happy birthday stephy

today is stephy's 15th birthday. there is no particular reason for me to mention this her, as she doesn't know this blog exists. but she is a lovely, funny, generous, kind, thoughtful and beautiful girl, and it seems hard to believe that the kid i met as a seven year old who loved her barbies more than anything, is now taller than me, stronger than me, and probably even more sensitive than me. there are lots of things i am thankful for, but having this lovely kid in my life is certainly in the top ten. rock on stephandra. rock on.

brave fronts

i am operating on the principle--espoused by my dear old dad--that if i carry on as though i am not jet lagged then my body will decide that i'm n ot. this principle works okay at some times of the day--6 am, 3.45 and the extremely unhlepufl time of midnight, but i am not sure it is making the middle of the day any less terrible. but if i go back to sleep then i know the night will just be horrendous. so i think it is a soldier on kind of scenario. and my first step is to take this hideously cracked nail polish off. then i'll be a new girl. definitely

what's so special about them?

rummaging through my drawers at work looking for a paper clip i came across a packet of fisherman's friends cough lollies. i have no idea what i have these herre because i really truely despise their taste, but why i am wondering is why would anyone market a cough lolly just for fishermen? i mean, i know about niche marketing and everything, but this just seems silly.

clean slates

well i have made it into work this morning (although admitedly judging by the fish shapes dancing before my eyes i probably won't last long) and have taken much pleasure in striking off a whole bunch of things from my white board list of 'things to do'. any minute now i'll find the energy to write the new list, but at the moment there is a great deal of satisfaction to be had from knowing that at least some things are finished. for the moment.

seeing stars

so being home was wonderful and i managed to stay awake till about 8.15 and slept through, mostly, till 6 or so. but right now the effort of staying awake is so hard as to be almost painful, and the letters are dancing around on the screen before me (even when i'm not actually looking at a screen) so i think it is going to be a long afternoon....

hip hip hoorah

and it is lucky i am back because we are about to enter the 30 days of endless birthdays. first steph, then me, then mum, then a pause to catch our breath, then isaac, soph and ang, and then cassie and then luke. so it is seriously time to re-stock re candles, balloons, streamers and funny hats, and start remember how to make cakes. or at least where to buy cakes. and i think this year i will have a party for the chubbies; so that will be a challenge. but it's all good. and first, of course, for steph i have to track down a black kitten. i think probably she needs to choose itherself. and that might take a while. but hopefully we can distract her in the interim with her souvenir from singapore--an ipod nano. if i say so myself it is a mighty fine pressy. i hope she likes it!

aclimatised?

well i hate to say it, but as we hovered in the air on the way back to australia, and the word 'geelong' appeared on the little map which shows you where you are headed and how far away you still are, i felt a rush of what could probably be described as excitement. and i think i am actually getting used to being in victoria. it is so great to be back where i can find, with relative ease, nice food to cook, good wine to drink, funny and smart friends to chat with, and a totally fabulous family. how lucky can any girl get?

tired but happy

well i am back. relatively unscathed, and certainly nice and clean after a 30 minute shower. now the main task of the day is to stay awake till 8.30. this will be a challenge seeing as i have to go to a meeting at 1 for about 3 hours to talk about stuff i am too tired to care about. but i will do my best to stay upright and hopefully no one will notice i'm sleeping on the inside....

and i have to say; it is very very very good to be back.

no more sleeps

although it's still about 48 hours before we'll make it home, there are no more nights in motels or uni dorms to experience; just lots of time in airport lounges, tiny plane seats, buses and them home. i get really nervous before flying, so am trying not to think about it, but it kinda hard to avoid!

and it is kinda funny because i agreed to go on this trip to prove that i was a 'real' academic again: not just a part time stay at home mum kinda bod; and now the first thing i am going to do at work (literally: the first meeting i have to attend at noon on the day we arrive) is go to a meeting to say that i'm not going to take on a role i had agreed to do--a role which involves travelling to malaysia 6 times a year. it just ain't happening. and i don't care how real, fake, or otherwise that makes me

there's no place like home. and i'm staying there

today

So this is what happened today. The edited version. We woke up full of joy and sunshine warmed by the knowledge that we were leaving mountain goat territory today. So we packed up joyfully and headed for the hills. Or the absence of hills. We made it to the train station. And carried enormously heavy bags up yet more frigging stairs to the railway platform. Then we made it into Cardiff. More stairs. Obviously. Then we purchased our ticket to Manchester which cost—wait for it FORTY FIVE POUNDS EACH!!! But okay, this is still good after all we are escaping.

Four hours on the train. We disembark and walk optimistically towards an internet café. Except there wasn’t one. Not for about 4 blocks. And 4 blocks with a 40 kilo bag is quite a distance. And then after a great deal of shilly shallying and farting around with the net, we found a hotel. And then we got directions to the hotel. And walked. And got some more directions. And walked. And got more, different, directions. And walked. And got more (different) directions. And swore. And walked. And then got yet more, soddingly different directions and walked another 50000 steps.

This story goes on but if I keep typing I’ll swear unbelievably. Anyway; we made it to a reasonably nice, very English looking hotel. And it might cost us a billion dollars for net access but I don’t care.

And I might go shopping. Or I might not. But one things for sure, I won’t be asking ANYONE where any bloody thing is.