I Think My Brain's Melted

I do not like the heat. I don't like being hot, sticky and sweaty. It makes me headachy and grumpy. It's worse when I'm not at work because I have no air-conditioning in my flat. 98% of the time this isn't an issue, and I just put the fan on for some semblance of fresh air. In winter I don't need heating - if I'm cold I'll grab a blanket or go to bed and read. Today we got to 43 C, or 109F. We had a complete fire ban for the entire state. I have no idea what the temperature will be tomorrow, but if it's anywhere near today's then I'm going to a shopping centre. I will spend all day in nice air-conditioning away from sunlight.

In other news:

It's my nephew Dominic's 5th birthday today. :) I can't believe that it was 5 years ago that I watched him make his appearance in the world. I still remember that very uncomfortable night spent on the chair in the delivery room because he jolly well wouldn't hurry up and arrive. He will start school next month when New Zealand children return to school after their summer holidays.

I bought myself a Kindle and have been trolling the net finding free e-books as possible. Most of these are classics now in public domain. The best thing I've discovered so far with having a Kindle is just how easy it is to eat and read - much easier 'turning' the pages with a Kindle than a paper and ink book. *g* It's not going to change my book buying by much. There will always be those books that I must have a physical copy of. It's kind of like my music buying, there are some artists I want the CD. Other times downloading from iTunes is good enough. A bookshop is still my happy place and I love being surrounded by books. You can't get past the feel and smell of a new book, or picking up a well-loved copy of a classic and thinking about the people that have loved it just as much as you. That said, the Kindle has definite advantages. I love it's portability - just slips easily into my handbag, and that I can store many many books on it. I can buy a book and have it delivered practically instantly - very handy. One thing with e-books is that I'm less likely to peek ahead - not that I do it that often, but sometimes the temptations there. It's not so easy just to flick to the end with an e-book. I'm going to try and give my Kindle a bit of a work out with some fanfic. I've tried it out with one piece, now I just need to do a few more. It's got a notes and highlighting function so that I can jot ideas down as I go to make it much easier to leave comments. I'm still getting used to all the bits, but it's been fun!

The Year That Was

Okay, so 2009 hasn't quite finished, but I don't anticipate much happening in the next 2 days. It's been a pretty good year. :)

The first half of the year revolved around planning and then going on a month long trip to the UK. It was an interesting experience both planning and travelling with someone else, and I learned a lot from the experience. I must say though, that I don't regret the trip in any way - it was awesome! I can't wait to go back again and see so much more. I had a couple of short trips back to New Zealand to see family.

The second part of the year was anticipating Mum and my nephew Alex coming to stay. It was nice to have my Mum here. :) We had lots of fun. I found out that my sister was having child #5. I planned and booked a trip to Turkey with a few days in London on either side. Next year, I'll be spending Anzac Day at Gallipoli, so that will be something to cross off my To Do list.

In between times, it was work and a bit of play. I got banned from a website (long story and it involves what happened in the UK), which made me value even more what a great site Jixemitri is. I started to get back into writing, and today posted my first piece of Trixie Belden fan fiction for quite some time! I discovered the fun of e-books - and while they'll never replace the printed word for me, I love getting a story instantly. Amongst this I discovered the author Josh Lanyon. I love his writing, although since he writes M/M he's not everyone's cup of tea. Because his focus is on plot, it's easy enough to skip over squicky bits. I discovered him by accident. He's also very appreciative of his fans - replying to all the comments he gets on his livejournal page.

Other books I've enjoyed this year - The Uncle's Story - Witi Ihimaera, Regeneration - Pat Barker, All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque. Bit of a war theme here, lol!

There haven't been too many that I haven't really enjoyed. The only one that springs to mind is A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway. It's kind of hard to enjoy a book where you can't stand the main characters.

TV - the main show I discovered this year was Being Human. A delightful British show about a vampire, werewolf and ghost who live together. It's both funny and touching. Can't wait until the next series.

So, what's in store for 2010? My trip to Turkey in April / May. A new nephew in April, and hopefully a return to the USA as well. I'm aiming for the Jix Chicago Weekend, but I might end up having to delay until later in the year.

Lazy Sunday

I've been having a nice lazy Sunday - spending the day in my pyjamas. I've had a pretty relaxing weekend, just being a homebody. Just went out to do some grocery shopping and that was it. It's been nice to recharge, although I haven't been exactly pushed at work. I had the best room ever. Lovely patients, lovely families and not alot of things that needed to be done, so I was able to spend time talking with my patients. Unfortunately, this isn't something that occurs very often. Sometimes we just get so pushed for time getting everything done, that we struggle to even get the basics completed, let alone the little things. I hate that. For me, it's being able to do those little things that make me feel like I've done a good job and have made a difference.

I've signed up for NaNoWriMo again. I haven't quite formulated what I want to write yet, but I'm sure things will work out. I'm 99% sure that I'm going for original - I've got to get these blue bunny slippers out of my head. Just having a problem with sorting out a character. I have bits of character floating around, but can't work out whether it's all one character, or a second character. This second character won't fit because it's too similar to the first character, and that just won't work. Oh well, I still have a couple of weeks to work things out.

I still have 3 days off after today, practically 4 if you count Thursday which is when I start nightshift. I only have 3 so that's not too bad. I don't really mind nights, so long as I can sleep during the day. We're starting to put our requests in for Christmas - eeek! I don't know where the year has gone. It's nearly time to think about Christmas cards etc. I don't mind if I work Christmas or not, because if I do, my brother can spend Christmas Day with his friends.

Well, I think I might peel myself from the couch and make myself a coffee. Unfortunately, I only have decaf at the moment, but it's better than nothing. I'm just waiting for my regular coffee to go on special.

I'm Back!

Yes, I had decided to end this blog when I decided not to renew my domain and webhosting. However, in the past few months I've had a change of heart, and my domain is back up and running, even if the rest of my site isn't quite! I thought that this blog would be a good chance for a test run.

Not much has been happening as of late. My mum and nephew were over here for 10 days - went home on Sunday. I start back at work tomorrow after having a couple of weeks off. We're finally getting some better weather after it practically rained every second day Mum and Alex were here.

I've been spending far too much time on Facebook. I now have a farm on Farmville and I've been coerced into playing Mafia Wars. All good fun!

Planning at the moment for a trip to Turkey next year. I've always wanted to do an Anzac Day dawn service at Gallipoli, and 2010 is my year. Everything is all booked, all I need is my Turkish spending money. I'm spending a couple of days in London on either side of the tour I'm doing to Turkey.

Then fingers crossed that I can make it to Chicago in June of next year. My main worry is that I won't be given leave since I would only be back from Turkey 6 weeks earlier. I'll have to speak/beg very nicely to my manager.

Hello!

Thought I needed a different title than my over used "Update." *G* Not that I've been doing anything dramatically exciting.

Work

Work's going fine. It's been remarkably settled over the past few days. I've been working in the middle which has the potential to be the heaviest area, but it's been okay - at least on the afternoon shift. Heavy in the morning because no one is independent and you have all the washes and showers. Don't have to worry about those so much when you work a pm shift. I've got nightshifts coming up in a few weeks. I keep telling myself to think of the extra money. I'll be working with a pretty good bunch so that makes it more pleasant.

Holiday

My holiday is all booked and nearly paid for. I'm just waiting for this coming payday so that I can pay for my travel insurance at the same time. Now it's just a matter of saving up my spending money. My flights have all been paid for, so it's just tours and accommodation. I've been trying to decide what I'm going to do on my 'free' days. I just love the internet. I've discovered one place that I really want to go to - The Eastside Tenement Museum in Manhattan. It looks really interesting, and I only found it by accident. One of those click one link and then you click another and you can't remember where you actually found it. It was recommended by lots of people on this one site. I've only got one free day in New York so I have to decide on what I want to see, not what I think I should see. Anyway, I can always go back. I'm going to start booking some of my tickets online soon, so that I don't have to waste time in queues. I imagine that it's not going to be long and I'll be getting requests from the niece and nephews, but isn't that what aunties are for? It's going to be more fun shopping for them at Disney than it will be for me. It's also more expensive this time around since there were only 2 last time I was over, and now I have 4 to shop for.

Doctor Who

Coming up to the last 2 episodes and they are shaping up to be the best season finale. There's a cross-over with Torchwood, which is a bonus - and it's not just Jack! I wonder if they'll be any mention of the events of the final Torchwood episode? I can not wait until Sunday, as that's when I'll be downloading the latest episode. The series that I've nearly finished watching starts on TV here in Australia on Sunday night as well. It will be good to see on a screen bigger than my laptop. It's starting off with the Christmas special - oh well, some places have mid-winter Christmas parties. I've started collecting the Old Series of DW, starting with the first episodes shown. It's rather amusing. The only thing is, I start to get the theme stuck in my head. LOL! I'm about to watch the Doctor's first encounter with the dreaded Daleks. "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

Sunday

I've already mentioned DW, but I'm looking forward to Sunday for a variety of reasons. One being that it's Cary Grant Chat, and that's always good! Nothing like climbing out of bed and into the gutter! Then I have to dash into the city because I'm meeting up with my fellow Melburnian Torchwood fans. 3 of them are ones that I met at our last meet-up, and there are 2 new faces. One of which is only fairly new to the board. I'm really looking forward to it. We can't talk very much about what's been happening in DW because E hasn't been downloading, so she's been waiting for the TV screening. We much just have to send her out so that we can squee about what's coming up on DW, so that we can get it out of our systems.

Reading

I've started reading Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. I really enjoyed the first one, but though the second was a bit melodramatic. I still enjoyed it though.

Discovered that the final Cherry Ames book, Ski Nurse Mystery has been republished, so I've ordered that from Amazon. That will now complete by collection. Unlike my Trixies, I don't have a nice tidy complete set in only one edition, but I'm not worried. I'm debating about getting all of the re-prints. The only thing is, they aren't reprinting Julie Tatham's books, so any young collector isn't going to end up with a complete set. It's all very mysterious. *g*

Music

Teddy Thompson has a new CD out, which I've ordered from Amazon. Unfortunately, it has a song on there that I hate. Why, why, why did he have to put it on there???? He sang it when I saw him live a couple of years ago, and it's dreadfully depressive.

I bought Martha Wainwright's latest - I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too. I like it much better than her first album. It appeals more to my ears.


So, that's pretty much what's been going on in my life over the past month.