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The Rat's Journal 
I think that's about all for now I will be going to swancon this year, and I will be staying at the hotel for all 4 nights. I have booked a room and am looking for a room-mate. If anyone knows someone that is going and needs a room, point them in my direction. Oh, and it's one of the superior rooms, as they were all out of the standard ones apparently... and things had been going along so nicely too. Monday I didn't so much wake up as stumble out of bed and by the time I'd done the coupld of morning things I have to do, I was dead and heading for bed again. I ended up napping on the couch while praising 10HD Sport for showing the NFC and AFC Championship matches back to back. They were both good games too which helped. It still hurt to do anything so that's pretty much where I stayed all day. Today I wake and the first thing I notice is that it's 9:30am. The next thing I notice is that I'm tired and need to go to sleep. WTF! I normally have at least some energy to get up and do things. Who stole my spoons? So, I've registered to shave my hair off as part of the worlds greatest shave. If you don't know about it, it's a fundraising event for the Leukaemia Foundation where members of the public raise money by shaving their head or colouring their hair. My Profile Page has all the details that you need to make an online donation to the cause. It requires a credit card transaction, but if you aren't happy with doing that, just let me know and I'll arrange to get the money off you and I'll pay using my card. Info from their spiel Every hour of every day, at least one person in Australia is diagnosed with leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma. - Every two hours, someone loses their life to blood cancer. Please help me raise as much as I can for the Leukaemia Foundation. Their vital work provides patients with practical support during their long and tough treatment, as well as funding important research. Thanks for your support! Matthew My personal experiences with leukaemia are from all my stays in the Adelaide Children's Hospital. I was always put into the same ward as the kids with terminal illnesses. Leukaemia was just one of the many that I got to meet patients that were younger than I was that were battling for their life. Many of them didn't make it back then, though with money the research has been done to increase the chances of survival, improve the ability to diagnose the disease early, and to prolong the life of those with it. More money is needed, and will be needed until the final breakthrough of a cure or other means of rendering the disease ineffective. So please, even if it's just a couple of bucks, or the loose change from the back of the couch for the last year. put it all together and sponsor me. Current mood: shaky. Well, another year down, and I'm not quite sure what I think about it. I did have a really nice quiet evening with a couple of good friends. We did see in the new year, and had a good time. My health issue(s) from November and December seem to have settled down at least, though they haven't gone away completely which is anoying. My motivation to work is vastly diminished from this time last year, though I think that is largely due to my health and moving house that I like to take some time dealing with rather than not liking work. Having to go in to work and not deal with my health and house seem to be making it drag out longer than normal though which I don't like. As of tomorrow (or maybe the 6th...) I am no longer on a salary and will be getting an hourly rate equivalent to that of what I was getting. Basically if I work the hours I should work under my salary conditions, I'll earn the same under my hourly rate conditions. I don't like it for job security, but it was a trade off with my deteriorating health. My boss is quite understanding, especially given I'm currently around -60hours in my leave bank. that's a week and a half of working without pay to make it back up, but we're going to be able to split that over Dec/Jan/Feb so it doesn't hurt too bad. I struggled alot last year, especially towards the end of it. I'm working on plans for this not to happen again this year, including my list of things I want to do this year. Hopefully one of the successful ones is to be less of a hermit/recluse and actually get out there and see my friends and interact with people again. Would make a nice change over the last years efforts. Current mood: Reflective. Today was Moving Day. We went and signed the lease without a problem, and have the details to pay rent for the future. Friends and family arrived between 930 and 1030 and provided much assistance in packing boxes and cars, lifting stuff, driving, unpacking cars at the new house and generally being great help. Special thanks to Cam, Ken and Mel, Rob and Leece for coming round and making this a mostly single day workload, and actually even possible. The first trip also saw the worst injury, with a twisted ankle and knee with most a large amount of skin removed from below it. Hope you're feeling better Cam. So far we haven't found anything has broken, though we are missing a piece from the tv cabinet door to allow it to stay on, and 2 of the little plastic nipples that the glass in the same cabinet sit on to stop it sitting straight on the metal supports. They maybe on the floor here, or in the vehicle they travelled in. We are now planning the attack for day 2 - The cleanup begins. Any who wish to drop in at 115 Sackville Tce are quite welcome. There is much cleaning tasks to be achieved over the next week, and a lot less time than in a normal week thanks to work and Christmas goings on that we just aren't going to miss cos they only come round once a year. The spa will be running to soak the weary bones, and generally relax between doing things. I hope to be humanish tomorrow still :) Current mood: tired, but not dead. This saturday we are moving house from Doubleview to Stirling. We have a car and trailer, we have other cars for smaller stuff and boxes, but what we really lack is Able bodies. So what I'm asking is if anyone wants to help us with moving furniture and boxes it would be greatly appreciated. Also, there will be pizza for any that turn up. If you don't know my phone number or address, email me and I'll let you know what they are. email is ratticus@msquared.com.au So we have to find a house We've been looking for about a month now, and have now had 6 knockbacks. We've tried offering above the asking rate. We've tried getting in first and before advertised. We just can't seem to get any place that will actually suit our needs. Things would probably be a hell of a lot easier without the 2 cats though. Even though we've been renting with them in 3 properties for over 3 years now, and have never had a problem with them, they seem to be the best excuse we get for not being given a place. The stress of having to move before the end of this year, coupled with whatever is wrong with my body that's been giving me all the pain i've been living with for the last few weeks is really driving me over the edge, and I can just see me ending up in hospital from it if things don't start smoothing out quickly. One of the worst downsides of this is if I physically can't work, I can't look for houses either, but that wouldn't matter since if I can't work we can't afford one anyway so are even more stuffed than we currently are. So far since getting back to find we have 60 days (um, 55 by the time we got it...) to move out by 31/12/08 I've missed over 10 days of work due to being incapable of actually getting to work, and if I was there, I'd be too drugged to be able to do anything useful anyway, or I'd be asleep. I've managed to get out and see around about 20 houses, and we've applied for at least 7 or 8 of them. We've been knocked back for all of them. So, I've got a new christmas list. For Christmas, I want: - a 3x1 house, for $350/wk. Pets allowed. Must be within a reasonable distance Main St Osborne Park where I work. If I'm going to have to spend more than 45 mins driving each way to and from work, there is no way I'll last out 6 months of working.. My body just won't take that sort of punishment. It would also mean that Belinda would need to be taking even longer to get to her work which will drive her nuts. - To know what the fuck is wrong with me and get some treatment for it. There are only 2 things on my list cos right at the moment, nothing else actually means anything to me. If I don't have a house, then I don't really need my job. Without my health, I won't have a job either, so won't be able to afford said house. So, now that we are down to 19 days left in this place, Things are getting a little closer than I'd have liked. Claim them, organise a time to pick 'em up and come grab 'em!! They'll go to Freecycle or op-shops otherwise. 19 inch CRT monitor Random toiletries A dead candle (i.e. a big chunk of white wax) An old but reasonable pair of sneakers - size 9 I think (could be 10) ladies There are also There is likely to be more stuff also. 1. Heard a kookaburra in person 2. Slept under the stars 3. Seen a koala - But not sure that I've seen one in the wild. Quite likely though given the amount I've travelled around the countryside with my family. 4. Visited Melbourne 5. Watched a summer thunderstorm 6. Worn a pair of thongs - to work even! 7. Been to Uluru (Ayer's Rock) 8. Visited Cape York 9. Held a snake 10. Sang along with Khe San 11. Drank VB 12. Visited Sydney 13. Have seen a shark 14. Have used Aussie slang naturally in a conversation 15. Had an actual conversation with an indigenous Australian (aboriginal) 16. Eaten hot chips from the bag at the beach 17. Walked/climbed over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 18. Used an outside dunny, and checked under the seat before sitting down 19. Seen Chloe in Young & Jackson's 20. Slept on an overnight train or bus 21. Been to Sydney's Mardi Gras 22. Have gone bush-bashing 23. Taken a sickie 24. Been to see a game of Aussie Rules football 25. Have seen wild camels 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Had a Tim Tam Slam 28. Ridden in a tram in Melbourne 29. Been at an ANZAC day Dawn Service 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset - sunrise AND sunset that are consecutive. both ways round. 31. Held a wombat 32. Been on a roadtrip of 800km or more 33. Seen the Great Australian Bight in person 34. Had a really bad sunburn 35. Visited an aboriginal community 36. Seen a redback spider 37. Have watched Paul Hogan 38. Seen Blue Poles in person 39. Wandered barefoot in the bush/outback 40. Eaten Vegemite - Only way I know that it's awful stuff 41. Thrown a boomerang 42. Seen the Kimberley 43. Given a hitch-hiker a lift - and gotten a lift as a hitch-hiker 44. Been to Perth 45. Have tried Lemon, Lime and Bitters 46. Tried playing a didgeridoo - Failed. Miserably. 47. Seen dinosaur footprints 48. Eaten Tim Tams 49. Been to Darwin 50. Touched a kangaroo 51. Visted the Great Barrier Reef 52. Listened to Kevin Bloody Wilson 53. Killed a Cane Toad 54. Gone to a drive-in theatre 55. Have read and own books by Australian authors 56. Visited Adelaide - Born there. Still visit family there regularly. 57. Know the story behind "Eternity" 58. Been camping 59. Visited Brisbane 60. Been in an outback pub 61. Know what the term "Waltzing Matilda" actually means 62. Gone whale watching. 63. Listened to Slim Dusty 64. Own five or more Australian movies or TV series 65. Sang along to Down Under 66. Have stopped specifically to look at a historic marker by the side of the road 67. Eaten a 4'n'20 pie 68. Surfed at Bondi 69. Watched the cricket on Boxing Day 70. Visited Hobart 71. Eaten kangaroo - One of my favourite meats 72. Seen a quokka 73. Visited Canberra 74. Visited rainforests 75. Used a Victa lawnmower 76. Travelled on a tram in Adelaide 78. Used a Hills hoist - swung on, broken, and even hung clothes from one 79. Visited the Olgas 80. Used native Australian plants in cooking 81. Visited the snow 82. Chosen a side in Holden VS Ford 83. Visited the desert 84. Been water skiing 85. Read The Phantom 86. Visited Parliament House 87. Gone spotlighting or pig-shooting 88. Crossed the Nullarbor - Car, Bus, Train, Plane. Had breakdowns in both Bus and Train on different trips. Done at least 20 crossings 89. Avoided swimming in areas because of crocodiles 90. Listened to AC/DC. 91. Called someone a dag 92. Voted in a Federal Election 93. Have been swimming and stayed between the flags - I'm sure it was purely accidental, but sometimes that's where the convenient space is 94. Had a possum in your roof 95. Visited the outback 96. Travelled over corrugated roads. 97. Hit a kangaroo while driving 98. Been well outside any mobile phone coverage - even since they were fairly widespread devices. 99. Seen an emu 100. Have woken to the smell of bushfires - repeatedly. Ash Wednesday was the worst though. We lived at the base of Black Hill Conservation Park at the time and I still remember watching the flames come over the hill. |
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