rainbowtatt

WRATH

1. Who did you last get angry with? Myself for letting me a family doormat all my adult life
2. What is your weapon of choice? I’m with maz on this one – silence
3. Would you hit a member of the opposite sex? There are cases where I really wish I had punched certain men for fucking my life up. I fantasise about performing the stereotypical face-slap on someone who really deserves it, but right now I don’t know anyone who does
4. How about of the same sex? There are lots of people I know of through the internets that I would love to slap, just to knock some sense into them
5. Who was the last person who got really angry at you? Dan, probably. I give him the shits. Besides that, my Director, if only briefly, while I told him about something I fucked up at work
6. What is your pet peeve? People who don’t stand to the left on escalators. i want to get past, ffs
7. Do you keep grudges, or can you let them go easily? I usually let go, though there are some dumb ones that I still can’t let go of

SLOTH

1. What is one thing you’re supposed to do daily that you haven’t? 15 minutes of housework, clean my teeth before bed, eat 5 serves of fruit/veg a day, exercise for 20 minutes… the list could go on
2. What is the latest you’ve ever woken up? I used to sleep in until after lunch when I was younger and into going out until 4am. these days I’m awake on weekend by 7.30. how tragic
3. What is the last lame excuse you made? Oh, we’re only browsing, we don’t really know what furniture we want (read: your stuff is shite/too expensive)
4. Have you ever watched an infomercial all the way through? Only if Moira is involved, but I don’t usually bother these days
5. When was the last time you got in a good workout? last time i was at the gym… 2 years ago. and it shows
6. How many times did you hit the snooze button on your alarm clock today? none. i’m usually pretty good with that shit

GLUTTONY

1. What is your overpriced yuppie beverage of choice? I really really don’t have one. I’m a bogan/chav at heart
2. Meat eaters: white meat or dark meat?? White. i heart chicken
3. What is the greatest amount of alcohol you’ve had in one sitting/outing/event? I think I had a whole jug of sangria to myself once at dinner… the night I supposedly flashed my boobs to the whole restaurant.
4. Have you ever used a professional diet company? No, because diets don’t fucking work, ffs. You have to change your eating habits for life.
5. Do you have an issue with your weight? I totally do, and I’ve got the prescription for fat-reduction pills to prove it
6. Do you prefer sweets, salty foods, or spicy? sugar is my best friend
7. Have you ever looked at a small house pet or child and thought “lunch”? fuck no, what do you think i am???

LUST

1. How many people have you seen naked (not counting movies/family): Apart from boyfriends? None. By the same token, so one’s asked to see me naked…
2. How many people have seen YOU naked (not counting physicians/family): Oh, I kinda already answered that question
3. Have you ever caught yourself staring at the chest/crotch of a member of the opposite gender during a normal conversation? Yeah, it’s not pleasant when I realise.
4. What is your favorite body part on a person of your gender of choice? Hands, because they fit so well with mine
5. Have you ever been propositioned by a prostitute? No, thank fuck

GREED

1. How many credit cards do you own? Two. but one was meant to pay the other off, i swear.
2. What’s your guilty pleasure store? Right now? Kikki K or Howard’s Storage World. Let the mocking begin
3. Would you rather be rich, or famous? Rich, please
4. Would you accept a boring job if it meant you would make megabucks? Probably not
5. Have you ever stolen anything? Yup. I was a little thiever when I was younger
6. How many MP3s are on your hard drive? 3250, 8.3 days, 13.35Gb. I haven’t converted all my CDs, though. And it doesn’t include some bootlegs I’ve got on MP3

PRIDE

1. What’s one thing you have done that you’re most proud of? Taking myself off to therapy to fix myself before things get worse
2. Whats one thing have you done that your parents are most proud of? You know what? I really don’t know. Difficult when dad’s dead and I’m still incapable of a decent relationship with mother
3. What things would you like to accomplish in your life? My main thing at the moment is to become the person I want to be, deal with all the issues that are the reasons I’m at therapy and learn to live no day but today
4. Do you get annoyed by coming in second place? depends on the game i’m playing
5. Have you ever entered a contest of skill, knowing you were of much higher skill than all the other competitors? Yes, skeeball!
6. Have you ever cheated on something to get a higher score? I did when I was a kid. God I was a shit
7. What did you do today that you’re proud of? Started the assignment that’s due tomorrow, and it’s not even lunchtime

ENVY

1. What item (or person) of your friends would you most want to have for your own? Josh’s cashed up mum who buys him through his life, no matter how much he denies it.
2. Who would you want to go on “Trading Spaces” with? I really don’t know
3. If you could be anyone else in the world, who would you be? Someone who is confident with themeselves, emotionally stable and financially stable enough to buy a house and still be able to afford a can of coke every day
4. Have you ever been cheated on? If you consider the gay one was with his boyfriend, yes. If you consider that the emotionally retarded one was only in it for himself, yes.
5. Have you ever wished you had a physical feature different from your own? yeah, my eyes are tiny, and the bags under my eyes are gross
6. What inborn trait do you see in others that you wish you had for yourself? Honesty
7. Do you wish you’d come up with this survey Jesus Christ, what sort of question is that?

5 sleeps until we start moving house and today’s the last non-work day to get our shit together. and our shit’s clearly not together.

there is still much packing to be done, made especially hard when i’m trying to do the right thing and make giant piles of stuff that can be donated to charity (usually i just stop caring and chuck it in the bin). this whole ‘being sensible’ thing is a pain in the ass/arse.

there are also obvious male/female differences showing up between me and dan: dan doesn’t think we have to clean the bathroom before we go; dan thinks it’s okay to make multiple trips back here in the week following the move. i’m turning into the nazi that only appears at times like this – something i should talk to my therapist about.

speaking of my therapist… 2 weeks ago she gave me homework on trying to be more assertive in areas specific to my family and challenging my role as ‘the baby’. i’ve been avoiding it like the plague and the excuse of ‘oh, we’ve been, um, packing, and shit…’ isn’t going to cut it. so maybe that’s something i’ll do while i try to avoid starting the tafe assignment that’s due tomorrow night.

I’m at the end of a long weekend preparing for our Big Move in 12 sleeps.

Today I more-than-halved the contents of my wardrobe:

Elvis and Bear have shown how much they aren’t typical cats in that they LOVE the fact we’re packing up everything we own:

I have 2 days back at work before another public holiday. Then 2 days work again before the weekend. Then I have a 4 day week at work before taking the Friday off so I CAN MOVE OUT OF THIS HOUSE.

Sofa king excited.

In my little circle of the interwebs, there’s talk about Gather.com. Simply put, it’s myspace for grown ups.

I’ve been contemplating joining Gather and have recently been contacted by Gather marketing to support a campaign they have going over there. So today I joined because I’d rather join yet another online community than clean the bathroom.

I’m still getting used to it, but my major gripe at this point is the speed of the site, specifically that it’s slow as all fuck. 30+ seconds to load every page. How fun. I’ve also been hit up for “connections” from 2 different people since I registered 3 hours ago. I have NFI who these people are or why they want me to beef up their popularity.

That said, I’ve seen some fairly heavy political discussions and it looks like people actually act like adults. So maybe it’s worth keeping an eye on Gather for the time being.

Poor Bronwyn‘s been given the hacker treatment on her domain. Something I remember far too well.

Interestingly, Bronwyn’s hacker hasn’t put any links on the new index page, which makes me wonder why the fuck they bother. But I know that screwing up someone’s site gives them wood, which is great for them considering they don’t get any action otherwise.

Fuckers.

I only made it through til lunchtime. I needed a coke. Badly.

Better luck tomorrow?

Yesterday I didn’t drink any Coke or V at all.

Those of you who actually know me will realise what a big fucking deal that is. And how much willpower that took.

Today I will try to do it again. Wish me luck.

Have you ever checked out the “As-is” section at Ikea? It’s usually right at the end of the store or at the pickup point and scattered with some dodgy and not-so-dodgy pieces.

When we moved about 5 years ago, we grabbed some bargain bookcases from the old Blacktown store. Instead of $100+, these babies were $30 a pop. They even had all the screws and plugs.

Today I bought 2 awesome As-is bargains: a 149×79 Expedit bookcase reduced to $99 instead of $169 with only a couple of minor scratches on it (nothing a brown Sharpie wouldn’t fix) and a sideboard that doesn’t seem to exist in the Ikea catalogue that was reduced from $200 to $129 because a tiny section of the backing had been cut out.

Dan got a second Corras thing which we use for housing PlayStations, Xboxes, etc. reduced to $35 from $59.

So overall, we saved something like $165, which isn’t bad for peoples like us who aren’t known for being tightarses.

We started the day by collecting carloads of boxes out of storage in the building where Dan’s brother and the Contal he drove in the Peking to Paris documentary now lives. It totally put that race into perspective and enforced my believe that Mick is ballsy as all fuck for riding a glorified bicycle across Asia and Europe in the snow.

Wish I took photos.

With the whole moving thing, I’m in the market for a washing machine. I’ve been having fantasies about buying a front-loader since experiencing the one my in-laws bought a few years ago. I’ve heard everyone’s opinions as to why I shouldn’t buy a front-loader, but too bad, I’m hooked.

The model I’m after (the LG WD1238C) retails for $1249. Fine, a bit more expensive than I can afford, but it got shortlisted in Choice mag this year.

But it’s amazing what you find when you type a model number into Google (although, Dan deserves all the credit for this). First result is Appliances Online, where there’s free delivery in Sydney. MY LG WD1238C sells for $849 at Appliances Online – a $400 saving.

The icing on the cake is the $150 rebate from Sydney Water because of the water efficiency of the machine. Which easily covers the $115 to extend the LG warranty to 5 years.

Effectively, I’m saving $435 for being too fucking lazy to look at washing machines in stores like Hardly Normal and Retravision. Next mission: the new fridge.

Carers NSW is an association for relatives and friends who are caring for people with a disability, mental illness, chronic condition or who are frail aged.

My psychotherapist referred me to Carers NSW to apply for subsidised therapy sessions. A polite person at Carers NSW asks you a few questions and as long as you say that you look after your person for at least 20 hours a week you get 4 subsidised sessions.

ATAPS enables GPs who are registered with the Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care program to refer consumers to allied health professionals who deliver focused psychological strategies.

My psychotherapist also suggested I see my ATAPS-accredited GP to apply for the ATAPS program’s “up to six free time-limited” sessions.

It’s amazing what support services are out there when you suddenly decide you’re a nutcase and bundle youself down to the local shrink. You’d hope your GP would offer these too if you were to go that direction first.