Category: A Whine
Missing my footy
I love my footy. What can I say? I’m a Queenslander and I started following the Broncos when I was about 12 years old and have loved them ever since. In fact, I love watching most sports; I’ve even been known to watch a round of golf or a game of lawn bowls on the telly. (But I must say that I draw the line at motor sports.) Back to the footy.
Living in an AFL-obsessed state, it’s not often that I get to watch rugby league, so when I found out that Game 1 of the 2009 State of Origin was being played in Melbourne, I jumped at the opportunity to go. The fact that the Queensland team is made up of mostly Broncos players, only confirmed the decision. My good friend Adele who’s also a mad-keen Broncos supporter is coming down to watch the game AND we found out that the Broncos are playing Melbourne 2 days later IN MELBOURNE!! So I’ve been starved of my addiction for months, and this week I’ll be going to 2 games within 3 days!!!!! PLEASURE OVERLOAD!!!!!!!!
GO QUEENSLAND!!!!! AND BRONCOS!!!!!!
So’s your face
A HUGE Whine!!
“I can’t find you on facebook.”
“Why aren’t you on facebook?”
“Are you coming to my party? I sent out a facebook invite. Why haven’t you replied?”
These are a sample of the questions, comments and near accusations we are regularly subjected to, because we choose not to subscribe to facebook. Now I would consider myself to be a fairly open-minded gal, so I signed up to facebook just under 2 years ago. Then I unsubscribed just over a year ago. Let me tell you why. (If you don’t want to read a rant about the evils of facebook, then this is not a blog post for you.)
1. What ever happened to “what happens at the hen’s night, stays at the hen’s night.” Or substitute “hen’s night” with any type of gathering where there is drinking and silliness – many Friday nights for some of us! These days it’s a case of “what happens at the pub, is sure to be splashed over the pages of facebook 10 hours later.” I don’t like this. I don’t like the feeling of “well I WANT to be silly and get a laugh, but where are the cameras? Who out of these people are likely to ignore common courtesy, not ask for my permission to post photos of me, and share them like crazy in a few hours time?” Answer? Most of these people are in that boat. Which brings me to my next point:
2. I pride myself on the fact that I ask my friend’s permission to post photos of them on my blog – a blog that perhaps a dozen people read (I have no idea who reads this thing!!) and a blog where I like to share fun things that Hubs and I have been doing. Whilst a facebooker, I had VERY dodgy photos of myself being put up on other people’s pages and being “tagged”, and when I asked for them to be taken down, I was told to get a sense of humour. The word “friend” started to lose it’s meaning. Which brings me to my next point:
3. What is a “friend”? I don’t know about you, but my “friends” are people I have things in common with; whom I share a history with; and who’s life journey I would like to be a part of, whether regularly or sporadically. “Friends” are not people I once met through an ex-boyfriend 6 years ago and had a beer with. I don’t want to know what they are up to, and I don’t want them to know what I’M up to. I know I can choose who I want to be friends with, but after getting friend requests and ignoring a certain person I did NOT want to be “friends” with 3 TIMES, enough was enough.
4. I don’t feel that my life is less fulfilling by not knowing what people are doing every second of their lives, (don’t even get me STARTED on twitter) nor do I have the need or desire to keep my friends up to date on my daily goings-on. And call me old fashioned, but I like receiving actual invitations to things, even if it’s in a group email. At least I feel like the person inviting me has taken the time to think of me. I just find facebook so impersonal.
If facebook is used the right way, for the right reasons, with the right intentions, then I’m fully supportive of this online tool. But generally it’s not. Generally it’s used to embarass and make fun of people’s silly antics. There is no trust and no courtesy. There is no thought as to how the person in the photo will feel.
I know my not having a facebook account isn’t going to stop “me” from being on facebook, but what I can’t see can’t hurt me. So if you love facebook, great! Good for you. No, really – each to their own. But believe me when I say that I’m okay with not being on facebook. It’s just everybody else who seems to have a problem with that fact.
Sexy husky voice
A whine
Yeah yeah, I’m sick again. After a relatively uneventful January and February, I have picked up the “Fresher Flu” (first years are called freshers and apparently every year they pass around this nasty chest infection that they’ve nicknamed!) and I’m not happy about it! I actually don’t feel TOO bad, except for the fact that I’ve all but lost my voice which makes answering the phone super-sexy! I currently sound like Myf Warhurst (stand back gentlemen!) which is not necessarily a bad thing! 🙂
Apparently this is an occupational hazard, working at a university college. Let’s see how long it takes me to pick up the next bug….
Yowsers!
A Whine
So I’ve spent most of the last few days, and particularly today, listening to Victorians whinge about the heat. Now, granted, it did reach 40 degrees yesterday, 43 degrees today, and a prediction of 40 for the next 2 days, so maybe they have something to complain about… a little… But it just didn’t stop! People were exclaiming that there should be air conditioners for all of the rooms etc etc etc. Come on people!!! Fair enough if you had more than 15 hot days per year, this might be a consideration, but a little heat for a few days? I don’t think so.
Unfortunately I had to play a touch footy game tonight, and the thing about Melbourne is that it doesn’t hit it’s top temp for the day til about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and it stays that temp til after 9. This game was brutal. It was such a dry heat that I felt as though my insides were drying out. Not pleasant at all. But did I complain? Well, maybe a little in the end.
It’s just part of the charm of Melbourne that Hubs and I are embracing – you never know what the weather will do one hour to the next, let alone one day to the next. Perhaps that novelty has worn off with the locals though! I wonder what tomorrow will bring!?
Stuff it
I can’t BELIEVE how much stuff we have. Seriously. Hubs and I have just moved into our new place on college and it astounds me how much crap we own. Plus we had a trip down to Sorrento over the weekend to pick up our kitchen stuff that we hadn’t needed so far, and there is SO much more STUFF than I remember!! I really didn’t pack lightly for Melbourne at all. And unfortunately, while I was packing things in Brisbane, Hubs kept asking me “are you SURE we need all of this?” and I kept replying “yes dear, of COURSE I need these 8 tea towels and 24 pieces of Tupperware.”
And even MORE unfortunate, was that after I saw how much stuff I had brought down, and how I realised I should have left half of it in Brisbane, I had to utter those 3 little words to Hubs that made him the happiest man alive.
“You were right.”
He even did the Lleyton Hewitt “c’mon” and a few fist punches in the air. Very annoying. Oh well. As my good friend would say: I digress.
I managed to cut it down and bring back only half of the stuff to Melbourne which I thought was a pretty good achievement, so I’m looking forward to unpacking our kitchen tonight! All the other rooms are pretty much done, so I’ll have some photos up in no time.
Aaaaah. Home sweeeeeeet home.
It’s so hot today
I’ve had this Peter Coombe song in my head since we arrived in Brisbane on Saturday. After the weather in Melbourne (tops of 25 degrees, mostly 22 degrees though) these 30-35 degree days (plus 88% humidity) are killing me! Hubs is loving it though, so at least that’s something!
It’s been a crazy start to our 3 week holiday in Brisbane, but so lovely to see everyone. I’m still fighting my sinus/chest infection so decided to take it easy today which has been bliss! Off to the shops with Nanny and Grandpa tomorrow (which consists of me trying on clothes, not finding anything I like, then Nanny stomping her foot down saying “I no leave til you buy something!”) so that should be fun! No doubt a trip to ALDI will also be on the cards.
I spent a lovely afternoon with my Godson Billy-Bob & Billy-Bob’s Mum yesterday which was de-lightful! Looking forward to spending quality time with friends and family over the next few weeks, so if that’s you, we’ll see you soon!!!
Sicko
A whine
Well it must be nearly time for me to go home because I’m sick. Again. That’s 5 times since we arrived in Melbourne that I’ve been sick. (Cold, flu, cold, rubella, sinus infection.) I’m convinced it’s because I’m not eating enough veges down here. Or my immunity is shot at the moment. Or I’m still acclimatising to the Melbourne weather. (Right now it’s 19 degrees and raining.) Or maybe I actually have a Man Cold. They’re pretty serious you know! I’m trying not to be whiny-Wifey but it’s SO HARD. I just want to curl up in bed and sleep for 2 days. But we have to pack tonight and I was going to do some “work” on Hubsband’s dreadlocks. Aaaah well. No rest for the wicked.
This time tomorrow we’ll be basking in the Queensland sun, pining for the cool days of Melbourne. (Maybe I need more Vitamin D!! You don’t get much of that down here…)
Okay. I’m done complaining. For now 🙂
Paranoid hypochondriac
A Whine
I’ve always been a bit of a hypochondriac. And I’ve always been a little bit paranoid when it comes to my health. I mean, what if I just ignored a particular ailment, only to discover that it’s really serious! Too late!? So I’ll often listen to my body, and visit the doctor when I don’t feel right.
On Friday morning, I woke up and didn’t feel quite right. My joints were really achy and I had a rash on both of my legs. It wasn’t a terribly alarming rash, it just looked like a heat rash to be honest. But getting out of our futon bed was really difficult and quite painful. My first thought was that I had been bitten by a spider or something, but I couldn’t find a bite mark. So I sucked it in and got on with the day. I was due to go out dancing with my friend on Friday night and since it has taken us 3 months to find a night we were both free, I really didn’t want to cancel.
So out I went and danced up a storm at the Turf Bar to some of the cheesiest music from the 80s and 90s. It was fabulous! Trying to walk from the tramstop home, however, was not so fabulous. EVERYTHING was hurting. In the mean time, I wasn’t getting much sympathy from Hubs, as I wasn’t actually FEELING that sick. I just felt funny and achy. He had commented a few times during the week that I was acting strangely, but I just thought I was being a woman. So on Saturday morning I trotted (rather awkwardly) off to the doctor’s surgery.
I was called in by a Russian-sounding female doctor (which made me think of Nanny) who, after looking at the rash, feeling my glands, taking my temp and hearing about my aches and pains, gave her medical opinion: Rubella. German Measles. What the?…. I’d been vaccinated! Apparently, you can still get it, but it won’t be so severe. I just had to try and keep my distance from people for the following 5 days. No easy task when I live and work with 250 people.
So when I got home and told Hubs, I FINALLY got the sympathy I deserved. He put me to bed (after we dyed my hair – another story) and brought me cups of tea. I did about the same on Sunday and by last night the aches and pains had started to ease.
All I can say is I KNEW I wasn’t quite right. And it might explain the big bowl of crazy I dished up to Hubs over the few days before. (That’s what I’ll blame it on anyway!)
Pain in the neck
A Whine
For the last 4 years or so, whenever I get stressed, I put my neck out. This was something I could manage as it used to go away once the stress was relieved. But now it’s more of a constant problem, and is exacerbated by stress. I feel like I’ve tried everything; massage, chiropractic, acupuncture, heat, sports massage (deep tissue) and pain killers. But nothing has had a long-term affect on the pain, and it’s getting worse. Does that mean I’m more stressed or that the problem has embedded itself into my life and I’m just going to be sore all the time?
I have had to miss work on quite a few occasions, as when it’s really bad, my range of movement is limited. And not only do I miss out on the income, but the treatments cost a fair bit too. I’ve lost count of the amount I have spent on treating my neck over the last few years and am getting a little sick of it. And now that I’m in Melbourne, I don’t have my regular masseuse or acupuncturist to go to when I need it.
I do have my dear Hubsband who gives me massages, so I am grateful for that. But this is an ongoing problem that I really wish I could get rid of. If anyone has any amazing treatments I can try down in Melbs, I would love to hear about them.
That’s the end of my Whine.