Tuesday, 30 November 2004

Guidelines for Courteous Shoppers
Sometimes you can learn a lot from doing something you thought you'd never do. Like my being a checkout chick. A fresh perspective, you might say. Here are some thoughts that have arisen over the months, and which I've finally put to paper.


Thou shalt try not to hold up all the other customers. This means finishing your shopping before you get to the checkout.

Violence will not make the system work any better, or faster.

"Never miss an opportunity to stand and stare into space like a moron."

No matter what they say, the customer is not always right. Behaving as if this is so, is not an endearing trait.

A little perfume is all right*, but it is not necesary to marinate yourself in it before you come to the supermarket.

* Yes, sometimes a little perfume is infinitely preferable to a strong 'personal' aroma, of whichever flavour.

Thou shalt learn to use thy eyes. When we point, and say something is "just over there"... it is.

Try and imagine, for just a moment, that we might have something else to do than to serve you. This should be easy enough when we are walking away from you at the time(?!?).

AND ABOVE ALL.....

Listen to the nice checkout chick. She knows what she's talking about*!!

* Most of the time. :P

~ posted by Anna @ 7:49 pm
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Monday, 29 November 2004

One feeling that never changes in quality or intensity, no matter how old one grows, is that particular aching hurt one gets in one's throat from trying not to cry. I remember this confusing effect from childhood; much akin to the complete and utter disappointment of a scoop of ice cream falling off its cone. Immediately makes one want to cry... and better not try to hold back the tears. Bah.

~ posted by Anna @ 10:36 pm
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Things that suck
I do
not
have
a single
friend.

Is that not simply ridiculous? And what the hell am I supposed to do about it? I feel like I've forgotten how to make friends, much less be friends, with someone.

Life marginally sucks at the present time. But at least we got a nice house to spend it in.

My small bedroom seems to be filled, apart from a queen-size bed, with crap. I don't even have that many possessions, but even before I started throwing them around the room in a fit of temper this evening, they've just been spreading to fill the space given them. I made a feeble attempt to begin sorting it (in quite the wrong state of mind for the task) and ended up making a half-assed attempt at crying; thinking of how what I've collected as treasures suddenly appears to be junk. And it's so unromantic to have to sort them into piles that fit into large plastic storage boxes with snaplock lids. Quite apart from the upsets that come from looking at much of this stuff - things with memories attached. Memories, or previous states of being, which show up how I've changed, or what I've left behind, in ways I would never wish. Half of me wants to throw these things out the goddamned window - as one does with things that hurt you.

Oh, but this bitching and moaning is doing nobody any good, including you, if in fact there is anybody reading this. I'll cease and desist - for now. It's goddamned ten o'clock already, so I have to go and have a shower and go to bed. Early to work tomorrow - probably a good thing. Somewhat less time there to think about my personal problems. Instead I get to bitch and moan (within my mind anyway) about work-related things! Wheee!

~ posted by Anna @ 10:01 pm
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Thursday, 25 November 2004

Doldrums.
Finally hennaing my hair, thank the goddess. And thanks to Mum who applied it for me. I want to be Egyptian Red again.

Have been attacking the Stinker crossword all day and getting quite far through, I must say. Got my computer running, albeit as a standalone PC, no network/internet. But I can listen to my music while crossing words, which is spiffy.

A substantial part of my time today is being spent trying not to let my premenstrual moods take me over.

SongMeanings.net is back online! Hurrah! Though most of the comments are folks stating the glaringly obvious, or the usual "I love this song!" "I love this artist!"... when the discussions are good, it's great. And sometimes I get help in understanding those weird songs I love, or hate. Lyrics do fascinate me.

~ posted by Anna @ 6:48 pm
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Saturday, 20 November 2004

Tom Petty looks seriously creepy. Ugh.

~ posted by Anna @ 9:05 pm
~


Oh my starlings!
I thought that bird shrieking earlier had sounded unusually loud. I don't know which window it used as an entrance, but enter the house it did. When I realised a few minutes later, and followed the noise, it was huddling behind a bag in my room where the cats were menacing it. It's been put out into the garden, where it will most likely die from shock, and from a bit of bashing about by the cats and I. Had to grab it with the nearest piece of soft clothing to carry it outside, and no matter how much I love animals, I don't know how to treat some of them with due care. Oh well... at least I got it away from the terrorism of the cats.

Also, the music channel is playing the same tape it played this morning. Lazy bastards.

Oh, bloody hell - I'm wasting more time blogging when I should be cooking. o_O

~ posted by Anna @ 5:47 pm
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Roux just keeps sitting on me. Every time I sit down for but a moment, there appears a warm brown cat upon my knee. What am I to do? I must continue cooking! Help!

~ posted by Anna @ 5:34 pm
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Giggle for the morn.


One needs a good LOL once in a while. :P

I'll go back to making my muesli now.


P.S. Yeah, I know that an almond isn't technically a nut, but...

~ posted by Anna @ 10:37 am
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Friday, 19 November 2004

Cream Crackered
Am sitting here nibbling on delicious bits of plain and peppered gouda and sipping(gulping) scrumpy. The music channel is playing, and not giving me much good stuff so far, but at least it fills the silence. It's strange, though perhaps good, being home alone for a couple of days in our new house. A good part of settling in, methinks. All the cats are home, or at least close to home. Side-note: Samwise has a doppelganger not far down the road. I honestly thought it was him for a moment as I was walking home! Weirdness.

I managed to scuttle out the door from work in enough time to catch the bus to take me to the Stokes Valley entrance. I should have paused for half a minute to get change; I annoyed the bus driver by having naught but a $20 note. Oh well. I had change for the next bus, for which I had to wait about half an hour. Don't you just hate bus stops where the seats have an adjacent wall preventing one from seeing the approaching traffic? I had to stand closer to the road to make sure the bus saw someone to stop for. My feet were sore. Anyway - another five minute bus journey, another two dollars gone, and I was at the beginning of my two or so kilometre walk home from Silverstream. Ugghhh... it sucked! It wouldn't have been bad at all, except that, of course, I'd done the usual foolish thing of buying too many groceries to carry comfortably. My hands were sore. And now I'm home, I'm rather pongy - but too tired to have a shower as yet - and I have a few small blisters on the bottoms of my feet. *sigh*

At least I didn't spend too much money on transport today. Which is good because I spent too much on groceries. ^_^ But hey, I have plenty of supplies for making (a) muesli and (b) lasagne on the morrow. I ought to lavish some care on my bicycle as well, since I may be cycling to and from work on Sunday. And I might even get out the mower and cut our very modest pieces of lawn which are becoming very furry. Although this is, thank goddess, such a green and furry suburb in general that it hardly matters if it's that way. :)

I'm going to get another glass of scrumpy now. Smeg! it's past nine o'clock. o_O

~ posted by Anna @ 8:56 pm
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Tuesday, 16 November 2004

'Twas brillig...
...and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

The crescent moon has been cheering me up as much as it can with its cheshire cat grin. Tonight I've drunk some delicious riesling and got upset over Nothing. You know, the usual nothing, which is everyday everything. It builds up over time and never really goes away. One has to be reminded of all this once in a while, or one will bottle it up and not be true to oneself. If I tried to describe the Nothing it would (a) re-depress me and (b) not come out with any semblance of clarity or sanity. So I'll just say nothing. >:P

My vegherd's pie is in the oven, thanks to a lot of help from Mother my friend, since I was being so hopeless about it. I have put on an extremely feel-good movie: Love Actually, which (as you may know) begins with one of the most wonderful film quotes ever. I can't help but be cheered by it. So I'll seeya.


P.S. The funny thing is, I had a perfectly fine day. Blahety.

~ posted by Anna @ 9:06 pm
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Unconscious Mutterings
Ohhh, it's been so long...

Linkety

1. Childhood: memories
   
2. Ransom: note
   
3. Melissa: bees
   
4. Trust me: "I'll be back."
   
5. Report: minority
   
6. Give up: and surrender
   
7. Nightgown: chemise
   
8. Smokes: fires
   
9. Cookies & cream: ice cream
   
10. Gameshow: host
    

~ posted by Anna @ 7:34 am
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Monday, 15 November 2004

Somewhat Sodden
I should have blogged days ago but I've been busy (mostly) enjoying the new house, and its garden, interspersed with flurries of moving things around inside it and shopping for household things. Oh, and going to work, of course.

Several days of brilliant sunshine and thick, muggy heat turned, yesterday afternoon, into fragrant, heavy, yet still muggy rain. Though it has cooled down this morning. I came home yesterday at seven of the clock and decided it was a good time to re-fill my bookcase. So I started at the bottom shelf with the heaviest books, as is usual, only to have to deal with the messy fact that some of them had been pissed upon by some despicable roving feline before we moved. I had prior warning of this, but it was a horrid thing to face up to. I wiped the smelly books with slightly soapy water, and in most cases it wasn't too tragic - and not all of them were contaminated. Only one casualty made me cry, which was a strong pong on the cover of Paul Gallico's The Snow Goose, of which I have a lovely old copy with a textured, pictured, absorbent dustcover. As I was sniffling over it, my sense of smell seemed a bit compromised, but I kept going and got through them, not surprisingly in a severely pissed-off mood - or should I say pissed-on? I gulped some cider and became somewhat drunk and very sleepy: eventually making my evening meal and nodding off halfway through eating it.

What to say about the house? It's not much bigger in the bedrooms or lounge than our previous residence, but they're somehow better arranged, and we have a dining room attached to the kitchen, both of which can be closed off from the lounge when necessary. The bathroom is huge - almost bigger than my bedroom - and pleasantly cool, though a bit retro in design. It's all very private: the next house up the hill sits far enough up a bank that they don't look into our windows, or even into the courtyard thingy that runs behind the house, and the deck at the end which is surrounded by shrubbery and trees, including several large tree ferns :) :). My room is at the back corner of the house, looking out upon the deck and courtyard, where I plan to house many pot plants and hanging baskets. Mum and Dad's room has a view down the valley, over this very treeey suburb. There is a large kashmir(cashmere?) cypress in front of the lounge window which stops people looking into our living room, and next to it is a very large conifer of some kind in front of the dining room window, which is absolutely wonderful to look out upon. Underneath these trees there are ferns, rhododendrons and other shrubs, and along the railing of the steps up to the front door is a vigorous rambling rose. There is a long, sloping driveway alongside us which has parking space and allows easier access to the back (kitchen) door for carrying things in from the car or what-have-you. Outside the back door is the washing line in a sunny corner, and a little herb garden with a colourful honeysuckle on the trellis above. Most importantly: the cats love being here!

Oh, I could go on and on... like I already have... but I've just looked at the clock, and I must go soon and make ready for work, the next step of which is making breakfast. The rain is being thrown in hissing sheets through the air at the house and it will surely smell wonderfully earthy outside. Ahhh, this is good for the soul.

See you later.

~ posted by Anna @ 8:55 am
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Tuesday, 9 November 2004

Mousehunting
Lots of odds and ends, rats and mice, call them what you will, to be rounded up before the movers come tomorrow. Wouldn't be at all surprised if I found some actual dead mice hidden around the house after the furniture is all gone. Last sleep in this house tonight. Hurrah!

As seems inevitable after several days - nay, a whole week - of feeling pretty chipper, I stumbled a bit today, and only just managed to stop myself getting depressed (about nothing in particular, you understand...). But I did stop myself declining, and felt better about it. I used various sources of guidance to find direction during the day. As I found out this morning before work, all three of my main biorhythms are very slanty; physical going down, mental and emotional going up. Not a surprise. And during the day when I really needed it, the Medicine Cards gave me the instruction to 'Use time and energy properly, waste nothing on negativity, gather the rewards of stewardship.' Makes sense at this time.

Have been naughty with regards to sugar today. A bottle o' energy drink - not for energy, since it doesn't do anything for me, but because they're yummy; a sour lemon sweetie, sneakily eaten while at my checkout (like everybody was doing!); and last but not least, some Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans Gourmet Jelly Beans. I got some the other day to save for Christmas (wee gifts from the cats, of course), but I had to do a quality check beforehand, didn't I? And they're very good. Well, so far only one has been disgusting... Buttered Popcorn. Yurgh!!

Gonna go tidy now. Either my website, or my room, or some of both. Seeya.

~ posted by Anna @ 5:33 pm
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Thursday, 4 November 2004

In the wee hours
I have been swept up for much of an evening in costumery websites, in all their varied forms and offshoots. Truly a feast for the eyes, which become rather more green than usual.

As usual, there are several crap pop songs vying for attention in my head, from the marvellous and omnipresent Supermarket Music Collection; chosen by the cheapest and most manipulative of local demons. Songs that stick in one's head and yet do not seem to exist when one goes in search of their lyrics, merely to know what the hell they are singing, to annoy one so. But that is the sad nature of pop music: is consists mainly of upbeat choruses with inane lyrics of a glue-like consistency, often sung with just too little clarity to be understood, and without need to be. And it's especially good at using false sentiment and cheap poetic devices to turn good things, things people love, into crap.

*sigh* I'll get back in my box now. Or rather my bed. But not before I sneak the last of my chocolate ice cream. (Ice cream must be eaten in the middle of the night, for viceful foods must be sneaked in order to be fully enjoyed.)

And here's my darling Roux come to share his purr with me again; telling me in a forceful manner that it's Bedtime.

~ posted by Anna @ 1:36 am
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Tuesday, 2 November 2004

Tir's Day
It is sunny and warm, and I am home to enjoy it. I may do some cooking, if I can think of something interesting, or I may fiddle around with my website some more. Mother has gone out to a talk by Terry Pratchett; meanwhile Dad is suffering through a maths exam at university. I feel that I'm the lucky one with regards to afternoon activities today.

Another month in which I seem to have escaped a bad bout of period cramps whilst at work. Quite a relief. And today was one of those shifts with barely anything to do except stand at our checkouts, because there was no bugger around. But hey, if they pay us to stand around, why not? And my mood remained spiffy enough all day. Which is not always the case, especially at that time of the month. :P

Tomorrow I ought to go and get my motorcycle learner's license. And some Egyptian Red henna. (Which reminds me - damn! - I should have got them to hold some henna for me, since it's so popular. Hmmmmm. Wonder if it'll be there.)

Odd gaps are appearing around the house where piles of stuff have been removed and driven to the new house. I bet it looks even stranger at the other end... piles of random household junk sitting in the middle of otherwise empty rooms... Oh, I can't wait to start filling the back courtyardy place with a potted garden! Yet another thing on which to waste money that I should be saving. Muahahaha!

Now I guess I'll find something else to do. I'll start by getting out of this silly uniform. Bye for now.

~ posted by Anna @ 5:28 pm
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Monday, 1 November 2004

It's about blooming time!
New Things:

We shall soon move to a spiffier house in Pinehaven. Some very intensely wonderful loveable things about it. I shall post photos in due course.

We have a new (smaller) fridge and a monstrous toaster, which specialises in crumpets.

Next week I shall sit my test for my motorcycle license and, uh, well, get said license. And then I'll be allowed to -urk- drive in traffic. -gasp-

Of course, that ought not to be news, as I could'a should'a got my license several months ago. But - nothing new here - I have been procrastinating my arse off.

Old Things:

Work is the same as ever, though perhaps with slight, gradual improvements of skill and communication with co-workers. Blah.

For numerous months now (TOO MANY damn it!!) I have not been suffuciently inspired to write any poems. Presently if I want to maintain my status as a poet, however anonymous and amateur, I must at least force myself to turn out a few spiffy haiku.... Or something.... Anything. :(

Current Things:

I am slurping vodka-and-blackcurrant. I am re-picking the photos that will grace that section of Earthenwords. I seriously need to (a) improve my diet and (b) exercise. I love spring. I love pentagrams and wear them whenever I can (which is not at work). I want more dangly earrings. I have my period, damn it. I must pee.

Excuse me.

~ posted by Anna @ 8:50 pm
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