Anna's Adventures: November 2005

google me!

I had a huge bitch about work in a previous entry, and my mummy warned me to be careful what I write cos you never know who's reading it!

Last week I googled some of my co-workers' names to see what came up (nothing -BORING!). Let's hope people at work don't have as much free time as I do! But just in case, I went back and edited (read, 'culled'!) my words into a vague social commentary on workplace boredom.

news flash!

I made mini pizzas for dinner, and according to a reliable source* my garlic breath is "so bad it's impressive."

*Mase

my new shoes

These are the shoes I wore to the Christmas party last Saturday.

Buckle up, boys!

The kids decide to get in on the fun, but it turns out Gloomy (left) is a bit of a fatty - had to squeeze those thighs in!

Bob-sled team

book worm

I'm accidentally reading 4 books at the moment.
1. Matthew Flinders' Cat by Bryce Courtenay is a big hardcover, so I read that at home at night. It's about a homeless drunk who tells the story of life on board Australian explorer Flinders' ship through the eyes of his cat.
2.The second book is a smaller paperback, We of the Never Never by Mrs Aenus Gunn, that I read on the train going to work. It's a true story written by a woman who moved to the Australian outback with her husband in the early 1900s to run a property. I've just started it, but it's about the hardships of life, especially for women, in the outback, and her relationship with the local Aborigines. I find even the fact that she calls herself Mrs *husband's name* (her name is Jeannie) to be telling of the times.
3. I couldn't find that book last week, so I took another book to work - Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now, a kind of self-help book by psychiatrist Gordon Livingston. After reading the blurb I was really looking forward to this book, but alas, I'm disappointed! There's something strange about his train of thought - half way through a paragraph I'm suddenly reading something totally incongruous/unrelated to the previous sentence and I'm confused! When did he change the topic? Why did he change the topic?! So far it's not proving any benefit to me psychiatrically.
4. Lucky last, again this morning I couldn't find either of my train books, so I started yet another one - An Anzac's Story by Roy Kyle, a private in WWI.

If I found all 3 train books tomorrow, I'd probably take We of the Never Never because it's the one I've made the biggest dent into.

tori aburakoji??

I got excited when I found this website with all cool quizes, like 'What language should you learn?', 'What mixed drink are you?' etc. I tried out 'What's your Japanese name?', where you input your real name and your gender, and it outputs your Japanese name. Cool right! BUT I tried it a few times and got a different answer each time. So what's the point then??

Your Japanese Name Is...

Tori Aburakoji

What's" your Japanese Name?

...One of the many names I could be known by had I been born Nihonjin.

Also, I thought I'd trick the computer by putting in my Japanese friend's already-Japanese name! Satomi, did you know that your Japanese name should actually be Yumi Konjo??!

P.S. Is "Tori Aburakoji" even a frickin' name?? "Bird Fat-koji"???

blog-whinge post script

You'll all be happy to hear that I made it to the Sass & Bide sale on Friday and bought a cool pair of grey 3/4 cords.

masquerade

John Holland Christmas Party

Last night Mason took me to his work Christmas party. It was a masquerade ball but we were slack and didn't have time to find a mask. I had more important things to worry about like FOOTWEAR! I found a killer pair of heels at the last minute. We weren't the only ones there sans mask, although plenty of other people did go to a lot of effort with their great creations. The room at City Hall was decorated with beautiful soft, coloured lights and made a lovely impression upon entry. I got to meet most of Mason's co-workers who I hear so many stories about! He's lucky to work with people he gets along with so well.

Us

Anna, Mase, Warren & Bill

Warren received an award for working at the company for 35 years. Thirty-five!!

Crazy kids.

I decided to spoil myself and get my hair done. It was rock solid with hairspray! It took about 5 minutes to pull out the FORTY hair pins (just counted 'em) holding my hair up.

the happy reel - in defiance of today's earlier posts

I found daikon,

my trustworthy Japanese vegetable-friend of 2 years,

in a local fruit & veg shop!

The real deal-

'harvesting' daikon in a field near my house in Japan.

Pink coats & big mascara!

Pucca says,

Havaniceday!

when the universe conspires against you

I'm really making a big deal out of nothing here, but I was very disappointed not to be able to make it to the Sass & Bide sale in City Hall tonight. After having such a crappo day doing things I have no interest in, I wanted to do something fun that I like doing. I was willing to brave the rain and the late hour, and even a line-up to get in the door! But alas, I couldn't find a shopping partner and it just wouldn't have been the same on my own.

I feel that, when a homebody like myself finally feels motivated and excited about going out somewhere, the universe should conspire to help you, author Paulo Coehlo's The Alchemist-style!

Bah, humbug.

[Note: The poo-brown text colour of this blog was carefully selected to match the mood in which it was written.]

advice to the young 'uns

(This entry has been majorly culled in the interest of job security.)

I think a lot of people feel bored at work once they join the real world after graduating from university. I feel like we're too blase about studying at uni - it's just what you do after high school, without thinking about what job it will ultimately lead to. That's why I have this piece of advice for any young 'uns out there:

If it's boring when you're studying it at university, it's going to be boring when you're living it 9 to 5!!

smile, BI-ATCH!

I work in a fairly large office these days, and recently I've become aware that a large-office dilema is walk-by greetings. I walk past about 20 people at their desks every time I go to the photocopier (or more likely, the tea room!) and I just don't know what the protocol is for mass-employee greetings. Do you greet every person you walk past? Is one greeting sufficient for a cluster of desks? Or is it accepted that after about the first 5 people it's safe to just give the quasi-smile?

I'm actually all for greeting every single person I walk past, alternating between verbal greetings and smiles (I'm not quite down with butt-slaps yet). But I notice that a lot of other people in the office think it's cool to IGNORE ME!!

The trend seems to be that greetings die down around mid-morning and kick in again mid-afternoon a couple of hours before the end of the day. Did I miss this memo? Or is it just an unwritten law of the large office?

At work we use Australian Standards as a guide for engineering practices. I think there should be a set of standards for large-office greetings. These standards should include Limit State Design Capacities of a Mid-morning Greeting, Recommended Deformation Limits for Cracking a Smile, Long-term Effects of Short-term Eye Contact*, and Ultimate Stress Design for Mondays.

*by Mase

naturific sunday

Mase and I went to South Bank today. It's so ridiculous getting a park there. We had to drive around for ages until we found one near Kangaroo Point. At least we had a nice scenic walk along the river to South Bank! We took heaps of photos on the way.