So, as far as “opinion of self” goes, I’m feeling pretty good at the moment. Crises of confidence and intellectual doubt aside, I’m coming up on having lost almost 5kg since returning from South America, and that’s pretty awesome. I think I can notice a difference – my waist is a tiiiiiiiiiny bit smaller, but that’s a start. However, I’m wearing rather short shorts today (it’s hot here!), and I just went to admin and caught my reflection in the glass double doors, and oh my god.
Holy thigh wobble, Batman!
Now, I’ve never really let my size get in the way of doing things I want to do – except a couple of times when I refused to leave my house and instead stayed at home sobbing myself into stupor. It’s not that I’m a hideously gargantuan tub of lard – I can run and swim and breathe, and I talk to people I don’t know without wondering if they’re trying to get away from That Fat Girl, and I wear what I want – and this includes a bikini at the beach, and short shorts in summer (and you can stop retching now). I only need to lose about 13 more kilos to be considered a ‘healthy’ weight, so you know – my life is defined by other things than being a fatty. Despite the fact that I hate with a passion the extra flubber on my body, I don’t feel like a fat person, and so I try not to let it rule my life (albeit unsuccessfully, at times).
However. The case of the wobbly thighs today has all but inspired me to get my buttocks to the nearest shopping centre and purchase some sensible shorts – shorts that cover a little bit more of the thighs of doom. Thankfully Witchery have a whole bevy of gorgeous and affordable shorts that will be suitable… but I feel like I’m a bit of a cop out for letting this one incident dictate what I wear. I seriously felt like everyone was staring at my wobbly legs as I walked back to my office, and maybe they were, but normally I don’t let that stuff bother me. But today it did. And that sucks.
At least on the upside, I know I’m really doing something about it.
Filed under: eat your heart out
Yuuuuuuuuuum.
I had one of my never-ending cravings for sushi tonight for dinner, even though I’d planned to cook kangaroo sausage casserole. However, I received my tax return today (yay!) so we decided to go out for dinner before going to buy puppy supplies (!!). It was really good, despite the trashy skanks who totally pushed in front of us in the line to be seated – but that’s another story. They were obviously on a mission that night. Our food more than made up for the rudeness of other people!
We started with a couple of entrees (iPhone photos, I’m afraid!) — beef tataki…
…and tsukune (chicken meatballs).
And for mains, Rhys had the katsu chicken curry and a Sapporo beer (or two!)…
… and I had the small sushi set (and a glass – or two – of savignon blanc).
This sushi was sooooo good and totally hit the spot. The set meals were served with marinated bean shoots, miso soup, and salad with ginger sauce, and if you order something like chicken teriyaki or katsu curry, the rice is included as well (obviously my sushi already involved rice!). I’ve been getting a bit bored with the stock-standard sushi available in the take away sushi places that I frequent often, but this – especially the salmon! – was really refreshing.
I’m going out for dinner tomorrow night also, which means that I probably shouldn’t have eaten out tonight, but oh well! I’m eying off the seared tuna and pickled vegetables dish that I’ve seen on the menu… yum yum.
PS: If this looks completely messed up, my apologies. WordPress and my computer? They hate each other. This just isn’t happening lately. Nothing looks right on my screen and I can’t fix it and it’s giving me the royal poos 
(My post from earlier today has disappeared! Boooo. It was a good one too.)
Why are people so noisy in the library?
I am in here to use the SUPER MEGA AWESOME big iMac to do my work on. I need one – I need one NOW. I’ve been wanting a screen for my mac for ages because my little 13 inch macbook just doesn’t cut it when it comes to reading articles and typing at the same time – it’s just too damn small and it’s been holding me back for ages. BUT at the moment, an actual iMac is only a few hundred dollars cheaper than an independent display, so it’s very tempting (I’m sorry Carla – totally not copying you. I’ve just been doing my research!). Tempting after the credit card pays itself off, that is. My office on campus is just a pretty unproductive space at the moment, so I think I will be spending quite a few hot summers days glued to one of the macs in the library. The good thing is that everyone else seems to be avoiding them like the plague, so I shouldn’t have too much trouble getting to use one when I need to.
Anyway. The library. It’s so noisy! Aren’t people here to study for exams and do assignments?! I’m in here working and I’ve got my headphones on with the music turned riiiiight up and I can still here this din of voices. I thought exams were over, to be honest. Go home everyone.
Speaking of, I am listening to a set by Noisia and Bad Company and it is sweeeeeet as. I never used to be able to listen to music to study – especially not through headphones – but it’s becoming more and more necessary just to shut the noise out around me and concentrate on what I’m doing. My favourite things to listen to whilst studying are classical music, drum and bass, hip hop, and Tool. Go figure. Generally I prefer stuff without vocals when studying because otherwise I focus too much on the words in my ears rather than the words on the screen.
I <3 productivity.
(Haha – the guy sitting at the computer opposite me just got up and came over and watched me typing. I think I might type a little fast. Everyone in my office always comments on it… and now random strangers are coming and watching me do it.)
Filed under: puppy pants
Seriously? Hurry up and deliver me my puppy. He is getting cuter and cuter by the minute and I can’t wait to just eat him up. Not really. You know what I mean. Two and a half weeks to go!
Filed under: miscellanea
I am useless at sticking to a schedule, especially when I have lots of work to do. The more deadlines I’ve got and reading that piles up, the more I tend to freak out and do nothing instead. So today, I decided to set a timer on my phone, and work in 45 minute blocks, followed by 15 minute breaks. I usually tend to go all gung-ho on working for two or three hours and then my brain seizes up and I get very little done for the rest of the day. This way, I know I only have to work for 45 minutes before I can browse blogs for 15, or watch TV, or run to the shops, or (if I was in my office) go find something to eat. I eat so much more at work than I do at home!
The timer thing seems to be working, and I’m thinking I will implement it more in my every day life: setting a 30 minute timer for breakfast & blog reading, for example, as I tend to have breakfasts that drag on for at least an hour whilst I catch up with all the blogs updated overnight. Or setting a time for an hour and making a deal with myself that I will go for a run/to the gym/clean up when that timer goes off. I think it’s a pretty good idea, and hopefully it helps me to kick my lazy side in the butt a little!
Filed under: perthtastic
So I didn’t quite make it to uni – I remembered that I can’t find my access card for my office, which is locked on weekends – but I did sit in the backyard for a couple of hours whilst getting some writing done and being nuzzled by the cat that seems to have taken up residence in our backyard (he’s going to get quite a shock in a few weeks when puppy arrives!). I decided after a couple of hours that I deserved a break, so we went to get coffee from the shop at the end of our street and headed down to the river to lay on the grass for an hour or so. It is so nice out today! I love Spring days – not too hot, nice and breezy, a beautiful excuse to spend the day outside. In the mean time, though, it’s back to work for me – for the next half hour at least.
Filed under: miscellanea
Don’t you love those days when you wake up feeling awesome?
I got an early night last night, and when my alarm went off at 7.30 this morning I was more than ready to get up. I’ve had my cup of tea and some Vegemite toast, and now I’m off to uni to do some work for four or so hours before Rhys and I go to his mum’s place for lunch. I was hoping the library would be open already, because I find working in my office is kind of counter productive at the moment, but it’s not, so I will have to put my concentration face on and just get this stuff done. I’ve been working on it for WAY too long already (it’s work for my Research Assistant job).
Hope everyone else has a good Sunday! 
(PS: I am looking for a new theme for my blog because I’m sick of the edges of photos being cut off, or having to shrink pictures down to tiny sizes to fit in to this ridiculous theme. Maybe it’s time to purchase a theme.)
Filed under: globetrekker
Sunset in the desert outside Nasca, Peru.
Amazing, no?
Filed under: can't choose your family
This week, I’ve been really, really sad about my uncle Rod, who died in August. I know it’s only been three months and I’m not supposed to feel completely 100% and that I can still miss him like hell, but oh my god, I wasn’t expecting this. I wasn’t expecting this? What does this even mean? What was I supposed to expect? We didn’t see this coming.
I still can’t sit outside and study in the sun because that’s what I was doing the Friday when mum called me and told me my uncle had been hit by a truck and was braindead. I remember falling on the ground and sobbing and screaming and willing it not to be true. I remember reading the message from aunty Julie, his wife, because my mum was crying too much to read it to me. I remember coming home after his funeral and collapsing on my kitchen floor in tears, begging Rhys to tell me it wasn’t true.
I remember this every day. Every single day I walk in to my spare room and see the booklet from his memorial and the beautiful card his family sent me recently, and it breaks my heart over and over again and I just don’t know how to fix this.
I’m so desperately heartbroken and every day I feel like I might fall apart… But it’s nothing compared to what Julie, Katie and Michelle (and my parents, and so many others) are going through…
But despite this, I can’t believe how much I hurt. God I miss him.
Filed under: people are stupid
If you’re Australian and you listen to Triple J, you’ll know what the Friday F dash dash dash wit (as they say) is. Basically, listeners ring up and nominate their fuckwit (oops) of the week. People nominate all kinds of crazy stuff: bad drivers who make them late for work, friends who play tricks but end up getting in to trouble, and even the weather.
My nominee for the Friday F—wit is the spammy virus that has infected my Gmail account, sending out messages to every person on my contacts list, both professional and friendly. THANKS A LOT. More concerning than the virus is the people who don’t realise when spam is spam, and who felt the need to send me abusive emails telling me not to sell them stuff.
Um, really?
In this day and age, if you can’t recognise spam from real mail – especially when said spam is poorly spelled and employs the grammatical accuracy usually reserved for pre-school children (I have an Honours degree in English, people!) – then seriously, you’re in trouble. The email I allegedly sent out to people is below (and please, don’t click on the links!):
Hello friends:
Welcome to join our company’ member club . Everybody here can enjoy our products’ member price. All customers can browse through our company’s home page—- www.buysell08.com> for latest information . Our products (notebook PC,digital camera,plasma and LCD TV,digital DV,Motos,phones,Mp3/4,and so on) all have low price and high quality in order to attract more new customers to cooperate with us . Hope here is your shopping heaven!
Please contact me via
e-mail: buysell08@ymail.com
Best regards
Yep – that looks like a real email to me.
If my WordPress account somehow ends up with a virus now, I’m going to be pissed.
