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jinny_dawg's journal
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if wishes were fishes, we would never go hungry...  I've had 3 bulging discs for the past 3.5 weeks. I'm so sick of it. I've had a bad back for about 8-9 years and every few months it flairs up. It usually only lasts a few days though. Apart from anything else it has been SO expensive! I've tried to only take a few days off work, but the Dr bills, the CT scan, and the physio are all adding up. Thank goodnes there isn't a major, money-sucking holiday just around the corner... I missed Glenn and Jodie's going away BBQ because I couldn't even get out of bed by myself or stand up straight. Bah... Well, that's the complaining done - now onto the good stuff! Em and I are flying to Melbourne next March to see James Taylor :-D I'm SO excited! Sure, the concert tickets were ~$300....but it's James Taylor! Mum is taking Granny and I on a 3 day cruise on the 16th Dec. Should be interesting... :-) We spend every Monday night together, but it will be great to do something like this. I was driving Granny home on Friday night after Mum's birthday dinner, and she couldn't believe the streetlights! She hasn't driven at night for years and she said it was like a fairyland. It will be great to see her on a massive ship! Jack and Liz are finally engaged! They have been together for 10 years! I can't believe I have friends my age who have been together for 10 years... I've been seeing quite a bit of Liz lately because The Ghost Hotel have been playing quite a few shows. I really love them. I think Woody is such a huge talent and could really 'make it'...whatever that means...all I know is it's hard to take your eyes off him when he's on stage, and I dare you not to tap your toes. Things are good :-) I took Abi to the Royal Show on the first Saturday it was open. I wasn't in Perth to take her last year, but I took her the year before that and she loved it. Because her parents are from South Africa they don't really know what the 'Standard Perth Childhood Things To Do' are, so they just leave it up to me to take her places. Having said that, I only went to the show once when I was a kid. I was in primary school and I remember everyone getting so excited and saving up all their pocket money. Two brothers in the next street were famous for saving their pocket money for the whole year and blowing a couple of hundred dollars each at the show. I used to be a good runner and few days before the interschool carnival the athletics team were training on the top oval. Me and two mates were playing chasey and as I ran away from one of the guys, the other one stuck his leg out and tripped me up. I fell and broke my collarbone. Obviously I couldn't compete in the carnival and I was pretty upset about it. To cheer me up my mum announced that she was taking me (JUST me!) to The Royal Show. My brothers gave strict instructions as to which showbag we had to buy for them, and off we went. Going to the show with your arm in a sling probably isn't the best way to experience it. Not only does it make things more awkward, but it is quite painful because there isn't much they can do for a broken collarbone. There is no protective cast to keep things in place so trying to navigate your way through hundreds of people can take time. Anyway, we looked for some suitable rides and decided on a ghost train. It was one of the ones where you stand up in a big birdcage thing. I was deemed unfit to go by myself, and mum didn't want to, so I had to share the cage with one of the guys who operate the ride. He kept saying "ooooOOoOoOOOOoH! Are you ScAAAREd!?", as he tickled me with a feather duster. I was scared, but not because of the ride.... For some reason we chose an obstacle course for the next event. I somehow managed to get all the way through it and as I was coming down the slide I tipped back and my skirt went over my head. With one arm in a sling and the other one trapped against my body I couldn't sit up, and Mum was laughing so hard that she couldn't come over to help me. We decided to go and see the fireworks. We found our spot on the grass and sat and waited. Some kid ran past and waved a sparkler in my face. The sparks that landed on my cheeks didn't hurt too much. The one that got in my eye stung for a while longer... We bought our showbags and waited to be picked up by Dad. He scolded us all the way home for spending $10 on what is essentially a few funsize chocolate bars. I hope Abi had more fun :-P Just got home from seeing Autumn Isles at The Rocket Room. They were really good. Very toe-tap-worthy. Perth spins me out ( do you like how I say that as though I've actually been to other places?) I was chatting to Christians new girlfriend Tenille, who is really good friends with a girl called Maree, who I used to work with AND she shared a house with my older brother for a while. Maree introduced me to her friend Kelly, who I remembered seeing at every Grand Central show back in the day. Crazy. They were all so nice to me. I only really knew Chris, but they all made an effort to include me in the conversation despite me being a bit of an outsider. I've been making an effort to go out more and I've really been enjoying myself. I've caught up with people I haven't seen in years and years and it's been great! A friend of mine is trying to set me up with a friend of hers :-( I'd met the guy twice, and as she was driving me home after the 2nd time she was all "OMG YOU GUYS SHOULD TOTALLY DATE!". I don't really see anything happening aside from a friendship, but I think she might have planted the seed in his head, and he's been asking me if I want to "hang out sometime"..Gah! A big group of us went to see The Ghost Hotel in Freo last night and that was really fun. I was much more relaxed in the big group. I'll just have to keep an eye out for her little traps! Two of my favourite pictures :-)  
I had my 3-4 monthly appointment with my doctor last month and I had lost 9kgs since mid April, which is good. He said he doesn't want me losing more than 500g a week. I've got about another 15-20kgs to go before I'll be at my "ideal" weight. I'm 175cm which is pretty tall for a girl (I think?) so my goal weight is still a bit higher than most girls, plus I just don't have the body shape that could ever be "skinny". Despite there being many things that could be improved, I've become quite comfortable with my looks. I don't think anyone could ever say I was beautiful (except Mum, and some friends), but I'm probably not the most hideous thing to ever walk upright either :-) Mum adopted a new dog. He is a one year old black Lab X called Shadow. He is beautiful, smart, loving, and a little bit naughty (but it's easy to forget that he is still only a baby because he is so big)  I often drive to Mums on Sundays or on my day off and take him for a walk. Mum has beautiful parks and bushland right near her house, and he loves it so much that it makes me love it too. There's no comparison between walking by yourself and walking with a dog. I walk by myself or with one of the kids in a pram during the week and it's nowhere near as nice. Now, I wouldn't say I am over familiar, but if I am introduced to a friend of a friend, and if it's safe to assume that we will meet again, then I talk to them as though we are friends already, and some people get weirded out by that. It's not like I hug and kiss them and ask them fix my bra strap or anything... I just don't see the point in having varying degrees of friendship. I mean obviously you have your closest friends, the ones you have known the longest etc. But if someone is your friend, then they are your friend. That's it. For the most part, people respond very well. For example there was someone on my facebook who was having a rough time and was posting some very unhappy updates. I don't know him that well, but I do know him, so I sent him an email telling him that I was thinking of him and that if there was ever anything I could do to help then just let me know. He wrote back saying how touched he was, and that some of his best friends hadn't even asked how he was doing. Other times you get someone who just thinks you're weird... But I'd rather reach out to someone and be thought of as weird, than to not reach out at all, because really, what's the worst thing they could be saying? "OMG! What a FREAK?!?! She asked me if there was anything she could do to HELP!?!?" So, I asked Harry'sparents for the extra $3 an hour, and they said $1.50...so I'm staying with them while I look for a new job. Funny how things work out though because my other family who I've only been with for 6 months gave me a $3 an hour pay rise out of the blue. They said they wanted to make sure I was happy with them, and I said I was, and they said they wanted to make sure I was very VERY happy with them. So that was good :) The day after the world found out about Michael Jackson's death I saw a grandmother drinking coffee and watching her grandkids at the playground. She was wearing a single white glove.. It made me smile. He was magic, and I can't help but smile, and sing, and dance when I hear his music, although now it is also laced with different feeling, like when you remember something bad that you thought you'd put out of your mind. Since Mum has moved into her own house we have started a new tradition. On Mondays when I finish work early at 5pm I drive up there and we take turns to cook something we have never cooked before, with varied results... Then on Tuesday mornings Granny comes down and she and I watch a movie on my (totally awesome) networked media tank which is one of the best presents I've ever received! I love spending time with Granny. She is such a live wire and we have a great relationship. I don't have to censor the way I speak when I'm with her and we often end up in fits of laughter. I've started to keep track of what I earn and spend because I was wondering where all my money was going (I'm still not sure) and I have found that by ticking off a small checklist each week I can be alot more effective with my savings without having to cancel any of my charity donations. I have found that I can easily put away at least $200 a week into a separate account and forget about it AND if I get approved for a new mortgage I should be able to put away even more money which means I can travel sooner! I need to make more single friends because most of mine are in very long term relationships and don't really go out much. While I love my job, it is very isolating. I can go the whole day without speaking to another adult for more than 10 minutes, which is fine because I like spending time by myself, but it also makes it hard not having the ability to socialise with workmates and go for drinks on Friday etc. Maybe I'll join a netball team or something... So most of the people close to me know that almost a year ago I had lapband surgery because I was Fatty McFatterson. It's been a pretty weird ride, but I'm SO glad I had it done. It's a very slow and steady process, so when I get to see changes I get very happy. For example, the other day I went to buy a new pair of jeans because mine were faded. I decided to try on a pair that were one size smaller that the ones I was wearing that day. I thought I was being a bit ambitious, but I tried them anyway, and they fit! They looked awful though and I was quite upset. I bought them anyway because I was excited that they fit me and I looked at them again and again in the mirror at home trying to figure out why they didn't look right. "It's almost like they're too big!?" I said to myself. I felt pretty dumb going back in and trying on the next size down because I thought there was no way they would fit, but they did, and they looked waaaay better. I still have a very long way to go because I am far from being a 'normal' or healthy size, but it's encouraging to see it coming off. Chris and Sara broke up a week ago, and it's been pretty weird since I'm friends with both of them. I've known Chris heaps longer and I know him better than I do Sara, but through him I've become close to her too. I know they will both be alright but it's tough seeing them sad. I'm looking forward to College Fall on Sunday. I haven't seen them since the start of the year. Chris said he'll come with me so it should be fun! Work is going pretty good. I'm very happy with two of the families, and not very happy with the other. I feel like I should be getting paid more, and it's coming up to a year since I started with them which would probably be a good time to say something. The thing is, since I've been working there the boy has been diagnosed with a form of Autism and has to go to a bunch of different therapy sessions. I would feel bad asking for a raise now because they are always saying how expensive therapy is. But my day there is SO much tougher than my other work days, and I do heaps and heaps of extra stuff for them. On a typical Wednesday I will change all the bedding, wash it, fold it, cook dinner, unload the dishwasher, vacuum and mop the 'main areas' (pretty much the whole house), and do Harry's exercises with him. That's on top of the normal stuff that I'm meant to do, and the fact that Harry is quite difficult to look after and doesn't seem to like me much despite my best efforts to win him over. I'm not sure what to do about it :( Mum had to put down the family dog on Sunday. I know everybody says this about their dog, but she really was awesome. She was the most kind, smart, gentle, and intuitive dog I have ever met and I am going to miss her heaps. When Mum told me about it I wasn't crazy sad because she was old and not very healthy. But when I went up to stay over at Mum's I couldn't believe how different the house was without Molly there. I kept putting my hand over the edge of the couch to stroke her but she wasn't there. I have nothing but good memories her and I'm so thankful that she was part of my life for 14 years. Rest In Peace Molly 
I had a lovely Easter break. I spent time with family and friends and relaxed. It was great :) I am having a few issues with our wheelie bin. There are 5 other houses in our complex, and one of them missed bin day and put all their rubbish into our newly emptied bin. Then the next week someone stuffed so many cardboard boxes on top of our rubbish while the bin was on the verge, that the rubbish men put a sticker on it saying they wouldn't empty it. Then this week I brought our empty bin in and put it near our front door where I normally put it, only to find it was gone the next morning. There was a bin outside the front door of the house across from us so I went to have a look at the house number on top of it and sure enough it was ours! I quietly wheeled it back over and put it in the garage and shut the garage door. If it carries on I'm going to have to....do...something...but I have no cunning plan. Chris and Sara and I went ice skating on Saturday night. It was such a drama getting there because for some reason instead of writing down the street names in his directions, Chris had written a random girls name. It took us a very long time to get there, and we very nearly just drove home (I felt a bit like the kid in the beackseat eating Tiny Teddies while Mum and Dad fight over directions...) but we made it in the end. I was really wobbly at first and didn't think I was going to be able to get any better, but 5 mins later I was zooming around with the rest of them. My feet and shin muscles(?) were killing me and after an hour and a half we went home. We managed to get lost again because instead of going back the way we came, we went back the way that had gotten us lost on the way there. I just got home from visiting my Granny and when I was stopped at a traffic light a car pulled up beside me. It was one of the black, fully sick ones with all the trimmings and it was being driven by a tough looking guy with tattoos and a basketball singlet etc. I was listening to my iPod and somehow the music that he was listening to came through my speakers. At first I just thought it was a radio station and I heard the end of 'Hero' by Mariah Carey, but when it finished another Mariah Carey song came on. Then I saw the guy press a button and 'Hero' started again. I laughed out loud (LOL!) when I realised what was happening, and I caught his eye. He did the tough guy smile (upwards nod of the head with chin jutting out) and we drove off. It made me smile for the rest of the drive home :) Current mood:  cheerful.
Despite the weekend in Margaret River not being that great, I LOVED driving there and back. I wish I could have just kept on going. Roadtrips make me very, very happy. Chatting, listening to music, stopping at service stations and little stalls on the way is my idea of bliss. I really should do it more often. Maybe I'll go see one of College Fall's many country shows or something. All I need to do is convince some of my always busy friends to come with me. My uncle has the right idea. He has a huge van with a double bed in the back and a bunch of clothes. I guess I could sleep in my Suzuki Swift....with the doors open?... I've still been looking at jobs overseas. Turns out the world is pretty bloody big and I have no idea where would be a good place to start. Off to lunch by the beach with Jack and Liz :) Current mood: hopeful.
Here are a couple of pictures from the wedding. One of these days I'm going to take a photography course. I'd love to be able to take beautiful pictures. These will have to do for now. Mark and Ruth  exchanging vows  Mark's dog Chopper was the best man  Their other dog Ivy was the Flower Girl  Redgate Beach was beautiful  This little boy stood right here the whole time Brian played. His mum said he is obsessed with music.  One of the Sphynx kittens we saw at a breeders on the way home. The uglier they were, the more expensive. $2000 for this one.  I overheard my aunty talking to someone about why human relationships fail, and she it was because we expect too much from people. She said if we expect nothing, then everything we get is a bonus. I disagree totally. Sure, you might get disappointed once in a while, but I hope I will always have expectations of people and vice versa, because I think knowing nobody expected anything of me would be a pretty horrible feeling. Current mood:  content.
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