Life Goes On

DDR with D and D
Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 - 11:48 p.m.
We had a very busy weekend. We were supposed to do the 6-hour party night at Laserforce on Saturday night but half an hour in and David had issues with some of the players so we requested a refund and left. D was in town, movie/dancing/drinking with friends and stayed Saturday night. In a successful bid to cheer David up for missing out on Laserforce, D took him to a video arcade on Sunday, bought ridiculous amounts of tokens, wons heaps of tickets and got David a remote control car and me a plushy elephant! :) David and I played Dance Dance Revolution which is really the only game I can do at those arcades. Take-away dinner ended a really fun day.


Today was my first day of freedom from child - school holidays suck when you're a single parent :( Went straight back to bed after dropping him off at school and slept until around 2pm. It was wonderful! I'm also on Uni holidays for a week although I can't use all of that to relax because there is too much work to do. Figured I was allowed one day off!


No more work yet for the flour mill but I'm glad about that because it means I can focus on Uni for the next couple of weeks. I'm supposed to do some stuff to finalise the last on Wayne's super but I just don't have the time so it will have to wait. The letter says that a decision can't be made until all requested paperwork is returned so they will just have to wait for me.


Boring entry I know and they will continue to be until the end of semester. Just wanted to say that I had a fun weekend with David and D!


t.

Believe it Baby!
Saturday, Sept. 24, 2005 - 2:30 a.m.
Our internal dialogue is a powerful thing. I believe it is nurtured by our childhood experiences, good and bad, and untethered it can wreak havoc.

How different would our lives have turned out if we had been an only child, or one of 10? What if we had grown up in a two parent family, single family, foster home?

What impact does childhood trauma have on our personal belief system - how we feel about ourselves - worthiness, role, expectations, blame?

I have a bad habit of writing questions and never answering them. Whenever I'm trying to work out how I feel about something I write it in questions as though, like a lawyer questioning a court witness, the answers with spring forth with unexpected clarity, a bucket of water in the face. Surprise, surprise they don't; yet I continue to phrase everything as questions. An affirmative statement would be more helpful.

I deserve to be happy.

t.

Good Comes Back
Monday, Sept. 19, 2005 - 7:04 p.m.
Someone is looking after me, but I think it's also about good comes back. As I've mentioned in this blog before, I help out the International students at my Uni as often as possible - interpreting assignment specs, helping them proofread their english etc.

Well my sql assignment which is due tomorrow was practically non-existent as of this afternoon. It wasn't for lack of trying - it was just fucking hard! Anyway one of the international students asked me how it was going and when I told him he suggested that we submit our assignment together! I told him it wasn't fair because he's finished and I've barely accomplished anything but he just acknowledged all the effort I put in with the international students in other areas and said it was a way of giving back. :)

I will still take the time to learn the stuff he is submitting on our behalf but atm it is an immediate stress relief for me.

t.

Wake me Up when it's Over!
Sunday, Sept. 18, 2005 - 11:11 p.m.
My head is too full of thoughts to function. Uni is getting frantically busy - SQL assignment due Tuesday, everything else due in the next two weeks. This includes an all day workshop and an entire semester project. I also have to work this Friday. David lost this stylus to his new laptop and I have to somehow replace it. Bills are piling up, money is low AND I'm outta chocolate!!

Stuff has happened with D that I can't form into coherent sentences but at least we had a good time taking David to Laserforce on Saturday night plus he gave me a GORGEOUS plush dog which I've called twonk.

My nicotine and caffeine consumption are increasing and my hours available for sleeping are diminishing. I find myself yawning more often than I'm thinking. This is semester hell time and I'm not ready for it. I'll get through but it just sucks atm.

t.

Ignorance must be Bliss ...
Friday, Sept. 16, 2005 - 3:26 p.m.
I knew I was talking to a redneck the other night when I tried to make conversation by asking him if he had seen any good movies lately. He replied that he had seen "Radio" and then commented "... it was about this black guy who was a retard and we laughed at all the stupid things he did."

I just looked away and made no further attempt at conversation.

t.

Made me Think
Saturday, Sept. 10, 2005 - 8:35 p.m.
From Quiet Flames

20 years ago I...
1. had just arrived in Australia.
2. thought I was fat.
3. spoke with an African accent.

10 years ago I...
1. owned my own business.
2. had a one-year old child.
3. studied IT at TAFE.

5 years ago I...
1. was still stuck in a violent marriage.
2. was working three jobs, 80 hours a week.
3. was at the lowest point in my life.

3 years ago I...
1. wished my ex-husband was dead.
2. was scared to leave my house.
3. cried often.

1 year ago I...
1. was sleeping around.
2. was still friends with Paulette.
3. never thought I would finish my degree.

So far this year I...
1. have become less dependent on my parents.
2. entered into an emotional relationship.
3. stopped sleeping around.

Yesterday I...
1. worked.
2. played computer games.
3. didn't have clean pj's to wear.

Today I...
1. slept in until midday.
2. updated my diary.
3. smoked too much.

Tomorrow I will...
1. make gluten-free pancakes.
2. do some Uni work.
3. go and see a movie.

In the next year I will...
1. graduate!
2. hopefully be working.
3. be a year older.

t.

Two Dollar Bother
Saturday, Sept. 10, 2005 - 12:13 a.m.
I know it's different if you're a taxi driver or a truck driver or rely in any way on fuel, but for the average mom-and-dad-and-kids family does the price of petrol really matter? I don't even look at the price - I need petrol, I pull up, I put petrol in, I pay, I leave. I CANNOT spend my life shopping at certain stores, buying particular items and then driving out of my way to get to the only petrol station that accepts my voucher all to save 4c a litre. People!!! On 50 litres that's ... $2.00!!!

Sure, if I get the voucher for doing nothing extra and I happen to fill up at one and they ask me if I have a voucher and I could be bothered to rummage around and happen to find one, sure I'll use it. However, I refuse to plan my petrol-filling day more than a second before the words "oh I need petrol" enter my head.

I guess I have my parents to thank for bringing me to a country where the price of petrol is our greatest concern.

t.

Sometimes old, sometimes young
Sunday, Sept. 04, 2005 - 9:10 p.m.
Big weekend and so much to say!

I want to tell you about my fresh new start in the relationship department and I want to rant about my annoying neighbour who has once again left me to clean up her mess. I'm also a little stunned about the whole Katrina thing but have nothing profound or new to say about it so maybe we'll leave that one out.

Relationship
So the news is, I have a boyfriend. :) Yes, me. Ms Single Forever who wished upon the moon and received exactly what she asked for. I'm still getting used to saying the word "boyfriend" - it doesn't roll off the tongue quite like 'fuck buddy' or 'casual sex partner' which are words I have used easily for the last four years. Even on the phone today I said to someone "I'm just dropping a friend home" - it didn't come naturally to use the term boyfriend. It's like when you move house and for the first couple of trips home from work you automatically take the old exit and drive the same route. I think it will take a while to adjust to the new wording but atm it seems to be worth the effort. :)

His name is David which becomes confusing now that there are two David's in my life. I think for the purposes of my blog I will refer to him as D because I have always written about son David using his full name.

So D messaged me from my MSN profile about 10 days ago. I don't have any personal profiles on match sites, just the profile that is attached to my MSN name. He emailed me from there and I responded - something I don't normally do but after wishing upon the moon I had a feeling I should reply. We met for the first time last Sunday, had a great day and then we saw each other this weekend.

It feels good, warm, scary, exciting, new, unfamiliar. My mind flip flops from "it isn't possible" to "it feels fine". I am determined not to repeat old mistakes yet still not allow my past to prevent me from venturing somewhere that seems good for me. As I said to D the other night, the scariest part for me is that the relationship with Wayne felt great in the beginning too! There was no neon sign that said "One way ticket to DV marriage and heartache" and that's why I'm so wary because good and bad relationships start out the same way. The question is ... is the success of a relationship determined before it starts? Or is it determined by how it progresses and the choices of each person?


Neighbour Cleanup
Once again I have allowed my neighbour Joanne to impact negatively on my life. Despite being >10 years older than me, she behaves like a child and I constantly find myself in a position of cleanup when she fucks up. The one thing that irritates me beyond sanity is having my ability to choose taken away from me. It happened recently with the tax department and happens in negative interactions with people. Yes, I do engage in activities that inconvenience me such as doing favours for friends but as long as I have a CHOICE I don't mind.

A positive example of this happens with Ms-Do all the time. We frequently help each other out by babysitting each others' children. She takes David every Monday night when I'm at Uni and I look after her two sometimes during the holidays. The important thing is that it's still a choice - I ask her every week, and she asks me - there is never an assumption and neither takes advantage. For me it's the ability to choose that's important. Well, Joanne frequently takes that right to choose away from me which has resulted in major inconvenience to myself, her daughter-in-law and her friend.

Railroaders who just live their lives without empathy or concept of consequence really need to grow into adults who are productive, worthwhile citizens. And I need to teach her how to treat me.

t.