Archive for the ‘Personal News’ Category

Some more 101 things to check off

Monday, January 10th, 2011
40. Visit Jamberoo Action Park

Christmas Eve, 2010.

3. Make one new local offline friend

I think my coworkers count for this, particularly the accounts lady, Pam, that was sacked. Immediately before Xmas. :(

34. Spend a night out without having a panic attack

Hmm, if my work Xmas party counts, anyway.

47. Refrain from eating anything sugary on Christmas Day

Yes, I somehow managed this. Not to say I didn’t eat pavlova and lemon meringue pie after midnight… but…

59. Go on a waterslide

Jamberoo. Need I say more? Unfortunately, that wraps it up. There is a lot more to do, and quite a few of these last remaining ones are looking like they won’t happen at all. I’ll need to reassess those.

Gigantic Update

Saturday, October 2nd, 2010

Well…. hello everyone. Been a while eh? You may have heard through Twitter or Facebook that I’ve got a new job. It’s great! Nothing like my last lot. I think I’m going to be staying with them for a while. The perks:

  • They’re in Albion Park Rail! This means I can drive there in 25 minutes. BIG DEAL, since my last job had me catching a train for 90-100 minutes, then hiking to Glebe from Central station.
  • They sell tangible products! Not NLP which I find highly dubious.
  • I get to be part of a team, instead of having everything IT resting on my shoulders so I feel like I’m constantly under massive amounts of pressure.
  • I’m treated with respect. That’s a key thing that seemed to be lacking before.
  • I’m making about the same as before, only I don’t have to spend $57 a week on a train ticket. It’s closer to $25 a week in petrol. Oh and I get more perks because I’m an employee instead of a contractor… and they’re already deducting tax, so I won’t have a nasty surprise at the end of this financial year!

OK, so what else do I have to report? Well, what don’t I?

God knows how many goals I’ve achieved. I’ll have to do a full rundown in another post as this one will get too long.

I’ve done tons of drawing with my Wacom Cintiq (have I blogged about that yet??). It’s made it SO EASY to make cool looking drawings. I love it to bits. Look in the sidebar on the right to see a few links to images I’ve created with it.

A couple of days ago I registered the domain www.atherandearth.com. This is where my comic will live. I am still working on it, but I’m confident I’ll be able to start getting things done with it once NaNoWriMo this year is over.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I will be participating again in one month’s time. It will be AWESOME. I already have a fully developed plot!

Site Flight Web Design is over. I just never could get the hang of running a business. Don’t worry though, I’m not sad about it. It’s just me, I’m not cut out to be self-employed. Not enough motivation for things like that. It’s a problem I’ve had since I was about 10. Started out as a distaste for homework. Now it’s a distaste for doing things for other people while I’m at home. It feels like my personal space is being crushed, I guess. I’m happy to work while at a workplace, but I just can’t take that work home with me. Hence why I couldn’t handle working from home.

So it’s been a funny old ride, this year. It started out with me as enormously cashed up, buying cameras and expensive graphics tablets, leaving my Woolworths job, moving house, working in Sydney, ending each day feeling more drained of my sanity than the day before… then, I was unemployed, enjoying all the sudden free time but feeling lazy and sluggish and kind of doing that thing that George Costanza in Seinfeld did during the “Summer of George” – spending all my time “decompressing” by sitting idly. It got to the point where my sister tried making me do things by giving me lists because she was so upset that I seemed to be doing nothing. But I found my way.

I applied for a fateful job in late August, I got an interview, and the following Wednesday I was offered the job. I was nervous on my first day, and a bit spooked by the whole ordeal in the first few hours, where I had a whole lot of tasks bounced off me, and I was left worried about what I’d got myself into. But now that I’ve settled in, I’ve learnt that these things are doable and it seems like I’m appreciated in that workplace.

Because of my unemployment coinciding with my car needing a bunch done to it, I’m still in a bit of debt, but my job will take care of that within this month, and that’ll be a big weight off my shoulders.

Thanks to working close by, I will be able to not only join the gym next to my workplace and work out every day, but also work on my comic AND do NaNoWriMo without any problems.

This is it! This is the point in my life where everything works for me!

Freeing Myself

Friday, June 25th, 2010

It’s been ages, hasn’t it? Work really got in the way of many aspects of my life since the office shifted to Sydney city. I barely got any time for anything, and that time was spent being tired and listless.

That is one of the many reasons I decided to leave that job. My last day is Wednesday, and BOY am I excited. This company really is crumbling, and even though I quit 7 weeks ago, after only a few other people quit, now I’m one of the only ones left after everyone else quit in the meantime. I wish I hadn’t agreed to stick around this long (the boss realised how badly she needed me and asked me to stay). Every day it gets harder and harder to get out of bed and face this place. Back on the day I quit, Boss Lady decided I was to blame for all her problems. I’d had a really terrible and stressful two weeks before that, having a lot of pressure put on me while the other web designer was away, so I just snapped when she began to tear into me. Normally at times like that I would retreat, but by then I was just fed up. I stuck up for myself, and showed a side of myself I haven’t let out in a long time. I don’t regret it, but I wouldn’t be hasty in doing it again.

So I have a holiday coming up in July. Much needed. But also needed is a source of income, so it’s straight to Centrelink for me. That’s okay.

So anyway, many things have happened these past months, the most obvious of which for those that see me would be my tragically rapid weight gain. Good god, I need to get this sorted. Office work is really taking its toll. Not to mention the weekly pizza they feed us here, and the many places to buy junk food on the way to the train station. This job is poison in my life. I thought it would be great. There aren’t any food places really close to here except for a liquor shop, I was going to walk to and from Central every day, which is a 25-30 minute walk each way. I was going to be active on the weekend. I was going to keep my life in order with a set routine that included Wii Fit and the Biggest Loser Wii game.

What happened to all that?

Let’s analyse.

  • The liquor shop nearby has soft drinks, and it has chocolate bars. When I’m really hungry, they seem like a great idea.
  • The weather got colder, it started to rain more, so I started catching trams and buses from Central. Especially since the MyMulti travel passes came in, I’ve been getting buses.
  • I’ve been so tired constantly of late that the thought of playing a physically active video game is one of the least appealing things when I’m at home.
  • I’m a comfort eater, and work in general (the volume of work combined with having to travel 5 hours a day) has been stressful. Stressful to the point where I have had a recurring apthous ulcer in my mouth since April. I have never had an apthous ulcer (aka canker sore) before.
  • Since I get home so late, I either buy my dinner or just eat the most convenient thing at home, which is often something bad for me.

So, as you can see, I don’t have a lot going my way in terms of weight loss. So I hope to turn things around when my holiday starts, at least in terms of activity and physical exertion.

So, hopefully I will get the chance to update you on the goals I’ve achieved since my last post, but I can’t right now, so see you later.

My new website

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

HEY EVERYBODY WELCOME 2 MY NEW WEB SIGHT

Enjpoy ur stay ;D :D ;) :o D


Well, I hope you enjoyed my little April Fools prank :)

Have a good Easter weekend!

World’s Greatest Shave

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Welcome to all the newbies on my site who found me via my interview on Hungry Beast! It’s been a pretty nutty week and a half, believe me. From emails to Facebook friend requests and even a guy in a bar buying me a lychee mojito… I’ve had NOTHING  BUT support and that rocks! Thanks to all!

Now, tonight I will be shaving my head for the World’s Greatest Shave. It would be awesome to get a few more donations than just me and my sister… If anyone is interested? The Leukaemia Foundation needs our support! Click here to donate

BTW in doing this I’ll be able to tick another item off my list: radically changing my hairstyle!

So be a sport and support, so I can be brave and shave!

All Sorts of Things

Monday, March 8th, 2010

So uh, I guess Project 52 is a bust for me. But that’s ok. As long as I keep doing things on my 101 things list, I’ll keep blogging. And, I did three things on that list in the time I haven’t been blogging.

41. Buy a DSLR camera

I’ll be blogging about this a little later on. It deserves its own post.

43. Be complimented on my home by a visitor

Allyson’s friend Natasha (whose face you might have seen at Woolworths, as the face of Unit Pricing – or maybe you saw her as a cheerleader for the St George Dragons) was the first non-family guest to our new abode, and she complimented us. There’s not really a story in it though, unfortunately.

89. Take my parents out to dinner

I took Mum and Dad to Murphy’s Bar and Grill in Figtree for dinner a couple of weeks ago. It has delicious food, but it’s EXPENSIVE. Like, cheapest meal being $23 expensive. Cheapest dessert was $9.50, cheapest starter was two slices of garlic bread for $3.50. Not worth it. Don’t bother going there. Go to Hog’s Breath Cafe instead. They’re like $8 less per meal and they have basically the same food. In other news…. I bought something today maybe I shouldn’t have. *cough*wacomcintiq*cough*

New 101 Things

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Well, because of moving, I have to replace two items on my 101 Things list. Those are:

  • Run home from the gym
  • Go in the Contours 6 week challenge

Because I am forced to close my membership with Contours, I can’t do them anymore, which is sad – but it does open up two places for different goals, which is rather exciting! So, I’ve been thinking about it and decided to change them to these:

  • Get a DSLR Camera
  • Settle into a smooth weekly routine

The second one is so whitebread, isn’t it? But, I rather miss the days as a kid where I didn’t have to think too hard about what I was going to do at any given time, because it was normally already decided. Of course it will never be THAT simple again, but I want to run my life as efficiently as I can, so I don’t have to think hard about the things I know I have to do. I know that when I do think hard…. I tend to procrastinate. As much as I HATE procrastination, it’s my default state…. to do nothing. To have fun over taking care of necessary evils. It’s only rewarding in the short term and I really need to break the habit! I think that a good routine should allow me to do that.

DSLR cameraAs for the camera- well, I do not currently own a camera. I use my sister’s point-and-shoot if I have to have one, but I want my own… and I thought, I really want to take GOOD photos for once. I can take decent ones with a P&S, but I really would like to get to know a manual focus. I much prefer the depth effect of a more professional photo than the flat image you get with a P&S camera. Hence, I’ve decided to buy a beginner’s DSLR. For those that don’t know, it’s the kind of camera professionals use (though the one I get will be on the cheaper end – I can’t spend thousands thanks!!), with removable lenses and all kinds of manual settings. I don’t know much about them yet, but I figure I will learn as I go. I am definitely interested in learning. Photography is something that will partner very well with my CG graphics. I can even write it off as a business expense.

Moving! And Outback Steakhouse!

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Well! It has indeed been a productive few days. Yesterday, Allyson and I moved to this amazing new house that I love to bits, and went to Outback Steakhouse last night to celebrate.

You know what that means? I can check several things off my list!

42. Move to a bigger house
69. Live in the Greater Wollongong area
93. Eat at Outback Steakhouse

However, I have been forced to leave Contours gym, meaning there are a couple of goals I will need to change, as they are no longer viable. I’ll blog more about that a little later.

Sadly, I’m using mobile broadband to post this, as we are waiting for our phone and internet to be connected. It’s going to be hard. This stick is S L O W as all hell much of the time. Still, at least I had the foresight to buy the prepaid stick a few weeks ago.

Anyway, see you later. I’m off to organise my bedroom.

Frustration-free

Sunday, February 7th, 2010
25. Have shift at Woolworths where I don’t want to scream

Well, I had but four remaining shifts to get this – yesterday I managed it. I don’t know how, but it probably had something to do with:

  1. I was sent on my break early enough that I wasn’t yet tired and pissed off
  2. For my last two and half hours I was cleaning, refilling bags and stocking the drinks fridges… i.e. not using a checkout.

Phew, I was beginning to think I would have to rewrite that goal.

Woolworths: QUIT! And Much More…

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
1. Get a full-time job that I don’t hate
4. Quit Woolworths
85. Make buttermilk pancakes with sliced strawberries & pure maple syrup
87. Have a picnic on the grass
38. Quit playing Bejeweled

Today I put in my resignation at Woolworths, thanks to working full time with QC Seminars (for now at least), and made pancakes to celebrate.

On Australia Day I had a picnic on the grass with Allyson.
When I made this list, I quite playing bejeweled right away. Now that it’s been almost a month since then, I think I can safely tick it off.