An unbearable absence of heartwarming comment.

Maybe it's too early.
Maybe you haven't yet 'eard the news.
Maybe you were so in awe you couldn't think clearly.

Lookie, here, it's my ear!

Another silly quiz.

You Are Sam From "Benny & Joon." You are very talented at physical comedy. People are in awe of your abilities. However, you have many quirks which can either win people over or completely annoy them. But you're a sweetheart through and through, and it's hard not to love you.

Take The Johnny Depp Quiz!



I think it was Trouble who took that quiz, oh, wait, my apologies, it was Sausage. Cease with the howls of outrage you little scamps. How am I supposed to tell one filthy little brat from another similarly grubby urchin?

So now you know, of all the Johnny Depps we could be, Sausage is *looks up* Sam from "Benny and Joon". Was that the Charlie Chaplin inspired one? I get my Depps muddled. You?

It's Saturday afternoon and I've finally come to terms with the fact that last Saturday we missed out on Doctor Who. Oh, woe, woe, woe is me, and it was such an unnecessary catastrophe - we have a video, we have tape, we have a nerd slave husband.

I suppose I should admit to being Thea.

Big bug in a small splat.

There's a photograph of Honey and me outside the Bugsplat Visitor Centre in the local paper and a seperate quote from me in another article in the same paper. I'm a big bug in a small splat.

Sari Tutorial, Dhal, Lunch, Bride and Prejudice.

After the board meeting there was a Sari Tutorial at my house for the Bugsplat Arts Association. My friend, Honey, was there teaching Naomi, Lilly, Nell and Nadia how to wear saris. On the way home I stopped at the Bugsplat General Store (this Bugsplat business will settle down soon, I'm sure) and bought six champagne flutes. Nadia brought crackers and dip and we had olives, cheese, roast peppers and champagne. There was a lot of giggling and safety pins and silliness and I had a really good time.

Honey and I went to lunch the next day and in the evening we all went to see Bride and Prejudice at the Bugsplat Arts Association Bollywood night - feast and a movie. I made dhal for my ticket, Gray made banana halva for his and Honey made an Indian toffee for hers. It was a wonderful movie and really great night.

Budget meeting.

On Friday there was a budget meeting at the Bugsplat Visitor Centre that went quite well. For me. Due to a last minute rostering drama, I was also on duty at front counter, so I was sitting in the doorway between the public and private areas. I think it was good for the board to be witness the fact that when a volunteer can't make it, I either do it myself or close the shop - a rather obvious fact that has nevertheless been eluding some of them. I think it was good too that they were witness to the existence of customers and telephone calls.
And.... any time somebody cornered me with a tricky question I could excuse myself apologetically and dissapear next door, perhaps to serve a customer, perhaps... to pull faces from the other room. The genuine and occasional feigned disruptions were excellent for my battle strategy for this budget meeting which was a simple three step;
~ thoroughly exhaust them with unnecessary detail
~ distract them with red herrings
~ offer them all a nice simple way out of the mess which (almost incidentally) involves agreeing to all my demands.

Readers, rest easy.
My demands were really pretty ordinary. I want to be able to have some funds with which to pay the overdue bills. I want to be able to buy the odd stamp without having to write a set of haiku to explain myself. I want to reduce our opening hours just a bit so that we don't have to close the shop when things go wrong. I want a key to the building and I want to be able to sign the cheques.

Then I'm off to Venezuela.

I ticked 'naturally blonde'.

Which Rock Chick Are You?

Go see the Barbie.

So... who here wants to see the DID(MPD) Expert Barbie Doll?

Made by Kat of enigma system.

Nice work, Kat, and thank you for permission to gaink.

:~)

Instant Coffee and Arnott's Assortment.

Just how far up the greasy pole do I have to slither to be eligible for better meeting fare than instant coffee and Arnott's (rather dull) Assorted Biscuit? No cake.

It's a gorgeous winter day and I'm feeling at peace.

Human Jukebox.

I did the Human Jukebox thing - brought all my books and put out a hat. The money raised goes to the Food Co-op - they're trying to buy the building they currently rent. People were very encouraging and nice - and they requested all kinds of songs. I played "In the Pines" (We shiver when the cold wind blows.), "Careless Love", "Must I go bound", "Arise, Arise", "Foggy Dew", "On the Banks of the Roses.", "Greenland Whale Fisheries Song", "Jealous Guy" (We sing "the jealous type"), "Shores of Botany Bay", "Sweet Chariot", "Ramona", "One more cup of coffee", "Tom Paine" and "The Plains of Emu". I've got 140 songs now for them to chose from now. I love guitar's sociability. Violin can be so lonely.

Board meeting.

The board meeting was fine. We have three whole days off in a row now, hooray, and then a meeting in BigTown which we're looking forward to as there might be cake it will be an excellent networking opportunity.

Now that my boss is back, I find that I really do like this job.

Next week for sure.

We had a birthday recently and a parcel arrived today, just in time for my first ever kick boxing class, with a "NEXT WEEK FOR SURE." t-shirt in it, wot I have been wanting for a very long time, and I am very happy about that. It's perfect for today's rather feeble attempt - the class starts at 6.30 and my board meeting is at 7. So I will be leaving after about 20 minutes, making all kinds of Next Week For Sure type promises.
Hah!

Why do I feel like I'm wagging school?

My fantastic husband is working at the centre this morning. He got sick of me coming home in tears because I can't find enough front counter staff so he's said he'll do Tuesday mornings for me. I've mooched around in my track suit and done three loads of laundry, but I feel weird and guilty and I can't help wonder what's going on at work.

Polly, the Truffle Dog.

Oh no.

:P

The local Wine and Truffle company have a truffle dog.

Guess what she's called?

*pant pant*

Flowers for the Manageresses

We got flowers today, a homemade bunch featuring purple flowering rosemary and some vibrant green foliage, all done up with ribbons and bows. There was a card too, talking about what a great job Trouble (err "Polly") is doing. It was nice.

It was especially nice given how horrid people have been about us reducing the opening hours at the centre. Maybe I'm using the wrong bistromaths but in the humble sums I have scratched out on the backs of envelopes, I have found that 9-5, seven days a week = a lot more than the 24 hours that Ms Trouble is paid to be chained to the front counter. With enough volunteers/helpful pixies/time travel distortions she has been managing to keep the place open it's posted hours but it's just not happenning this week what with a couple of regular volunteers off having lives and stuff.

Double entry book-keeping isn't as dull as it sounds, boys and girls.

The finance officer is away somewhere less dark, wet and cold - leaving me to deduce from first principles the existance of cornflakes and BAS activity statements.

I'd always assumed that accounting was up there in the Top Ten Most Boring Things Ever, but I'm finding that at least two of us (Mannie, Trouble) really enjoy it. They're even developing some opinions about which accounting philosophy is to be preferred. (Double entry book keeping apparently and some codwallop about the Methodists which I'm sure Mannie is just making up.)

Work is okay, bellydance is still fun, SheOak are still working on Hera's songs and I've been busking at the Organic Food Co-op. I can play 129 songs.