Some ramblings

At the end of the first month of 2012 I am feeling a bit up and down, hot and cold and inside out.  I seem to be struggling with my focus and I start one thing only to drop it and move onto the next thing, leaving a wake of unfinished clutter all around me.

This weekend was a little bit of a best-of-both-worlds kind of weekend.  I went out on Friday and Saturday nights, had a lot of fun, a lot of drinks and a lot of laughs and then spent Saturday and Sunday at home in pajamas without even opening the curtains.  It was a perfect time warp and spending the days watching Gossip Girl and reading, was a perfect balance to the busy nights.

I’m still not really in the mood for socialising, but having moved so far away from my friends and my favourite spots, means I have to make a bit more of an effort to go out or I might just turn into a hermit!  Plus with the extra pressure I have put on myself with my studies, I will probably not be going out much anyways, and the fact that I am still waiting on my Unisa study material is making me a bit anxious.

I haven’t been sleeping well lately and have decided it’s because my bedroom is all wrong.  So yesterday I’ve moved my bed around and I feel much more settled and relaxed this way. I have so many craft ideas for doing up my room, but with my current start and stop attitude, I don’t think now is the best time to start all that, so it will have to wait a little while longer.

The Week That Was

This week just flew by, and it is with a sad heart that work has basically returned to normal.  Soon, the relaxed atmosphere of December will be all but forgotten.  Our head office is also showing us just how much they value us, by responding that they will only consider an increase for us if they fire our driver.  Firstly, we haven’t had increases in 2 years and secondly, 2 people have just resigned after being on unpaid maternity leave for the last 5 months, and now they are basically refusing to give us increases even though we have been working like maniacs the last 5 months and are expected to carry on until the end of June, before a third consultant will be moved to our branch.

I have also finally registered for the new semester at Unisa, and in my madness I accidentally registered for 7 subjects when all I wanted to take was 5.  God alone knows how that happened, but I guess I will just have to work my ass off this semester seeing that the universe decided that I need to do this.  I was hoping to have received my study material before the weekend, just so I can see what I have gotten myself into, but alas, it will hopefully arrive early next week.

I have also set up an appointment with an insurance broker for next week to try and sort out the issues I have been having with my medical aid.  I have been finding that I am paying for things that I thought was covered by my aid and with the amount of money I spend on my medical aid every month, these things should surely be paid for by them.

The best news of all is that I received a call from Vodacom, who upgraded my cellphone contract for me telephonically.  I am getting the new BlackBerry Curve 9360 along with some great discounts on my call rates and my subscription fees.  I should get my new phone on Monday, I can hardly wait.

This seems to be the year for growing up and getting my act together.  It might just be a good thing, as long as I don’t forget to keep having fun and smell the flowers along the way, though I would much prefer the Peter Pan lifestyle forever.

If you had the attention of the entire world for two minutes, what would you say?

If I had the world’s attention for 2 minutes I would tell them to “Get off your arses and save our Rhinos!”

This issue really gets my blood boiling!  I just cannot believe the way that humans are eliminating a whole entire species, because there are retarded idiots who think that rhino horn is some magical muti and that some money grabbing fuckers are willing to brutally slaughter these amazing creatures to fuel this insanity!  It’s in situations like this that I really do wish there is a hell and that all these mutants have a fiercely hot and horrendous place specially reserved for them where they will be tortured over and over again for all eternity.

Oh, and the blood of rhino poachers cure aids.

Interesting messages

Lately my uncle has gotten into the habit of sending random late night messages.  Normally he just shits me out about whatever he thinks up at the specific moment, but I received he sent the following message at 00:47:

Message from Uncle:  The gun is in that airplane model?

Me, slightly freaked out and wondering what airplane model he is referring to and why he feels the need to tell me about where a gun is hidden:  Uhm, what airplane model?  And even more disturbingly, what gun???

Uncle’s reply:  Fracture! I stopped the video so am dying to know, but I think he switched the cop gun

And finally, realization dawns;  I lent them the DVD, Fracture (with Anthony Hopkins)

Me:  Ah, for a seccie there, I thought you are losing your marbles

Uncle’s reply: YOU WILL GET A SMACK!

Crazy messages, just some of the things that make my family so special

Is this the date?

It was with quite a shock that I realised that we are half-way through January already.  It seems that 2012 is planning on going by just as fast as its predecessor.  I’m not sure if that is such a good thing.

Anyway, it is high time, I finalised my to-do list for 2012, and even though it isn’t a long one, I have definitely set some serious challenges for myself and have some old favourites from previous year back on here.  I swear, this year that credit card is being paid off for sure!

Now that the easy part is done, it is time to start ticking some of those things off my To-Do List for 2012.

Good Omens

Over the weekend we found a little chameleon in the garden. I was so excited because they seem to be getting very scarce lately and it’s a baby, so I am sure there are some more around too.

I love chameleons and I’m taking it as a very good omen for the year

A blessing in disguise

My contract at my current company was going to expire at the end of March, and that made me so very, very happy.  Sadly, my BFF who is also the manager of this branch was really pushing for head office to keep me and hoping that one of the two other staff members who were on maternity leave will not come back.  As her luck would have it, both the girls resigned and I am now permanently employed.

Reasons why I should be happy about it:

• I get a pretty decent salary
• The work is easy, albeit dull
• Work hours are flexible, especially because now it is just the two of us
• It’s really fun working with my BFF
• I can save up some more money, because I really do not have enough savings for a drastic career change
• I’m not far enough with my studies to feel comfortable going into the accounting field yet
• Jobs are scarce, so my dad keeps telling me

Reasons why I’m not happy about it:

• I really hate this job
• I was looking forward to starting something new
• The thought of having no plans and no idea of what I was going to do job-wise were very exciting

So, now I am going to have to stick it out for at least another year and a half, study my ass off and try to save more diligently so that when I do leave, I can go on a long holiday and have some savings left to bridge the gap between the salary I will get for doing articles, and what I am earning now.

Hah, I guess I now officially have a long-term medium-term life plan.

Reverb11 Day 28 – 31

Day 28    Forgiveness – What one thing do you need to forgive yourself for this year?

I have to forgive myself for my procrastination and laziness.  I could have achieved so much more this year if I just got started or in some cases pushed through the difficult bits.  There is nothing worse than knowing you are to blame for your failures and that you could have done better.

Day 29   Shaking Things Up – Looking towards 2012, what can you do to shake things up a little next year?

I don’t like spontaneity, I love planning things in advance.  In 2012, I am going to act on my impulses more often.  If I feel like doing something fun, I am going to do it and not over analyze everything.  It’s time to start having more fun and doing more things that I haven’t done before

Day 30    3 Wishes – If a genie could grant you 3 wishes for 2012, what would they be?  

1. To have enough money to enjoy my life and not to live from paycheck to paycheck
2. Happiness.  I want happiness in all it’s forms no matter how small or trivial it might seem to others
3. I want the strength to accomplish everything I want, to reach the goals I’ve set myself and to be the person I want to be.  I want to be able to make the difficult decisions with certainty and to make things work for me no matter how bad or hopeless they seem.

Day 31    Reflect – Take a moment to think back on your Reverb11 responses.  Have you learned anything?  What surprised you about this experience?  Which of your responses was your favourite?

Looking back over my Reverb11 posts, I am genuinely shocked about how negative and dark my year was and how few positive things I had to say about it.  I am also shocked that I made it through such a horrible year and that at the end of it, after reflection, I am trying to be positive and enthusiastic for the new year.

I think my most shocking, yet favourite response to Reverb11 was for Day 30, where I (the most materialistic person I know) wished for strength and happiness in stead of tons of Jimmy Choo’s and Louise Vuitton handbags (seriously, these items are on my all time life affirming wish list).  I guess it made me realise that I do actually know what is important in life, but I won’t mind doing it while being fabulously accesorised.

Reverb11 Day 27 – Author! Author!

Author! Author! – Share with us the title and inside jacket cover of the book you’d most like to write.

I’ve never really given much thought to writing a book, but I guess if I had to I would definitely go for a fantasy novel.  It will include witches and vampires (the non-sparkling kind), a weird and fascinating planet and a girl (that would be a lot like Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Achying of course).

Who am I kidding! The books I would want to write has already been written by a genius called Terry Pratchett!

Of all the books in the world and all the really, incredibly good ones I’ve read, Terry Pratchett will forever remain the King of Fantasy for me.

Welcome to 2012

I love quiet new year celebrations and this year I went away for the weekend with my BFF, her husband and some of their friends. It was so nice to break away and I seriously wished we could have spend some more days there. I love the quiet and really should go away more often.

I also really love Jan 1st. For me it’s such a none day. It’s the day you recover from the celebrations from the previous year and the day before the real new year starts.

I am making 2012 a year for myself and it will be a year of new beginnings. I’m looking forward to a good year and really hope its filled with rainbows. I can definitely use some rainbows.