I wrote the first post for this blog 6 years ago today. It was an adventure into putting myself out there like my kids and students were on Myspace. I wanted to understand how and why they did it. I’d been reading blogs for a while and thought ‘I could do this’.
It’s a lot more challenging than it seems and I’ve learnt about myself and had to consider a lot more than I like to. I’m still not happy with the way I’m doing it. It’s so boring and so little of it is me, or rather so little of me is here. I lack a central theme.
I’m annoyed about a lot of things about myself now. I lack the persistence I need to follow through on any of my ideas lately. I’m in struggletown. I want to move on, but where to? I know for short hours, yet when it gets down to it, I go cold on that idea or plan. I used to have so many excuses and they’ve all abandoned me.
I’m probably just still feeling unwell and trying to rush my recovery, but lying around being sick is a nuisance.
My laptop is not working again. Darin’s laptop still has some of the customisation from the last bout of no laptop in April. Thank goodness he is a sharer:). This is the third time this year and it is no longer under warantee. I have never before had a laptop that has given me such trouble. It’s very inconvenient and I think I will get something different next time.
We’ve had a pretty lazy Sunday, which is rare and nice.
So my laptop arrived back today. I was delighted to have it back. I went to the local computer shop in Church St. They kept me informed during the process, delivered earlier than promised and backed up all my information for me. The computer was still under warranty so it didn’t cost me any money. The hard drive has been replaced. Whilst I haven’t lost any music, photo’s or documents, because that was all backed up, I have lost all the software. I’ve had to reinstall all the software I have. I’ve also lost all my email and email addresses although, some of them are probably elsewhere, cause I’ve backed them up before. I’ve lost the comfort of having things as I am used to them….again! This must be about the 10th time I have been through this process, I think I need to change my habits and make sure I store the things that I want or rely on to make life easy, better, or something. I’m learning something from this upset, but it hasn’t quite clicked into place yet! I know what the problems are but what I need to find is the solution.
I guess having limited access to a computer for bit over 2 weeks, I’ve come to realise that I rely on it for a lot of information. I’m starting to question though, what parts of my interaction with technology do I really need or want. I’ve also realised how much time I used to spend on it and I don’t want to go back to using that much time each day. I like the simplicity of my life when it’s less connected. I want to give this whole area some more thought.
I have dropsy. I keep breaking things lately. I have broken so many things in the last week I can’t even begin to list them. I’m not sure what is going on but it’s annoying. I had a big cry when I broke a pie dish at work that had been one of my nana’s. It’s really bugging me.The latest spill was a glass of wine on my laptop and as much as I have tried to clean it up, the keys are still sticky. Damn it!
After my incredible tidying spree, I found a few gift vouchers that had been given to me over time that I’d stashed and forgotten. I went to use on on the Angus and Robertson site because I was worried it would expire. I have been given all the books I want for Christmas so I bought a gift for Ruby whose birthday is in a week. It was probably double the price I would pay even at the local bookshop, but hey!
The amount was around $2 more than the voucher, so I entered my credit card details as well as the gift card details and hey presto, they took the entire amount from my credit card. Annoying! So I sent an email to cancel the order, as you do, thinking I could redo it or go down the street and use the card since A &R don’t seem to have their technology handled. I quickly got an automated response saying “
Hi,
Many thanks for your email.
This is an automated response as you sent us an email which included the word “cancel” in the subject or text.
If you want to cancel an order you just placed:
Unfortunately it is NOT possible to cancel orders once they are placed as our systems pass orders immediately to our various supply partners. These suppliers then generally process your order straight away. If you receive an order that you did not want you are able to return it to us within 28 working days of receipt free of charge. “
This is not making it easier for us people. It’s frustrating.
Over this little holiday break I’ve been watching and reading the big retailers campaign to have GST scrapped with the latest in the Age today being Gerry Harvey’s retreat. This is perhaps an indicator that consumers have more knowledge and therefore power than before. Instead of asking for concessions they possibly could better spend their energy on making some changes.
I watched this TED talk yesterday referred to me by Jane Jordan who I met through attending Money and You in the 90′s:
The sound quality is poor in some places but the information is interesting. I was wondering about the generational cycles he was speaking of and how they relate to astrology.
I have been trying for the past couple of days to book a flight for Tom home from Hamilton Island with Jetstar. After shopping around the websites for the best match (direct, $$$, times), I found their flights to be a perfect fit. I just can’t get past the passenger details page. It’s very annoying. I’ve even sent a customer service email… still not working.
The astrologers are mentioning an impending Mercury retrograde and recommending computer backups and so forth. Perhaps this is the first sign for me.
I’ve had plumbing problems in this house for a while now. I’ve been putting it off because I thought it was due to a big tree in my neighbours back yard. I really like the tree. I would have hated it if they pulled it down. I didn’t really want to get into any kind of neighbour dispute either. Too close!
Anyway, after having the drains unblocked at Christmas and then having to have them done again this week, I realised I really had to attend to the cause because it was obviously getting worse.
Well it’s not the tree. It’s an old thing associated with the original dwelling that has to be ripped up. Massive bill – damn it! When I thought about making home improvements I wanted it to be something I could see. Grrr
There is a 5% chance apparently that the local water board will take responsibility…I can only hope:-)
Darin and I spend a bit on music. He bought a $50 itunes card today from our local Dick Smith Electronics store to complete a few albums we have downloaded from itunes. He got it home, scratched the back and the number was indecipherable. Annoying!
He returned to the store and they told him he would need to contact itunes. He (naturally) asked to speak to ’someone’ who said that itunes had collected all the faulty ones last week. Well obviously they missed one! Dick Smith wouldn’t give him a refund even though it was clear and obvious the card was faulty. He has emailed itunes and received an automated email to say they’ll get back to him within 24 hours. Really I think it sucks.
From now on, we’ll be buying our itunes vouchers from places that have it printed on receipts.
I wish I could press pause on the holidays. I want the time to last longer. There is so much I am just beginning to get into after unwinding, celebrating, tripping off to Sydney and now the holidays have shrivelled up and there’s only a week left. How did that happen?
I am listening to an audio book each morning by Caroline Myss, called ‘The Language of Archetypes’. She speaks with authority and I am enjoying it a lot. She also injects humour into her conversation. I appreciate that. I have also started reading ‘Blink’ by Malcolm Gladwell. I picked it up in a second hand book shop in Sydney. It’s facinating. I hate to admit this but I had over 900 saved blog posts in my feed. I’ve been steadily reducing that number each day.
Last year we had lots of after school meetings and I believe it seriously inhibited my learning. My routine was to come home from school and pursue things of interest online and generally stay in touch with the wider world. By the time I got home from work I’d had enough of the wider world and just wanted to do home and family things.
I’ve also started exercising again. It always feels so good but when I am tired I just don’t make the time. I intend to be firmer with myself about that and perhaps get up earlier in the mornings to get it done.
Tom will be home on Friday. This time he’s staying for a week! I’m excited to see him, but I don’t want to wish any day of this lovely unstructured time away.
The year 9s finished today and it went well enough. I start tomorrow working with the admin team at the new campus so I won’t be farewelling the rest of the school. It happened so quickly in the end. As it usually does in a big rush where only the important and urgent things got done. I am so tired at the moment and a bit sooky as well.
I feel like I’ve barely seen Darin this week and I miss him. It’s my daughter’s birthday tomorrow. She will be 21. I can’t believe I’ve had 21 years with her. Her party isn’t for another 10 days, so it’s great I will be finished school and get a chance to do the things I want to do to celebrate her on that night. I wish I could see her tomorrow, but we are both working and she is hours away and we can’t even get each other on the phone right now! I haven’t seen my parents since my birthday and that was brief and my dad was out! I am missing my loved ones.
