Chinese Notes

Chinese Notes

Originally uploaded by Sams76.

I wanted to post this on Friday, but I was too tired. Saturday, I was too tired, too busy and too disorganised. Sunday, I couldn’t find the cable and then when I took the photos, the batteries on my camera died!

I found other batteries. They died. I found others. They died. I eventually got the originals charged and managed to upload all 251 photos to my laptop. And after about an hour, the photos finally finished loading.

Anyway. What’s this photo about?

On Friday, I went out to lunch with Glen. I bought some jumpers. They were nice jumpers. They were cheap jumpers. They were $8 each! Bargain!

I walked back to work and decided to dump my purchased into the back of the bike. As I approached, something wasn’t quite right and as I got closer, I realised that there was something sitting on my dashboard.

They looked like fake notes. I guess everyone’s first reaction is to think that, I am told. Anyway, I took the notes upstairs to my floor and asked a colleague whether they were real.

Turns out they were!

I did the only thing a normal person would do.

I checked out the currency conversion from Chinese notes to Australian! haha. Yes, I confess. But the search was partly to check whether these notes were real. As you can see, they have names, like Wu Jiao.

Anyway, after we determined they were real, I took them to the police station behind our building. I waited patiently in line, only to be told that they could not help and I was basically wasting their time.

The police woman actually said to me that if it was a wad of Australian dollars, then they’d want to talk to me! Pathetic really. She thanked me for being so honest and actually said, “Merry Christmas”.

So, i took it back to the office and showed a few people. One sadly informed me that because of the laws in China, the notes could not be converted back to Australian because China typically does not allow their currency out of the country.

I would say that whoever dumped them on my bike had gone to the Ameri*can Ex*press currency exchange and was told they couldn’t exchange them.

The upshot of this story? If I was able to exchange this money, it would be worth about $10 Australian.

Merry Christmas, indeed!

Hello, is it me you’re looking for?

OMG.

OMG.

O.M.G!

I just bought tickets to the Lionel Richie concert in Melbourne for December! Woo!

I thought I had missed out, but by being a member of a certain ticket outlet, I was given the opportunity to buy presale tickets.

I’m stunned!

Woo!

Poor Glen. He has to come with me.

…yes, I am a dag.

We’re all okay

In light of this event, I kinda felt compelled to post something here to let everyone know in blogland that I am okay and everyone I know, including Glen is fine.

My building is a couple of blocks away, but still close enough to send shivers down your spine.

It’s a pretty scary situation and most of the buildings in the CBD are in lockdown. The man responsible for this crime would be well and truly out of the city, I would expect. Having said that, I am still in two minds about going outside to do some shopping.

Hopefully they catch him. One is already dead. May he rest in peace for trying to assist someone else who needed him. You don’t see that sort of selfless act often in a city.

Heaven sent freedom prescribed

I used to blog so frequently. I think I had a lot more to say. Or, I had more time to say it. Or maybe more motivation to write it. I don’t know. These days, I just lack the interest in this blog that I once had. I mostly blame external factors, but there’s a large part of me that I can’t change right now. The part of me that dictates my moods right now.

I’ve been having a lot of trouble with my neck and migraines recently. The last few weeks, maybe months, I’ve been on a rollercoaster of migraines and general pain. It got to the point where I lost any hope to live a day without one. When you have a migraine for more than a day or two, you start to lose the hope that yes, it will go away. No matter how many drugs and natural remedies like wheat pillows and essential oils you throw at it, it never goes away. It’s always there bubbling under the surface. It’s easy to understand why you lose hope, why you just exist from one day to the next. Existence is not really living and over time, you start to feel that sleep trumps existence any day.

So, I slept. I’d get up for work, with the migraine firmly ensconced in my head and neck, drag myself to work, with limited productivity until I dragged myself home, ate dinner, was crabby for a few hours before I put everyone out of my misery and went to bed. I was so miserable. I stop being interested in pretty much anything I cared about before.

It finally got to the point where I realised that I was suffering needlessly and I made an appointment with my doctor. With migraines, you sometimes act without sense and you become paranoid. It’s part of the condition which I just learned recently. I had put the doctor’s appointment off because in my head, I had made the argument that my doctor would give me a hard time and wouldn’t prescribe the things I needed to get rid of the migraines. But I had to give it a try and see what happened.

The doctor took one look at me and asked two simple questions: “Do you have a migraine right now?” Yes. “How long have you had it for?” Over 10 days, on and off.

I walked out of the surgery with some hope. I have been prescribed a migraine preventative called Sandomigran and given a script for mersyndol forte in the event that they return.

That was last Friday. I have been without a migraine for about 10 days. Ironically, my last migraine was the afternoon of the first tablet. It was a really bad migraine which forced me to bed with two mersyndol fortes at 8pm. It was my last hurrah, as I’ve not had a migraine since. I’ve had auras and all sorts of other symptoms, but no migraine pain, as such. It’s so foreign to me.

The downside to the medication that I can see so far is it increases yours appetite and for some reason, I am finding it hard to wake up properly in the mornings and when I do sleep in, I feel really groggy and achy. It’s all very much trial and error right now, so I’ve got some options still. But to go this long without a migraine feels very surreal to me.

The culmination of no migraines has also been the delivery of our new chiropractic bed which has been heaven sent. I dont think I’ve slept this well in about six years, maybe more. It’s just weird!

So, as I’ve sorted out this problem, other problems can be focussed on and I guess that’s where I am at right now.

The painting at our house continues to occur. The June long weekend really proved productive, but Glen and I nearly killed ourselves painting the master bedroom. Two windows and an unreachable (in parts) wardrobe have proven difficult. However, it’s basically done.

Painting left to do:

• Bathroom, toilet, dining room/kitchen and laundry – all one colour
• computer room, which scares me beyond belief due to the amount of shit Glen continues to hoard in there
• Lounge room repaint – the original paint we rushed to get done on the weekend of settlement has never agreed with me and we’ll be painting over the offending walls – except for the lovely feature wall which stays

Then we’re done. It’s something I can’t quite believe, but it’s almost over if you look at it like that.  At some point, I’ll try to post before and after shots, but I might wait another week because I just lack the motivation and interest. See, this is where I am at – general lack of interest.

Stay tuned.

Jen’s into the Pitts

Saw this story on an Australia newspaper site. At first I thought, “That’s great. Jennifer’s moved on and she’s found someone”, then I read the story and to my horror, saw the photograph.

Who else thinks he looks a lot like Brad Pitt?