Nothing to say, nothing to write, doing nothing.
Enjoying immensely!
Whoop, whoop!
Friday, 27 April 2007
Thursday, 26 April 2007
Catching up...
Wow. Writing a blog regularly is hard. It's not like a physical journal at all!
I've got to remember to stop surfing! or working on other things to write this. A physical journal is just there for the one purpose (pretty much). All you have to do is remember to put the book and a pen in your bag.
So I guess it's time to catch up this blog!
Sunday was a "hidespace" day. (There's three categories of this sort of time... headspace - where you just chill out, relax, not be social. Hidespace - turn off the phone, be alone and at home, no chores, no work, no worries. Then there's DOE - "dropping off the earth" or "I thought you'd died!" - because you're totally incommunicado - most often curled up in bed napping/dossing on the couch watching DVD's or staring into space.
You should have at least 15 minutes of headspace a day. I tend to like having one full day (or at least more than 4 hours) of hidespace, and you should try to get a day or two of DOE once every month or two.
Thus, hidespace Sunday.
Monday I felt like shoecrud. It was bed and resting for me. I have a ruptured disk in my lower back which makes life hell occasionally. Thus it was on Monday.
Tuesday I did the doctor-day-thing. First to the physio to get my back stretched and heated. Then off to the GP to get scripts for something to stop the pain.
All good.
Then there was Wednesday. I had fun.
Went to TGMP's for the day. She's really hot for her business. It's infectious and hard to keep a level head. But she needs someone to lean on who can help her navigate through to success. Hi! My Name Is Rutybear! :)
We did a lot of brainstorming. And we got her website blocked out. TGMP manages these things well. As well as looking after her little boy who was with us all day and doing all the serious thinking for the business we also talked about the co-authored novel we are about to start writing. All that in a few hours!
Today I have documentation to type up for TGMP's business and my own work (writing) to do. Lifeless is working and will be - hopefully - rebuilding my crapped out PC and our server. If I can't focus at home I may end up at the cafe.
And so, another day goes on.
Whoop whoop!
I've got to remember to stop surfing! or working on other things to write this. A physical journal is just there for the one purpose (pretty much). All you have to do is remember to put the book and a pen in your bag.
So I guess it's time to catch up this blog!
Sunday was a "hidespace" day. (There's three categories of this sort of time... headspace - where you just chill out, relax, not be social. Hidespace - turn off the phone, be alone and at home, no chores, no work, no worries. Then there's DOE - "dropping off the earth" or "I thought you'd died!" - because you're totally incommunicado - most often curled up in bed napping/dossing on the couch watching DVD's or staring into space.
You should have at least 15 minutes of headspace a day. I tend to like having one full day (or at least more than 4 hours) of hidespace, and you should try to get a day or two of DOE once every month or two.
Thus, hidespace Sunday.
Monday I felt like shoecrud. It was bed and resting for me. I have a ruptured disk in my lower back which makes life hell occasionally. Thus it was on Monday.
Tuesday I did the doctor-day-thing. First to the physio to get my back stretched and heated. Then off to the GP to get scripts for something to stop the pain.
All good.
Then there was Wednesday. I had fun.
Went to TGMP's for the day. She's really hot for her business. It's infectious and hard to keep a level head. But she needs someone to lean on who can help her navigate through to success. Hi! My Name Is Rutybear! :)
We did a lot of brainstorming. And we got her website blocked out. TGMP manages these things well. As well as looking after her little boy who was with us all day and doing all the serious thinking for the business we also talked about the co-authored novel we are about to start writing. All that in a few hours!
Today I have documentation to type up for TGMP's business and my own work (writing) to do. Lifeless is working and will be - hopefully - rebuilding my crapped out PC and our server. If I can't focus at home I may end up at the cafe.
And so, another day goes on.
Whoop whoop!
Saturday, 21 April 2007
The Usual Saturday
Today was the normal Saturday routine for me.
It is my habit to meet up with my good friend mMM.
Unfortunately she is not well. Not at all.
She has CFD (Chronic Fatigue Disorder) which means her health
is never 100%, but today she was suffering a double whammy.
Some kind of nasty virus that has caused all sorts of muscular
aches, cramps and swelling. It's been with her a couple of days
but is slowly getting better. Too slowly, but that's because
of the CFD.
The other nasty is that she had something cut out of her back.
It only needed a few stitches and some local anaesthetic but
any cutting (particularly on the back) wouldn't be much fun.
And no, the two things aren't related.
mMM is nothing like my other friends.
She's terribly, terribly shy.
Comfortable with me and one or two others she'll happily talk
for hours about quite deep stuff but with anyone else she
becomes nearly mute! And unlike my other friends (and myself)
she is very calm (it could be said somewhat resigned) about
life and stuff that happens.
If something we were trying to do fell into a pile LLH or I
would negotiate to change/fix it and, if that didn't work,
DEMAND things change - or just try and fix it ourselves but
resentfully (and you can bet the world would know about it
loud and clear!).TGMP would work out what is wrong and DO
her best to change it, right now or sooner! mMM just takes
these sorts of things in stride.
Which makes her quite relaxing to be around.
Although when she's not saying or doing much around me
I begin to worry. mMM is extremely independent and
self-reliant. These are good traits but sometimes they
can make it hard to open up and share.
Or that's what I feel happens with her.
But then, I'm guessing so that could be an inaccurate assessment.
She's also very intelligent, a voracious reader and extremely
good at research. Which means an innocent conversation can
go off onto some pretty unusual tangents!
One of many reasons why I feel so fondly towards her.
It's like having an incredibly bright and insightful little sister.
Home again and after dinner I'm still struggling with
technology. Lifeless is a well known and influential IT dood.
Now I'm not a fan of either Microsoft or Mac but sometimes I
find the limitations of some of the open source stuff
occasionally annoying. However one of the exceptional
things open source has is great ripping functionality.
Which means I mostly use open source components on my PC
and laptop, with a Microsoft partition for the PC
(my Games Machine) and background Mac OS for my laptop
(my 'real work' machine).
My PC keeps crapping out. Has done for a while. They only
seem to have a lifespan of about 20 months for me. Maybe
the place it's in has bad feng shui? (or just bad ventilation)
Either way, it seems to be on it's way out yet again.
Or maybe lifeless is just blaming the hardware for the
software being buggy? ;>
At this point I'll just roll my eyes and say I knoweth not.
All I want to do is rip some Cd's and transfer the tracks to
my mp3 player. But with the PC hanging right after start
up I can't. SO.MUCHO.FRUSTRATING!
Whoop whoop.
It is my habit to meet up with my good friend mMM.
Unfortunately she is not well. Not at all.
She has CFD (Chronic Fatigue Disorder) which means her health
is never 100%, but today she was suffering a double whammy.
Some kind of nasty virus that has caused all sorts of muscular
aches, cramps and swelling. It's been with her a couple of days
but is slowly getting better. Too slowly, but that's because
of the CFD.
The other nasty is that she had something cut out of her back.
It only needed a few stitches and some local anaesthetic but
any cutting (particularly on the back) wouldn't be much fun.
And no, the two things aren't related.
mMM is nothing like my other friends.
She's terribly, terribly shy.
Comfortable with me and one or two others she'll happily talk
for hours about quite deep stuff but with anyone else she
becomes nearly mute! And unlike my other friends (and myself)
she is very calm (it could be said somewhat resigned) about
life and stuff that happens.
If something we were trying to do fell into a pile LLH or I
would negotiate to change/fix it and, if that didn't work,
DEMAND things change - or just try and fix it ourselves but
resentfully (and you can bet the world would know about it
loud and clear!).TGMP would work out what is wrong and DO
her best to change it, right now or sooner! mMM just takes
these sorts of things in stride.
Which makes her quite relaxing to be around.
Although when she's not saying or doing much around me
I begin to worry. mMM is extremely independent and
self-reliant. These are good traits but sometimes they
can make it hard to open up and share.
Or that's what I feel happens with her.
But then, I'm guessing so that could be an inaccurate assessment.
She's also very intelligent, a voracious reader and extremely
good at research. Which means an innocent conversation can
go off onto some pretty unusual tangents!
One of many reasons why I feel so fondly towards her.
It's like having an incredibly bright and insightful little sister.
Home again and after dinner I'm still struggling with
technology. Lifeless is a well known and influential IT dood.
Now I'm not a fan of either Microsoft or Mac but sometimes I
find the limitations of some of the open source stuff
occasionally annoying. However one of the exceptional
things open source has is great ripping functionality.
Which means I mostly use open source components on my PC
and laptop, with a Microsoft partition for the PC
(my Games Machine) and background Mac OS for my laptop
(my 'real work' machine).
My PC keeps crapping out. Has done for a while. They only
seem to have a lifespan of about 20 months for me. Maybe
the place it's in has bad feng shui? (or just bad ventilation)
Either way, it seems to be on it's way out yet again.
Or maybe lifeless is just blaming the hardware for the
software being buggy? ;>
At this point I'll just roll my eyes and say I knoweth not.
All I want to do is rip some Cd's and transfer the tracks to
my mp3 player. But with the PC hanging right after start
up I can't. SO.MUCHO.FRUSTRATING!
Whoop whoop.
Friday, 20 April 2007
The yappin' social bear
Such a social day today.
Slept in but still have a pretty heavy sleep debt to fix so after feeling great in the morning I felt zonked all afternoon/evening.
Spoke to LLH who lives in the US today. She and I are Personality Evil Twins, heeheehee. So alike in many ways except the physical (she's thinner & prettier than m'self).
She seems to be doing okay but is under a hell of a lot of stress at present. She and her man (the sweet kiwi B) have just discovered the joys of mortgage debt. BIIIG mortgage debt. Owch. The photos of their place show a stunning domicile though. 'Country Ruty's Dream House' but without the plumbing problems. ;)
LLH always makes me laugh. She's funny, insightful and has a wonderful dry cynical humour. AND she's another one of these people who can just go ahead and speak her mind. I love having such strong women as my friends. They get a walking compromiser, I get courage. I think I get the better deal!
TGMP has been sms'ing a lot too. She's really excited about her new company and has started placing orders with me for crafts to be made. Good grief and a deadline too!
Ah well, at least I'll get the yarn for free and some play money for doing something I would do while watching the TV anyway.
And I went up to my not-quite-local java joint to see a couple of the ladies there. It used to be where I could sit and write or muse but now I have made acquaintances/friends (particularly on the Starbucks staff) which means it's just the social and a latte thanks - hold the creative.
That's the THIRD place where I've had to quit for writing! I think at the next place I'll put up a sign saying "Aspiring writer at work PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB, damn it!!"
Not that I mind too much. It's nice having different types of people to talk to.
Though I am running out of places to write comfortably!
Thus ends another busy day for the bear.
Whoop, whoop!
Slept in but still have a pretty heavy sleep debt to fix so after feeling great in the morning I felt zonked all afternoon/evening.
Spoke to LLH who lives in the US today. She and I are Personality Evil Twins, heeheehee. So alike in many ways except the physical (she's thinner & prettier than m'self).
She seems to be doing okay but is under a hell of a lot of stress at present. She and her man (the sweet kiwi B) have just discovered the joys of mortgage debt. BIIIG mortgage debt. Owch. The photos of their place show a stunning domicile though. 'Country Ruty's Dream House' but without the plumbing problems. ;)
LLH always makes me laugh. She's funny, insightful and has a wonderful dry cynical humour. AND she's another one of these people who can just go ahead and speak her mind. I love having such strong women as my friends. They get a walking compromiser, I get courage. I think I get the better deal!
TGMP has been sms'ing a lot too. She's really excited about her new company and has started placing orders with me for crafts to be made. Good grief and a deadline too!
Ah well, at least I'll get the yarn for free and some play money for doing something I would do while watching the TV anyway.
And I went up to my not-quite-local java joint to see a couple of the ladies there. It used to be where I could sit and write or muse but now I have made acquaintances/friends (particularly on the Starbucks staff) which means it's just the social and a latte thanks - hold the creative.
That's the THIRD place where I've had to quit for writing! I think at the next place I'll put up a sign saying "Aspiring writer at work PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB, damn it!!"
Not that I mind too much. It's nice having different types of people to talk to.
Though I am running out of places to write comfortably!
Thus ends another busy day for the bear.
Whoop, whoop!
Positive People
Yesterday I went over to TGMP's place. She is one of the most amazing and positive people I know. Every time I hang with her is a revelation.
Firstly, she was all smiles when I told her my new plot idea. She was even happier when I suggested we do a co-author to write it. I think, given the concept, her depth and great charactorisation skills will make any work we do together far more rounded and grounded than I could do alone.
Firstly, she was all smiles when I told her my new plot idea. She was even happier when I suggested we do a co-author to write it. I think, given the concept, her depth and great charactorisation skills will make any work we do together far more rounded and grounded than I could do alone.
Then we talked about her current work. It's a drama fiction. It's very emotional and intense but she has decided it needs to be re-written in order to make it work. I haven't read the original first draft but I can understand that sometimes life has moved on so much that what you wrote not so long ago now seems as if written by someone else.
And of course I blathered on about my current project and how I'm blocked, but what I intend to do to fix that. TGMP is extremely motivated about many things in her life and is also extremely motivating. With her help I have now re-established a goal and have a deadline to meet. I'm getting kind of excited about it.
THEN TGMP hit me with not one but two bombshells. She's starting her own company and wants me to help out! Oh my.
She laid out her intentions and has shown me what she intends to do. It's very cool. I believe she's done everything the right way so far. (business plan, concepts, worked out distribution networks and started pulling together suppliers and sub-contractors). She offered me a place in her venture and I was thrilled to accept, or at least to help where I can.
The other bombshell is that she was considering dumping the guy she has started to fall for. Having never met him but heard much about him (both from TGMP and others) I actually think this is a good idea. He doesn't sound particularly reliable or even affectionate. The fact that even though she is starting to love the guy TGMP is willing to throw the relationship away because she knows it won't be good for her shows a strength of will and courage that I don't think I could ever have. Like I said, every visit a revelation.
I take pride in having a friend like TGMP, she's an inspiration. She shows how an assertive but sensitive person can successfully make it in this world.
Whoop whoop!
Wednesday, 18 April 2007
A Bloke in the Book Club!
Evening Post.
Hey, how cool is that?! We've got a guy in our book club now. He's a kiwi and seems pretty cool. I'm not sure one guy amongst 5-15 women (depending on the book) will have much fun though.
Lifeless (my man) just chimed in that I obviously don't know men very well - but I figure with the average age of the group being somewhere in the mid 40's (myself and two others being the ones skewing the average down) and most of the other ladies married with kids in their teens means "meetin' the laydeez" wouldn't be a good bet for him - lifeless says I just don't get it.
Anyway it looks like I won't need to volunteer the blokey books anymore (hopefully the new guy will - I like the guy-geared books!) and thus stop me copping the indignation of the rest of the group.
ANYTHING is better than Secret River or The Kite Runner. Blech! Fem Flips bore me stupid!
And if his suggestion for the next book is any indication I think I'm going to be interested in the group again for a while.
So next month we're reading Fat by Rob Grant which looks like fun.
On a related but different topic I'm still suffering writer's block with the current work. I'm going to send most of the rough first draft to my friend in the US who, I hope, can give me some objective feedback.
Even though I'm blocked on the current novel it doesn't mean I'm not still thinking. Today I had another plot idea (Lightbulb goes ON!!). I'm hoping my friend TGMP can give me information on Feng Shui when I visit her next.
Poor TGMP has been in the wars with her health lately. She's so sweet and trying so hard to do the best for herself and her little one. It's a downer seeing things not happening (or not happening right) for her.
Mind you, this year seems to be the time for a lot of less than happy-making stuff going on. Quite a few of my friends have been on a hard road mentally or physically in recent months.
Anyway, back to the book club. The numbers are way down now - at one point we had over 20 members attending reasonably regularly - now we hover around 8 to 10 at the most. We also had a 'dual read' this month. I really like the idea of having the choice of two novels and allowing discussion on each over the evening.
Jan (the manager of the book shop) is a very good moderator too. She keeps the night rolling so it stays mostly on track and she seems to enjoy it as much of the rest of us.
=Plug Ahead!= Banjo Books is a great little bookstore. It's the only one in Epping and has a great variety of books. They have great sales there too. And a cafe that does great food and pretty good coffee. So its a relaxing place to go and they really know their stuff. =End of plug=
My only problem in going there is that I buy too much! (well, actually I put too many books on hold and then have to pay them off...)
Whoop whoop!
Hey, how cool is that?! We've got a guy in our book club now. He's a kiwi and seems pretty cool. I'm not sure one guy amongst 5-15 women (depending on the book) will have much fun though.
Lifeless (my man) just chimed in that I obviously don't know men very well - but I figure with the average age of the group being somewhere in the mid 40's (myself and two others being the ones skewing the average down) and most of the other ladies married with kids in their teens means "meetin' the laydeez" wouldn't be a good bet for him - lifeless says I just don't get it.
Anyway it looks like I won't need to volunteer the blokey books anymore (hopefully the new guy will - I like the guy-geared books!) and thus stop me copping the indignation of the rest of the group.
ANYTHING is better than Secret River or The Kite Runner. Blech! Fem Flips bore me stupid!
And if his suggestion for the next book is any indication I think I'm going to be interested in the group again for a while.
So next month we're reading Fat by Rob Grant which looks like fun.
On a related but different topic I'm still suffering writer's block with the current work. I'm going to send most of the rough first draft to my friend in the US who, I hope, can give me some objective feedback.
Even though I'm blocked on the current novel it doesn't mean I'm not still thinking. Today I had another plot idea (Lightbulb goes ON!!). I'm hoping my friend TGMP can give me information on Feng Shui when I visit her next.
Poor TGMP has been in the wars with her health lately. She's so sweet and trying so hard to do the best for herself and her little one. It's a downer seeing things not happening (or not happening right) for her.
Mind you, this year seems to be the time for a lot of less than happy-making stuff going on. Quite a few of my friends have been on a hard road mentally or physically in recent months.
Anyway, back to the book club. The numbers are way down now - at one point we had over 20 members attending reasonably regularly - now we hover around 8 to 10 at the most. We also had a 'dual read' this month. I really like the idea of having the choice of two novels and allowing discussion on each over the evening.
Jan (the manager of the book shop) is a very good moderator too. She keeps the night rolling so it stays mostly on track and she seems to enjoy it as much of the rest of us.
=Plug Ahead!= Banjo Books is a great little bookstore. It's the only one in Epping and has a great variety of books. They have great sales there too. And a cafe that does great food and pretty good coffee. So its a relaxing place to go and they really know their stuff. =End of plug=
My only problem in going there is that I buy too much! (well, actually I put too many books on hold and then have to pay them off...)
Whoop whoop!
VT - Very Traumatic
Morning Post
How dreadful. It's awful that it's happened... again.
And its all over the news, even here.
It's nothing to be proud of but Australia still holds the highest headcount in the world for gun massacres - Martin Bryant, the bastard, killed 35 at a tourist site in Tasmania.
That was over 10 years ago thankfully.
So why we here in Australia are concerned about gun control and so forth I don't know.
I hate to admit I agree with the PM (That's a FIRST!) in that the US has a gun culture.
We don't. Well... not quite true.
For Aussies guns are for soldiers, farmers and criminals.
And those "crazy Americans". They just love their guns, their nukes and their death penalty.
Your average Aussie urban/suburban doesn't see the point in having any of them.
Differences aside I think Aussies can sympathise strongly with folk in the US as a general thing, but we do seem to feel particularly saddened when something bad happens over there.
So I feel for the students, lecuturers, families and friends of Virginia Tech and my condolences go out to those who survived.
How dreadful. It's awful that it's happened... again.
And its all over the news, even here.
It's nothing to be proud of but Australia still holds the highest headcount in the world for gun massacres - Martin Bryant, the bastard, killed 35 at a tourist site in Tasmania.
That was over 10 years ago thankfully.
So why we here in Australia are concerned about gun control and so forth I don't know.
I hate to admit I agree with the PM (That's a FIRST!) in that the US has a gun culture.
We don't. Well... not quite true.
For Aussies guns are for soldiers, farmers and criminals.
And those "crazy Americans". They just love their guns, their nukes and their death penalty.
Your average Aussie urban/suburban doesn't see the point in having any of them.
Differences aside I think Aussies can sympathise strongly with folk in the US as a general thing, but we do seem to feel particularly saddened when something bad happens over there.
So I feel for the students, lecuturers, families and friends of Virginia Tech and my condolences go out to those who survived.
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
The Bloggin' Bear begins
Okay... time to take a deep breath and let the fingers do the talking.
woo hoo the diddlyeo or whatever.
This is my first post.
I've had normal journals, a therapy journal, an arty (and I use the term extremely losely!) journal so I figured it is about time I got on and blogged.
What do I do?
Not a lot. But I guess that's the point of a blog, isn't it? Repository for the mundane written by losers who'll only get their 15 seconds of fame if an elephant tramples their arse. Until then we all blog.
I am an 'aspiring writer' (nope, not published.) who is taking a "sabatical" (read: not working until I pop out a rejectable novel. This involves way too much socialising and daytime TV.) I have no life until the novel is done and then, once rejected, I'll just have no life.
So... in the meantime I'm sure I can amuse/annoy/bore you with stories about the stuff that goes on in my life and the people I know.
Whoop, whoop!
woo hoo the diddlyeo or whatever.
This is my first post.
I've had normal journals, a therapy journal, an arty (and I use the term extremely losely!) journal so I figured it is about time I got on and blogged.
What do I do?
Not a lot. But I guess that's the point of a blog, isn't it? Repository for the mundane written by losers who'll only get their 15 seconds of fame if an elephant tramples their arse. Until then we all blog.
I am an 'aspiring writer' (nope, not published.) who is taking a "sabatical" (read: not working until I pop out a rejectable novel. This involves way too much socialising and daytime TV.) I have no life until the novel is done and then, once rejected, I'll just have no life.
So... in the meantime I'm sure I can amuse/annoy/bore you with stories about the stuff that goes on in my life and the people I know.
Whoop, whoop!
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