something. It was only after 30 seconds that I realised he was actually speaking to me (trying to anyway) – over the roar of the kettle. I was like: “Huh?! Are you speaking to me?”.

Somehow he makes me feel bad for doing other things when there’s no work to do. Like I feel so bad for checking my Gmail, or reading blogs. I don’t even DARE go on Facebook.

Does it seem to you that lately I haven’t had anything profound to say? Definitely feels like that to me. Maybe I’m a little tired of all the seriousness of life right now. I sometimes just don’t feel like dwelling on problems and/or philosophical questions. From now on I’m going to just talk about frivolous things like shopping and soft-spoken colleagues.

Don’t you LOVE make-overs? I’d say I’m a bit of a make-over junkie. Any kind of make-over. Home, extreme, weight loss – WHATEVER. I love love love that before and after stuff. Wish someone would give me a make over. I’m not very good with fashion, and what looks good on me etc. My husband is my senior fashion consultant.

Ramble ramble blah blah

What gives you the idea that I am so bored at work today. I wanna go hoooooome. And eat burgers and chips and watch movies. It’s a loooong weekend!!!

Gobbledigook

I actually haven’t written for a whole week! It feels like so much has happened that nothing really has happened. Can that even make sense to anyone? It’s like when you haven’t seen someone in AGES; so much has happened to you in between, but after you have imparted the seemingly important bits such as what you do job-wise, that you’re married and where you live etc, there seems to be nothing left to say… Even though there is obviously an ocean of experiences that you both have encountered you have to wade into the murky pool of small talk…

I seem to be off on a tangent once again.

Basically I’ve been pretty sick. Had fever for the first time in my life (and it was HORRIBLE). I’ve been away from work for a couple of days now. Today is first day back. I’ve been having quite some fun at work today – there’s been a lot of work to do, and it was really cool being busy and useful again after lounging in bed for the better part of 4 whole days. We rearranged the shop a little, made more space for the magazines and stationery. It’s all very exciting. (Gosh, doesn't take much, does it...)

AND my Well Done certificate* arrived. I’m not sure what they think this MS Word-created, printed on cheap cardboard, with clip art pics template of a document is going to do for my morale, but the fact that they spelt my name wrong has made me think the idea is even more ridiculous. It’s probably for prestige and honour or something. They’ll probably want me to frame it. BLEH. I’ve learnt that certificates are really nothing more than a waste of trees. I’ve even got one that says “Masters Degree” on it. They really should have left that tree standing. Let it help with global warming or something.

Da-di-da.

I feel like I’m beating around the bush a little here. In the past 2 weeks my husband and I have heard a few pieces of tragic and shocking news. Some have left us numb, hurt and very upset. They are not my stories to tell, however.

Things are getting very Christmassy here. It’s nearly the middle of December and I haven’t even thought of Christmas gifts yet. Oops. At least we got our huge chunk of gammon yesterday.

So did you hear that Jake White’s book is selling faster than the last Harry Potter?! That is just incredible! Jake White is so clever. The way he timed everything! We have copies of the book in stock. We haven’t sold a single copy yet…

*After repeatedly being nominated for Employee of the Month (which includes a voucher from Pick n Pay for R 1000) unsuccessfully, I think they thought they would just shut me up with this Well Done certificate.

Sick Day

For the second time in my life I had to call in sick yesterday. Yip. The last time I had to miss a day of anything (school it was back then) was in Grade 9 when I woke up in the middle of the night and had to hurl. Needless to say I stayed at home. I’m not one of those people that stay at home for every tiny little sign of illness. I’d rather go to work/school. Only if it’s bad. Really bad.

This was really bad:
On Monday night I went to bed with a rather wonky tummy. Queasy. Blegh. Nature came calling at 12 am and I didn’t get to sleep much until 3. Every time I would nearly fall asleep again I had to run back to the loo so as not to poop in my bed (sorry if TMI…). I was so exhausted, I think I finally slept for 2 hours until 5 when the whole thing happened all over again. It was pointless even going back to bed, I just stayed on the loo with a book. I just don’t know where all that poop came from! Surely I don’t eat that much…

The bright spark that I am, I only realised at 6am that I still had some pills for this very condition from a previous time. I took them and managed to get some rest, but had decided while nearly falling asleep on the loo at 5 in the morning that there was no way in hell I was going to work like this.

MAN.

What did I used to do at home during University holidays? My day at home was decidedly B O R I N G. Was really wonderful to see my husband, of course, but we couldn’t do anything cause I was sick. I was in bed all day. I played a game, read (a lot), slept (a lot), ate some crackers, drank some horribly milky medicine that was supposed to settle my stomach, and that was the end of my day.

BLEH.