A Winter's Tale

I am freezing. The cold is eating away at my fingers and toes and various other limbs and I’m not liking it. The wind is howling around my office as if it’s Alaska (it certainly feels like it. Any minute now I expect to see a polar bear with a festive scarf passing by the window). The forecast is snow just after Christmas, which, as much as it like snow, doesn’t cheer me a huge amount because a) I am now too close to work to be able to call in claiming I have been snowed in b) I’ll have to walk to work in it.
But on a lighter note, today I shall have in my possession the Rocket Dog boots I have been craving for so long! My Dad gave me a Schuh gift card for my Christmas present, and last night I went to seek out my desired boots. I put them on my feet, walked around, and they were wonderful. I went to take them off, and the zip snapped. Bugger! I was not best pleased. So thus, I shall have to wait until late night shopping tonight to liberate a pair of size 7’s from the other store. Still, at least I’ll have them ready for London this weekend! Apart from a boot-liberation movement, this evening shall be largely preparation for this weekend’s festivities – primping, polishing and plucking, packing our clothes and adjusting my gown for Alison’s wedding since the straps need shortening. I have an image of me shivering on a cold tube in an elegant teal gown and clutching onto a well-dressed Naidel as people eye-up my ice……hmmm…..maybe well take a cab to the church…..

One More Week To Go....!

Yes, friends, it is only one week until Christmas Day. Huzzah! All the Christmas presents have been bought and wrapped, and are now nestling under our nice new gold Christmas tree (though Naidel is complaining as it is a fake tree, and he does not like fake trees. He really is a ranger at heart, bless him!)
We are going to my cousin’s wedding this weekend, which will be a nice break away before Christmas, but unfortunately I have to come back to work on Christmas eve. I and the rest of the office see this as completely pointless as most of the solicitors offices will be closed and possibly some of the lenders might be also. So it shall be a day of staring blankly at the computer screen and covertly trying to read a book.
My study materials have now arrived for the next year of my degree. I am now studying Introducing Religions. The results came back for my Creative Writing, and although I passed the course overall, I failed on presentation. I was, of course, most annoyed by this. I mean, I inverted my paragraphs, I double spaced the lines, the typed it in a clear font, not too big and not too small, and I bound it in a fancy cover!!! I did everything the damned book said!!!! Hmmmm…….i would be half tempted to add the OU to my list for this if I didn’t need them so I could finish my degree! Maybe I should just add the examiners…..yes, yes, I shall add the Creative Writing examiners (except my Tutor because she was wonderful and very nice).
Since Naidel is working late tonight, methinks it shall be an evening of studying….unless of course, there is a way to play Scrabble with only one person…? Or i could spend the evening making Christmas tree decorations.....that sounds like much more fun!

The Unicorn continues to live in paper-land

Having given up on the useless chimps that are BT, i managed to get hold of our ISP and got them to sort out our line so Naidel and I can finally have internet and I can stop blogging in work time. It will, however, take 20 days to sort the line out AND they had to down grade us because our line wont support high speed broadband! I was not best pleased when i received that email, i can tell you! All this waiting around means that the new DnD website - to be named 'The Order of the Purple Unicorn' - is still on paper at the moment. Grrr. I have some articles that i've written and the campaign journal in my folder and i am dying to get them typed up and on the net!!! The new website is for players in our DnD group and anyone else who wants to take an interest in what we're doing or read some rambly articles that lightly touch on DnD topics but generally veer off at a tangent. Of the latter kind, i am expecting zero visitors, but, hey, you never know. Someone out there may just be THAT bored. The shiny new site will feature the forementioned articles written by yours truly, and occasionally one of the other members, a news page for up-to-the-minute updates on anything taht may be happening, the campaign journal for our current game, DnD and character related fiction, artwork, photos, character blogs, character profiles and stats, a message board forumy thingy, a membership facility, a links page and a 'contact us' facility. I think. The website is entirely collaborative, and will feature work, articles, etc, from members of our group and any other roleplay enthusiasts who wish to contribute. We may also have a sister site for our Warhammer 40k campaign, but that has yet to be decided. So for all of you who are creatively minded, drop me an email with your work and i will consider it for the site. Go on, what are you waiting for, get writing!

Chopped!

That feeling of ‘time for a change’ has been hanging over me for a month or so now. And despite some fairly major changes (i.e moving into our flat and having Naidel home for good), I still had that feeling. I got a new suit. It went away for a day. I joined the gym. It went away for a week. I tried some extra make-up. It never left. So as I was running my hands through my long red hair on Friday afternoon, I finally hit upon it. A hair cut! That’ll do it! I searched on the Internet and found some snazzy short do’s, booked a next-day appointment and folded my arms triumphantly. Saturday morning came and I refused to go. I sat on the sofa clutching my hair and refused to sacrifice it to change. Naidel marched me into town and I had no choice but to go. I lingered outside for a little while relishing the feeling of my hair wrapping itself around me and keeping my neck and ears warm. Then I took a deep breath and walked in. She sat me down in that chair that always seem to resemble a torture chair with padding, and lifted chunks of my hair test its weight. Then she took the scissors and brutally chopped off a large quantity of my precious ginger locks with one snip. As she sent me off to have my hair washed and prepared for the rest of the cut, I felt for those red tresses that were sat on the table, separated from their fellow follicles forever more. I watched tenuously as she clipped here and there, straightened some bits and waxed others until she finally let me out of the barbaric Chair of Doom. I looked in the mirror. It wasn’t me that looked back. It was some warped doppelganger. A warped doppelganger that looked good though. My first thought was ‘my mum is going to kill me!’. She always said I should never have a bob. Oh dear. I didn’t look bad though…..actually, it looked kind of…..chic? Stylish, even? I flicked my layered sweeping fringe with a renewed confidence. The cathartic need for change dissipated, and was replaced by a new buoyancy. I strode down the road home, casually flicking my new short locks and checking the ‘new me’ out in shop and car windows. Everyone keeps saying how much it suits me and how much better I look (did I really look THAT bad before?). Despite the compliments and the good feelings my new hair gives me, I still feel a pang of sorrow and longing for my long red mane, cut down in its prime like stalks of wheat. *sniff* Fare thee well hair! Our paths shall never cross again….

Sneeze, sniffle, snuffle

* cough cough * I have fallen prey to the evil common cold! * sniff * My nose is bunged up, I’m full of phlegm, my head feels like its full of cotton wool and my throat is sore causing an annoying tickly cough. Bleggghhhhhhhhh. I have a yummy strawberry mousse in front of me, and I cant taste it because my taste buds are buried under fur and slime!!! I’d rather be tucked up under a blankie with tissue up my nose, a warm fruit tea and my nice warm boyfriend to cuddle than be stuck in this freezing cold pit of despond! I despise the winter and its chilly tendrils.
On a lighter note, one that doesn’t involve me moaning, we went to a remembrance service at Duxford yesterday and Naidel and his boys had their medals presented to them. I was really proud of my Naidel. It was a really nice service, despite the cold. When we got home last night I had planned to do lots of things, one of them being a flat tidy (Naidel says it looks like a herd of Terrascue stormed through the flat on a pizza-eating binge), but instead, I fell asleep on the sofa whilst watching copious amounts of Bones. Thus, I shall have to have a quick tidy when I get home from work.
I have finally sorted out a character plan for the new DnD campaign – I have gone for an elven sorceress from Evereska. She goes by the name of Anaia Alorien. More on her as the game begins! Right, I’m off to blow my nose and take some more strepsils * achooooooo! *

And so it begins....

I am still having problems moving due to the evils of excerise. My back hurts so much!!! I just want to go home and curl up on my sofa with my blankie and a good book or an episode of Spooks. But no, i'm stuck in this freezing office with people who while away their day discussing the calorie content of a chicken kiev. My friend Sam isn't here today as she was evacuated from her house at 3am due to the flooding in Gt Yarmouth. The poor girl is stuck in some community centre somewhere in a pair of jogging bottoms and a baggy t-shirt, not knowing if her house has been flooded, if her photo albums are destroyed, her sofas saturated, and her ceramic hair straighteners shorted.
Anyway, it’s that time again, folks! Our new Dungeons and Dragons campaign is due to commence next week, with our very own Naidel as DM. From what I can make out, it’s going to be a proper dungeon crawl, and its going to be largely roleplay-heavy, as opposed to predominantly hack-and-slash. Set in our beloved Forgotten Realms, this campaign will be the lead up to the release of 4th Edition, due sometime in May 2008…I think. I am still dithering about my character choice – at the moment I am divided between going back to my roots and doing an Elf Sorceress, or doing something relatively new and going for a Deep Imaskari Sorceress/Rogue. Hmmm…..decisions…methinks it requires some poring of the DnD and FR books! Right, that my weekend booked! Oh, except for Sunday, we’re going to Naidel’s medal presentation in Duxford, so we shall be out most of the day.
More exciting news, this morning I received an email from none other than Shelly Mazzanoble! I sent her an email to thank her on behalf of my gender for her book ‘Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress: A Girls Guide to the Dungeons and Dragons Game’ and she sent me a really nice message back. She is apparently playtesting the much-anticipated 4th edition at the moment, so Astrid is on hiatus for now. Those of you who haven’t gone out and bought Shelly’s book yet, SHAME ON YOU, DO SO NOW! Seriously, get off your backsides, go buy the book, and get into the game peeps! As our new campaign progresses, I will keep you all up to do with the goings on as much as possible. I am considering setting up a small webpage dedicated to the roleplay group where we can post campaign journals, short stories etc….kind of like an online newspaper….is that sad? I really am Queen of the Geeks…..

The Evils of Exercise

My back is screaming with pain, my arms are limp and lifeless, my legs are pulsating and my feet are raw and blistered. One would think that i have just trekked the Himalayas or run the length of the Great Wall of China. Nope. I have simply been to a dance class at my new gym. All right, all right, stop laughing! I nearly didn’t go, but Naidel made a few comments about cleaning up the flat if i wasn’t going, and i was outta that door like a shot.
The changing room was filled with lithe, bleach-blonde beauties who apparently had no shame in standing around completely starkers and having a gossip. I prayed to God these girls were not in my class. I shyly changed out of my jeans and into my cheap leggings and wandered out past the fashionistas to the studio. The body combat class was still in full swing - in my haste to get away from the washing up and hoovering, i was half an hour early. I stood outside the studio, staring at my feet and feeling tension and anxiety knot in my stomach. I never was good at joining new groups, nervousness always got the better of me. What if i fall over? What if i can't keep up? What if i managed to trip one of the other girls when doing kick-steps? By the time the studio was empty and ready for the dance class i was practically catatonic with fear and nerves. I was comforted by the fact that most of the girls in the group were pretty much the same shape as me, some of them bigger, in fact. That dispelled a little of my worries, and as the music started i felt a little more confident. Until i caught sight of myself in the mirror, that is. I'm sure gym mirrors are specially crafted to make you look as fat and ugly as possible, so you work harder to do something about it. As we started the warm up, i was appalled to see my body looking so middle-aged and out of shape as i shimmied about.
I was lost in the first five minutes of the warm up. The nerves had counteracted my coordination and i found myself tripping up left right and centre. When i saw that i wasn't the only one, my legs and arms finally started acting the way my brain was telling them to. After the 'warm up' (by which point i was puffing like a smoker who's been stuck in a no-smoking building for 48 hours and has finally been set free to have a fag) we finally started the routine. There was a great deal of hop-skip-and-thrusting, and just when we'd gotten the hang of it, she added another bit, then another, then another, and more and more and more bits until i was completely lost and my brain my starting to sizzle. Eventually, we put it all together, and after about 4 attempts we all seemed to be getting it right. We were shaking our booties, swinging our hips with the best of them. As we took a breather, i felt a little bit of pride and accomplishment. I was a bit concerned that my whole body was bright red and pulsing and my lungs were struggling with intakes of oxygen, but hey, I danced the whole routine for Justin Timberlake’s ‘SexyBack’! We all headed back to our places with a sense of accomplishment. Each one of us was standing a little straighter, heads no longer downcast. Until the teacher said those fateful words – “Right, now we going to do it at double speed”. DOUBLE SPEED!?!?! I CAN BARELY MOVE AT NORMAL SPEED AND YOU WANT ME TO MOVE AT TWICE THAT?!?! ARE YOU MAD WOMAN?!?!? I wasn’t the only one with shock and aggravation plastered on my red and sweaty face we as sped through the routine over and over again. When the music finally stopped and we were set free from the evil hall of mirrors, the pain began. Great seething pain all over my body, and especially in my back. What had she done to me? I was a broken, hollow shell of a woman whose body had just been violated by exercise.
I walked slowly home, and the sight of my squishy-squashy sofa was a great comfort. The sight of the piled-up dishes and dirty worktops was not, however. I sighed heavily, unpacked the shopping, did my housewifely duties and welcomed my Naidel home from his evening at the TA with an ‘owwwwwwwwww’ when he hugged me. “I’m old and non-flexible,” I said with great dismay as he asked how my class was. He looked at me with mild amusement and said “yup, I could have told you that.” I trained the last of my energy on an icy glare. He quickly backtracked and told me that “that’s what happens when you don’t exercise for so long", and I’ll “get better with practice.” Bah.
Getting out of bed this morning was harder than usual. I actually couldn’t sit up, I could barely move my arms, and my legs protested intensely against movement by sending little shocks of pain all the way up to my hips. And as for my back, I think I may have pulled every muscle I own in it! So what have we learned ladies and gellyspoons? EXERCISE IS EVIL!!! IT MAKES YOUR BODY VERY ANGRY WITH YOU!!!
Right, I’m off to limber up for next week. What, you didn’t think a few pulled muscles and some back pain would stop me, did you?

Shelly Mazzanoble - a goddess among women

When Naidel and I were persusing the roleplay game section in a local bookstore (one of our regualr activities), Naidel suddenly remembered that he had seen a book that was "perfect for me", and apparently had some amusing ancedote about a penguin which he attempted to retell unsuccessfully. I raised an eyebrow in my usual 'you've clearly gone off your nut' fashion, and he brandished a pink and white book bearing the words 'Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress: A Girls's Guide to the Dungeons and Dragons Game'. I have to admit, i was immediately intregued, and Naidel insisted i would find it both funny and informative. I looked at the book and flicked through it. It did have many pink side bars full of interesting information.....once again, the voice of my credit card won through, and i walked out of Waterstones brandishing my book. That was Sunday. I havent managed to put the book down since then. I finished it this morning, and i have to say its pure genius! I really wish that book was out when i first started playing DnD! Shelly Mazzanoble and i seem to have a lot in common, even her character choice resembles mine! Any girl wanting to learn the DnD game and wanting a good laugh whilst learning, buy this book! Shelly Mazzanoble is the kind of writer i aspire to be, providing her readers with an even mix of information, description and sharp, intelligent humour.
You can find out more about Shelly Mazzanoble and her book 'Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress' here. There's even an amusing interview with her mother which is spookily like a recent conversation with my own mother. GO BUY THE BOOK!!!

BT makes 'The List', along with the oven...

Well thats it, BT have made 'The List'. I have spent the last four days constantly on hold to BT, trying to set up a direct debit and enable the line for broadband and i cant get through to anyone! It's a nightmare! Not to mention the fact that i'm feeling like crap and mildly aggitated right now. Thus i have sent a snotty email to BT's complaints department. Grrrr. Not only that, i got home last night to discover that my oven doesn't work! I spent three nights cleaning that thing!!!! ARGHHHH!

On a lighter note, my baptism is almost sorted. I'm going to St Andrew's Church in the centre of Norwich. I am a bit nervous about being dunked but i'm sure it'll be fine!

The wanderer returns.....and better than ever

I have returned!!! Mwah ha ha ha haaaaaa! We've been back a little while actually, but we've been so busy there's been no time to update blogs!
First things first, the holiday was fab! We started off in Porto (Northern Portugal), for Anthony and Sandra's wedding, which was amazing. We were served a seven course meal at the reception! SEVEN COURSES!!! I kid you not, gentle viewers. I couldnt move afterwards! The final course was served at 2am!!! Naidel and i had a dance, which was nice. He looked all spiffy and smart in his suit. He was very yummy looking (sorry, i know there are some of you out there now making puking actions). We did a bit of exploring in Porto and went on a boat trip where i burnt my shoulders and scalp (ouchies). From there, we headed to Lisbon (or Lisboa, as its know over there), which was probably the worst part of our trip. We stayed in a cramped hostel room where i was constantly petrified that someone would break in and either steal our stuff or knife us in our sleep. There, we perfected the art of handwashing with Dove bodywash :) We were constantly harassed when we ate dinner by 'lookie-lookie' men and drug dealers, got ripped off lots, and generally got miffed about how rude people were to us. They have absolutely no concept of queuing over there. From there, we went to Guarda (pronounced 'gwarda'), which was a town built up the side of a mountain and spoke very minimal English. Thankfully, by this point, we had learned some Portuguese - we could say hello, please, thank you, two chickens and two Coca Colas. So at least we could eat. We did some camping there, which was...er...interesting. We had no camping gas, and couldnt seem to find any. We were told that we could find camping as at 'Modelo'. We walked for hours trying to find it, but never did, and it became very much like the Holy Grail of the holiday. We did eventually spot Modelo just as we were leaving (typical). After spending a day at Guarda train station we hopped on an over-night train into Spain, where we met a crazy Portuguese guy who asked us if we found Madeline. At 6.30am we bounded off the train at San Sebastien, Spain, and found ourselves a nice hotel by the sea. Unfortunately we couldnt check in until 1.30pm, so we had a wander round the beaches and found a little cafe where we had breakfast. At about 9am i suddenly felt like i was on a noat and the whole world was moving around me. It was really unnerving! Thankfully it only lasted a day. San Sebastien was our favourite place, but it was incredibly expensive. We found a life-size Blood Angel Space Marine there too! Next we headed to Paris, again arriving early hours of the morning. We saw lots of sights here - The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, The Louve, The Mona Lisa, Venus Di Milo, the Champs Elysee and the Arch Di Triumph. We also found Prada, Gucci and Valentino! :) Paris was very busy and touristy. It was nice, but a bit too much for my liking. We saw a British film over there called 'Death at a Funeral' which was really funny - i urge you all to go see! From Paris, we hopped another train and headed to Bayeux, were we saw the Bayuex Tapestry, a war museum and a war cemetary. Bayeux was a nice little town, very friendly, quiet and pleasant. I liked it there. We got on a train to Rouen from there, but Naidel was very homesick by this point, and we decided to go home. So we hopped on a train to Lille, stayed overnight in a hotel and jumped on the Eurostar back to London the next day. We spent a couple of days in London, did a bit of shopping, and saw Wicked the Musical which was AWESOME!!!! I definately recommend it, one of the best shows i've ever seen! Then we came home and spent a week chilling out and doing very little. I started back at work last week which was, to say the least, shite. The holiday sort of made me realise how unfulilled i feel in my job. I need something that is going to stimulate me and use my talents and abilities better. But for that kind of thing, i need my degree, so its a case of waiting it out until i'm better qualified.
Some other news - Naidel and I moved into our new flat on Saturday (which is another reason why no posts - no internet at the mo!). We're now living five minutes from the city centre, fifteen minutes from my office, and 30 seconds from Naidel's office! Unfortunately it needs a few bits and pieces doing to it - mostly cleaning since the bathroom and kitchen were filthy when we got there! We've still got lots of unpacking to do, but its starting to feel like home now that we've got the bedroom and most of the kitchen sorted. So, hoorah for us! I'll feel more comfortable when the whole place is clean, neat and tidy, but its ok at the moment. It's perfect for me and Naidel, and we were really quite lucky to get it.
So things are starting to sort themselves out, and life is starting to get good again. Its wonderful having Naidel back home properly and i thank god ever morning that i wake up and see his face on the pillow next to me. Kaiorli is a happy bunny :)

Excited (and slightly delicate)

Not long til our trip now! I am getting very excited and dying to get going. I have quite frankly had enough of the office and i am desperate for a break! My manager is getting snipey with me, and one of my reps has annoyed me no end. I've pretty much run out of work so i'm stuck just staring at the screen, which is frustrating. Definately time for a holiday methinks!!!! Naidel floated a suggestion that instead of just going for a month we should go for a year. You know what, right now that doesnt seem such a bad idea. It'd jump at the chance if i didnt have commitments like my job and my degree back home :( Meh. I'm sure i'll feel better once i've landed in sunny Portugal and all my worries are behind me! Speaking of feeling better, it appears that i have fallen prey to the office sickness bug :( I woke up early hours this morning feeling distinctly wobbly, and my stomach is all tight and painful :( Thankfully its only a 24 hr bug, so i should feel better later... i hope.....

Brrrr!

It is unseasonably chilly today, to the point where i have the heater under my desk on! One of the advisers is insisting on having the window wide open which isnt helping :( Not to mention the building work going on right outside the office. The drilling is hurting my head! Bah. I'm not gurmpy, honest. Just ever so slightly agitated. I am beginning to resent being in the office when i could be at home with my Naidel (i hate leaving him in bed in the mornings, sooooo not fair). I'm sure i'll feel better after my holiday. You're bound to feel resentful after your bosses change their mind about giving you a promotion, right? I've been in an 'Admin Meeting' all morning, which is usually 10 minutes of discussing actual work issues, 10 minutes of someone getting openly told off and humiliated, and half an hour of chatting. Today was mostly spent discussing Emma's wedding. Well, i say discussing, she was talking, the others were listening, and Sam and I were rolling our eyes. I'm not bitter, just a bit sick of hearing about it. Its two years away for goodness sake, theres no need to go and buy the dress and bridesmaids dresses straight away! And orange is a VILE colour for bridesmaids dresses. So there. Sorry, she annoys me when shes not planning the wedding of the century, so you can imagine how much she irritates me right now!
In other news, i shall be off on my hols soon with my dearest Naidel :) I'm mostly packed, just a couple of bits and pieces left to get. We're going out with some friends tonight to celebrate my birthday early, which will be nice. I'm quite looking forward to waking up next to my Naidel on my birthday, with the sun shinning through the window and not having to get up :) Also it shall be our 4 year anniversary. It doesnt seem that long ago that we first met! I guess when you think about, we've gone though a lot together over the last four years, and i wouldn't trade him for the world :) After all, no-one else would put up with me :)

Hmph.

Well, not long to go now. Soon i shall be off in sunnier climes, trekking through mountains and attempting to sleep in a very small tent without irritating my boyfriend. I managed to get both components of my ECA finished yesterday, so thats a weight of my mind at least. Got most of the packing done yesterday and did a map and compass 101 with Naidel so if i do the inevitable and get lost we can find each other again. Just wanna get going now!
I am annoyed this morning as i have just found out i am not getting my new job after all :( The directors have decided that it will be easier to stay with their current PA's than train a new one :( So i am stuck in the same office with the same job :( Not happy :(
Sooner i get away on holiday the better.

Loved up

I had the most wonderful night with my Naidel last night :) I am so loved up i'm practically glowing! We went to see 'The Bourne Ultimatum', which wasn't too bad a film (made much more interesting by Naidel's comments about how these action heroes never get inappropriately-timed lavatory issues...). Then we went for dinner, which we didnt finish because we'd eaten far too many sweeties in the cinema! Then after that we checked into a hotel. It was wonderful waking up in his arm this morning :) Breakfast was delivered to our room, but it was a very odd breakfast. The pastries had some weird custard crap in the middle, and they forgot my yoghurt :( Got three pots of honey though, which made their way into my bag and then into my food draw at work......
It was just so nice sitting in bed, eating my breakfast and watching crap morning TV with the man i love. He even left me a little mesage on the mirror in the bathroom :) You have no idea how much i resented having to get dressed and leave that room to come to work this morning!!!! Then when i did get to work, i finished all of it by 10am and have now been forced to sit on reception all morning. Oh well, its a good opportunity for me to do my assignments without being told off for not doing my work!!!

Too much autumn, not enough summer

Its cold, raining and dark. I'm sick of it being all autumny when it should be summery :( The sooner im off on my hols the better, at least it'll be warm and sunny (i hope...).
Naidel came home this weekend, and home for good (or for the next year at least). Its really wonderful having him home, i missed him so much! He hasnt changed much, still the same Naidel, but with a smidge more confidence, and something else i cant quite put my finger on.....maturity maybe? Unfortunately i had to leave him in our nice warm bed this morning to venture out into the cold to come to work :( We spent lots of time together this weekend, which was really great, and we're both looking forward to out trip away together (not long now!!!).
I'm still attempting to finish the dreaded assignments. I can't seem to shift this horrific writers block, its awful! I've only got just over a week to complete them all and send them off, and im really bricking it! I can't afford to fail!!! I managed to get an idea and the beginnings of TMA 5 sorted (granted it is the recycling of the first DnD game i ever played, but it works so why worry) so at least thats going somewhere. I think i have an idea for the life writing part of the ECA, but im completely stumped on the fiction part! Its the whole 'short story' aspect - completely daunts me! Hopefully i'll come up with something soon *sulks* :(

Another year goes by....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAIDEL!!!!

Love you baby xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Behind, sooooooooo far behind!

I woke up this morning with the stark realisation that i have two weeks left to do TMA 5 and my ECA Portfolio project. CRAP!!!!! I'm so far behind!!!!! I've finished the text book but i'm struggling with writers block again and i just can't get my thoughts down onto paper no matter how much freewriting and clustering i do :( I fear two weeks is not long enough to produce three pieces of competant writing, especially since Naidel will be home in a day or so (he's very distracting). The fact that i've felt ill since saturday night hasnt helped either, neither has another issue that is somehow neverending at the moment which i wont disclose on the internet. Ladies, you'll understand what i mean, i'm sure. So yeah, not good. Work is getting annoying, i've just paid a whole bunch of money out for the train tickets yesterday (im never fun after paying that much money out), my skin is like an oil slick, my hair is doing its own thing so i generally look like crap right now and i have to send the bloody replacement iPod back to Apple UK because its crashed with the same problem as the first one!!! So in short i'm having a bad day. Haven't heard from Naidel since he text me to say he'd got back to camp Monday night, so i don't know if he's back tonight or not. I have absolutely no idea what im going to buy him for his birthday....and its tomorrow!!!! Arrrgggghh!

Seething Jealousy (yes, yes i admit it)

This bank holiday weekend was wonderful. Naidel suprised me by turning up late saturday night was was really wonderful :) We spent sunday and monday together, not doing much, just being together. It was absolute bliss! He had to go back to camp late last night, but he should be home again in a few days :) Its great having him home again, and i'm finally starting to feel like myself again. I slept better than i have in months with him beside me this weekend :) I can't wait to him have back properly :) Soon we'll be off on our grand adventure together, i can't wait to get going!!!
So it was back to work this morning :( Today i am having to put up with a colleague of mine going on and on and on and on and on and on about the fact that she got engaged at the weekend. She keeps flashing the rock in my face. Grrrr. Yes, i will admit, there is a great deal of jealousy seething in me. Its not so back when it's someone you like, then you're jealous but happy for them at the same time, so they sort of cancel each other out. When it's someone you hate, different story. Its never fair that someone you don't like gets engaged before you. They've been together for like, a year, less than that if you include the times they broke up!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRR! There, thats my rant over with. Right, back to planing and plotting.

Thank the Lord

Naidel is back on English soil! Hooorah! It worries me a little that he was apparently shot at and rocketed at on the way back, but at least he's home and safe! I now have to wait a week to see him though :( But i guess after six months of being apart, a week is nothing!!! :)

WAHOOO!

I have had a message and Naidel will soon be back in the comforting embrace of England. WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I am EXTREEMLY excited now!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! Naidel is coming home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That makes for a very very very very very very very very very very happy Kaiorli!!!! :)

Brain exhaustion

I'm not quite sure how much more my brain is capable of taking. I have been studying pretty much non-stop this past week (hence no entries, my apologies for that peeps) and i am now just about reaching the point of exhaustion. I cant wait for my holiday now - i definately need a break! It'll be so nice to be able to read a book without checking the time every five minutes or having to critically analyse it. I am still having problems deciding which books to take away with me. I have just ordered Dante's 'The Divine Comedy', so that'll be one for the suitcase, other than that, im stumped! I think i might take 'The Historian' by Elizabeth Kostova, possibly 'Wicked' by Gregory Maguire or maybe 'The Thousand Orcs' by R A Salvatore which i am attempting to read at the moment (and not succeeding due to extreeme busyness). Hmmm. . . requires pondering in front of my bookshelves or in Borders methinks. . .

Space Hoppers are knackering

This weekend was fairly eventful. Dad took me shopping on saturday for travelling gear which he has kindly bought me for my birthday :) We got loads of stuff, and i have almost everything on my list now :) He also bought me 'Mean Girls' on DVD (not a brilliant film but one i like to watch with Psy so we can reminise about the 'good old days') and he bought the the complete season one of 'Bones' on DVD which is awesome!!! I have watched quite a few of them already :) I'm a bit concerned i may be fostering an addiction to that show...and no, its not because David Boreanaz is in it.....that just happens to be a plus :)

When i got home from shopping on saturday evening the space hoppers had arrived! :) We blew them up with these crappy little foot pumps so we were knackered before we'd even fully inflated them and then we took them out in the garden and raced them! It was great fun, but very very very tiring. I reckon half an hour on one of those things must be equivalent to half an hour in the gym! Observe below space hopper fun....

Most of yesterday was spent studying as i now have a very short time to finish the course projects. I have some background notes for my final project i just have to write it up into a coherent piece of writing! I'm going to be studying every opportunity i get for the next couple of weeks to get it all done on time so then i can go on holiday and completely relax in the knowledge that i have done everything :) We went walking last night despite the rain (gave me an opportunity to try out my new waterproof jacket) and i took my bergen with me. It wasn't too bad actually, the bag was quite comfortable and my stamina held out quite well, so i think i should be ok on the trip. I'm really looking forward too it, i cant wait to spend some much-needed quality time with my Naidel away from everyone and our every day lives :) T'will be bliss :)

Apple Anger

Thats it. I am officially angry with the Apple Corporation (which i think are a part of Microsoft, which makes me angry at them too, so there). My replacement iPod has frozen! The past two days it has frozen as soon as the first song has finished playing and im sick of hard-resetting it if its just going to die again two mins later. Grrrrr feel my wrath Apple employees! So now i shall have to send it back AGAIN and get a replacement AGAIN which will probably go wrong AGAIN. I'm hoping it gets sorted soon because i want to take it away with me when Naidel and I go for our oober holiday :( So yes, Apple (and by association, Microsoft) is on my hit list. For now at least, until they redeem themselves. If they have any sense they'll upgrade my iPod for me, but we can't wish for miracles can we?
On top of that, my life writing assignment isnt going well and i have to submit it by tomorrow! I am going to work flat out on it tonight (with a break in between to have a quick chat with Psy about her possible career choices, and hopefully Naidel will be about for a chat too) so i am probably going to be completely knackered tomorrow :( I have already warned Sammy that i will not be in the best of moods tomorrow, and the best thing she could do to avoid my wrath is make sure theres a mug of peach and passionfruit tea on my desk when i get to work. Peach and passionfruit tea is a cure for grumpiness, along with chocolate, cuddles and kittens (but no boyfriend here to cuddle, cutting back on the chocolate and not allowed kittens in the office, so the tea is the last resort).

MISSING - Spider: Presumed consumed

Spent last night working my little butt of my assignment but once again, getting nowhere. *anguished sigh* Watched more episodes of Bones too - soooo good! Must get it on DVD methinks. I wish i had the stomach to do a job like that, but i'd throw up and the mere hint of blood. Blegh.
A spider (and a rather large one at that) has been living in the corner of my room since friday and i have been vary brave (if i do say so myself) and allowed it to cohabit peacefully in the corner without attacking it or trying to dislodge it. I was a mite concerned when it brutally murdered another spider that happened to wander onto its web, but still, i let it continue to live (which is good for me, because its a harvest spider which is one with a big furry body and scarily long furry legs!). When i woke up this morning I looked over to see if the spider was still there (i constantly check if its still there, just uncase its wandered across the ceiling and is above me ready to pounce on my face) and it was gone! It wasnt anywhere in my room, so now i think it is either living on top of of wardrobe, under the bed, or i ate it when i was asleep *shudder*. I'm glad i hadn't named it yet....

Catch a falling star

This weekend i have done pretty much naff all, other than sit in the sun and study. Oh, and watch an inordinate amount of the TV series Bones, which is very very good. The incredible things they can find out from bone shards, some dirt and some bacteria! Went for another walk down to the horse sanctuary and back, and saw a huuuuuuge rat running across the road! With the evil little leggies and the long swooshy tail and the beady soulless eyes....*shudders*. Managed to glimpe a couple of shooting stars last night despite the heavy cloud cover :) Apparently the visibilty was much better on the coast, and i doubt Norwich saw anything at all with that amount of light pollution!
Work is still slow as ever, and the boredom is slowly mounting. I dont think it helps much that its not long til mine and Naidel's backpacking trip. I am getting all excitable, which always makes time go slower! Dad is taking me shopping for backpacking equiptment this weekend as he's buying it for my birthday :) I already have a few bits and peices for the trip - so far i have sun lotion, deoderant, toothbrush and flannel. a good start methinks. I'm still working out and walking as much as poss, tho not walking a lot today as i am wearing high heels which are, quite frankly, murdering my feet! Gimme the comfort of my walking boots anyday!!! Guen and Ixian are packing their little suitcases ready for the trip, and Gerald is hording packets of mini-cheddars just in case there arent any on the continent.I had to throw away my favourite Tigger mug yesterday :( It got chipped somehow (methinks someone dropped it...no names will be mentioned...grr). I do however, have a very stylish Tigger mug and bowl set for work :) I decided to give this Special K diet thing a try in a bid to get fit for the trip, so me and Sammy can often be seen with our faces in our bowls at 9 am in the morning :)*yawn* I wish today was over so i can go home and nap...i mean...write my assignment and go to the gym...

Boredom....with a side of boredom...

Blegh. BORED!!!! Work is oober slow at the mo, which means us administrators are stuck here on our todds doing jack all. I hate being bored, always makes me want to eat. Thankfully the only food i have hidden in my draw at the moment is a box of Special K! In an attempt to quell the boredom i am sneakily doing my creative writing assignments at my desk, but getting frequently angry with them. Somehow i have one due next week (not quite sure how that one sneaked up on me), then my last TMA and my ECA Portfolio are due in around 4 and a half weeks. After a long stint of writers block i am finding it hard to get my thoughts down onto paper, especially for Life Writing, but i'm sure we'll get there.
This week i have rediscovered some old friends from high school and from my childhood, which was nice. It was nice to catch up with them all and see how they're doing. Nearly every single one of them has just gradutated Uni (i have to admit it, i am a little jealous), and around 87% of them are engaged or married! Not to mention the fact that 43% of them have kids and/or are pregnant! And these people are younger than me! They all seem really happy tho, which is good.
Speaking of weddings, my cousin Alison got engaged this week, so we shall be shuffling down to London on the 22nd of December for her wedding :)
Right, back to staring at the wall.....watching paint dry would be more fun right now....

Bubble blowing

There have been few updates recently due to a mixture of busyness and laziness. I blame the incredible weather. Its been absolutely beautiful here, which has lead to my being ever so slightly burnt. I spent my weekend playing Warhammer, spending time studying in the garden and blowing bubbles :) We were blowing bubbles as we couldnt find any space-hoppers. The plan is to go down to toys-r-us and buy 2 so we can have space-hopper races! :)

Shooooooooooooooooooooooooooooes!!!! :)

Yes yes i have new shoes :) *does happy little dance* I have my shoes for the wedding in Portugal and they are sooooo awesome! They are a cream satin to match the bag (the box says they are 'champagne' colour, which looks pretty cream to me) with some diamondy bits on the main strap! I tried them on with the dress and the bag and they look pretty perfect :) So now all i need is a pashmina or a little jacket (like a bolero maybe?) and a fasinator of some sort. The hunt is on....

ZzzzZzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz............

I am extraordinarily sleepy today *yawn* and having issues staying awake. I may even have a a coffee - yes, its that bad. *Yawn*.

So since it has been a few days since i have updated, i shall trawl the depths of my memory for an update (bear with it, its not running a full speed)....

Tuesday: Tuesday was bad as DM and Fos have had a huge falling out which has thus left the DnD group without another player. Leaving a grand total of two of us. Oh dear. So following the fight i came home early and we had just settled down to watch 'Waking the Dead' (after the lemon squeezer incident last week there was no way i was going to miss the first few minutes again) when Naidel's dad came in and said he'd a got a new car for Naidel's mum and we should take it out for a drive. And it was indeed shiny and pretty. So i got in the car, everyone else came out, and just as Naidel's dad was about to go back inside, Naidel's brother closed the front door and thus we were locked out. So we had to drive to Norwich to retrieve the spare key and when we got back we'd missed the whole programme!

Yesterday: Yesterday we were without directors or managers....or advisors for that matter! So thus, we found something to amuse ourselves. Observe.....

This is Sammie's new friend who has been named Spanky the Frog. Here he is in his trendy Prada shades peeping over into my cubicle...

This is what happens when the directors get changed for social events in the office and leave their suits at work. This is their replacement whilst they are on holiday.

This is me working alongside the 'replacement director'....

Today: ZzZzZzzzzzzzzzzZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz....zZZZzz................

How to lose three hours - go internet shopping

I have managed to lose 3 hours of my life over the last couple of nights due to internet shopping. And it wasnt even internet shopping for me! We were looking for a dress that Naidel's mum can wear to the wedding we're going to in Portugal. There were many pretty dresses, and many pretty shoes also. I found myself a very nice cream silk clutch bag which will look faboo with my lilac silk dress *nods*.
This week has been much busier than last week thus far, which is good because now i feel like i am actually doing something not just wasting my time. The new replacement iPod is working a treat and i now have a smile on my face whilst walking to work in the mornings again :)
Right, back to the grind.

YAY!

I got my iPod back! Yay! (Well, in fact what i got was a new one exactly the same model and colour as my old one)

Now thats what i call service!

Hows this for good service – I filed an online service request with Apple UK for my iPod on Saturday, it got picked up by UPS on Tuesday, it reached Apple UK yesterday morning, they identified the fault yesterday afternoon and the replacement should be with me on Monday! Pretty good service eh? I’m going crazy without my iPod though. I didnt realise how much i use it until i had to send it back to Apple. I actually found it more of a chore to work out in the gym last night without it. Oh well, on monday i shall be re-equipt with my iPod and thus shall be singing along to my music on the bus or treadmill again :)
I am soooooooooooooooo bored at the moment as we have naff all work at the moment. I have been sneakily doing my OU notes when no-one is watching! I need a holiday methinks, and thank goodness its not that long until we go!!! :)

Lemon squeezer wielding assassin

DnD was cancelled last night due to many of our players being elsewhere (i can't believe they'd find something more important to do than playing DnD!), so thus i went home and spent the evening studying away. I watched a bit of TV, which was relatively crap, until 'Waking the Dead' came on. Annoyingly, we missed the first ten minutes, so when we turned it on, they had just figured out what the murder weapon was - a lemon squeezer. Seriously, i kid you not. A lemon squeezer. A lemon squeezer much like this one.........How on earth do you kill someone with a lemon squeezer? Am i now to be fearful of anyone with a lemon squeezer for fear they may use it to kill me?!? Weird.
Today has been largely uneventful, as usual, but i did manage to purchase myself a necklace and a bracelet for my hols! Yay! I got myself a really really nice piece of polished Amethyst and bought some black cord and made that in a necklace, which is very nice and very me, and i found a really nice Snowflake Obsidian bracelet in Arcadia. Amethyst is said to promote, healing, calm, dreams and restful sleep, and Snowflake Obsidian is said to promote safe travel, increased energy, sensitivity, understanding and change. I am counting down the days to our backpacking trip now and getting very excited indeed *nods*. I have started to gather stuff together to take with me - i have a new toothbrush, some toiletries (face wipes, deoderants etc), a pair of cargo pants, some socks and two tops. I also have my travelling notebook and swiss army knife. I have yet to find a pen that i want to take travelling tho. I was thinking of getting a Parker pen, but i can't find one i like, and the purple pens that i love go through the paper of my travelling notebook :( Hmph. Oh well, i'm sure i'll find one before i go.

I miss my iPod :(

iPod goes bub-bies

Today a man from UPS arrived at my office (which was odd, because i momentarily felt as if i'd stepped onto the set of an American chick-flick) to take my little pink iPod away to be serviced :( It has been freezing lots and despite doing everything the support website told me to, it carried on doing it, so i realised it was time to send it back to Apple UK. Apparently they are going to be nice enough to send me a new one in about a week, which will be good. Only problem is, now i have to go a week without an iPod!!!! I sold my old one to Naidel's sister :( Oh well, at least i have employed a valuable skill that Naidel taught me - never go anywhere without a book, you never know what might happen. So thus i shall be reading 'Voice of the Gods' by Trudi Canavan. That or writing. I have taken to writing when i'm on the bus for some reason, and i actually come up with some half decent stuff too. The only problem is, when i try to read it back when i get home its often illegible! Oh well, a good system, just a few kinks to be worked out (kinda like computers!) .

Cheated

Well, i feel cheated out of three hours of my life. Last night we went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I was largely disappointed. For a start, there were 40 minutes worth of adverts! 40 MINUTES!!! I'd eaten all my sweets by the time the film started! And then there was more disappointment as it was very slow starting, and had a very poor ending. Hmph. Transformers comes out on friday, which i am very excited about. Jenkins when to see the advance previews of i this weekend and she says its really really awesome. She just wishes her car would turn into a robot now! :) Naidel has also seen it and says its very good. So yush i am very much looking forward to seeing that one.
Yesterday i walked a total of 7 miles with a heavy bergen, and boy am i feeling it today! Methinks i still have lots of training to do! But i did it, and i am very proud of myself :) I now have a map of Europe on the wall next to my desk and it has little pins in the places we might be going to :)
Today was the grand office move, but i stayed where i am :( I am not allowed to move to my plush new office until we get back from backpacking :( Most of my friends have now been moved to the downstairs office and it is very very quiet up here. But thankfully one of my closest friends in the office - Sammie - is now moving to the desk opposite mine, so i wont be completely alone for very long! It's weird, coming into the office and not being insulted by Glen....this may take some getting used to! :)

The 'Backpacker Steph' doll project is underway... and i know who dies in the new Harry Potter book!!! Mwah ha ha haaaa!!!

Today i finally found a ginger doll with which to start the 'Backpacker Steph' doll project today. Its taken me ages to hunt down a ginger doll!!! I finally found a ginger Bratz: Fashion Pixiez doll, called Lina or something, and thus, have begun to transform her. Observe below how she looked in the box.....Then, when i finally managed to break her out of the box (soooooooooo much packaging!!!) and take off those ridiculous wings and sort her outfit a bit, she looked like this.....But she just wasn't 'Steph' enough yet, so I took a pair of scissors and gave her a 'Me' hairdo, which i think i was quite successful at, if i do say so myself. Observe...

So now, all i have to do is paint her eyes green (at the mo they are a scary purple colour...i have always wanted purple eyes but it actually look quite creepy on the doll), paint my rings and a necklace on her and make her some little backpacker clothes and a bergen. Shes going to look awesome when shes done! I had the above picture as my display picture on Windows Live Messenger, and one of my friends said - "Is it wise to have a voodoo doll that looks exactly like you in the house?!?!". We're now going to start working on the next one - Camping Bex! :) I think i'm going to have to hunt down a Backpacker Naidel too :)

Today was very busy. We went to the TA welfare lunch, where we had a hog roast and then went on a treasure hunt, which me and Kate won!!! We ran frantically around the TA centre grounds to find the clues, adn eventually i worked out the final clue and won us £20! Go us! Then we went to Homebase for four paving stones and came out with a shed load of stuff we didnt need (including a v.pretty purple orchid for mine and Naidel's room - stylish), and then we had to take the car to Naidel's dad's garage so someone could buy it, then fought our way through Tesco's, where i got the bargain of the year - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which, bear in mind, had been released at midnight ) for a total of £5!!! One of my friends went to ger hers at midnight and paid full price for it, which i believe was something around £17.99!!!! Oh and by the way..... I KNOW WHO DIES!!!! Mwah ha ha haaaaaaaaa! Actually i was quite disappointed, personally i think she could have done better. In fact, i think I could have done better, but thats because i foolishly consider myself a writer :)

Acquisition of more travelling stuff

Mwah ha ha ha, mine is an evil laugh. Due to extreeme rainy conditions again I was forced to dive into the shops and whilst i was there i picked up a pair of gorgeous cargo pants, a pink halter neck top and a pair of Animal flip-flops which are soooooo unbelieveably comfortable. And i got all this for this bargain price of £30! (which is awesome cos the flip flops were full price at £15, and the top and cargo pants amounted to £15 too as they were in the sale in Freespirit. Go me!).
I have very little planned for this weekend. We're heading to a TA families welfare thingy and then doing some grocery shopping tomorrow, and for Sunday i shall probably doing naff all. I am tempted to take Naidel's brother to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, as i'm interested to see how the film correlates with the book (as it is pretty much the only Harry Potter book i have read from start to finish other than the first one). Transformers is due out next week, which i am very much looking forward to as it is going to be awesome! I'm going to attempt some more writing this weekend, but i am struggling with it at the mo....I need my muse (but sadly he is still in the sandy place). Bah.
Hmm i still smell like burning.....

Not happy

Today has been spent sorting out the grand move, as everyone is moving offices...everyone, that is, excet moi. :( As i am going away for a month and wont be back until mid october, I am not allowed to move or start my new job until then :( In the meantime, the new guy (who i actually dont like at all and who is a total w**k*r) is going to be sitting at my desk :(. The office is really quiet now as Glen has gone downstairs which means i dont have any friends left in the office (as Sammy is over the other side of the office and i have to shout to speak to her). One good thing is that my new desk is huge! Its bigger than Mark and Glen's desks!!! I just hope that someone else isnt going to have taken over my job when i get back. It worries me a lot actually. I worked my butt off for that promotion, it had better be there waiting for me when i get back! It is a very nice office actually, with lots of light and space and snazzy new carpets. I shall be very much at home there. Theres even a display board where Glen can put all my post cards. Lovely :)

Guen and Ixian present.........

...My awesome new Moleskine notebook. As my Naidel also uses a Moleskine notebook (though his is plain whereas mine is lined), i have made mine distinguishable with my trademark sparkly stars. Observe below, my new Moleskine as presented by Ixian and Guen...Below is the opening page of my notebook, featuring a picture of my alter-ego, Kaiorli Nailo, slaying a green dragon on the left side of the book and a picture of her daughter Xanafe Nailo-Forestwalker on the right side of the book. Also featuring more sparkly stars...

Burney

Well, after my thoroughly boring day, i was not expecting to see large plumes of smoke billowing out of my back garden when i got home. But, lo and behold, there was a fire at the bottom of the garden. Naidel's dad was burning the old shed as they got a new one today. He also burned the bitumen roof, which produced some big scary flames and some large plumes of very black smoke! I was only out there for five minutes and i reek of burning!!! The fire is now dying down and looks a bit like a lump of molten lava. Observe....See. Like molten lava. Methinks its not going to die down as quickly as Naidel's dad thinks....
Do spiders scream when they're burning?

Wasted

Another beautiful summers day wasted as i am stuck in the office. Yet more hours of my precious time wasted as there is no work to do. I'm bored!!! I have already wasted my 'get out of the office' pass today by going to the train station and buying Fab lollies for the peeps on my floor (all the advisers are either training, in hospital or watching the cricket at Lords, so its just us admin bunnies). They are fitting carpets on the first floor (and in my new office yay!!!) so it absolutely reeks of glue in here, and before too long we shall all be off our faces on it. There goes more brain cells (this is not a prompt to make a joke about my intelligence or lack thereof). The only saviour of my sanity right now is that i remembered to pick up my writers notebook and incredibly beautiful new purple pen (it is incredibly beautiful...and purple), so thus i can do some of my ECA writing. I have chosen to write about a Dungeons and Dragons character of mine - Akinra Namara. She's the first Paladin i ever played (well, played properly anyway. The first Paladin i ever played was Lady Athenia, but i only played her once, and now she is too busy running The Province whilst Lord Adgravaine is out on a Holy Crusade). She is also the first female to be admitted to the Order and go through all the tests (as Shalimar was never tested, she just poked Gerald, Tiberius and Alker lots until they caved). She overcame some very nasty odds, lots of discrimation, and achieved her dream by working hard and never giving up. Thus i thought it was be good to submit a short story about her struggle to get into the Order (thank you for the inspiration Naidel, i wouldn't have considered it without your encouragement).
So, to the writing!
...
...
...
er...
...
...
Now i have writers block. *puts head in hands and screams*

It's amazing what people find you to do when they know you're bored

I woke up in a big way after a nice lunch-time shopping trip in town with Layla. I bought some really cute little stud-earrings for my trip - one pair is strawberries, one pair is pink stars and the best pair are little penguins!!! They're soooo cute!!! :) Also got myself a decent pair of sungalsses and a lanyard so i can carry important stuff around my neck if need be. I have yet to find a tribal necklace that i like as very few shops sell them anymore. Rubbish :( My boss has now discovered my bordom and is finding things for me to do. So far, he has got me to construct a credit card form as we are now offering clients the option to pay fees by card. I did that in 10 mintues. So then me and Jenkins had an arm wrestle (that girl is freakishly strong considering she is so skinny!!! She has stick-man arms!!! Seriously!!!), then me and da boss (i.e Glen) played shocking russian roulette, at which he cheated. I know, i know, you're going to say "how can you cheat at russian roulette?". Well, he has tampered with it so it never stops on no.1. So he always makes sure he gets no.1 and never gets shocked! The cheek of it! And now i am whiling away my bordom drawing pointless but colourful pictures on paint. Roll on home time!!!

Bordom and sleepness....ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........*wakes self up snoring*... I'm awake! I'm up! Where am i? Ah, desk...files...stapler...post-its...calculator..ah ha! Must be work. *Yawn* i am very very sleepy today, i may have to employ some matchsticks to keep my eyes open. I had a very very bad nights sleep last night due to quite horrific nightmares and this morning when i woke up my duvet was on the floor, one pillow was in the washbin (across the room), one pillow was on the window sill (behind the bed) and i had cocooned myself in the sheet. So now i am very sleepy and not very coherent. If i had something to engage my brain it wouldnt be so bad, but i have a total of 8 things on my to-do list, and nearly all of them can be done in about 5 minutes flat (and already have been). Thus, i am bored as well as sleepy. You think anyone would notice if i had a power nap behind the wall of files i have collected on my desk?

Workin' my booty off

This evening i have worked my booty off in the gym training for mine and Naidel's backpacking trip. I spent 45 minutes in the gym sweating like i never have before and now i am completely cream-crackered! I spent a good ten minutes pounding the Nautilus, which means i probably wont be able to walk in the morning! I did some weights, and a good fifteen minutes on the cross trainer, so i fell like i've done some thoughrough training. Tomorrow i am planning to go for a run with my pack before i go to work. So i am finally getting into the swing of this training malarkey! :)

Writing

Have found a fab web page with some great writing ideas via my friend's Lighthouse blog. It is available for your viewing pleasure here. A very good page for all those budding and struggling writers like me and my fellow OU pals :)

Squishy

A humid sticky heat and big heavy rain clouds are never a good combo. My hair is so big it looks like i stuck my hand in an electrical socket! My brain is all squishy this morning having exhausted it this weekend. My boss gave me significant glares this morning when i struggled to work out the projected end-of-month figures (which, as his new PA, i should be able to do off the top of my head). This weekend i have been mostly working on my ECA Assessment Portfolio project, which, since we will be travelling when it is due in, i am having to complete much earlier than planned, and also Life Writing, which i thought would be easy compared to poetry but is in fact complete tosh. Awesome (note the sarcasm). I have a couple of good story concepts which i have been working on, but they need lots of development. My Naidel proved himself as my muse again by giving me some great ideas. See, this is why i need him at home!!! My Naidel met Jude Law last week!!!! Apparently he was in Kabul with the UN or something! Naidel took him out on patrol and was leading the team that was protecting him apparently!!! How cool is that?! He is progressing well with his writing. His writing is very very good and i am starting to get quite jealous.
Bah, that noise is the phone (was starting to think i had tinitus or something...), oh well, back to reality....for a couple of hours at least.

Better than I thought!

Got my poetry TMA result through this morning which means i am finally truly rid of the vile subject! The weird thing is, the result is a lot better than i thought....in fact, its one of my best results so far!!! Maybe i wasn't as bad at it as i first thought! Hmm...suddenly i see a future in collections of poems.....on second thoughts, nah! Far too much stress! I think i'll stick to fiction writing, much more enjoyable!
Managed to sync my palm pilot to my laptop last night but it is being a bitch and wont let me load photos. Also no matter how many times i delete Glen's profile it just wont budge! Dargh! Even tried to do a hard reset and its not moving! Glen is going to try and fix it today, though i'm not sure he'll be much use as he can't even get his new palm to work on his laptop!
Kate and I are going to dinner with some of her clients tonight which will be thrilling (note the sarcasm). We've been putting it off for the last three months but we can't really keep doing it, so we figured it would be better to just go and get it out of the way. Personally i'd rather go home and read a book or sleep.
Oh well, back to world domination.

Going up in the world

I must be going up in the world - my boss gave me a palm pilot today! I guess i'm a real PA now! Its for personal use too, which is cool. And it has games on it! I know what i'll be doing in boring meetings from now on!!! :)

Oh what fun....

Today i have mostly been training. It was so fun i could barely keep awake. I actually caught myself dropping off at one point! I had hoped that i would wake up as the day went on, but i am still struggling to keep awake! What i would give to be able to go home and go to sleep! Sadly i am being dragged to the gym for backpacking fitness training. Went for another run, this one killed me less but still hurt like hell.
Found a good website for backpacking info > > www.the-backpacking-site.com. It has some good tips and some very helpful links. Been checking out Inter-rail passes, apparently because we are under 25 we are classed as youths in Europe and thus pay lots less than Adults! We do, however, have to travel standard class! Planning is going ok, have managed to convince my parents that i will not fall down a mountain and break my legs or get abducted never to be seen again. I will be well looked after by my Naidel, he'd never let anything happen to me :) And i am not as accident prone as everyone makes out....

The Lobster has landed

I receieved a very comforting phone call from Naidel last night to say he had arrived back in Kabul and is back to his duties. Not long until he's home for good (or for another couple of years at least!).

I went for a run for the first time today... and boy am i knackered! My legs are killing me! There are muscles screaming that I didnt even know existed! Not to mention the extreeme chest pain! Ho ho i am sooooo unfit! Thankfully i have ten weeks or so until we leave for Portugal so i am going to have to work my butt off to get fit in time! This weekend i am going to put a couple of DnD books in my bergen, get a bus to the city and walk to my Dad's house, drop off a dvd and a book i got for him, and then carry on walking to my Mum's house, which will total about 3 miles. Then i'll have a lemonade and a sandwich and walk back to the city! Not very adventurous but its a start! In ten weeks time i shall walk as if that bag is a part of me, and then you'll see.....YOU'LL ALL SEE!!! Mwah ha ha ha haaaaaaaaa! (too far?)

Uh oh

Hmm....have just checked the submission guidelines for my end of course assessment and its the 5th of October! Pants! Three handwritten copies have to be sent by post to the OU....and methinks i don't trust the european postal system. I barely trust the UK postal system....grudgingly. So i'm going to have to work my butt off even more to get it finished and sent off before we travel (am aiming to post it the day we leave England). I'm going to be knackered before we even start backpacking at this rate!!!
Now that Glen knows i'm going backpacking he has been regaling me with stories of when he and his wife went travelling for a year. I don't think he's been so animated in weeks! Not sure if its because he has finally found someone to bore with his travelling stories or because he's getting rid of me for a month. Bit of both methinks.
When my alarm went off this morning i turned it off and mumbled "hunni, time to get up". Then i turned over and realised Naidel wasn't there and subsquently balled my eyes out. No morning cuddles, no octopus, no monster. Just Guen and Ixian staring at me expectantly (i foolishly told them i am taking them travelling with us....now Guen keeps trying to get in my bergen and Ixian is bouncing around like he's had fourteen packets of Haribo...). I thought that I was ok and that I was dealing with him going back quite well, but apparently not. I'm not as bad as i was when he left in Feb, but I'm not good either. I miss him and he's only been gone a day. I got used to his warm presence about the house, and now i'm cold again. Hmph.

'Songs to Backpack to' playlist (on shiny new pink iPod)

I have begun my first difficult task in the planning and preparation for the backpacking trip: a decent playlist on my iPod. Lets face it, if we're travelling by train or bus you can guarantee Naidel will be asleep so i'll need music to keep me occupied, and i'll need music to do my backpack preparation walking to. So, thus, 'Songs to Backpack to' is born. It is largely incomplete as most of my music is quite dated and i dont keep up with the latest music as much as i should. Hopefully Naidel will have some good musical suggestions. Some songs were picked for their apt lyrics, some i just like singing along to. Anyways, here is the list so far:

LA Song - Christian Kane

Waiting - Green Day

Autobiography - Ashlee Simpson

Until My Ship Comes In - Dum Dums

Runaway - Avril Lavigne

Ironic (Isn't It?) - Alanis Morissette
Supermassive Black Hole - Muse

Spin Around - Josie
Skylight - Overseer

In Another Life - Ashlee Simpson
Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson

Army of Two - Dum Dums
In The End - Linkin Park

Tomorrow - Avril Lavigne
Bohemian Like You - Dandy Warhols

Follow Me Home - Sugababes
Transylvanian Concubine - Rasputina

Things I'll Never Say - Avril Lavigne
Crawling - Linkin Park

Wake Up - Rage Against The Machine
Runaway - Halo Friendlies

One Day (I'll Fly Away) - Nicole Kidman
Temptation Waits - Garbage

Feeling Good - Muse
By The Way - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Boogie 2Nite - Booty Luv
Somebody Told Me - The Killers

If Only She Knew - Michelle Branch
Miss Independent - Kelly Clarkson

Stepping To The Beat - Lazaro
Feel Good Time - P!nk/William Orbit

Love Don't Let Me Go - David Guetta
Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall

My World - Avril Lavigne
Haunted - Evanescence

I Need A Miracle - Cascada
Misfit - Amy Studt

Hey Ya! - Outkast
River's Dance - Firefly OSA

Spybreak! - Propellerheads
I Wonder - Diffuser

Prep For Flight - Serenity OSA
What A Wonderful World - Joey Ramone

Love - Serenity OSA
Disappear - Halo Friendlies

Coming Back For More - Ashlee Simpson
Grace Kelly - Mika

You're A Star - Josie
Holiday - Green Day

Harder To Breathe - Maroon 5
SOS - Rihanna

You Set Me Free - Michelle Branch
Mr. Brightside - The Killers

I Am Me - Ashlee Simpson
I'll Never Tell - OMWF Buffy Cast

Ugly - Sugababes
How To Save A Life - The Fray

The Kind Of Day I've Had - Dum Dums
Listen To Your Heart - DHT feat Edmee

Unwritten - Natasha Beddingfield
Who Knew - P!nk

Defying Gravity - Wicked OSA
La La - Ashlee Simpson

Leave You Far Behind - Lunatic Calm
Basket Case - Green Day

Fragile Heart - Jewel
I'm Not That Girl - Wicked OSA

Everywhere - Michelle Branch
Hitchin A Ride - Green Day

Undiscovered - Ashlee Simpson
Papercut - Linkin Park

Keep Holding On - Avril Lavigne
Nobody Knows - P!nk

Innocence - Avril Lavigne
New Born - Muse

Any suggestions for more music much appreciated :)

Pod-tastic!

Mwah ha i am now the owner of a new shiny pink iPod nano!!! :) Bless him, Naidel bought it for me yesterday as my crappy 1GB black nano is fairly smushed. He is so sweet and thoughtful! :) I am soooo lucky to have him :)
Today is the usual tedium, tho we are making plans for my change of job role today, which will be interesting. Thank goodness i have the next few days off! I could get used to these three-day weeks.....
Tomorrow is going to be spent with a few of our friends which will be nice. On Friday Naidel is taking me to London where we shall spend the day together, which i am really looking forward to. In keeping with tradition, we're going to our usual corner of Hyde park and having hot dogs :) It's probably going to piss it down with rain, but i wont care, because i'll be with my Naidel. He's going back to Afghan soon and i shall be sad again :( Thankfully it's not for very long this time, because i don't know how much longer i can stand being without him! Since he's been home i've realised just how much i need him in my life and how much i took him for granted before he left. Every moment i spend with him from now on will be precious to me.
Right i'm off to play with my pink nano :) It holds sooooooooooo many songs! Woo!

Office politics and daily tedium

Today is going dreadfully slowly. I have caught up on all my paperwork and gotten up to date with my cases and now i am bored. I was rather thinking that it would take me longer to do all that. Hmm. Glen has tasked me with creating a financial trivia quiz thingy for the company dinner thingy on Friday which is about as fun as having a root filling (thankfully i don't have to go to the dinner - i'm on compassionate leave so i can spend some time with my Naidel, which is much more important than some business function) and later this afternoon i shall be given the powerpoint presentations for tomorrow's big monthly meeting to play with, which is actually quite fun. My head is buzzing with creative ideas and i'm dying to go home and paint my Adepta Sororitas army!!! I keep trying to sneakily draw or write, but someone always walks past my desk and catches me :( Oooh, a Yorkie, wonder how long thats been in my draw....
Went to see my new office on the First Floor today. I am extreemly pleased that i got the office that i wanted. I've been walking past it for ages thinking how great it would be to work in that room, and now i finally will! It's a smaller office across the corridor from the big office, its just about big enough for me, Glen and Mark, a filing cabinet or two and a sofa (though i haven't quite managed to convince them that a sofa is a good idea yet). It doesn't look like much at the moment because it is very empty and is being decorated, but its going to be really nice when its all fixed up. I am hoping to bagsy the desk space next to the window as it is quite a cosy little cubby hole and its nice and bright. Also it has a radiator next to it which will be fab in winter as this building is bloody freezing most of the time! There is a little bit of civil unrest with regards to my promotion, a few whispers of "She doesn't deserve it", "Why should she be given such a cake-walk of a job" and "Director's pet". Well, to all those people, i say the following:
1) I got the promotion because i work my butt off, I do extra stuff i don't have to do and go above and beyond the call of duty. I work from 8.30am and i tend to work until 5.30pm most nights, and i have been known to work until 7pm.
2) This job is NOT going to be a cake-walk. It is in fact going to be one of the hardest jobs going. I will be dealing with double the recommended capacity and will be doing extra duties that will make me a proper PA as opposed to an administrator. Its going to be very very hard.
3) I am far from director's pet. I was chosen because of my skills and working attitude, not because i get on with the directors. Granted the fact that i have a sense of humor and can get away with openly taking the piss out of them both is a plus, but its not why i was chosen. I have no doubt that i will get shouted at lots in the first month or so because i'm learning a whole new system and thus am bound to fuck it up.
There, so thats put paid to those comments. Office politics, eh?

Pics from a day spent with friends

Here is a couple of choice pics from Friday, which we spent playing Warhammer 40k with some friends and then went for an indian

News of the good kind

Well, apparently my suposedly 'secret' news about my job has been leaked to the whole office by an entirely untrustworthy deputy manager. Grrr. Anyways, that does mean i am now allowed to tell the world (or anyone who is foolish enough to listen) my news of gladness. I have been promoted! Yaaaaaay! I am now PA to the Directors (which is a much swisher title than 'Mortgages, Wills and Probate Assistant'). I will be working for Glen and Mark and I get to have a desk in the director's office :) I am hoping i can nab the desk next to the window :) Glen has warned me, however, that this job is conditional - apparently i am not allowed to have droopy shoulders or a scowl on my face, and i have to dress a bit more smartly. Which i am sure i can manage :) Apparently they requested me out of all the admin in the company! How cool am i? :) The office isn't decorated yet, so i don't start my shiny new job until 1st of August when the first floor offices are due to be completed. It's going to be a really big challenge, both Mark and Glen are very busy advisors and tend to want everything done that second, but i think i'm up to it. I am just pleased that all my hard work and extra hours has finally paid off! Who knows, i may be running the department soon!!! Hee hee hee :)

Back to the grind....but with a very big smile on my face

*contented sigh* Well, this past week has been amazing. I havent done much, and thats been great, but the best thing was spending time with my Naidel. Being back in his arms is absolute bliss! Sadly today i am back at work so my trademark scowl is back, but i smile every five minutes because i know that my Naidel isn't that far away :)
We picked him up about midday on Monday in the end. We left at 4am Monday morning and got to Brize Norton at 8.30, only to be told the flight was delayed until 12.40 and we should come back in 3 hours. Hmm. So, what to do for three hours? We found a town called Witney, and in true femaile tradition, shopped. I bought the most adorable My Little Pony t-shirt - how vintage! We got a phone call at about 11.30 from Naidel saying he'd landed, so we rushed back to Brize Norton to get him. I spotted him as soon as we were in sight of the terminal and waved manically at him. He threw his arms around me tight and my heart was beating so fast i thought it was going to explode out of my chest! It felt as if the last four months had never happened, everything was as it was before he left, with one or two minor changes, obviously. Being back with him has reinforced my feelings for him, i know that i want to be his forever. Just before he left, he told me that he loved me, and he knew this tour would make us stronger. You know what, he was right (as always.....Naidel is infallible....apparently). It has made us stronger. It has made us stronger as individuals and stronger as a couple.
I have my dear Naidel for one more week before he is shuffled back off to 'The 'Ghan' to fight 'Terry'.....and apparently i get the surprise on Friday! Thankfully its not that long a wait until he is back home for good! I have a month off work booked from 17th Sept to 15th Oct so we can be together, which is going to be absolutely fabomundo!
So back to the grind but with a happy heart. Not even the words of Captain Sarcasm can bring me down today!!! (Plus i have just learnt some extreemly good news about my job but as it is still a secret i dare not post it here in case someone from work reads it). Stay tuned.......

Buzzing with happiness

HE'S HOME! HE'S HOME AND LIFE IS GOOD!!!! :)

It's just a matter of hours.....

Well, i am now meerly hours away from being reunited with the man who is my world! Eeeep! Naidel is currently preparing to come home, and should be back in the UK early hours of the morning. Naidel's mum and I shall be going to bed early tonight so we can get up at 3am (!) and drive down to get him. I am very very excited, overexcited in fact, which is causing me vast stomach aches. He has been stuck in the airport terminal since yesterday morning, and he's not a happy bunny, bless him. He's tired, his feet hurt and he just wants to come home. Why do i get the feeling Mr Grumpy shall be making an appearance when he gets off that plane? Oh well, i have some cookies to take to him, so im sure that will make him smile.
Yesterday was very busy, and i am still suffering the tiredness from it now. We had to take Naidel's brother to a social event thingy, went shopping in Boots for various toiletries needed, had a wander round Next where i discovered a gorgeous blue shirt (blue isnt usually my colour, but it suited me quite well) which is perfect for going to meet Naidel off the plane in, and found an absoloutely beautiful green evening dress in which i apparently looked fabulous but i couldnt afford :( Its very annoying when that happens. Then we went to the TA centre and had a chat with the various families we have come to know, and had a chat with a friend of ours who is on his leave from Helmand Province. Then we battled our way through Tesco's, which was filled with many many people who all drove their trolleys over my toes and claimed it was my fault. Then we managed to have a 10 min doze before having to get ready and go out. We went to the Hamlet Centre to a Race Night, where we bet on horses and then watched a video of the race. Twas actually quite good fun, and i had a few wins. There was a few aptly named horses that i took a liking to, such as "Marching Orders, by Army out of Step" (in reference to Naidel), "Moody by Got out of Wrong Side Of Bed" (also in reference to Naidel), "Student's Dispair, by Exam out of Time" and "Lawyer's Tears by Settlement out of Court". And today there is even more busyness as i have some last minute preparations for Naidel's homecoming - mostly girly stuff such as plucking eyebrows and exfoliating, sitting around in a face mask whilst avoiding the camera. That kind of stuff. Oohh, speaking of, i should really be getting on with it, not much time left!
HE'S ON HIS WAY HOME! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! :)

P.S - This is likely to be the last post from me for a week or so providing he's home on time, so i'll catch up with y'all soon!!! :)

Preparation and Aprehension

Its now the official countdown to Naidel's return. He was due to leave Kabul today for Kandahar, so he'll be home soonish (not allowed to say exactly when due to the secrecy stuff). I haven't heard from him since Wednesday, and i don't really expect to as the mobile phone signal is fairly poor over there and he wont be able to discuss him homecoming in case it gets intercepted by the enemy.
I watched a very upsetting report on the news this evening. It was about a solider of a similar age to Naidel and I who was killed in Iraq. He had written a letter to his girlfriend and family before being deployed and left it in the care of the army should anything happen to him. They went public with the letter, and his girlfriend was reading it out on the news. It actually brought me to tears, it was very moving, but very concerning at the same time. I really dont think i could go public like that if anything ever happened to Naidel. It put in sharp contrast my fears about him coming home.
I am very worried about him being in Kandahar and very worried about him flying home. I will feel a whole lot better as soon as i know he's away from Afghani airspace! I'm also quite aprehensive about him coming home in a personal way. We've been apart from just over 4 months now, and it worries me that he may not like me when he gets home. I know its probably really silly, but he's probably a different person now than when he left. What if im not what he wants any more? What if he's not attracted to me anymore? I have to admit, i am a bit of a heffer at the moment, i wish i could look better for him. I'm sure it'll all be fine, and i know its just my ridiculous paranoia talking, but i still worry. Its only because i love him so much and i never want to lose him. I have no doubt that as soon as we see each other again all my worries will be banished :)
I did my handover at work today which was fairly stressful as there was lots more than i realised to go through! I had my hair done at lunch time so i look my best for when Naidel gets back. Everyone said how nice it looked. Except Captain Sarcasm of course. I believe his comment went something along the lines of: "Ah, you've been to the hairdressers. So why did they leave i giant ginger stripe down your hair? Oh wait, thats just your roots". I spent the rest of the afternoon blanking him, until he finally caved and said it looked nice.
Last night was spent tidying our room. Its amazing the sheer amount of shite that i seem to have accumulated in the last 4 months!!! Managed to do it in the end tho, and now it is tidy and fresh and clean again.....until Naidel gets home and dumps his stuff all over the floor that is!
Preparation for his homecoming is almost finished. If this is the prep we have to do for him to come home for 2 weeks, i dread to think about the stuff we'll be doing when he comes home for good!
Ah well, back to the preparation! Only a couple of days to go.........

"F*** Off, I'm Ginger"

Last night was spent tidying my room (Naidel is home very soon and our room looks like a bomb made of clothes, books and bits of paper hit it), watching the new series of 'Rome' on BBC 2 ('Tis a continuation of what happens after Julius gets stabbed by Brutus in the Senate. It literally picks up where the last series left off) and watching an interesting programme aptly named 'F*** Off, I'm Ginger'. It followed a ginger comedian on his quest to discover why ginger people get bullied and why ginger people dont get laid as much. Was very very interesting. Apparently, men find ginger women a turn on because their pale skin makes them seem fragile, which makes them want to protect her, and the ginger hair is seen as firey, which makes them seem more exciting (i'm not sure if this is true, being a woman myself. Will have to ask Naidel when i next speak to him. He is the font of all knowledge after all). For men, its much more tragic. It has been scientifically proven that when women are looking for a mate, they size up the guy's immune system. So tall, dark guys who tend to have a slight tanned tinge to their skin come across healthier, and therefore more attractive. Ginger people tend to have pasty white skin and so look less healthy, which is a turn off to women, and the fact that ginger hair is a mutated (but dominant) gene turns them off as they fear they may produce ginger children (i have to admit, Naidel has a very good immune system, so there must be something to this theory). I think i absorbed more science and biology while watching that programme than i did in the whole of high school! At the end of the programme they presented the new advertising campaign that is going to be launched promoting how great ginger poeple are. The tag line is "You can't beat a ginger", and the billboard adverts feature a series of ginger winners (such as Winston Churchill, Nicole Kidman and Boris Becker) and non-ginger losers (such as Hitler, Cameron Diaz and Tim Henman). Clever stuff!

I also managed to get my hands on a pair of the new design Rocket Dog shoes which only came into the stores yesterday AND i was the first person in Norwich to own a pair! Go me! (see pic below)

Aren't they sooooooo divine? And they're so comfortable and cushiony inside! A practical steal at £20 a pair! Sadly my other shoes, my old faithfuls, gave up the ghost and completely disintergrated :( But now i have new pretty ones yay! Anyways, enough about shoes, back to plotting the take-over of the universe......

P.S - NAIDEL IS HOME SOON! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO! :) As you can guess i'm very very excited :)