rachelesque

I got a job that I really wanted working in a genuinely lovely sandwich shop/cafe in the city centre.

Working part-time with people for now, getting the back bit to myself eventually during shifts so I can be territorial about MY bar again and reprimanding people who make a mess of it and don't clean up while still having people around to chat to.

But yeah, proper coffee machine, seemingly lovely workmates, meeting and chatting with the regulars, great food that it's actually a pleasure to serve, free food and drinks during/after shifts and I can hold my head a bit higher because I AM EMPLOYABLE IN A RECESSION HELL YEAH!!!

happy day :)

I've discovered a pattern to my moods!

Finally!

Around the 8th of the month, I tend to be very irritable and excitable. This is potentially down to PMT affecting me. Go re-read previous entries - the day of the month gets a bit later the further you go back as you lose a day or two (28 days rather than calendar months) but there seems to be some vague cycle to it.

I understand myself better every day.

I had a happy weekend and a fairly happy Monday up until I started getting tired (pre-8am starts are not what I'm used to these days).

Interview yesterday, still can't work out whether I seemed enthusiastic, inquiring and eager in the good way or hypomanic, immature and unprofessional in the bad way. It entirely depends on my mood when I think about the interview. I'll know by the end of the week, if nothing else joking that the male, old enough to be grey, interviewer should give bellydancing a shot will make me memorable when compared to the other 39 or so candidates. I don't know if it was natural competitiveness or the thought of a 14k salary but I REALLY wanted the job that morning.

Bought some gardening books and am thinking of digging up the garden (or at least a small part of it) and planting the herb garden I have been promising myself for years. If I can fit a flat area for some seating and a BBQ at the end of the garden then even better. Was going to start clearing today but it is absolutely pissing it down outside. i need a spade and a wheelbarrow then i can take over the garden/world ^^

am in regular contact with 2 uncles on my dad's side now which is 2 more than the start of the year. would like to get all 4 brothers to my wedding - they've only all met up once or twice (literally) in the last 40 years. that would make it a special day regardless of how the ceremony went :)

considered cheesy suggestions:
**you complete me
**i am yours
**rampant monkey sex
**don't give up
**i'm not afraid
**can't touch this

final answer:
**everything is right.

So a feminist is someone who wants to fight inequality against women... bear with me...

I've gotten rather involved in the rights of people with mental illness and fighting the stigma that surrounds disability. Just online discussions but if it comes up in conversation then I will challenge what people say, I'll share relevant links and point out that sometimes I do feel like I am labeled and judged before I even walk into an interview.

So does that officially make me a mentalist?

I like this one.

It's a toss up between Kitty Forman (that 70s show) and Sandra Bennett (heroes) who continually surprised me to the point where I was cheering for team Sandra when I watched it.

Kitty Forman is exactly what I wanted to be like one day when I was still planning on being a nurse. The way she loves her husband, teases her family and apparently comes out of her shell and draws rude pictures of her boss at work. She lets the kids smoke in the basement and just draws the line perfectly between Mum and friend.

I am rather fond of her. I might have to rewatch that 70s show :)

In an attempt to stop being a one-track record about being ill, here's the rest of it :)

Things that are awesome and wedding related:

-Megan is going to be my maid of honour :D (I didn't realise how cool this was until she said yes then I pretty much screamed)
-Mark has admitted a preference to Japan for our honeymoon with Tokyo for him and a bit of time in rural Japan for me. That was remarkably easy but I still haven't given up on a few days in Tokyo then swinging to Thailand or the Maldives or Vietnam.
-Wai Ching Dresses and here
-Mark actually talking about the wedding and things like guest lists and what he would prefer (a shock if there ever was one - he actually has thought about this before :P)
-Engagement cards (hey, for some reason I like them more than birthday cards)

Things that are awesome and not wedding related:
-Fable 2
-90s music
-everyone who came to the party and didn't give me too hard a time afterwards for being about ten sheets to the wind (this may also be wedding related)
-I remembered Mother's Day in advance
-rediscovering keen for education and work
-low fat yoghurt and skinny cow hot chocolate

Sylar now responds to:

-Fatso
-Cat
-Twinkletoes
-Stupid

I keep telling myself it's just the tone of voice, not the amount of abuse I give him...

I am an idiot. I didn't think of steam cleaning my sinuses before. I did it this morning and headache was gone in about 2 minutes. There I am thinning my blood with even more medication and all I needed was a good old fashioned remedy. Hell, I didn't even have to do anything with a saline solution (hate hate hate).

Party on Saturday. I'm equal parts nervous and excited, haven't thrown a party since my 21st (parties at the marquee not included as that was work).

Benefits have finally got their asses into gear after 6 months, have apologised because it was sat on a member of staff's desk for 6 months with her only updates to it being every time she spoke to us she would make a note on the file that she had told us she was taking a look at it. Then doing nothing about it. The fact they have apologised makes me want to sue them for bank fees and the like. But we're getting back payment since the start of September!

!!!

Then the John Lewis bonus is coming at the end of the month.

!!!

Then I will hopefully be working by the end of the month after so I will have my first paycheck.

!!!

Okay, the last one is wishful thinking.

BUT OMGMONEYTOSPENDONCRAPIDONTNEED!!! At least some of it might have to go on MAC's new hello kitty stuff, it's only out for a month, the colours are a tad brighter than I usually like but damn the packaging is cute. And I need to broaden my range. The brushes seemed a bit hard when I looked at them and I love my brushes but the lipglass or palettes are super cute and the promo picture is also very lolita - semi-decent link

Ah yeah, and there's a moderately disturbing video - here

im not exactly a girly girl but I can make exceptions. that shit is super cute.

So.

I was going to try and make a post like this on April Fool's day just to leave people wondering but that involves keeping secrets. Here's hoping I can still do that in the unlikely event I get knocked up.

Rather than doing the one line half-serious post people expect when I announce big news, here's a proper one.

Mark and me have decided getting a cat wasn't a big enough step. We've decided to get married as well. This is beyond awesome; I've loved him for years, he's been by my side through sickness and health, through several moves and we've worked through a couple of serious arguments and still come out together. Despite all this, he's never been complacent and he still puts in the effort to go out of his way to make me happy and surprise me.

Neither of us are that traditional but we want to get married, something just clicked 6 months ago and it was not just acceptable, but a good idea. Now our families know, they all send their blessings and I actually can't wait for them to meet each other.

He fancies September, I was thinking next Summer because I like outdoors and don't want to have to go out in the rain to smoke and ruin my dress. I'm amazed at how big a girl I am about all this, I want over the top co-ordinated table decorations and lots of pretty matching details. I'm really feeling my tomboyness at the moment - it doesn't feel like I have enough female friends to coo over dresses with and surprisingly most of the guys aren't that interested in whether it's acceptable to get married in gold if it's autumn. Also, I have an idea of who I want to be my maid of honour but we haven't been that close for years. It's still all a collage of colours and ideas (with more white than usual!)

I want to go to Vietnam or Thailand on the honeymoon, I have all sorts of big ideas still.

We will have a big, messy party here in a few weeks - got a house inspection at the end of the month so it can wait until after that.

Currently up to my ears in virus again (gogo parite). I cleared it a week ago but it's screwed up so many things (including the uninstall files and anything that verifies itself) that reformatting might be the only way to make the .net framework well... uninstall/install or repair itself. I'm out of other ideas now.

I hate computers.

Now I have to find driver discs or pre-emptively download drivers before I flatten the drive. I can't even remember what graphics card I have in here at the moment.

In other news, was woken up at 6am today by Mark who was in immense amounts of pain. Ended up calling nhs direct and running around getting painkillers and hot water before I was allowed to go back to sleep.

Every smoke I've rolled for the last 12 hours seems to have serious cherry/sideburn problems. I've even lost my ability to roll cigarettes apparently.

I was really grumpy then Sylar came and was playing with the chair arm and being so cute and fluffy that I had to smile. Now he's trying to pounce on Mark's bad foot so I'm going to go rescue him :)

Why is it that I am always up bright and early on patch day when I want to play WoW?

Latest smoking room question: If Christians believe all events are an act of God and aren't allowed to gamble then why do they have to buy insurance that doesn't cover vs. acts of God and on one level is gambling. Is insurance technically just something extra (fanatical) Christians have to pay to drive because they aren't allowed to claim?

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good week or so.

Potential things to buy with christmas money:

-an ipod (listening to the radio through my phone is getting old)
-new ink
-an hdtv (okay, money towards it)
-hookers and gak
-random music that I think is awesome and everyone else hates (e.g. freezepop)

Things I will actually end up spending christmas money on:

-rent
-bills
-interview clothes
-cat toys for an already spoilt feline

I'm still happy to be grown up.

Oh God, it feels like forever since I wrote here. It's a bit overwhelming to write here again, so much has happened.

So we'll just forget most of the last 8 months and go to today. Maybe I'll get around to giving a brief history of the last year, but I doubt anyone really cares. I'll still forget the important bits and then pull you up for any social faux pas committed.

Where am I today?

I'm sitting in a padded leather chair that we picked up second hand across the road, I'm rolling a smoke, there is a kitten sleeping on the sofa, I need to go and get some tea so I can take some of the regular medication I now have to take and will probably be prescribed indefinitely. Shibz is at roleplay, I was feeling a bit shivery so I stayed home to rest and have a long bath where I considered kobold abjurers (initiate of the seventhfold veil, maybe a couple of levels in that shiny glyph specialist class... geometer?).

My hair was pink again for a long time, now it's cinnamonny. Going to make it a bit darker and shorter, decided to play with different cuts rather than colour for a while.

I did my time hardcore raiding, proved I could pull my weight in one of the top 100 guilds in the world and started to lose my real life. Now I am retired and pop on to do the odd quest. Also, I think deathknights are cool. I realise this makes me a fangirl, it shocked me too.

I'd be lying if I said I had managed to keep up with my friends page, I have tried to read it though (when it isn't overwhelming) and I would say I care but am too image conscious and don't want to appear like a bloody hippy (apologies Ree if your work language filter disapproves of the word 'bloody').

( Meet Sylar (big pics under cut) )

i've got a job.

i was at work for 9 hours today.

its not that bad really, im not even that tired considering i havent really worked this year... i might even go as far as to say i enjoyed it.

it's just such a surreal concept still.

“When it’s after 2am, just go to bed. Because the decisions you make after 2am are the wrong decisions.”
- Ted, from How I Met Your Mother

so very, very, very true. i need to write it on a post it note or something.

however, they are often the stupid decisions that lead to the best experiences ;)

So... John Lewis is opening up a new espresso bar. They had 2 full time barrista positions.

We all know where this is going right.

:D

Shibz starts full time in 10 days.

...so very happy and relieved and proud right now...

just me to find work then :)

“In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country. In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who’s told you that we have this.”

- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking at Columbia University in NYC on Monday

*snigger*

i have to get 'in iran we do not have this phenomenon' into everyday conversation :D

Ya, for the WoWers among you, we have Void Reaver down (for like 3 weeks now) and Alar into phase 2. Is exciting.

Some open mic nights, some hanging out with friends and we seem to be keeping the house tidier than any other place we've lived in (although it may just seem that way because of all the storage space).

( not safe for work, not safe for brain )

went to the york to see polly play a set. turned out when she said it started at 8ish, she was playing first. at 8ish. so we missed her playing and ended up sitting in a traditional pub listening to free live music. it was fantastic. i wasnt drinking but i didnt notice.

local singers are really talented and free. need to get to more open mic nights. added bonus that there's something about people with talent performing that makes them instantly more attractive. i think its a mental state left over from my teenage years.

smoking ban doesnt bother me. its kinda nice to talk to complete strangers outside in a moment of quietness sitting on a fire escape. you know you have something in common :)

she's doing the norwich tour this week (spencers, city gates) but due to lack of funds, going to hold off 'til thursday when we'll be at the wildman. that's the plan anyway.