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For a change

Sep 5, 2008 | Friends and Family, Life at Home, Out and About, Personal, Work

Mmk, so it’s Friday.

TGIF?

Yes, for a change 🙂

It’s actually been a pretty good week on the whole and I feel like things are coming together a bit for me. I can look back on the last 7 days and see progress – both personal and business progress – I feel like I’m getting somewhere!!

Nothing too earth-shattering, but the wheels, they are a-turning …

Firstly, I just have to tell you how enormously proud of Son#1 I am. Oh wow, my boytjie is handling so well. His attitude and behaviour is inspiring!! He’s taking responsibility for his life, for his own growth and for his own safety. He’s 100% committed to being clean and stable and he is acknowledging where his danger zones are and what he needs to do to avoid them. That’s huge! It means a complete turn around from his old habits and lifestyle and he’s making it happen. I’m looking at what he’s doing to make the required changes in his life and I am immersed in love, admiration and respect for him. He’s SO getting his shit together!

And my baby, Son#2 is cooking with gas dude! Yeowza but that child is blossoming 😀 I’m thrilled to see him coming out of his shell at last. Skate boarding has been his ticket to a new life. Seriously, he’s so passionate about it and he’s made so many new friends because of it that his confidence levels are *soaring*. I’m so happy for him.

JOC, my new PA, is ROCKING!! Sheesh … this young lady is taking SUCH a load off my shoulders. Honestly, if you are even toying with the idea of getting a PA then take it from me – the investment is sooooo worth it. She is totally taking care of all the shit that I seriously don’t have time for. It’s freed up so much of my time and energy and I now feel that I can focus on the things that REALLY need my attention, and the stuff I WANT to do.

One of the things she did for me this last week was sort out my fuxored Xbox!! And not only did she organize a console swap, *somehow* she managed to get them to give me an ENTIRE new system that came bundled with 2 wireless controllers and 4 games! Yussee … I’m such a lucky brat hehe. I have 2 of the games already, but I can just trade those. My 2 new games are Gears of War and Mass Effect … pretty cool hey? And yes, I kept my old drive so I haven’t lost anything 🙂

Now that I have more free time, I’m getting my teeth into the business again, sorting out strategies to take us forward and it’s all VERY exciting! And I’m planning to renovate the office too. Long overdue – the place looks like a shit hole. I have a vision for it, I just need to document it, sketch it out and see what the builder has to say. He’s coming on Tuesday to have a look and quote on the job. Logistically, it’s going to be a nightmare – we’ll have to all move inside the house while it happens which is not going to be fun. Physically moving everything, finding space and sorting out all the phone and network cabling is going to be a huge challenge … BUT, it *must* be done – that’s one very sick office out there and I want my people to work in an inspiring environment. JOC and my mom (who works for me too) are going to climb in and help out on that one.

Then there’s my training and diet. I finally took the plunge and dived into Operation Yellow Bikini! It’s not going too badly, although I must confess to not training as much or as hard as I would like to do. I think I’m going to have to get in touch with my Personal Torturer at the gym next week and setup some appointments. Then I’m *forced* to go and train my butt off (no pun intended). The good news though is that my eating has improved drastically! Yes, I still snack at night, but I’ve stocked up on biltong, nuts and carrots instead of raiding the “cookie jar”. I’ve not drunk any coke since Sunday either, which is brilliant! I’m sticking to my water, tea and the occasional glass of fruit juice. And in just 5 days I’ve managed to shed a centimeter or two. YAYNESS!

And this weekend is my weekend “off” – it’s the X’s turn to look after the boys. I didn’t have any plans and I wasn’t really looking forward to wasting my weekend. I could have just worked or studied I suppose, but that’s not really my idea of maximizing my free time. I want to get a life remember? So yeah, my bad, I didn’t arrange any social activities. But then, just as I thought it was all going to be terribly dull, Sir G suggested that we go out for some drinks tonight. A friend of his has recently opened a place in Rondebosch so we’re going to make a turn there 🙂 And THEN, he surprised the hell out of me … he has organized a trip to … wait for it … a SPA …

Oh my hat, he’s booked me in for a deep tissue massage tomorrow!!!! How ridiculously sweet is that? He says I can just sleep, or read or do *whatever* for one whole day – no worries, no stress, no distractions, nothing. I’m looking forward to that so much *sigh* … again, I am SUCH a lucky brat!

Sheesh … TGIF 😀

xxx

PMS alert

Jun 21, 2008 | Personal

Thank goodness!! No wonder I’ve been feeling so ridiculously stressed and irritable recently …

I really should keep better track of these things.

But what a relief to once again know that I have not mutated into The Crazy Old Cat Lady Down The Road That Everyone Avoids! (Yet, hehehe)

Today I feel good – strong and positive and NO HEADACHE FOR ONCE – and ready to dive into some work and domestic chores that I’ve been avoiding … Queen of Procrastination, remember =)

And this afternoon I’m going to take a trip to Cavendish Square. I feel like a bit of retail therapy so I’m going to spend my gambling winnings. Think I’ll pop into Look & Listen and see if they have any new music or Xbox games worth buying.

Later xx

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”
– Carl Bard

Xbox Live in SA?

May 14, 2008 | Xbox 360

I’ve just read that the next Live update is going to happen soon, although no-one knows quite when. According to Eurogamer.net, details of the update have allegedly been leaked and although most of the update features will include unimportant stuff, there are one or two interesting developments. For me, the most significant one reads: “New payment methods for international users.”

OMG!! Are we FINALLY going to be able to pay for Live access and points directly through our consoles? I’m holding fingers and toes that this is true, that it’s going to become a reality at last. I know we don’t have proper broadband here and this is the reason for Microsoft not supporting Xbox Live in South Africa, but really! At least let us pay for access and buy points directly, and in our own curreny. Having to pretend I live in the UK so I can have access to Xbox Live is a pain. Not being able to buy points has also been a headache, although I’ve recently started using www.gamepointsnow.com as they now accept credit cards online. It’s not ideal – I have to go through a bit of a lengthy process to actually get the points into my Live account, but at least it works. However, how awesome would it be to bypass all that time-consuming nonsense and be able to do it directly from my console?!

Gosh, I hope this really happens for us here in South Africa.

Bits ‘n pieces

Mar 20, 2008 | Medical, Shopping, Work, Xbox 360

Yesterday was an odd day. It started off with half my team getting stuck in the most horrendous traffic jam, spending hours on the road trying to get to work and not arriving till lunchtime. Apparently a truck on one of the highways overturned and fell onto a car, killing the 2 female occupants. What a shocking reminder of how quickly our lives can end hey? There you are, just driving into work one morning and in the blink of an eye, you’re dead. No warning, no control, no future, your life is just over … Anyway, half the city was gridlocked after that while they tried to move a crane in to lift the load off the car and remove the bodies from the wreck. Oh boy, my team was NOT in a very good mood when they eventually arrived. Who can blame them?

My mouth is still sore from my recent dental trauma and I can’t chew anything properly so breakfast was just a protein shake yesterday, after which I went to gym and nearly passed out from not having eaten enough! I made it through the hour though, just, and then picked up a smoothie with my Kauai voucher. I managed to get through loads of work yesterday and even got to do some designing again, which was a nice change =) Dinner was a peanut butter sandwich on really squishy white bread. I can’t put ANY pressure on the tooth that had the root canal treatment, so it took me ages to delicately chew my through that sarmie.

I played some poker on my Xbox 360, but didn’t do very well at all. This new game is much tougher than the last edition and it’s really hard to win (I keep getting the worst cards?!) They’ve also included some versions of the game that I dont know anything about (what’s Omaha?) so I’m stuck in those parts which is frustrating. I’ll have to Google the game names and see what I can learn. I think I’m going to try Tombraider tonight – I got the anniversary edition a while ago (an impulse splurge)  and I haven’t played it yet, been too occupied with LOST Via Domus, which I have now finished – was great fun (when the dreaded black smoke didn’t nail me!), but far too short.

Today has been good so far. Despite not having slept too well, I’ve been feeling quite strong for a change. I got through quite a bit of work this morning and I even managed to run around and do some errands I’ve been putting off for a while – boring stuff like collecting my new credit card from the bank and paying some bills. The shopping centre was like a total mad house though! Sheesh, with Easter Weekend coming up, people are shopping like the shops will never open again, it’s crazy! Why do they do that? Every year it’s the same thing and yet the shops are open on Saturday! I have to go out again just now and brave the masses – running out of food and now that the boys are on school holidays, I need a whole lot more stuff to feed them. Wish me luck …