Checking In, And Not Checking Out

Hey there! Computer still dead, but despite a possible, almost, no kidding it was that close brush with potential death (or at least wounding) myself, I'm still here. It has been a curious week.

Adding to my list of new experiences I was working on a file archiving project in a bank branch last Tuesday when it was held up by a guy with a sawn-off shotgun. For reals! I was working in a little office off the main banking area, so when I heard a scream, a loud crash and then all sorts of commotion, it took a little while for me to figure out what was going on. My first thought was that a car had mounted the footpath and struck the glass sliding doors at the front of the bank, but when I stuck my head out of the office and saw people cowering behind desks I decided to jump back into the office kind of sharpish. Beckoning a young couple who were standing confusedly just outside the office to come on in and join me out of the line of sight. There was commotion, confusion, a few more screams and it wasn't until the police showed up very soon after that I found out the bang was a sawn-off shotgun being fired.

Long story short, for want of anything else better to do I went back into the office and finished my work. Can you say strong work ethic? The rest of the day was a strange combination of finishing up my work, waiting around, being questioned by police, dodging the media outside the (now closed) bank and listening to the senior bank staff tell tales of other robberies. There is a particular sort of jollity, camaraderie and bravado that seems to come after a shared scary experience like this. I left after giving the particularly cute bear cub of a police officer my phone number (strictly for professional reasons, you understand) and just as the counsellor arrived to speak to all of the bank's staff.

The rest of the week was rather less dramatic and a lot more pleasant; dinner with a friend, more archiving work at some other thankfully unrobbed bank branches, some quiet nights in trying to figure out if/how/when I could claim Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (kidding!) and then a lovely weekend spent in the mountains with some knitting buddies visiting from New Zealand. The weekend was fun, gorgeous scenery, great companionship, heaps of knitting by the fire and even a sock finally cast-off! If my computer was working I'd post some pics, but until then imagine mountains, limestone caves, a bunch of us bundled against the cold and the smile of satisfaction that somes with a finished sock.

Short Break

I decided to download and install the latest software updates and security patches yesterday for the Mac laptop I'm using, in part to see if it helps the problem I'm having with it crashing. It seems I've overwhelmed it. It now freezes part way through start-up and won't go any further. PC users are used to the Blue Screen Of Death, but I have to tell you the subtle grey on grey Mac screen with the Apple logo replaced by a circle with a slash through it (like a No Smoking logo) and the little endless spinning doohickey is just as dispiriting. Technology hates me. So I'm off to the grand Apple store today to see what they can do, and more importantly if they will do it for free.

In the meantime it's back to internet cafes (you should see the keyboard I'm using... ugh), and so my recently sporadic updates are likely to be even more sporadic in the short term. Hang in there gentle reader, as soon as I bend technology to my will, instead of the other way around, I'll be back!

Alchemy

While I've been sitting at home with my cold, or waiting for the phone to ring with offers of highly paid and fascinating employment, I've been knitting. There is something so therapeutic about the gentle interplay of needles and thread. The rhythmic click and clack, the unwinding of some more yarn from a ball or spindle, the feel of the yarn as it slides over and through your fingers. While I've been staying in and trying to gently shepherd my precious (as in scarce!) financial resources, knitting has provided a useful barrier between me and daytime tv.

Dumb tv is only half as dumb if you're only half watching.

Even better if you hit upon a project that grows like Topsy, instant gratification knitting! Two thin Japanese threads, one a slubby silk and the other a silk wrapped stainless steel filament, held together and knitted on chunkier 5mm needles. 20 stitches wide in simple garter stitch and going like the clappers!



Knit. Turn. Knit. Turn... A long, long skinny scarf with asymmetrical ends to be wound around and around, with a beautiful drape but a curious texture and heft from the stainless steel thread. A scarf that says part art fag and part this wearer knows their Rei Kawakubo from their Yohji Yamamoto. A scarf in haiku.



Not exactly spinning straw into gold but there is some sort of alchemy at work here. Stainless steel into fabric. Who would have thought?

5 Things About Thursday, 2nd of July: Somewhat Whingetastic Edition

• My house is fuh-reezing. It's a cool, sunny, windy day but inside it's got to be something like 5 or more degrees colder. In summer I promise to come back and read this post, when I'm enjoying how cool my house is.
  
• No work this week. Very little work last week on account of my cold. Not working has it's charms but I am so broke I daren't even look at my bank account.
  
• I'm having computer issues, the laptop I was kindly given on long term loan by a friend has taken to shutting down without warning. Frequently. At times, constantly. Time to visit the genius bar at the Apple store methinks.
  
• I'm knitting up the Japanese silk and stainless steel yarns I bought recently into a long, skinny, lacy scarf and I'm loving the results. I'll post a photo once the project has progressed a little further.
  
• My cold has gone. Adios to my second cold of this winter! The other thing that seems to have gone [touch wood] is the restless legs problem I had that stopped me from sleeping properly. After about a year of paying $134 a month for the meds, I weaned myself of them about 6 weeks ago to see if I could do without them. Miracle! I'm still sleeping through the night, with no sign of the problem returning.

Lazy Days

I didn't have any temp work today, so I spent the day pottering around. Doing some knitting. A burger lunch at a nearby cafe. Some coffees and a bit of Oprah on the teev (Until I realised I could not stomach a full episode about preacher Ted Haggard and the fact that he is 'no longer troubled' by homosexual thoughts. Bah. Whatever.). A day of stuff.

I had a job interview late last week at a yarn store in the city. They really liked me and I liked them, but the salary is the killer. You always know you're in trouble when the prospective employer is embarrassed to tell you how much (or rather, how little) the position pays. So they asked me to think about it and today I rang them to see if there was still a casual position on offer. I wouldn't be able to live on what they are paying their full-time employees, but as a second job that I supplement by continuing to do temping, well that could work. So the ball is back in their court.

Tonight I'm off to a wine tasting at a local gay bar. Fun! $10 gets you a tasting glass which you can refill as many times over as you want from the different wines being presented. There's finger food and special offers on the wines being sampled, and each month a different winery presents their wines. Maybe it's a good thing that it looks like I'm not working tomorrow either...

Winter Wonderland

I woke up feeling marginally better today, like my cold was on the retreat. I had a lazy start to the morning, lying in bed with a good homemade coffee and crying my way (manfully) through the last couple of chapters of Jenny Kee's autobiography A Big Life. (Wow, what a life! It's a cracking read.)

By early afternoon I was climbing the wall with cabin fever, so I packed a pocketful of tissues, grabbed my camera and umbrella, and decided to go for a nice long walk. I ended up walking for over 2 hours, mostly around the suburb of Petersham, with one short detour for a quiet afternoon schooner of beer at The Clarence when the rain started pelting down. After 3 days of lolling in bed or on the sofa it was nice to get out and get some fresh air, and finding little treats like a footpath paved in golden ginko leaves and suburban fence topped with gnome sentinels buoyed the spirit as well. A nice afternoon and just what the doctor ordered.

Golden ginko leaves underfoot.


A leaden winter sky with ginko leaves in silhouette, just shortly before the rain started pelting down.



A gorgeous pink and white camelia, a lovely punch of colour on a greay day.


Pink azaleas peeping through a weathered fence.


I was entranced by this fence with it's gnome sentinels.

[Click any of the pics to enbiggen them on Flickr.]

Sickbed Confessional

I have a flu-y cold. I got chills, they're multiplying. Jesus, Mary and Joseph (and all the holy saints of heaven) I am over this Winter! Seriously, one malade after another. One of the women I have been working with came to work for several days with a streaming flu, so I guess it's not that unexpected. Oh and the work I was doing dried up, as we finished the project faster than they expected. Now I have to wait until another site comes online (soon hopefully), or I can pick up some other temp work elsewhere. Meanwhile I'm taking to the sofa for a few days to get over this cold.

The only acceptable cure for flu, and daytime tv, is to watch endless clips on youtube of Lily May Veronica Savage. Truly. I've heard of laughing through the tears, but you can laugh through the snot as well. (Too much?)

My computer is allergic to my blog! Recently, every time I try to view my blog in Firefox or Safari it crashes the browser. I can log into blogger and write posts, but I can't actually view my blog or make a comment. Weird huh? I updated Firefox but it made no difference. Everyone's a critic! Sheesh. "Bugger off, I'm not displaying that shite!" I suspect it's something to do with Flash because anything with a Flash movie on it (and trust me, those are some of my favourite websites... are you with me?) seems to crash it. Youtube excepted, so maybe that blows the theory out of the water. Most blogger blogs seem to be crashing it at the moment as well.

Technology is rebelling against me and I will not stand for it. The last (unreachable) downlight in my bedroom blew last night, so it's strictly the flattering light of the bedside table from this point on. No it's not the bulbs, I risked life and limb to change them only a short while back. I think it's the transformers, or something. It'll have to wait until I have the $$s to get a man in because in my opinion, somethings are best left to the experts. Wiring and all things electricity related being the top of the list.

I had a big shop yesterday and bought a pantry full of healthy food. Last night I made a lentil casserole (yummy!) from this book, and tonight's plan is a tempeh dish with ginger and lime. However, being sick and all that, what I really would rather do is just have a bag of crisps and then maybe order a pizza...