I still wear braces.

This is a general update, because a few people have wondered when they will come off. There is no answer. I have no end date, no freedom in sight, and no visible progress. In the last 6 weeks since my last appointment I had 2 breaks, so I got 2 bonus visits. My teeth want to roll sideways and break their bonds, and just don't want to move together. Sometimes it shrinks a tiny microscopic bit, but overall the progress is unnoticeable. A gap that was going to close in 6 months is only maybe 3/4 closed over almost 18 months later later. I barely hope taht they will be off before I am 30, which is now only 2 years away. Half my twenties in braces at this rate. I suppose it's good value though.

Paint round 2.

So once you start painting, even though it's hard and messy, you can't resist buying another tin of paint cheap from aldi because there is another bookcase that looks really bad now compared to the painted ones and aldi is worth a try.

Ipadding

In other news I took advantage of the iPad 3 release and got an iPad 2 for work. I make ebooks. I'm not doing much else with it except I can write notes and blog posts at home to upload when I find any wifi. I play sudokus.

And I'm planning my trip which is only a month away now. My joy in anticipation is tempered by my hate of organising logistics. I want to knock the rest of the booking over this week so that then I can just anticipate.

Boxing.

 

I got some cheap headphones for work to listen to music. The box is a nice shape, so i glued fabric to it. I didn't have paper, that would have worked well. If I was doing it again I wouldn't do the folding edges at the edges thing, I would cut the fabric off and glue a trim over. I think I still should glue trim in some spots, but it's good enough, I can put treasures in it without advertising cheap headphones.

I also spent a lot of time on my computers. I have a 10 year old PC, which I hardly ever use. I  deleted my student design software off it to take to Africa with me and give to the Bible college I'm visiting. As long as I can get registration to work on another computer, Rachel's old laptop, which has proved tricky. I'm not sure what to do with that old PC, I only use it occasionally, and it's so tired and awkward. The screed is pretty good, worth not throwing out. One day soon I need to back up everything off it before it finally dies. Anyway I drefragged it. I find that always so satisfying.

And I wrote some emails on my ipad, saved to be sent when I get some wifi maybe in a cafe tomorrow.

And I am going to cook mince for burritos at church tomorrow. And I have lots of little blocks of 100g cadbury which was $1 at coles! $1 for 100g! Deal.

Free bookshelves.

last weekend, painting bookshelves. 2 particle board book cases, badly painted white. 1 tin of dulux semi gloss paint, $65, did almost 4 coats over 3 days, and now they look superb, and the rest of the house looks like it needs painting.

 

Potato masher for paint mixer, as mum showed me, and an icecream container makes a nice compact paint tray for a smal foam roller.

this weekend has been rainy, and good for the fun little job of putting books on shelves. My flatmate has one, I have one.

Making work pretty

This is my first post from my iPad which I bought last night. It is hard to upload pics and resize them.

The picture I took is of my wrist pad for typing. It was blue. I took it home on the weekend, bought some spray glue and glued fabric on top and trimmed it. It was a disaster at first, the glue soaked right through the fabric and made it sticky, but the sticky has worn off now and it looks cool.

Getting to work.

Survived first week of city work! I've realised why it has felt weirder than I expected: the office is in a part of town I never come to. It's quite convenient, it's just that I'm more of a south CBD person. I might as well be in a different city altogether. I've had to figure out the bus stops and the convenience stores and all that stuff I thought I knew about the CBD. Am very proud that I have not bought ANY food or anything in the city, have brought lunch and snacks each day. Everyone complains about the prices. I'm trying to minimise the cost of living increase which catching the bus involves, so I will hopefully scoot one way regularly… but not in the rain!



My biggest obsession has been perfecting my commute. Timing the walk to various bus stops, varying the time of day I catch the bus to see if it is better or worse to go in early or late, what to wear, and what to do. The shortest time I can do is just under 30 min door to door, which I'm pleased about. The longest bus commute was almost 50 min, and when I scooted it took 55 minutes. I may incorporate walking home sometimes in summer.

I've experimented with different sorts of footwear, now that I'm not forced to wear joggers for walking. Pretty flowery flats that got saturated, then knee-hi boots, then on Friday farmer boots and my feet were perfectly dry.

Today I had my first experience standing on a peak hour bus, because the buses have been so civilised I've barely seen anyone standing on my bus let along not got a seat. I half sat on the wheel slope thing and managed to read my book fairly comfortably.

The book choice is tricky. I don't want to look like a show-off and read something classic yet predictable, which is where my tastes do tend, but I don't have much else handy, I've got no library books, the Agatha Christie I'm usually reading is too big for the bus. So something small and paperback, unpretentiously titled, and easy to read in short bursts. Today I think I solved it and got my 2nd hand Arthur Upfield mystery book out, The Bone Is Pointed I think it's called.

And I have to say in terms of desk location, the new office is an improvement. If I turn my head I can see lovely sandstone columns out the opposite window. I wouldn't want to go back to the small office even though I miss playing music and singing along.

Enjoying Doctor Who

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-XcLep1qTU&feature=related

This is one of my favourite scenes from Doctor Who, the episode was on last night. Such a simple scene and brilliantly done, esp where it comes in the show. Can't find a normal version with the music from the actual show, but the silent film piano is OK. Rather enjoy Catherine Tate in this show. Prefer Donna to Martha.