Friday, Feb. 29, 2008

I'm no Piccaso

I'm no budding artist but over the years I have dabbled with pen and ink a little and have created a few images that had me pause a moment. Since I only dabble in dribs and drabs, often there are months in between pictures but when I bought my first car, a Holden Gemini, I had this insane notion of designing a graphic for the bonnet of it.

I know exactly how that car will look when I do manage to rebuild it. I know the colour of the paint work, I know the colour of the interior, I know how the door trims will be designed and I know what hidden touches I will add along the way but when it came to what graphic would grace it's bonnet – because I just have to have a graphic on the bonnet - I had absolutely no idea what it would be, so I started drawing it. For some odd reason I wanted a graphic similar to exihibit A but more morbid yet hopeful. I started drawing and came up with this.

Exhibit A)

Unfortunately it just wasn't exactly what I was after but I didn't have the heart to erase this drawing because I find it somewhat appealing. I still haven't managed to get back to this project, I have a lot of projects on the back burner these days and less and less time to indulge, but the sketch book is now parked upon my desk for whenever inspiration might come my way again.

The next drawing, I'm not quite too sure what that was about or what I was trying to achieve by it but the blue stands out and makes it jump right off the page, at least it does to my eyes. Maybe next time I should try writing a little bio on what I was thinking at the time once the drawing was completed. I might have been able to of made sense of it.

Well enough of that for now. I'll post some more of my drawings a little later.

Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008

Grinding on my nerves

The last few weeks have been heaven and sunshine at work. Not literally in any case due to the two weeks worth of rain that we have received, not to mention the pile of washing that has greeted me this Saturday morning, but because for three whole weeks the beloved and I was free of the first year electrical apprentice. Free to carry out an actual conversation without him there eavesdropping that is. Free to spend quality time together at lunch without him imposing. I had forgotten what it was like to actually spend time together at work without the apprentice on his heels. It was pure bliss.

I can't stand him. I really, really can't. Everytime I inform him (the first year apprentice) of a job that he needs to carry out, immediately I get attitude. Whenever I try to carry out a conversation with him, again, attitude. And the icing on the cake? He bascially believes that because he is gaining honors in his modules at TAFE, not all modules, just some of them, that he is pretty much better than all the other apprentices and that he is even better than the production workers. I guess he kind of forgot that not so long ago he was one of those production workers he now looks down upon. Most of all though he basically believes he doesn't need to do the shitty first year apprentice jobs but can instead follow my beloved around and look like he knows what is going on without doing much to help.

Fortunately, i'm not the only one to notice and fortunately again one of these people is the Leading hand who has some influence over how the workshop is run. He can see that the apprentice is not doing anything productive, he sees as a first year he doesn't need to be on shift because his lack of initiative and he wants to place him on permanent day shift. Unfortunately I have a tonne of work that he needs to do which needs to be carried out after production so he will be on shift with the beloved for at least another week. Did I mention that the beloved has had enough of him too? Yeah. Fun times.

It is just so frustrating to deal with guys who have such backward attitudes, particularly when people who are my bosses, have no problem with me allocating work to maintenance when there is no one else around. I'm assuming half of this attitude comes from the knowledge that I am female and I'm allocating him work, the other half is just his immature personality. It's not like I asked to be placed into this position but sometimes in order to get my job done, I have to do someone else's so I won't apologise for it.

The only thing that keeps me sane is the promise of a big fat pay rise once our EBA goes through and six months worth of back pay. Fingers crossed. Let's hope I can keep my temper in check in the meantime and hope that the power of money can help me turn the other cheek for the next three and a half years.

Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008

Jimny

I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself but I've been eyeing off all the car yards recently for a new set of wheels. I love the car I have now - it's reliable, I own it out right and I'm used to driving it - but it is 12 years old AND the kilometres on the odometer are pushing the 240,000 mark. Eventually the motor will need a birthday and by then, it simply won't be worth it I'm afraid so I'm window shopping now because eventually when I do go to spend a whole lot of cash on a car, I want it to be the right car for all our my needs. I want something small, good on fuel but I also want to be able to take it off road. And so far the only car that suits those needs is the Suzuki Jimny.

Photo courtesy of Suzuki

I actually feel in love with the Suzuki shape a long time ago and wanted to purchase a beat up Sierra to fly around town in. Unfortunately they are hard to come by with low km's and I think it's ridiculous to pay over $6,000 for a second hand car that is over ten years old so bye, bye went that dream. But upon seeing the Jimny I have been hypnotized beyond reason. It is smallish – good because I need a car to zip around in, it is great on fuel – good because we would end up driving it EVERYWHERE if we were to get one, and of course it goes off road. These vehicles are just the bomb off road.

I'm not sure if a new car is the way to go though just yet and won't buy anything until we have our shed up and operational but a girl can dream in the meantime.

Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008

Encounters of a different kind

One of the things I do dislike about living amongst the mountains is that the storms are that much more scarier. I like storms, but I like them better when I have solid foundations around me. Our house is over a hundred years old and it needs a little TLC so you can imagine what it might be like for me to see the heaven's open up and see nature spew forth her fury right over the top of us. Not at all pleasant though if you were to ask the Beloved that, he would be jumping up and down on the spot, clapping his hands in the shear joy of the experience. I guess that is where the Beloved and I differ. Whilst I respect nature, I'm not about to go and sit outside and provoke the lady to “give us all that she has”.

So yeah storms are nice but scary, however this fails to stop me from taking a few shots whilst it is safely a few kilometres away and it was last night I was doing this when I found a strange sight in one of my photos...

Now what does that look like to you? Granted I have resized the picture down to a fraction of what it was, can you see distinguish the bright spark there? Below is that image in full size, cropped from the original photo.

Kinda spooky huh.

When I was looking through my camera last night I just thought it was a bird so I didn't give it a second thought. Upon uploading my photos this morning however I discovered something much more interesting, than what I was originally trying to capture. If anyone has an explanation I would gladly like to hear it. Anyways, more photos of the storm below...

This last photo I also found something interesting in it but you can't quite see it so click here to see the enlarged version. Now do you see those white dots in the sky, amongst the clouds? Now, can anyone please explain what the heck those things are? The lense wasn't dirty, so you can rule that out by the way. One of the objects almost looks like the moon but if that is true, what about the moon in that second shot? How can it be there and then, suddenly over there? Quite strange.

The Beloved had gone into work early this morning and as per usual, I couldn't get back to sleep afterward. Sunday is probably the day to sleep in because Saturday there is always something to do – washing, cleaning, more washing - but when I noticed the fog, I couldn't resist going outside in my pj's to take a few shots. This is probably one of the best things about living up so high, you get fog when other folk don't.

Even now it is still hanging around, as if waiting for something or hidding something from view.

Saturday, Feb. 09, 2008

The gift that says I love you

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I'm at odds as to what sort of gift should I buy the Beloved. Do I go with the traditional type of gift – oversized stuffed toy clasping a giant red heart – or do I go with the gift that speaks nothing of valentines – a DVD he might like want to watch, something with HSV stamped on it to match his car? I'm not really sure. Maybe i'll go with none of the above and instead visit a few thrift shops in the city to see if I can find a diamond in the rough – a piece of old furniture, an old record that he would appreciate – but would that be percieved as being cheap or does that depend on what sort of treasure I do find?

I'll also include a nice bottle of wine in the parcel, because my boy loves his alcohol and most especially wines, but as to what type of wine, no utter clue. I usually buy something that I haven't seen him buy before which isn't cheap and nasty looking. So far he hasn't complained but what guy in his right mind will complain at free alcohol?

Thursday, Feb. 07, 2008

Not really the father

If the gossip is anything to be believed, than it would appear that The Single Guy actually isn't the father of that little bundle of squishiness that I saw in the newspaper the other week but is instead what one might refer to as 'the alternative daddy the mother picked when the real father dumped her for another girl'. At least this is how the story was related back to me when I mentioned the photo to a mutual friend of mine and The Single Guy's, whom I had bumped into at work.

“Hey, I saw that The Single Guy is now a father huh.”

“Actually, funny story about that..”

“Oh no, don't tell me that girl I saw in the paper is one of those girls I've heard about whom The Single Guy and X shared and she is now unsure who impregnanted her.” (X being the ex-boyfriend before Richard)

“Ha, ha but no. Apparently the kid is some other blokes but everyone, including TSG's (The Single Guy's) parents, seems to think it's his. X informed me of this the other night.”

“Err..”

“And from what X told me, she only picked TSG because the guy who really got her pregnant, dumped her for another girl so now she is living at TSG's place and whenever X drops by and she answers the door he is like ”Hey slut, you still here? Where's TSG” Ha ha!”

“Ahh huh.”

“And now he's sold his 4WD and his boat is up for sale too...”

“But why?!?”

“Don't know. X hates her guts though and isn't afraid of showing it.”

I kind of liked my interpretation of events better before I was made aware of this bit of news. All that speculation of unrequited love and naming his child after the girl he really loved, how deliciously romantic and warming. These version of events however leave a sour note on the whole tale I had fabricated inside my head.

Saturday, Feb. 02, 2008

Princess Shadow

Lately I've gotten into the habit of calling our dog Princess and Richard is none too impressed with the nickname. He is even less impressed when I refer to some of our dog's habits being more like that of a cat and I often point them out whenever I see them, just so he can witness them himself.

For instance the dog hates to get her feet wet. In the mornings she will get up with us and often these times mean she will need to go to the bathroom but if the grass is wet, she daintily walks out onto the grass, does her business and quickly trots back into the house, plonking her butt back onto her mat before proceeding to lick her feet dry. The first time I witnessed this I could only scratch my head in bafflement whilst asking her if she was fucking serious. It's been awhile since I've had a dog and I had forgotten what they behaved liked but I swear that is not normal. The next thing I noticed about this dog was the fact that she hates to lie on the floor without her “blankie”. She will sit there and look at you with those adorable brown puppy dog eyes of hers until you get up and silently obey her by spreading out her blanket nice and neat like on the floor. To do nothing gets you absolutely no where because if you ignore her, she starts to whine and no matter how many times you tell her to shut up, she won't listen until she has her blankie on the floor.

Another little cat trait I've also noticed is the way that this dog play fights. Often she will roll on her back, right at your feet, and kick her feet about and just like a cat. However if you touch her tummy sometimes she will kick out with her hind legs to get you away and will swing her front paws around, hoping to get in a good swipe. It is so utterly ridiculous but kind of cute too. I'm beginning to think this dog was a cat in a previous life.