Moving makes you sick

They say that moving house is right up there with death and marriage as far as stressful events go.

Oh yeah!

Making the move to Melbourne is absolutely huge on the stress-o-meter. As it turns out, it's so stressful that it gave me mumps.

Yep, at the age of 40, I get so stressed and run down that I manage to pick up mumps from god-knows-where.

Normally I just shrug illness off after taking a couple of nurofen - not this time. I went down like a sack of spuds, and my face blew up like a balloon. I seriously looked like John Travolta in Hairspray, or Aunt Marge in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - seriously puffy.

So I've ended up with 6 days off work - I think that's the same as the total number of days I've had off work in the past 2 years!

But the good news is that all the balls have finally dropped.

My job.

The missus' job.

The removalist's been booked.

And we finally have a house in Preston.

Yay!

Long time, no post

So it's been, like, two months since I last posted; and there's been waaay too much going on to catch up - so here's the heavily edited highlights.

The missus and I spent two weeks in Melbourne over Christmas/New Year for a holiday and reconnaisance for the big move which is coming just after Easter.

We had a great time - with one of the highlights going to Carols by Candlelight at the Myer Music Bowl - mainly 'cause these guys were performing:

Yep - it's the Choir of Hard Knocks - after an amazing year including a Platinum album, sold out concerts at the Melbourne Town Hall and Sydney Opera House, they get to sing to thousands of people on national television. Awesome!

I've been accepted into La Trobe University to continue my law degree, so I'll pick that up in 2nd semester once we've settled in our new abode (yet to be finalised).

And over the Australia Day weekend we spent a couple of days in Canberra to witness this event:

Ladies and gents, I give you Australia's Local Hero for 2008, Jonathon Welch. It was a fantastic weekend - one of the most emotional of my life. Not only being present at the Australia Day Awards, but then attending a citizenship ceremony was a fantastic way to spend our national holiday.

Now, the focus is totally on getting moved to Melbourne - it's looming very large on the horizon and things are starting to fall into place nicely. The missus remarked that it's a bit like a really huge game of Tetris. Yep, and it's starting to feel like the pieces are falling REALLY quickly!

THE Stash Conversation

Yep, the missus and I had THE stash conversation yesterday (and continued today, albeit tangentially)...

First, some background. We're moving to Melbourne - it's like a micro tree/sea change. We're swapping the in-your-face craziness of Sydney for the not quite as bad Melbourne. We really want to live in country Victoria, but without having jobs to go to, it's totally unrealistic. Then of course, I decide to go back to Uni, so that's put another spanner in the grand plan.

But in any case, we really want to be in Melbourne 'cause it's way more arts-focused than Sydney and that's really where our hearts lay - notwithstanding that I'm a public servant in law enforcement and she's (currently) in hospitality.

And we have some good friends there that we really want to spend more time with - and they're in the arts too...

So we're off to Melbourne at the end of March 2008. Yesterday we had a 'meeting' about what we need to do when we're south of the border at Christmas - like sussing out the suburbs and what's available for renting etc. Of course, I mentioned Bendigo Woollen Mills and that's when it happened.

"Why do you need more wool?!" Ummm, because I'm an addict? I only have 7 plastic tubs (I think they're 44litres), and that really isn't very much, is it? And that's what I said to her today. And she's like "by compared to who?" And I said not much compared to other people (read: addicts).

So I guess BWM is off the itinerary until we actually relocate. And I promised myself not to buy any more yarn until we relocate.

And then this arrived on the doorstep:

Uh oh....

It's a meme

I saw this meme on a couple of blogs that I read regularly, and 'cause I've never done one, I knicked it. I've whipped off the last two questions about why I answered it and tagging others.

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night
Well, not my partner who was sick, but I think I got a laugh from Judge John Deed at some point.

2. What were you doing at 0800hrs?
I was asleep

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Pretty sure I was watching Kevin Rudd on Rove

4. What happened to you in 2006?
I decided to go back to Uni to study law and convinced a good friend that doing a TV programme about a homeless persons choir was a good thing.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
"No thanks darl" in response to a question as to whether I wanted a cup of something.

6. How many beverages did you have today?
Mmm, I think 3 cups of coffee, 2 glasses of diet coke and a couple of glasses of water.

7. What colour is your hairbrush?
White

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
Groceries (boring!)

9. Where were you last night?
At home, enjoying the fact that I didn't have to study, and not enjoying the fact that my partner was throwing up (totally unrelated to each other!)

10. What colour is your front door?
Maroon and cream

11. Where do you keep your change?
Usually in my wallet, but I have a mug on my desk at work for overflow.

12. What's the weather like today?
It was very warm and sunny which was good for drying the washing, then it cooled down around 4-ish.

13. What's the best ice-cream flavour?
Only one?! I had sour cherry gelato yesterday which was nice, but I think my favourite would have to be rum n' raisin.

14. What excites you?
Singing with my choir, seeing my 2nd best friend (see Q4) and his partner, the prospect of making a huge life change in 2008 by moving to Melbourne (scares the crap out of me too!)

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Yep - it's driving me mad. It's quite long and dead straight and boring. Although my partner loves it long. It's getting the chop at some point, but probably only to shoulder length.

16. Are you over the age of 25?
Oh yeah!

17. Do you talk a lot?
Depends on the situation. I'm actually quite shy and don't do small talk with strangers very well, but when I'm with a group of friends I'm quite gregarious.

18. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Yes - a work colleague, actually, a couple of work colleagues!

19. Do you want up your own words?
No, at least no intentionally.

20. Are you a jealous person?
No - I was quite jealous of my partner's ex early on in our relationship, but not anymore.

21. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter "A".
Amanda and Angela

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter "K".
Kathleen

23. Who's the first person on your received call list?
My partner

24. What does the last text message you received say?
"Oh - I thought I may have left my brain there" - don't ask.

25. Do you chew on your straw?
Yep, and pens and pencils

26. Do you have curly hair?
Nope - straight as it comes.

27. Where's the next place you're going to?
Work in the morning.

28. Who's the rudest person in your life?
I don't think there are any - they've been culled.

29. What was the last thin you ate?
Barbecued steak, potato in its jacket, onions, salad.

30. Will you get married in the future?
Hopefully one day the federal government will wake up and allow same-sex couples to get married.

31. What's the best movie you've seen in the past 2 weeks?
I don't think I've seen a whole movie in the last 2 weeks - I've been too busy studying for Uni exams.

32. Is there anyone you like right now?
It depends on what you mean by "like" - as in, got a crush on etc? In which case, only my partner.

33. Did you cry today?
Nope

Amazon, how do I love thee

I've been a bad blogger - but there's just been waaaay too much going on, like doing very important work things like getting ready for the Ombudsman's visit, getting my transfer to Melbourne approved, making an application to VTAC so I can continue studying law in Semester 2 of 2008, having godparents visiting, friends winning ARIA Awards, spending way too much time on Ravelry, studying for my exams in three weeks (yikes!)

And getting really nice things in the post from Amazon.

Behold!

Like I need more knitting books.

But Amazon brings me fabulous books that I either can't get here or have to pay vastly inflated prices, and with the dollar being so perky at the moment I couldn't resist.

And I've finished pair number 2 for SSS and am up to number 3.

Oops, gotta go and have some dinner before I head off to singing rehearsal!

Success!

Hurrah!

Thanks to Judge John Deed again, I've finished my first pair of SSS socks.




They were supposed to be for me, but when I tried on the first one, it was a little small, so I've passed them on the missus.


And I've now started swatching for pair number 2 - Monkeys with The Knittery's merino sock yarn.



I'm not sure what colourway this is - I've had the yarn in the stash for a while and so the label's long gone.


Spent a considerable amount of time yesterday in the library at Uni catching up on some Contract reading.


After the bitter disappointment of Criminal Law on Monday, I picked up my Contracts paper on Wednesday and scored a credit which I'm happy with 'cause: (a) I find contracts really boring, and (b) I left it to the last minute to write.


I've now come to the realisation that I set high expectations of myself and that unless I want to be studying 24/7 I'm going to have to be satisfied with credits and passes.


And I'm totally fine with that :-)

But wait there's more

I thought I'd be safe from anything else going wrong yesterday when I went to bed - fool!

My partner finishes work late (10.30pm), so I'm usually in bed when she comes home. And to try and reduce the noise factor, I close the bedroom door.

So last night I'm in bed, asleep, and something wakes me. Then I hear something that sounds like tapping on the front door. I ain't going nowhere at that point, just packing death that it's a burglar (yes, of course burglars knock on the door before coming in and stealing your DVD).

But then I'm very much alert. So I get up and open the bedroom door and I can hear my phone ringing - aha, maybe the tap on the door is friend and not foe.

And then I hear my partner calling my name - she's lost the house keys and has been trying to wake me for about 15mins without waking the rest of the street.

So that just topped off a day of mega highs and lows - sheesh, I don't remember killing a puppy and I don't think it was a full moon...