MY WORK MONOLOGUE...

Hi Mr/Mrs *****
My name is *** and I will be your nurse today.
How are you feeling?
Yes I do have an accent?
No not English, not Irish (must be the red hair!) not South African
Give you a hint...much more Southern.
No not Southern Carolina (laughing)...WAY WAY down south.
Give you a clue...
"The dingo ate my baby!"
YES...Australian!
No...Perth, Western Australia.
America's Cup in 84.
5yrs now, time flies.
Why on earth...?
The 2 'M's
Man and Money
Met 10yrs ago, but just married 2.
No in Australia.
No he's French.
Yeah its a long story blah blah blah
No not yet...
But we're having fun working on it!
Yeah they get paid a lot better here
More responsiblities though
3.5yrs study in Australia, 3yrs work there.
American exam here in Hawaii for free.
Similar but different vocabulary and we use the metric system.
Similar to Perth, small city on a river, quiet.
People there are friendlier though, must be the weather.
Conservative and depressed!
The winters were a shock to the system!
Getting used to having 4 seasons instead of 2 now.
No it doesn't snow there.
Coldest on average 2C in winter
Its difficult to convert.
No...all in Australia.
Yeah I miss them.
Probably not...probably stay here for a bit longer.
I hope they do one day but difficult because of the kids,too expensive etc etc
Used to go back about 1x a year.
Not anymore.
Too far
About 20+ hours and expensive tickets.
Americans are workaholics
2wks plus 1wk earned time is NOT enough
Yeah 6 weeks in Australia!
The Great Barrier Reef?
No I haven't...but I hear its beautiful, but its disappearing so...
Yeah you definately should if you can stand the long flight!
At least 3 months needed.
Beautiful beaches, Uluru, Sydney of course, rainforests, desert, gorgeous gorges
Snow in the Blue Mountains, many close Islands.
Of course I highly recommend Perth!
Yeah lots of poisonous snakes and animals!
No they dont roam in the streets or our backyards but many people have them as pets.
Yeah out in the bush!
If you hit a big one it does a lot of damage.
No...He's crazy, we dont all wrestle crocodiles like that!
OK well, if you need anything here is your callbell!

HOPE

The universe has conspired this week to bring wonderful and inspiring people into my life! It was a very busy week at work, lots of 12hr shifts one after another and very tiring. But I met many people who I admire for different reasons.

The young woman who went blind in one eye due to a disease beyond her control. Her spirit and humor made my day and it touched my heart to hear that she and her husband after 15 heartbreaking years of infertility are travelling to China in December to bring back their adopted baby girl.

The Son who vigilantly sits by his demented mother's side all day, every day, even on the weekends because "I only have one mother, and we take care of each other". Even though she is quite demented she has a lovely quality about her, and smiles widely and winks at me each time I'm with her. She was an artist and lived in France when younger for a while studying art and life! She still has good memories to share. She still has the will to live, largely thanks to her son I'm sure, and is slowly recovering. Her son made the difficult decision to keep her at home and hire a 24hr carer rather than put her in a nursing home.

The little old Italian "Nonni" who refers to me all the time as her "beautiful nurse". She doesn't speak much english, (although she swears in English that would make a sailor blush!). Her 2 daughters and one of her sisters passed away from breast cancer within the last 4yrs. She has been battling the same disease for years too, and now it has spread to her lungs. She will not recover and her granddaughter easily tears up at the thought of having to watch her Nonni die like her mother did. But the family support is phenomenal, and Nonni just found out she will have another great grandchild coming into her life in 9 months time. She still has a twinkle in her eye...she is inspiring.

It's difficult to know what to say when people ask how long they will live or when they might die, if they will ever get their eyesight back or lose it completely, or if they should put their elderly parent in a nursing home. They are questions I cannot truthfully answer. It's a fine balance between keeping some hope alive and being realistic! And this week, these people have kept MY hope alive!

August 18th 1996

It was a memorable day!
There was a knock at my door (I was living in student housing).
When I opened it, standing there was a tall, man with short dark hair, round glasses, wide shoulders, and cheekbones to die for.
He shyly explained with a ? american accent who he was and why he was knocking.
It turned out he is french, studying his PhD in Illinois but in Perth for 6 months as an exchange student.
His parents who were visiting, met a crazy french woman (aka Savana2222) by strange coincidence and they told her the above.
On finding out this she explains that her best friend is living at the same student housing one floor directly below their son and encourages them to tell him to go and introduce himself to her.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK...ON MY DOOR!

It was unexpected and I was embarassed!
I made a few excuses as to why I had to leave at that moment.
But he asked me out to dinner, in fact he cooked and it was great!
He seduced me with his wit, his intelligence, romance and poetry.
He seemed so worldly and experienced.
Corny but...he had me at knock knock!
10 years later we are married, living in the USA and the O-man still seduces me with his wit, smile, intelligence, gourmet food and wide shoulders to lean on when I'm tired. He has taken me around the world, taught me sooooo much.
Oh and lets not forget the romance...in fact he is the one who always remembers August 18 1996 - the date we first laid eyes on each other and our souls met. It was fate!

Vive l'amour (and thanks again Savanna222!)

THERAPY

Psycho therapy
Massage therapy
Physical therapy
Hypno therapy
Aroma therapy
Art therapy
Drug therapy
Colour therapy
Sex therapy
Music therapy
Shock therapy

...in my books one of the most underrated is RETAIL THERAPY! After a long day of shopping I am sitting here with a smile and new knick knacks for my home including a large Tao statue, roman blinds, a buddha face cushion for my bed, knobs for the closet, Chinese food, a trellis for the garden, and I just purchased a modern bookcase for the bedroom and some kitchen stuff. Phew! What a 'tough' day...I'm feeling better and ready to face the world all over again tomorrow (including my credit card statement!) Next challenge is to attack all my clutter(and the O-man's)...but thats another post ;)

What was the last thing you bought that put a smile on your face and why?

Energy Vampires Beware...

Lately it feels like everyone around me has been sucking the life force from me with their own agendas and I find myself screaming...

"What about me? It isn't fair
I've had enough, now I want my share
Can't you see, I wanna live
But you just take more than you give"

So, I have decided to do 3 things for the rest of the week.

1. Step up to the plate and ask for what I deserve up front

2. Not to deal with other people's problems/affairs/complaints (I'll listen, thats it!)

3. And to do whatever necessary to fairly get what I deserve even if it means that someone's feelings inadvertently gets hurt in the process.


Now this might seem selfish, hell maybe it is. But I rarely ask for things for myself, and therefore I rarely get them (duh...no surprise there). So, for those who know me...consider yourselves forewarned...and don't worry, its only until the end of the week ;)

So for the rest of the week I think EVERYONE should...

"Take a step back and see the little people
They might be young, but they're the ones that make the big people big
So listen as they whisper:
"What about me?"

A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE

Yesterday I had a disturbing thought..."I could die and no-one would know for about 4 days!" That's approximately how long it would take for someone to notice I was missing and start to worry. By that time I would be starting to smell something aweful. O-man is away on business for 1 1/2 weeks, I am off work for about 3 days, my family overseas hardly ever contacts me and I mainly contact my friends by email. What a thought huh? Have I become that shutoff from others? Maybe that scary movie "Dark Water" that I watched in the dark all alone was to blame! That and the damn mouse that almost ran across my foot scaring me half to death! Luckily the O-man rang me last night just as I was stalking the mouse, and reassured me that he would just 'know' if anything happened to me. My thoughts returned to the mouse as I entertained ways to get rid of it, mostly by torturous and deadly methods which seemed cruel and wrong. Would the little fella's family know he had died a terrible death? Would they even miss him? So the mouse (and I) survived another day as I tucked myself into bed with a slightly paranoid notion of furry vermin crawling in my hair during my deep slumber. Ahhh...nothing like the thought of death to make you appreciate being alive...lol
Any advice in getting rid of this little fella without doing him in???

LIFE BY NUMBERS...

I have stumbled across a great website about numerology on my search to finding some sort of meaning out of the chaos I call my life right now! Wow, how accurate my number represents me. I am a number 4 according to which this month I feel trapped, and need a healthy dose of optimism and a different way of dealing with an ongoing problem (of which I can think of many!) I need to stop repressing my true feelings coz its stressing me out! "let optimism flow - and let hope, confidence, and creative thinking re-introduce themselves to you." So the other day I was inspired by my little balcony garden, and took some 'macros' which resulted in the above. My garden is one of the few places where I can get back to nature and forget about the city humming around me. So what's your number?

All photos contained in this entry are copyrighted by the owner and cannot be used without explicit permission

MAYBE LATER...

"The deferment or avoidance of an action or task which requires completion by focusing on some other action or task" (Wikepedia)

I am the QUEEN OF PROCRASTINATION...welcome to my world! 2yrs ago I joined a gym with great intentions of getting a 6 pack washboard tummy and buns of steel, but I have a jelly belly and buns of cottage cheese. Not once...I repeat...not once have I stepped foot inside this gym to workout. Over $1000 later and I am feeling just a little guilty and ashamed of myself. I keep putting it off for numerous "appropriate" reasons.

1. I have too much to do (for example watch Jerry Springer repeats and Sudoku)
2. I am too tired after work (I work part time...actually I have 6 days off right now!)
3. The gym is too far away (I can walk it in 40 mins, or catch the train in 20mins)
4. I have no-one to share the experience with (I sit at home by myself on my days off anyway)
5. I dont know how to work the machines and people will laugh at me (because I've never actually been there to work out how to use the machines!)

Fact of the matter is...I was born lazy! I believe I can do it tomorrow, or the next day or the next. The underlying truths are that I don't think I am worth it and I FEAR it...fear being laughed at, of making mistakes, of the unknown. So I have decided enough is enough. I am gonna go to that damn hellhole of a gym and get myself that 6 pack and steely ass.

But today I'm kinda 'busy' so I'll call and make an appointment with a trainer tomorrow...