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The last month and a bit and a bit
Thursday, December 16th, 2004 04:08 pmSo, stuff that's happened since I last put anything news-y here:
-I went and saw James Morrison in concert. He was awesome as he usually is.
-Went to two weddings and a funeral on various days. Wedding 1 was on a Saturday, and was for Grace (highschool friend) and Graeme. Hen's Day the next day for Wedding 2, which was the next Sunday for Guy (long-time family friend) and Julie. Funeral...
-Well, my Gran died. Not much grief left after all this time of expecting to go the past 7 years or so. Was just a big shock, because I had expected she would cling to life just that bit longer still. She was in the garden, singing away. A scant few minutes later, they went back out and she had passed. Mum had mostly processed her grief when Gran (her mother) finally went into the nursing home, so she just stressed a bit getting all the funeral arrangements done and organising the powerpoint photos and the music for the service. The funeral went off without a hitch, and a few of us all pitched in for food for the wake, so that was all good too. I used to have a conflict between wanting her to be happier on the other side, and feeling horrible for not wanting her to live. But it wasn't much of a life these past years, and years is a long time to reconcile with your feelings. Now I'm happy for her, and singing is a good way to go. Before the real Christmas starts too, so it won't be hanging over our heads on Christmas day.
-My brother's house finally got sold, and the deal for the new house he wanted went through. He'll be moving out with his son, and Mum and Dad will be living alone together again for the first time since...well way before I was born, and I'm 22. Me bro is planning to move on the 23rd, so that he can wake up in his new house on Christmas morning. The house is up on the road between Lesmurdie and Kalamunda, and is pretty nice.
-Due to some reason or other, Z's uncle and aunty had the piano delivered the next week instead. It arrived last Saturday, and I've played it every day since. I'm LOVING it. So much joy do I have. Such delight and wonder it is to be able to sit down and play a piano whenever I want. I've been playing sheet music and making new stuff up too.
-I'll be on holidays soon. Finishing work on the 24th December at 2pm, and starting again on 4th January 9:30am. It sounded good when we were told 10 days, but then I figured out that most of that is weekends and public holidays, so it's only really a week off. Ah well, it's still great to look forward to the first holidays I'll have since I started in May.
-I must catch up with various friends and give them presents I have. I don't expect them to have anything for me, but I saw some stuff I absolutely _had_ to get. Then I felt I had to get the others in that sub-category of friends something too. So some of you may or may not hear from me before Christmas, but I'll get the pressies to you sometime, even if it is after The Day.
-I went to the Zoo twilight concert with my mum for Handel's Messiah. The choir was not as good as I would expect for a concert like that, although still good. The alto singer was most awesome. I was very impressed by her.
-I've been looking after my herbs. I've got four pots outside the back door; rosemary, mint, oregano, and parsley. One day I thought I should water them but didn't; I came home to find them all looking sad and the parsley was wilted over the side of the pot. I watered them quickly, and half of the parsley survived, but it's looked very tough since then. There was a spate of caterpillars eating my mint too. I checked the mint every morning and picked off the caterpillars that had appeared overnight, but the mint was still slowly disappearing into bug stomachs. The plague seems to have finished, because I haven't found any lately and the leaves are surviving. The rosemary is starting to get eaten now. It's a little harder to help the rosemary, what with the multitude of leaves and the little spiders that live in there making me not want to go near them. Still, the herbs are mostly doing well under my care, and I'm very happy about them. Soon there'll be enough mint that I won't feel horrible picking a few leaves for potato salad. Gotta have mint for good potato salad.
-I bought a hat. Never felt I needed one before, but I started wanting one, and a few weeks later I gave in and bought one. I like my hat, and it likes keeping my nose out of the sun and the sun out of my eyes.
-Did I mention I got a credit card? *checks* Yes I did. I've been using it and paying it off and am hopefully building up a very nice credit report. I had my first credit card statement at the start of December. I've ordered tickets and stuff over the phone, and bought dinner a few times. Shopped at various places, and signed my life away several times. Well, signed receipts anyway.
-Ooh! Prepare yourselves to be amazed. I called Alexa the other day..and she was home! She says that she was run off her feet with the two plays she was doing, and now that the plays have finshed she is enjoying having nothing to do for a while before she starts having lots of things booked up again as usual.
-Last week, Christmas felt like months away. I got a shock yesterday when I realised it's under 10 days now. Despite having done pretty much all my shopping, with only one or two items left, I'm still feeling shocked and adrenalised, like I would be if I hadn't done any shopping at all. How odd. I shall have to hunt and try to find some brown wrapping paper to wrap the presents, and buy some pretty ribbon. I usually only ever use tissue paper, but I feel like brown paper and ribbon. So picturesque somehow.
-I own a pop cd. Actually _own_ it, not just have it. See, I went and saw Casey Donavon (Australian Idol) perform at Forrest Chase, and I bought the cd and got it signed and everything. It's a nice cd and all, it just feels wrong to own a pop album in the plastic as it were. I have pop albums, and now I _own_ one. *wrong*
-I have mentioned I am pnow playing trombone in a brass band. The brass band played at the Kalamunda Carols-by-Candlelight last Sunday. It was good. It was rather...religicised, with a church band playing a few songs and a guy actually doing a prayer, not in a quiet way, but in the way that Riverview and other christian churches do nowadays. Which is awesome in a church, but at a local Carols-by-Candlelight? Other than that, it was rather charming, with some children acting out the nativity scene and everything. The brass band has now finished for the year, and will start again on January 4th.
-If you've read this far, you may be interested in why I feel I've talked even less here than normal. Well, I chat to Leanne about everything. Leanne is my most awesome deskmate at work. See, once I've chatted to Leanne about whatever is happening in my life at the time, then I lose all need to tell anyone else, including writing here, as the news is already told and gone. I keep meaning to, but have no drive to actually sit down and type.
That sums up everything that has been happening.
-I went and saw James Morrison in concert. He was awesome as he usually is.
-Went to two weddings and a funeral on various days. Wedding 1 was on a Saturday, and was for Grace (highschool friend) and Graeme. Hen's Day the next day for Wedding 2, which was the next Sunday for Guy (long-time family friend) and Julie. Funeral...
-Well, my Gran died. Not much grief left after all this time of expecting to go the past 7 years or so. Was just a big shock, because I had expected she would cling to life just that bit longer still. She was in the garden, singing away. A scant few minutes later, they went back out and she had passed. Mum had mostly processed her grief when Gran (her mother) finally went into the nursing home, so she just stressed a bit getting all the funeral arrangements done and organising the powerpoint photos and the music for the service. The funeral went off without a hitch, and a few of us all pitched in for food for the wake, so that was all good too. I used to have a conflict between wanting her to be happier on the other side, and feeling horrible for not wanting her to live. But it wasn't much of a life these past years, and years is a long time to reconcile with your feelings. Now I'm happy for her, and singing is a good way to go. Before the real Christmas starts too, so it won't be hanging over our heads on Christmas day.
-My brother's house finally got sold, and the deal for the new house he wanted went through. He'll be moving out with his son, and Mum and Dad will be living alone together again for the first time since...well way before I was born, and I'm 22. Me bro is planning to move on the 23rd, so that he can wake up in his new house on Christmas morning. The house is up on the road between Lesmurdie and Kalamunda, and is pretty nice.
-Due to some reason or other, Z's uncle and aunty had the piano delivered the next week instead. It arrived last Saturday, and I've played it every day since. I'm LOVING it. So much joy do I have. Such delight and wonder it is to be able to sit down and play a piano whenever I want. I've been playing sheet music and making new stuff up too.
-I'll be on holidays soon. Finishing work on the 24th December at 2pm, and starting again on 4th January 9:30am. It sounded good when we were told 10 days, but then I figured out that most of that is weekends and public holidays, so it's only really a week off. Ah well, it's still great to look forward to the first holidays I'll have since I started in May.
-I must catch up with various friends and give them presents I have. I don't expect them to have anything for me, but I saw some stuff I absolutely _had_ to get. Then I felt I had to get the others in that sub-category of friends something too. So some of you may or may not hear from me before Christmas, but I'll get the pressies to you sometime, even if it is after The Day.
-I went to the Zoo twilight concert with my mum for Handel's Messiah. The choir was not as good as I would expect for a concert like that, although still good. The alto singer was most awesome. I was very impressed by her.
-I've been looking after my herbs. I've got four pots outside the back door; rosemary, mint, oregano, and parsley. One day I thought I should water them but didn't; I came home to find them all looking sad and the parsley was wilted over the side of the pot. I watered them quickly, and half of the parsley survived, but it's looked very tough since then. There was a spate of caterpillars eating my mint too. I checked the mint every morning and picked off the caterpillars that had appeared overnight, but the mint was still slowly disappearing into bug stomachs. The plague seems to have finished, because I haven't found any lately and the leaves are surviving. The rosemary is starting to get eaten now. It's a little harder to help the rosemary, what with the multitude of leaves and the little spiders that live in there making me not want to go near them. Still, the herbs are mostly doing well under my care, and I'm very happy about them. Soon there'll be enough mint that I won't feel horrible picking a few leaves for potato salad. Gotta have mint for good potato salad.
-I bought a hat. Never felt I needed one before, but I started wanting one, and a few weeks later I gave in and bought one. I like my hat, and it likes keeping my nose out of the sun and the sun out of my eyes.
-Did I mention I got a credit card? *checks* Yes I did. I've been using it and paying it off and am hopefully building up a very nice credit report. I had my first credit card statement at the start of December. I've ordered tickets and stuff over the phone, and bought dinner a few times. Shopped at various places, and signed my life away several times. Well, signed receipts anyway.
-Ooh! Prepare yourselves to be amazed. I called Alexa the other day..and she was home! She says that she was run off her feet with the two plays she was doing, and now that the plays have finshed she is enjoying having nothing to do for a while before she starts having lots of things booked up again as usual.
-Last week, Christmas felt like months away. I got a shock yesterday when I realised it's under 10 days now. Despite having done pretty much all my shopping, with only one or two items left, I'm still feeling shocked and adrenalised, like I would be if I hadn't done any shopping at all. How odd. I shall have to hunt and try to find some brown wrapping paper to wrap the presents, and buy some pretty ribbon. I usually only ever use tissue paper, but I feel like brown paper and ribbon. So picturesque somehow.
-I own a pop cd. Actually _own_ it, not just have it. See, I went and saw Casey Donavon (Australian Idol) perform at Forrest Chase, and I bought the cd and got it signed and everything. It's a nice cd and all, it just feels wrong to own a pop album in the plastic as it were. I have pop albums, and now I _own_ one. *wrong*
-I have mentioned I am pnow playing trombone in a brass band. The brass band played at the Kalamunda Carols-by-Candlelight last Sunday. It was good. It was rather...religicised, with a church band playing a few songs and a guy actually doing a prayer, not in a quiet way, but in the way that Riverview and other christian churches do nowadays. Which is awesome in a church, but at a local Carols-by-Candlelight? Other than that, it was rather charming, with some children acting out the nativity scene and everything. The brass band has now finished for the year, and will start again on January 4th.
-If you've read this far, you may be interested in why I feel I've talked even less here than normal. Well, I chat to Leanne about everything. Leanne is my most awesome deskmate at work. See, once I've chatted to Leanne about whatever is happening in my life at the time, then I lose all need to tell anyone else, including writing here, as the news is already told and gone. I keep meaning to, but have no drive to actually sit down and type.
That sums up everything that has been happening.
