Last Night...

I was asked by someone, last night, whether I was proud of my work on this blog.  Honestly, yes I am.  I have put so much of myself into these pages.  Many entries have been the cathartic release that I needed to come to terms with things that messed with my bliss.   

I have learned that holding things in or pretending feelings will go away in time, never works.  You have to act.  Inaction is damaging to the soul.  So stand up and say, "Yes, this situation sucks! But, I am going to make a good plan to fix it".  Then you make good, own it and do it.  You will be forgiven, so long as you are genuinely working to fix things.

I believe that I have led a good an honorable life.  I am not ashamed of anything in my past, it has made me who I am. I am hopeful for the future.  I have been blessed with parents who have been fantastic role models, a husband that is an honest example of goodness (with a little yummy sexiness mixed in - that you don't really need to know about).  My children are beautiful, kind, good students and have great values that will help them to become wonderful contributors as adults (we just have to survive their teens 8D)

I walk with my head held high and and know that I am doing the very best I can, every single day.  Some days are ridiculously successful, others not, I accept that.  The best way to rise up in peoples estimation, is to rise up and take action.  Be proud of yourself and who you are.  Hopefully then, the mark you leave on the world will be a smiley face.

Writing Courses and Full Time Work...

My first week of official full time is almost over, I must say that I am feeling rather proud of myself.  I have a revised job description that includes the Faculty newsletter, a new website project and I have also finished the first Module of my course.  I have still managed to get to both my girls' netball games and can still find time to read and relax. I am extremely grateful to my family for their support with all of this, together we are a mighty unit.

(Please take a moment to look at my poetry page - there has been an update there too, Rebirth was part of my first Module submission.  The requirement was to write poetry or prose that covered the 5 senses).

Things are going well and despite the chill of a wet winter that is digging in down here in New Zealand, I am feeling hopeful and even optimistic for the first time in a long time. 

The greatest challenge is to get out of bed at 6:30am when it is a black as night and make coffee, once that sweet manna has slowly permeated my senses I can progress to actually putting on clothes.  I am out the door by 07h15, okay 07h20(ish) and on the road.  I arrive at work about 07h50 and after the inevitable dash in the rain I have my next caffeine fix.  How does anyone manage without coffee?  By 08h00am I am ready to go, go go!  Before I know it is lunch time and then there is the wee push to get to 4pm.  I dash through the rain once again and begin the drive home. All in all not a bad working week. 

Pity that we now have to get up just as early on Saturday's for Megan's netball games - at 8am in  Northcote!  Worse still is the fact that her OTT coaches want them to be there 40 minutes before the game for warm up; followed by an hour match; followed by "warm down".  Warm down?  How do you warm down, surely it should be cool down and surely that could be done on the walk back to the car?

Grrrrrr OTT indeed, but that is not where it ends. After "warm down" they have a feedback discussion about how the game went, including individual comments for each player (yes lovely but I am tired and hungry) then they present 2 awards, Player of the Day (based on Stats); and Best Effort. This is all fair and reasonable until you hear the next part of the trauma that has become my weekends.  They have a 2 hour team practice on every Sunday from 2pm to 4pm!  Why, oh why can they not have the feedback session then? 

Do I sound pathetic and ungrateful or justified?  

To be fair you should to understand that in NZ all sport is done outside of school, essentially as sport clubs.  The coaches and team managers are volunteers that receive no payment for their efforts.  Games are almost always after hours so that parents can support their children.  Netball is almost as highly regarded here as rugby, even boys and men can play, although not many do.  So, we simply sigh and co-operate and try our best to seem grateful but I still think that 5 hours out of my weekend for netball is a big ask. 

I should mention that Jenna also has netball practice on a Sunday, hers is from 3pm to 4h30pm, her matches are on a Thursday afternoon/evening also a Northcote netball club.  Thankfully AUT is about 1km from there and so on a Thursday I can just go straight there from work.

In the famous words of Forrest Gump,"that is all I have to say about that".

Time flies....

Wow this month has flown by!

I miss my family and friends in SA.  I miss you all!  Your lives are passing by without my direct involvement but rest assured, you are always in my heart.  I do miss you!  I miss people and places and smiling faces.  The best way to combat this longing is by staying in touch!  Thank goodness for Facebook, this is how I cope - how I still feel like I know you.  So, keep in touch.  Nobody really cares what you had for dinner, unless it is really unusual, but post the significant stuff – stuff that I would know if I was still home.  

I found a great quote that I wanted to share with you all.  “When I was a kid, I wanted to be older, this sh1t was NOT what I expected!”  

Does this mean that it is time for me to complain about how things are beginning to sag...  (Mmm, perhaps not just yet)!  I will say that there are certainly some big changes coming up for me this May.  I have not worked full-time since 2000 and am now finally going to return to full time work.  This only adds another 1.5 hours to my day but will still be an adjustment for all concerned.  It's not all bad though, I will be bringing home a bit more bacon anyway (yay).

Since my last post there have been a number of significant dates, birthdays (Brett, Tyler and Biella) and our wedding anniversary, 17 years of wedded bliss.  I was almost 16 when we started dating, that is over 22 years together which in today’s world is amazing.  What I find the most impressive is that we are still so ridiculously happy together.   I know, I know, consider the crowing over. We are aiming for Fiji for our 20^th in 2015.  (Thank you for your patience, hahaha).

I will be posting another tale from the cryptic shortly :-)