MWNews 234

Had to come back for a bit. Never mentioned that Maeghan gradiated. Yeah, I know, it is spelled wrong but that is how I say it to annoy Maeghan, so it stays.

Today is a student free day. No kids at school. So I have time to type. Not that I really feel like typing, but I will try.

Maeghan gradiated last week, or she had the graduation ceremony last week. I would have pictures but none of the ones I have are very good. I ordered some professional ones but have not received them yet. That was a weird ordeal as they only accepted PayPal and my PayPal account is from about six or seven years ago. The card associated with it is no longer valid, so I have no idea how the payment went through, but it did. Since I put Maeghan's contact details in everything, they will go to her to say that it has not been paid. But for now, I have receipts that say I paid for it. We will see how that turns out.

Juanita and I went to the ceremony. William decided he wanted to go at the last minute, but we had not bought a ticket for him, so he had to stay home. It was a very long ceremony and Maeghan's class was not until the very end. Plus, we had to listen to speeches, so it made it even longer as the people giving speeches apparently hadn't done it before.

The pre-ceremony wasn't bad. They had some guy playing guitar and singing. He did that for an entire hour and a half straight. Didn't take a break or stop for anything. Just one song after another. And he wasn't too bad, so that was pleasant. They were selling drinks also, so a few of the guests that were there seemed to get into that a bit too much. Nothing happened, but it was different seeing a bunch of people walking around drinking beer at a graduation ceremony. 

The food wasn't that great, although everyone else seemed to like it so maybe it was just me. Sausage rolls and some little chicken sliders. The sausage rolls weren't bad, if you are a fan of sausage rolls, but the sliders didn't have a lot of flavor. Nothing else to choose from, but there was a lot of it.

Now that Maeghan has gradiated, she is looking for work. Not sure why she couldn't have looked before but now she is serious about it. She is looking for baby-sitting jobs and au Pair jobs. Babysitting if she cannot find work as an au Pair but she says there are a lot of people looking for someone to come live with them and take care of their kids. She hasn't really had a lot of responses from her enquiries yet, but I am not sure how many she has applied for or if they said no or just did not respond. 

I keep asking her how is she going to get paid. If she gets paid, then she has to pay taxes on it and I am not sure how you do that. I suppose that will be my weekend, trying to figure out how to incorporate her. I think it is a difficult process, but lots of people do it, so it probably isn't that hard. I looked into it at one point so I could become an independent contractor, but I found it a bit difficult so I did not pursue it. Now I have to figure it out for her.

William still has the tax problem. He is wanting to get his taxes he paid back, since he did not make enough money to pay taxes last year. I have tried to file his return, but you have to register with the tax office and prove who you are. They want you to send them copies of any documents you have shared with them to prove it is you, but since he has never filed any documents, they say he has to go through some other agency to prove it is him so they can tell the tax office that it is him. Very confusing, but since everything is done online now, there is not a manual way of doing it, or I have not found one yet. Have to work on that too, but it requires sitting on the phone with Centrelink for hours waiting for them to talk to you and I have been unable to find the time to do that.

William is home sick today. But since it is a student free day, he is wasting a sick day. He was sick last night, or so I am told. I fell asleep on the couch and was awakened by a lot of commotion with them running around making sure he was not sick in the wrong places, like on the floor. He was, it smelled, I went to bed, and they dealt with it. Haven't heard anything this morning. Maybe they are all mad at me for not helping. I had to go to sleep for work, so there wasn't a lot I could do to help. I just sent them a message asking how he is doing.

The kids and Juanita got me a new Xbox for Father's day. I have been saving shopping points and I kept telling them it was so I could buy an Xbox for myself for Christmas. I was half joking, I don't need a new Xbox, but they took me seriously and used all my points to buy me one. They had to add a bunch of money to it but Juanita said she had been saving it and Maeghan used her money to help, so now I have a new Xbox Series X. Now all I need is a new TV to play it on. Our TV has been going out for a few months now and has lines across the screen with bad pixels. And it is not 4k, so it will not use the capabilities of the Xbox. A new TV is not really in the plans, or not until after Christmas. I have to fix the car first. Guess the car is going to wait but I can't really justify that. Hopefully, something will work out and I can do both.

We really need a second car, also. I have been looking into that, and I could get one, but it means I will not be able to save any money for other things if I do. My priorities have been, fix the old car, get a new car, get a new TV and then possibly get a new Xbox, but there are other things that have priority, so that plan might have changed. Now, I have the new Xbox, so I might have to change around some things. I always thought, if I could find the right car, I would get the new one before I fixed the old one, but that is a commitment that I have not made yet. Just waiting to see how bad the old car gets and if Maeghan really needs a car to get around in. She cannot drive the van and the van is the only thing we can haul around her wheelchair in. A new car that can do that is not really an option. 

So, I planned on getting a small car she can drive, but that means William cannot drive it because he is too tall. And William needs to learn how to drive also. What I have wanted to do is save enough money to do all of it and not go into debt. Right now, we have no debts. That was the point of taking this job, save some money to get the things we are going to need in retirement, so I don't have to try to buy them out of pension money. The problem with the retirement plan here is that it assumes you will be owning your own home. If we had that, I could retire now, but we don't, so I have to keep working to try to get the things we are going to need, like a new car and new furniture and anything else that we will have to buy once I am no longer working. Lots of stuff I have to plan for. I can get there, but things keep coming up, like the car, and this trip to Tasmania they are all taking in a couple of months. Maeghan getting a new job and having to take her there. Petrol has gone out of site, so that is an expense that is not planned for either. 

Where was I going with all this. See, this is why I don't want to write in here anymore. It is just an exercise on my complaints and my problems, and I do not want it to be that. I know I had some news about the kids, but now I am just venting my frustrations. I hate it. I have lots I will go into if I keep typing, like work and the changes/plans there. (I volunteered to take charge.) But, I am going to just stop typing. Probably should do some work anyway.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end. 

 

MWNews 233

I am thinking of closing this blog. It will probably just be a break, there have been many, but I am just not sure I want to do this anymore. It is good therapy for me but is it really getting accomplished what I what it to do.

It has degenerated into me complaining about my health, talking about my job, talking about my feelings and perceptions. It is supposed to be about the kids and there is just not enough content to support that anymore. I don't know why, but it feels like even if I do mention the kids, it is some boring things that no one wants or needs to listen to. Yes, they might be interesting, but the entertainment and basic amusement of it all seems to have been lost. Probably a flaw with me. I just don't feel it anymore. 

I am sure I will be back with more at some point, but for now, I think I have to give it up. I just hate talking about myself all the time when I should be talking about the kids. I mean, right now, as I write this, someone has come through the office smelling of tomato ketchup. Not sure who it is but the smell is very strong. It is morning break time, so they come in here a lot to sit and eat something and right not, it smells of sauce. A bit overwhelming.

It is things like that, that I should not be including in here. It is entertaining for me and I enjoy it, but does anyone else and, in the future, when I want the kids to go back and read this stuff, will it be interesting to them. I think not. Maybe, but I think not.

I want to be able to celebrate the kids and their accomplishments. But writing in here just doesn't cut it anymore. I need to spend time with them and not time writing about them. 

I will be back, can't help myself, but for now, this will be the end until next time, whenever that occurs. It's been fun. I hope the is good for the kids if they ever get around to reading this. I am not sure they have ever read it, but I will make sure they have the address.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end. 

 

MWNews 232

Had an incident yesterday. Was walking up to work, having angina but that is not unusual, my leg/foot was hurting, also not unusual, but then I started feeling dizzy and disoriented, so I sat down, had my spray, waiting for it to kick in and then started walking again. Got about halfway up the hill and was not really feeling any better. I could barely walk. So I sat down again and thought, this is ridiculous, why am I trying to get up the hill to get to work. How is any of it going to make a difference. I thought about it for a minute and then pulled out my phone and sent them an email saying I am not coming in. It was just before 7:00 and I am usually here by 6:30. So, no one was going to be here for opening, which is at 7:00. But hey, they should have contingencies for this. They don't. Not my problem. I just decided if I am not up to it anymore, I am not coming in. I am too old, too decrepit, and too tired to try to work that hard anymore. If they have a problem with it, fire me.

So now I am at work again. No one else is here. Typical Friday, everyone calls in sick. One of them does not work on Fridays. The other one has been on vacation or sick or working from home for the entire time I have been here. He is quitting anyway. I think he has a week left, but the date keeps changing, so I am not sure. I just heard the one the one that does not work on Fridays is looking for another job. So soon, I am it. They tell me others are going to cover for the ones who are not here, but they do not have the day-to-day knowledge to cover the front desk. Not that it is even remotely difficult, it is just a constant flow of inane problems. For example, I just had someone come in and ask if we have some spare USB sticks they can use during one of the classes. A strange request but not one that I can't accommodate. The issue is, no one else really knows where they are and if they have been blanked or not. We have a odd assortment, but you have to check that no sensitive information is on them before you hand them out. Not a big issue, but since the others do not deal with this on a day-to-day basis, I am sure they would spend much too much time figuring out where they are and if they can hand them out. The real answer is no, we do not supply these, but I am the accommodating sort, so I let them have 5. As long as they promise to bring them back.

But I think that is enough about work.

William was offered an apprenticeship yesterday, or actually two days ago. Not really offered it but was asked if he would be interested. They actually called me about it as he did not answer his phone. It was from my old job, doing the contract work. Oh wait, I said work. I wasn't going to talk about work. I guess this is more about William, so it might be ok. 

Sue, my old contract person, called me from Europe to ask if William would be interested in a new apprenticeship program the government just announced. It is to train system administrators. It is a two-year apprenticeship program. It means he will have to go to school two more years.

I told them yes. He is not so sure when I told him about it. He showed me the message she had left for him on his phone, but he did not recognize the number, so he had ignored it. I know, system administrator is a hard road and a complicated job. It is more than I have ever done, unless you count the mainframe, but that is totally different. To be honest, I don't think he will be able to handle it, but he always surprises me. Maybe if he tries really hard, he can do it. I can help with some of it, but not all. I have never really studied that kind of work. I do it all the time, but not as a full-time job where I am responsible for getting the job done. I normally just support those whose job it is to handle it. He would be making a lot of money if he does do it. It is a hard job though. Too much to remember and I don't know if he can remember it all. But as I said, he surprises me all the time with what he can do. He surprises me with what he cannot do also, but maybe this will be different.

Right now, all we have is the phone call. Don't know anything about what is or will be involved. Sue is supposed to be sending some information. They want a commitment from William. We kind of talked him into it, but he could change his mind. He thinks his path to employment is the army. Not sure if he can handle the army, but that is what he is set on right now. I don't know if I should try to talk him out of it or maybe it is a good thing. I don't know. He has to make that decision himself.

But anyway, a training program to become a system administrator would be really good. I know that is a good job and a good path to take. It just requires a lot of mental work and a lot of stress once you get there. If he can do it, he would be set for life. It is just convincing him to try. He has not done a lot of schoolwork in the past few years. He will be sorely unprepared for the amount of stuff he has to learn. But again, maybe. I hope so but I will not be disappointed if he decides not to do it. It is hard and he may not make it in this world. Too many things to think about all the time.

Having to do it through Sue is another issue. They want him to use his knowledge with them. The problem with that is, they don't pay enough. They don't have these kinds of contracts. They mostly deal in the small stuff. They don't supply system administrators. I was the closest thing they had when I was working there. There were a few others who had more knowledge than I did, but they all moved on to real permanent positions after a while. I stayed around because I didn't like the thought of working full time anymore. But here I am, doing the full-time work, and at one of the easiest jobs there is, front of the house level one helpdesk. Something I never thought I would be doing. 

Here's hoping for the best. He has already started spending the money I told him it was possible to make in that role. So maybe it is not a good idea. But maybe.

Maeghan has been applying for babysitting jobs. Not sure where you go to look for those, but the ones she is applying for are more permanent or regular jobs that happen every week. A couple of them were for Au Pair work, or however you spell that. One was in Europe. It means she would have to move in with someone temporarily, or for however long the job lasts, but maybe that would be good for her. I am not sure why she is going down that route. I hope it is not because I made a joke about the kids living off of me forever. I was joking. I mean, it would be nice if they could get a job and save some money for themselves, but they don't have to. As long as I am here, they have a home with room and board. The issue is how long I will be here, but for now, I am, and I want them to stay. 

I suppose that is enough for now. I am hoping to have more pictures soon. I am just going back through the past, looking for them but I am fairly certain I am reusing lots of them. Hard to know. If only there was some way I could check. Maybe Google has a tool that will check for me and tell me when I re-use a photo. Then again, who cares. So you have to look at the same picture as a previous entry. Its not like anyone actually reads these, so no on will ever notice I am sure.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end. 

 

MWNews 231

 Going to the doctor today. Might have to tell him I have had pain today, but I am afraid he will put me in the hospital again. This is my regular doctor, although I have not seen him in two years. Long story. I had a lot of trouble coming up from the train and then again when I was moving some equipment. I probably won't tell him though. I don't want to spend any more time in the emergency room. That is just a sad and lonely place. Very annoying as there are lots of sick people there and they let you know they are sick. Not all, but enough to make it where I don't want to go back.

I suppose I should get private health but I am not sure there is any advantage in that. Yes, you get better access but then again, maybe not. I don't know, I have never had it.

William had another job he had to turn down. Not that he should have but it was something he was not prepared to do. I didn't find out about it until after he had turned it down. I found out, or I think I found out, when his mother called and told me he was upset because he had to turn down another job. As far as I can tell, he was going to be by himself with no one to help and it was a kind of technical work thing. From what I gather, reimaging computers but he said no one was going to show him how. I find that hard to believe but that is what he was upset about. 

I was also told it was on the weekend, so I could have helped him but I guess he did not think of that. I think he was just scared of doing it or did not want to do it, so he turned it down for any excuse. I will have to find out when I get home, assuming they let me go home.

What I would really like is for someone to look at my foot and leg and now it has moved up into my knee. It hurts all the time and I have gotten used to it but that does not mean it does not hurt anymore. I can barely walk from the train to work anymore. And it is worse going back to the train and that is downhill. It hurts a lot to go downhill, so it takes me much longer, although I do not have to rest but it hurts so I think about just stopping and waiting. Problem is, the train does not wait, so I have to get there by a certain time or wait half an hour for the next train. So I keep walking, no matter how slowly.

I am leaving early today to get to the doctors. I have to leave by 2:30 but I am thinking I will leave at 2:00, which is in half an hour. That way, I can take my time getting to the train. I have to take the horrible train, the one to Kippa-Ring. It stops at every stop along the way, and there are a lot of them going that way. On my normal train, after Petrie, there are only four stops. On the Kippa-Ring train, there are eight or nine stops. I hate going on that train. Juanita is supposed to be picking me up at the station but it would almost be worth it to go on the normal train to the car and then drive over to the doctors office. Means I would have to leave now, but to get off that train ride, it might be worth it.

I hate talking about work all the time, so I am going to refrain from it, although I thought of several things to say. I hate talking about me instead of the kids, but they don't do a lot lately, so there is really nothing new to talk about. William is getting all excited about going to the EKKA next week. He found out that his school day at the EKKA is the same day we are going, so he hates that he is not getting an extra day off. I knew that they had split the school days this year, half the schools go on Monday and half on Wednesday. My school's day is Wednesday, so I have that off as a holiday. William thought his was Wednesday also, but they changed it to Monday. So now he has to go to school on Wednesday. He was upset about that also. I thought about switching our day to Tuesday but now it is too late. You had to switch before yesterday and I didn't do it. I probably should have.

He was looking at all the showbags they have. They have 385 this year. I hate the showbags but everyone else seems to think they are great. I have no idea why. Heavily overpriced junk that is not worth the trouble it takes to cart it around. The only decent things are the ones with candy in them but they are way overpriced for the candy you get. Every other bag has that cheap knockoff stuff with some logo on it or something. All of the bags are themed, so you get a bunch of stuff that has whatever it is you are buying tattooed on it. Things like Harry Potter, Barbie, racing, sports clubs, all sorts of things like that. There is a bag for everything. I didn't see the Dr. Pepper bag this year but I did see one with A&W root beer in it. Last year, they had one that you could mix and match for the Dr. Pepper and A&W, so I got a can of each. Not that I like it in the can but that was the only choice.

Speaking of Dr. Pepper, they have started selling big two litre bottles of it in Woolworths. Not all Woolworths, but one of the ones near me. The bottles are very strange. I don't know if they are that way in America, but they are tall and skinny and very thin plastic. You can't really hold one and drink out of it as the plastic crushes in and will make the Dr. Pepper shoot out. You have to pour it into a glass to keep that from happening. Of course, it is a two-litre bottle, so you wouldn't really be drinking out of it anyway. Or would you? The other issue is it is very very sweet. I don't remember it being that sweet and I know it is not that sweet in the cans you normally get. I don't think it is different, but it just seems extraordinarily sweet from the plastic bottle. I don't like drinking from cans when I have a choice, but this stuff is almost too sweet for me to drink. It only cost about $8 for a bottle and you might be saying $8 FOR A 2-LITRE BOTTLE. But that is cheap compared to the $4.50 you pay for a can and the $6 you pay for a 600ml bottle. I have never bought the 600ml bottle as it has always seemed way overpriced for me, but I might have to try it to see if it is sweet as well. Compared to all other soft drinks, they are about twice the price for regular stuff like Coke, but the Dr. Pepper is 'imported' so it costs more. I am not sure where it is imported from, but it is in the exotic section of the shops that sell imported stuff. That is another reason it is weird to find it in Woolworths.

Of course, now that I have gone on and on about Dr. Pepper, it is time for me to leave. I guess I do not have time to type anything else, so I will just end it with that. Maybe I will have more news from the doctor tomorrow, or more news that the kids are looking forward to the show. I never finished the talk about the showbags, so there is that. But I have to go, so toodles.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end. 

MWNews 230

Well, I am back at work on Monday. No more scares on the weekend. Everything seemed to work well. We didn't do anything, sat at home all weekend, but I got to start playing a new game, so I guess it wasn't a total loss. Next week is the EKKA, so I am looking forward to that. I think everyone is. Maybe not Juanita, but she is usually happy about going, so she should come around. 

Maybe it is because none of the grandkids are going. We asked Shayla, but she said she was busy with friends. I am sure we asked Anna, but she doesn't like to hang around with us old folk. The two boys are just not fun to be with, so I don't know if we asked them or not. They are ok, but kind of surly when they are bored. I am sure Leslie would have enjoyed it but it is a long day, so he would have gotten upset at some point I am sure. Jarvis is ok, but I hear stories all the time about how he treats everyone badly and is not a nice person to be around. I have never noticed it, unless you could being overly polite. He is always overly polite to us but a whole day of it, might not be such a good thing. He is welcome to go, all of them are, but I am a bit different and maybe they just don't like being around me. Who knows. 

So it is just the four of us. I prefer that as we can do more and get more done. With more grandkids, we have to entertain them all so the day gets split up into everyone going one way or another on their own. I am sure the kids will go someplace on their own while we sit and rest, but they both like being with us too, so it should be a lot of fun. 

I remember the fireworks show from last year. It was fairly impressive, and we are looking forward to it again. The two hour show you have to sit through to get to the fireworks show is not so great. It is ok, but not great. Except for the motorcycles. I hope they have the motorcycles again. That was almost better than the fireworks. I will have to look up if they are going to be there again. Don't see why not. It was impressive but if you want to read about that, go to last year's entry and read that one. I vaguely remember writing about it last year.

It is very, very slow here today. Not sure why. I don't know of anything going on, but there must be something, it is way too slow.

Juanita made a beautiful sculpture or plant or fairy garden thing in the art class. It looks like a store bought one, and a very expensive one at that. I am sure it would sell for $150 - $200, maybe more. It has fake plants and real plants and fairies and flowers and fountains and all kinds of things in it. I haven't really told her how pretty it is. I should do that soon. They go to art class again today. Not sure what she is working on now. I see they both brought home some mosaics or platters or something. Tiles plastered together making a pattern.

Back on another day. Not sure when I was last typing. Might have been yesterday. I can't be sure. I am not sure what today is.

No further incidents with my health, unless you count using my spray walking up the hill to here. But that is most days, so I discount it. Doctor say, you have angina? live with it. Very reassuring. I go to the doctor tomorrow. Haven't heard from the imaging clinic. Probably want to do it on Monday and we go to the EKKA on Monday, so I am sure they will not be able to change the date and I will miss out. Already have the tickets for the EKKA so we will be going there.

As much as I want to type more into here and tell the tales of youth and vigor, I think I am just going to publish this and be done with it. I can't remember what I was going to say anyway. I need to have more adventures and more tales to tell, but it will have to wait for another day. I will probably get bored and come back to this in another entry, but I doubt it. Just tired of typing. Too much work, not enough gristle. That's what I always say. 

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end. 

 

MWNews 229

Had a really bad scare last night. Right before I went to bed, I had a dizzy spell that was one of the worst I have ever had. Couldn't walk or sit up or move in a normal manner. I was on the cusp of going to the hospital. I probably should have. Juanita said I looked terrible. She scared me even more when she told William to come in and say good night to me. William rarely says good night each night, or not when I am already in bed. I got scared when Juanita was telling he had to. And I heard her say to tell me he loved me. Scary, scary, scary.

I think I had a stroke, but not having been to the doctor, I can only guess. It kind of felt like high blood pressure as I could feel my heart beating or I could feel it in my head, not in my heart. I have no idea what that means or meant.

I would say I am better today, and I have been up until now. I am starting to feel to onset of it coming on again.

I am at home now, I believe it is the next day but I can't be sure. I told my boss that I might not be feeling well and he sent me home. That's the good part. The bad part is, on the way home, I thought I would try to get a doctor's appointment. I didn't think I could on such short notice. There was an opening. So, instead of getting to enjoy my day off, I went to the doctor.

The doctor was 20 minutes late in seeing me. She wanted to know why I was not seeing my regular doctor. I told her because I can't get an appointment to see him anymore, but that's a long story. She was very good though, too good. She did all kinds of tests on me to see if I was having a heart attack or a stroke. In the end, she found nothing but told me to go check myself into the hospital. Not sure how one goes about checking themselves into a hospital but the gist of it is, I went to the emergency room and waited 5 hours before a doctor came to see me. Not a lot of fun in that.

Maybe it is a sign that I am old, but the doctor was very young and very jovial and happy to see me. It was annoying, especially since I had been there for 5 hours already. She asked me lots and lots of questions, did the same tests the GP did, then had me wait for another hour to get an x-ray of my heart. Waited another hour, then she told me to go see my doctor and give him a letter saying they had found nothing wrong. She also told me the imagining clinic will be calling me next week to set up an appointment to have something scanned. Not sure what. She said all the tests were normal or negative and I was free to go. There was nothing wrong with me that they could find. So what, 7 or 8 hours to tell me I am fine and nothing is wrong. Doesn't explain the incident or the issues I have had. Didn't recommend any changes or further tests they can do. Just go home, if it happens again, come back. So I went home.

Now, I have an appointment to see my doctor, my real doctor that I have not been able to get an appointment with for two years, because I have a letter from the hospital that says I need to see my doctor. That is next Wednesday, which means I have to take off work again. And I have the imaging people going to call me for another appointment I will have to take off work for. Probably going to be in my days off I am planning in two weeks for the EKKA. So, so much for the five days off with nothing to do. And all because I said I wasn't feeling well. Teaches me to not say anything in the future unless I am unable to speak and laying on the floor. 

But now it is Saturday, and we had plans to go to the Gold Coast and see the new Costco, but that was cancelled since Juanita decided I needed to rest. The new Costco is near Dreamworld at a new shopping center that is there that we have never been to, or we went to it but didn't have time to look around. Maybe another day.

By the way, the dog has gone crazy. It is constantly staring at the floor looking for spots of light so it can chase them. This might not be so strange, but the dog is constantly looking at the floor watching for spot of light so it can chase them. Not sure why he has decided there are spots of light to chase, but he has been doing it for a number of weeks now and I only mention it because he is standing next the chair, staring at the floor again.

Maeghan and William are playing some game on the Xbox. Not sure what it is but they sometimes play Minecraft together and I think it might be one of the offshoots of that. It has dinosaurs in it but I think Maeghan said she built it so I am not sure what game there is that you can build dinosaurs and ride them. Looks a lot like Minecraft though.

That's all I have to say for now. I have to go take a shower and get ready to go shopping. Even we are not going to the new Costco, I still need to go shopping for stuff. Probably just going to the local shops, Morayfield, so it will be really boring and not a lot of fun. But I still need to go shopping. Juanita just mowed the grass so she might be ready to go. Then again, she will probably have to take a shower also, so it will be a couple of hours before we leave. 

By the way, I am on the home computer, not a laptop or at work and I have found that I can really type again. Not like when I do it at work or when I try to type on a laptop, but a real keyboard and it seems to be going very well. Not many mistakes I have to go back and correct. Or, at least, I have not noticed them and I seem to be typing with some of my old speed. My hands have gone numb, but I think that is because the keyboards feet have broken off and it is at the wrong angle to type. But I am keeping up a fairly speedy pace.

But that's all for now. Have to go shower and get some of the glue off where they attached all the leads last night. It was very painful taking them off, pulled all the hair off. You can see it on the patches of skin it took also. 

Ok, time to fry.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end. 

 

MWNews 228

This brings me to my first question. If everyone quits in an IT department, does the job get easier or harder. We are about to find out.

I am not well today. Don't know if it is lack of sleep or some kind of precursor to a disease, or maybe I am just old. Any of those could be the culprit, but I suspect it is microwaves. That's how they are going to get you, microwave your donuts and see if you can survive. It's a good plan, but sneaky, really sneaky. 

Not a lot of good stories to tell. Most of these days are a blur. I don't remember what day it is, so I get surprised when things happen that I did not know anything about. Take for instance, it is almost time for me to go home and I should be packing things up in preparation for running out the door. But here I sit, typing into this here machine, and what is it for, a little campfire music that can only be enjoyed when you go to the market. It is disturbing.

I am not sure when I started typing in this entry. It was a few days ago. I am certain it has made no sense so far. We might try to keep up with that trend.

Juanita has lost 30 kilos. She is very proud of herself. She looks good but I always think she looks good, so I am not a good judge of it. I cannot keep a straight thought today, forgot what I was typing in the middle of typing it. I am going to stop and give it another rest. See if I can get more focused later. A lot of it has to do with work, I am pretty frazzled right now and upset by the changes. I will try to calm down and see if I get better.

Didn't calm down, got worse, but let's type for a while and see what happens. Hard to not talk about the work but I am going to give it a try. Not sure what I have to say, but since this is all made up anyway, I am sure I can spin a few yarns.

So, Juanita has lost weight. I haven't. I have been steady at the same weight for a while now. I have not really been trying but I don't ever really try, or I don't really believe in it. Plus, I am too old, so what am I trying to do. My life expectancy is set, not a lot I can do now to change it. I will either die at 70 or live to be 100. Not really anything I can do.

Maeghan is all set to go to the Barbie movie with Shayla. I think they are going Monday or something. Both of them bought a pink shirt and pink socks. Shayla is going to come over to our house and stay the night after they go. I have not been told how they are getting there or how they are getting back. I am assuming I am doing it, but I don't really know. I have been so exhausted lately when I get home from work, I have not been able to do anything. I just make dinner and then go to bed. Sometimes I sleep until the alarm goes off at 3:00, sometimes I wake up at 12:30 and stay up all night. I find it is easier if I have my headphones playing while I sleep. Not sure why, but I seem to stay asleep longer that way. But maybe that is why I am so tired, not really sleeping with them on, only partially sleeping. I don't know.

Juanita has lost part of her sleep machine. I have no idea who you lose part of it since it sits next to the bed all the time, but the filter is missing. She has been sleeping without it lately. I have one also, but she cannot use my mask. It is just an over the nose mask and you have to keep your mouth shut to use it. I don't ever use it mainly because I sleep mostly with my mouth open, and I find the whole thing uncomfortable. I don't wear it. I have had it for a number of years, but I have only used it a few times and not at all in the past two years or so. I don't believe in them, but that is a different story. Juanita seems to be sleeping well without it but I know it will not last long before she goes back to wearing one. Maybe we can get a new mask for mine or a filter for hers. They are both expensive, so whatever is cheaper will probably be what we go with.

Just had the lunch rush at school. The eat lunch rather late here, 1:30. School gets out at 3:15, so they only have one class after lunch. Just seems early to me. Today, they have something called Blue day. Non idea what that means but a lot of the girls are dressed in costumes and there are some activities during lunch. It has been raining off and on, but for now, I don't see any rain so maybe they can go through with the activities.

We go to Costco tonight. We usually go on Thursday. I have someone up here at work that is hinting they want to join Costco and they want me to take them sometime to see what it is like. I am not sure when he wants to do this but he lives over near the other Costco, so it would have to be a trip for me, unless he wants to drive all the to my house to go. We live on opposite sides of town. He tells me there is a new Costco somewhere. I have been hearing they are going to build a new one, but he seems to think it is already built. I have my doubts. Maybe I should look it up. I just did. It would appear there is a new one on the Gold Coast, near Dreamworld. Might have to take a trip over there soon just to check it out.

I don't hear any festivities at the moment. I wonder if they have not started yet or if they have cancelled it because of the rain. Hard to say. I can hear all the girls at lunch. None of them are coming in here. They usually do that just after lunch, before their last class. Some of them come in to borrow a laptop as theirs do not last all day. There are chargers around the school, but not nearly enough. And the ones we have are broken a lot of the time. I have to run over an fix them. Problem with that is, they do not come here to ask me to go fix it until I have a room full of students, so it makes it difficult to break away and go do that.

I was just told they are redefining all the roles at work. No one has talked to me about anything. I think I need to leave or take some time off. In any case, I am going to stop typing. Too much going on for me to contemplate.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end. 

MWNews 227

Someone really needs to proofread these. I went back and read a couple from the last few days. Most are just incoherent. Random words, words out of place and out of order. It makes it very hard to read and I wrote it. I should spend my time going back and fixing them, but who has that kind of time. I am a go go go, get em now kind of guy. I don't correct mistakes because I don't make them. 

And then we all laughed.

I am starting this while Open Day is still going on. I am supposed to be covering the phones right now, but I will pretend the phone is not ringing while I type. Why is it I can't keep away from this thing lately. I don't have a lot to say but I keep coming back to it multiple times a day. I am sure it will get me in trouble soon, but I can't seem to stop. Maybe I am just not getting it. Conundrums aside.

I think I will start going back for real and fixing all the typos and typing mistakes. It might be getting near the end and I want to try to publish this for the kids at some point. It is very expensive, and it is always online, but they might find it interesting after I am gone. I know I do.

I have now forgotten why I started typing again. Maybe it was to tell you I am going back to correct some mistakes, but that would be a very short entry. Not at all like me. Long winded and fairly wandering is how I write. It's gotten me through the bad times and some of the good.

I keep getting parents coming in and interrupting me. They don't know where they are and for some reason, neither do the kids. What does that say about the students. They do not even know where the IT department is. Most of them think we teach IT in here, until I tell them no, this is where the kids go to get their computers fixed. You would be surprised how many of them then say they should try to stay away from this department in the future. I guess its a joke but a lot of them make the same joke.

Going to tear myself away again because I am getting hungry. The sausage sizzle is right below me and all the smells waft up to this room. I can look out the window down at them and see what they are making. Lots and lots of sausages as far as I can tell. I need to walk around and see what else is here, but I am stuck in this room waiting for the phone to ring. Doesn't appear to be anyone else around. I assume they all have something else to do.

I just went for a small wander. Saw a couple of interesting things, but nothing worth reporting.

Well, it is now Monday. I never got back to this. Open Day finished. I am not sure what or why I was needed, but I went and picked up some TVs and stored them away. Then left around 9:00. It finished at 8:00. Come in today to see what needs to be cleaned up or put away. Looks like a lot of things were put in the wrong place, so I am not sure if I need to move them or leave them alone.

This is Paul's last week. No more manager for me. Not sure what that means. It's not as if I had a lot of interaction with him anyway. Mostly just talk about other people and what they should or should not be doing. I will definitely miss the fact that he left me out of a lot of things. On purpose or not, it made the job easy and pleasant. I am afraid the new manager will require more of me. Not that I am adverse to it, I just and not used to it and I am afraid it will bring out the old me, the one who saw the problems and tried to fix them. I don't want to do that anymore. Plus, I do not really know this job. I have always been the one in charge and was able to tell others what it is that was needed or what we needed to do. I could always do it myself, which is what I did most of the time, but here, I do not know the systems as well as the others, so I am at a disadvantage. I took the job precisely because of that. I do not want to be the one in charge or the 'guy' anymore. I am too old to learn new things so I can be the best at them. What is the point. I will not be working that much longer, so I just want to hole my place and not be stressed. We will have to see.

I have just been told that one of the other people who do what I do is leaving also. He has been saying that for the whole time I have been here but now, it appears to be official. He is leaving. Not final date yet, but that brings my department down to two people doing what was formerly done by four, and the only ones left are myself and one other person that has been here less time that I. A lot of built in knowledge is gone. No one has been here a full year so no one knows what it is we are supposed to be doing when events or changes are happening. It will be lots of fun.

I am going to end this entry so I can start another that is not work related, or not a lot of work-related things. I am tired of talking about it and don't really know what else there is to say. Paul has made some recommendations to management about how things should be.

Probably ending in an incomplete sentence but I gotta go.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end. 

 

MWNews 226

I am fairly certain I am re-using photos, but who can find out. It seems a mystery to me. 

Today is Open Day. My assignment, do what I always do. With the added responsibility of answering the phone. I have not heard if parents will be coming through here or not. If so, I have to answer their questions. I am still not sure what my duties are or more importantly, what the others will be doing. Several people have called in sick, including the person that is coordinating the IT group, but from what I can tell, this is not that big of a deal. Maybe they have a problem with things as the day goes on, like things not working, but that is just poor planning. 

There seems to be a lot of documentation and meetings and planning going on, but from what I can see, nothing is complicated. It should work and it is easy to test. I know the users tend to screw things up, but my thoughts would be to make them unscrewable. I mean, you have a lot of presentations and a lot of things being moved around, but if it works one place, then it should work in another. The only difference should be where you plug it in. But I am sure I have no idea what the complexities are and why they seem to worry about it so much. I will just do my job and wander through the day, having no idea what it is I am supposed to be doing and making it up as I go.

In theory, it ends tonight at 8:00, but then I have to do the packing up and putting away. That apparently will take until about 10:00. I have no idea what is involved, I just do what I am told. 

William got a really nice suit yesterday. I was very surprised they had one that fit him. He says the sleeves are too short, but I don't see a problem. The pants fit fine and he got a tie to go with it. Now, if he decides he is going to the formal, he can wear that and we don't have to worry about it. They have not announced when and where it will be, nor how much it will cost, but that should happen soon. Hopefully, it is not while he is away in Tasmania. That is during the last school holidays, so it should not be then, but you never know.

One of my big questions is, is he going to ask a girl to go with him. We never talk about girls or why he is not dating or seeing anyone, maybe he is, but since he is home all the time, I really doubt it. I know he talks to the girls, or I used to see him doing it at school, and he seemed to get along with them just fine. Juanita has said she sees girls checking him out all the time. I never notice but that is not something I am looking for. Not being able to drive or having a car to actually learn to drive in, is a problem. The van is just too big to try to learn to drive in it. His plan was to get a motorcycle, but we know how that went. He still cannot ride a bike. He thinks he can learn how in a day, if we will take him out to show him how, but I have tried doing that and he gives up pretty quickly and says one thing or another is wrong and just quits trying. His mother has stopped riding her bike also, so the plan for them to ride together and to learn how is on hold at best.

It's kind of quiet here at work, although I see lots of requests to do things, but no one is asking me to do any of them. Kind of insulting as they told me to stay here out of the way. Guess I am just old.

I am not sure we will have any plans for this weekend. Spent all my money on something, can't remember what. If we do go somewhere, it will have to be out of the EKKA money, which I have set aside. Hate to do that but I have extra and can replace it before the EKKA gets here, so it is not a real problem. Probably just need to stay home anyway. We went to Costco last night and I had not planned of going there this week. No real need to go, but we went anyway. They had some things they have not had in a while, so I managed to get some of that. Juanita wanted to go out to eat but I said I had already set things out to make for dinner and had not planned on buying dinner. We ended up having hotdogs from Costco and now I have chicken and rice set out to make fried rice sometime. Don't know when as I will be here at work tonight and weekends are special when I make special things. Fried rice is not that special. 

Maeghan wants spaghetti Saturday. I love spaghetti so that is not a problem. The four different sauces I have to make usually are. Pesto or cheese for William, bolognaise for everyone else, but I prefer just tomato sauce, or my special sauce which has no meat in it. As an alternative, I like my fried green olive sauce. It is very good, but I like tomato sauce too, so I never know which one to make. I like to put lots of chilis in mine too, which no one but Maeghan and I can eat. I will have to decide which one I make. If we go tomato, I usually make William pesto, Maeghan and the others bolognaise, and me a separate sauce with mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, and lots of chilis. Three different sauces for five people. But now that I type that, I am thinking we have not had the fried olive sauce in a long time. Maeghan eats it but that becomes another sauce again. I leave out my hot sauce with mushrooms, so it still works out to three. I could make everyone else pesto, but pesto is not really a meal, unless you are William. We will just have to see how I feel on the day, which is tomorrow. Sunday, I think we have to have pork roast or lamb chops. I got a lot of both of those because I get points from Woolworths sometimes when I buy them. 

I guess I have never talked about the points, and what I am trying to get. I might or might not go into that, but it is about to get busy again, so it will have to wait. Apparently, they have found something for me to do, move TVs. No explanation as to where we are moving them to and I have not seen the actual TVs to move, but I have help, so maybe they know what we are doing. I can just be the muscle. 

Hey, I saw that snicker. I can be the muscle. I'm not that old. Yet.

The big boss just went and bought everyone coffee. I told him I did not want one, I have had three already today, but he insisted. I think he thinks I only agreed because he was paying, but I actually only agreed because he was offering and said he would pay. I took that as meaning he wanted me to get a coffee. So now I have a giant coffee to drink, and it is not as hot as I normally drink coffee, but I suppose it is the thought that counts. I sit apart from everyone else, so I think people get the impression that it is by choice. That is only partially true. I prefer to work alone but I do not like never knowing what is going on. They have discussions all the time and I can see them through the window but cannot hear what they are saying. I miss out on a lot and then they wonder why I am not doing something or reporting something they asked everyone else to report. I get tired of it. I should go for the director's job, but I am not up for that. I don't think I can get anyone to understand why. I told my boss that I have the disease, I can't never spell it so I have stopped trying to type it, and he said no one has ever noticed but I know if I stay in close proximity to them, they will. I can feel it all the time, not being able to say what I mean, or losing the words I am looking for, but they don't see what is going on in my mind and just assume I mean what I say when most of the time I cannot find the right word and have to make something up that sounds similar to what I wanted to say. Hard to describe but I think most people understand what I am talking about. It happens to everyone, especially with old age. It is just tenfold with me. I can almost never get the words out that I want. I can type, no problems, but speaking is where the problems start to occur. 

Now that I am thinking about it, why is it I am not affected when I am typing. I mean I am, but not to the degree that it is when I try to speak. That is probably a clue to something. Where was I and why am I going into this now. Might as well continue. 

The speaking thing is the biggest worry, but for me, almost as worrisome is the forgetting why I am doing something. Everyone forgets why they walked into a room or why they are doing something. I don't know if I am worse than anyone else or not. I think I am. It is very extreme for me. I can be doing something, turn around to get something and forget why I turned around. I can pick something up and forget why I picked it up. The most worrisome thing is when I am driving or just walking around, I sometimes don't recognise where I am, even if I have been there a thousand times. Or I don't remember how I got somewhere, I am just there and can't remember getting there. That one is scary. I think I mentioned that I sometimes cannot remember which is the wiper switch and which is the flasher. All these things point to something bad, but everyone just thinks it is funny. It's not funny anymore. Nothing to do about it. Keep your mind occupied and try not to think about it.

I am about to have to go now. Someone just asked me about the TVs. I suppose I have to go figure out what it is I am supposed to be doing. I will postpone my ramblings for another day, if I can remember I still do this. 

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end. 

 

MWNews 225

I'm not going to lie to you CJ, I was feeling a bit poorly.

Getting ready for the big to-do here at the school. Open day is tomorrow. They want to have a rehearsal this afternoon, but I have to leave at 3 to go to a parent teacher meeting for William. It is at 4:30. Just barely gives me enough time to get there. I told them no but have not heard back from them yet. Hopefully they get the message. They know I leave at 3, so why schedule a meeting when I am supposed to be gone. He cancelled the other two meetings that were before this rehearsal, but he knew I leave at 3. Guess I will hear from him eventually.

The EKKA is coming up in two weeks, or something like that. I think we go on August 14 and this is July 27, so about two weeks. I am looking forward to five days off in a row. I get off Friday and don't have to be back until the following Thursday. I took Monday and Tuesday off and Wednesday is a holiday, so I get that one for free. 5 whole days. I can really use that. I should have taken the whole week off, but I don't have that much vacation time accrued yet. Plus, they would be mad that I took time off for the EKKA and not for going to Tasmania with them.

That happens soon also, in November. Not really a vacation for me, but it does mean I don't have to cook for everyone for a week, so it is kind of like a vacation for me. I think it is pizza and spaghetti for me every night. Maybe I will throw in a really hot curry. Been a while since I got to cook for only myself. Not that I don't try but as I like to say, every meal I cook, someone has to suffer with me leaving something out. Most of the time, it is me, but since I have to cook at least two different versions of every meal, it gets pretty bad when I have to cook four different versions. 

One version for William, no onions, no vegetables. One for Maeghan, no mushrooms, a few vegetables. One for everyone else, no hot stuff. And then there is me, and I am the one doing the cooking, so things sometimes slip in that I like but the majority doesn't. It's tough to cook for all these different people all the time. I keep telling everyone, this is not a restaurant, and you don't get to order what you like. You eat what I make and pick out the things you don't like. But I try to make it so no has to eat anything they do not want. Always done it that way, but a week where I don't have to think about it before I cook, seems a lot like a vacation.

William goes for his fitting today. I have no idea where they are going but it is not at school. I still don't know what it is they are doing, just know he says he is getting a suit, good luck with finding one that fits him, and they get to keep it. I am guessing it is from donations, but I really don't know. We will see what he comes back with.

Maeghan paid for her graduation yesterday. They have to pay for themselves and pay for any others that are attending. Seems like some kind of money grab. There were all sorts of options she could buy. Flowers, a hat, a bear, I don't really remember them all. It ended up costing her over $100. Probably means I have to pay her back for it. She did pay for it herself but that is a lot a money when you don't have an income. It happens in August, I think. I thought it was this week but it turns out it is August. Only her mother and I are going. William, I don't think he is allowed, or that is what I overheard them saying. I don't know why. Maybe it is because he is under 18 and they do not allow kids at this thing. He is 6 foot 7, so I don't think he qualifies as a kid. He didn't really care, or he says he doesn't. I think he wants to be there, but he has accepted he doesn't get to go. Besides, Maeghan would have had to pay for him too and it was getting too much money for all of us to go. I am going to offer to pay for it and ask if it is too late to add William. If it is, I will still give her the money back. If I had known she was doing it, I would have paid for it in the first place, but she didn't tell me she was doing it right then. I thought she was just looking at her options. But is done, so I will just have to pay her pack.

There doesn't seem to be a lot going on at school today. I took yesterday off so I could be with Juanita. She asked me to since it was the anniversary of her father's death, and she didn't want to stay at home by herself. Maeghan was there but I guess it is not the same. I spent the day playing on the tv and she stayed in the back on the computer. I am sure she spent the day talking to all her friends online about it but she occasionally came out to sit with me and I occasionally went in the sit with her. I had to go pick up William when he got out of school, and then start dinner when I got home, but I think she got through it ok. Hopefully, she is doing ok today. I have only talked to her a couple times this morning and it is afternoon now. Haven't heard anymore from her yet. She did say her new glasses are in, so I assume she has gone down to pick them up. She has to pick me up after work since we are going to William's thing. I think she is picking me up at the wrong station but that is where she said she will be, so that is where she is picking me up. I don't plan on going shopping today, which is where we normally go today, but she is picking me up at the same station that we do when we go shopping. The is a closer one, but I just ok and will meet her there.

Since I have been typing this since this morning, I am not sure what I have said. Today is meet William's teachers at his school. Tomorrow is Open day at my school. I have to work all day, from 6:30 in the morning to about 10:00 at night. They told me to come in late, but the students are still here so who will be here for them in the morning if I am late. Lots of kids come in early, before school starts, so someone has to be here to help them. I suppose I will just work the whole day. Might get a break for dinner but for the most part, it is just a meet and greet and answer people's questions about the school. Since I am relatively new, I don't know if I will have a lot of answers for them, but I am sure I can make something up. I just had the big boss out here with the two littler bosses and they were discussing if this room will be open or not. They also wanted to go over sample questions people might ask and the answers we might give them. I managed to keep my mouth shut but really, what exactly are these people afraid of. Just talk to the people. If you don't know, then say you don't know. Are they afraid of the public. They are in the wrong profession. I have done this for so long, talking to the public is the least of my worries. You go into these things knowing that you are the expert and nothing they can ask will change that or make any difference. What exactly are these people made of. But I didn't speak up. Let them cringe and worry about it. I am a professional. I don't get rattled.

One of the questions they came up with is what if someone asks what we are doing about AI. They said we had to come up with an official policy before tomorrow night. I left the conversation after that. Am I old or to curmudgeonly. I don't get it and I don't care. So they ask about AI. Make something up. No one is going to check up on you and no one is going to come back in five years and tell you how wrong you were. Make it up. If you don't think you can make it up, then say someone is working on it and we will have an answer soon. No need to mess your pants over a question. I guess since I am not going to be in the meeting to discuss this, they will just have to figure it out on their own. Not my problem. Maybe it is, but I don't get it and I don't care.

I have started on one of my rants. I will stop. I have a headache. I have to go to lunch anyway. There are several girls walking rapidly towards me, so I assume they want something, and they want it quick. Teachers tend to send the students down if something stops working in class or one of the girls has a problem and the teacher does not want to deal with it. They send them to IT and tell them to ask us to fix it. I had a girl just a few minutes ago ask me to fix her glasses for her. Her screw had fallen out and luckily, she had found it. I told her I can't even see the screw and there was no way I would be able to fix it for her. I offered to hold the glasses together while she screwed it in. We did that and amazingly, it worked. She got the screw back in. I don't know how long it is going to last, but it was working when she left. Another of those amazing IT solutions I am constantly coming up with.

I am going to go to lunch now. I am tired of typing, and I am constantly making mistakes. I must be tired. It is making it hard to make any sense anymore. That must be my signal to stop doing this and do something else. Plus, I am being sent to the HPE room to do something. I don't know what. We will see.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end. 

MWNews 224

Back again today, or the same day I was writing last time. Not that I will get it published today, but I might. Really slow right now. Although I did just have to solve someone's problem. Nothing major, so I am back at it.

I think there is a big meeting going on concerning Open Day here at the school. That is Friday. It is when all the students, parents, and any prospective students or parents come to see and gather information about the school. Supposedly it is a really big deal. I have been warned about it from the time I started working here. So far, I have done nothing to support it, but I have this sneaking suspicion that I am supposed to be doing something. My predecessor had a lot of information about it and said I would need to gather all the stuff needed to make it happen. I have said over and over again I have no idea what it is I am supposed to be doing. That knowledge went with her. If there is something I am supposed to be doing, someone needs to let me know since this thing happens in three days.

As far as I know, someone else has been put in charge of it, but I just got an invite to a planning session and if it is for that, then the meeting is happening the day before it happens. Not a lot of time to do anything as far as I can tell. But let's just wait and see. Maybe it is just to pass along some information to me and not to ask what my progress is, as I suspect. With the boss leaving, and he has never done one of these either, I cannot gather any information until they tell me. But class just let out, so I have to pretend I am helping someone. And while I was away, I got an email that someone else is doing everything, so I am off the hook.

Today is the day Juanita's mother died, tomorrow is the day her father died. She has been crying all day. I am at work, so I can't be with her. Maybe I will take tomorrow off, but I am not sure if I can. A lot of people call in sick all the time, but I am new, so I don't have sick days yet. And, it is Open Day week, so I am sure there is a lot to do, as I mentioned before. I have no idea what it is, but maybe I have to be here to find out. In any case, Maeghan is home, so maybe she can help. Juanita always gets really sad on these days. 

I think I am about typed out. probably should not have started another of these today. I have done a lot lately but haven't really talked about anything but myself. Maeghan did finish her painting she was doing in her art class. She and Juanita go to this art thing that they do for NDIS people. I think they go twice a week. It is just to get the NDIS people out of the house. Maeghan loves doing art stuff, so it is good for her. Juanita likes doing it as well and this is something they can do together, although Juanita never talks about what she is doing. I think she was doing tiles or something, there are a couple on the kitchen bench, but no one mentioned them, so I am not sure who made them. Juanita hasn't mentioned what she is doing at all. Maeghan tells me everything she is doing and shows me pictures of them on her phone. She does Manja?? drawings and paintings of people. Hopefully, I spelled that right and have the correct term for it. Kind of big-eyed people, with triangular heads or something like that. I don't really know, and I have probably insulted her by saying that. They are good drawings but not something I know anything about.

William is off to get fitted for some free suit. Not sure what that means, but he has a permission slip to go visit some place that gives away free suits or something to the seniors. I have no idea what that means. He is also supposed to go to some play, but the two events are on the same day, so I don't think he is going to the play. Maybe he is, but I heard him saying he is not. He is getting close. A few more months and he will get out of the 12th grade and be finished with school. He is looking forward to it. I don't know why. I think he thinks that it will be easy to get a job then. That all he has to do is finish school and he is ready for a job. Hopefully, he knows it takes a bit more than that. He is willing but I don't think he knows how hard it is to have a job. Much harder than school. I saw a poster or something the other day that said, 'Why did I think work would be easier than school.". I meant to send it to William and Maeghan but forgot.

People keep coming and interrupting me, so it is hard to keep a train of thought. Plus, they keep walking behind my desk, so I have to keep hiding that I am doing this. Now I just got a phone call and normally, I don't answer phone calls but I saw the others looking at me to see if I was going to answer it so I ignored them until the phone call went away. I am probably in trouble now, but who cares, I don't answer the phone unless I have to and they know that. It will be interesting to see what the new boss has to say about it.

I just thought that we could go to the big market in the Gold Coast this weekend. There is one in Robina we have driven by a couple of times but have never been. Problem with that one is it starts at 6 and ends at 11, so would have to leave really early to get there. It takes at least an hour and a half to get there. It advertises as Australia's largest indoor market. I have nothing to compare it to, so I cannot say it isn't. It is just so far away and takes so long to get there, I am not sure it will be worth it. Doesn't look like anything special from the outside, but we have only driven by a couple of times. I am not sure I can find it again, but I am sure Apple maps can find it.

Afterwards, we can go to Surfers Paradise and go to that market. I don't really like that one but it is on the beach and it is in Surfers Paradise, so there are a lot of things there, all of which cost money, but we will see. I have an email telling me that TGIFridays has 50 cent wings this Saturday, so maybe we can go there also, but we have to make reservations for it. Unless we decide quick, we may not get in. It is a conundrum. And yes, they have TGIFridays here. It is not as I remember it, but we went once or twice and it is not bad. The one in Surfers Paradise is right across from the beach. Not that you can ever get those tables but it would be nice to sit out on the balcony and look at the ocean while we eat. So that is a reason to go.

They have the giant Timezone arcade there. The kids and Juanita love that. I don't, it is too loud and too expensive but if they want to go, I can pay for it I guess. Cost me more to go there than it does not eat, but they love it and it is giant. A bowling alley, bumper cars, lots and lot of arcade machines, a little snack bar, lots and lots of stuff. It is giant. But way too loud. I have to go outside and sit and wait for them. I can usually have a beer while I wait, so it is not all bad. 

Next to the Timezone, there is an ax throwing place. Yes, you heard that correctly, an ax throwing place. I have no idea when this trend started, but I have seen a couple of them. You pay your money, they give you some axes, and you throw them at a wall. Not sure why or how that was turned into an entertainment option, but the few times I have seen it, it was busy with a lot of young people there. Mostly young girls, so maybe that is a thing. Just seems kind of strange to me. Also, outside the Timezone is a real bowling alley and a laser tag place and I think something else that I can't think of at the moment. There is a lot of stuff there, all of it expensive. This is a big tourist attraction area, so you can expect that kind of thing. A couple of blocks away, there is even one of those big giant slingshot things, where you sit in a ball and they fire it up into the air bungy jump style. We like to watch it a few times every time we go by there. I am not sure I could ever to that. It is not the initial firing that bothers me it is the bouncing up and down after that first time, hanging way up in the ait. Heights are the problem. I guess if I was strapped in, it might not bother me as much, but I am old and fragile now, so I will probably never do it. 

There is a lot to do in Surfers Paradise. But that kind of leads me to the end. Another entry for the day but it is time for my lunch, although I don't eat lunch, but I have to take care of some business so I should be going anyway. It is the last rush before lunch break now, they go to lunch really late here at the school. I prefer a late lunch but lunchtime is when a lot of the girls come in, so I have to be here when that happens. So I go around 12:30. Would prefer to go at 1:00 but one of the other guys goes then and 1:30 is good for me but that is the lunch rush, so not good for the job. I think I will just close this one for now. Won't come back to it, so might as well publish it. It was a good time.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end.

 

MWNews 223

The weekend is just way too short. I am already back at work and it seems like I had no days off. But I suppose if I am writing in here instead of doing actual work, it's not all bad.

It's 7 in the morning. No one is here. Except, of course, the students. A couple have already knocked on the door and wanted in to use the printers. They seem to be getting here earlier and earlier each week. But I am tired of talking about work, which means I will come back to it later. Except to mention that I had to help several of them with the printing. Which allows me to rant about MacOS and the general setup here at the office. But now that I think about it, I don't want to get into it so lets just ignore it.

We ended up going to the Caboolture market. A big market but it is just a big field, dirt, rocks, and lots and lots of tents. Nothing special at all about this market. No place to sit except at the food places and they want you to buy something if you are going to sit there. Just lots and lots of the same things. 

We thought it had gotten bigger than the last time, but they had just moved it closer to the entrance we go in. A few things had moved around. They are now using the couple of barns that are there for things. One is a giant vegetable market, the other had junk in it. But instead of what we thought, that they had expanded into this end of the field, it turns out they just moved a lot of the stuff from the other end down closer to the buildings. I don't think it was any bigger, but Juanita and Maeghan insisted that it was. William didn't care.

I did notice that there seemed to be a lot more plant stalls. It seems every third stall was selling plants. Mostly the same plants as the last one but one of them had some specialized chilis. They only had one or two plants but I think I might go back to get a couple. It I ever get around to building my greenhouse they got me for my birthday a few years ago. It gets too cold to have them out in the open right now but they would probably survive if I had the greenhouse up. That would mean I would have to go back to that market and hope that they still had the plants so we can assume that is not going to happen.

I think they want to go to the other market this weekend, or maybe even the West End market. Both of which we require us to be up earlier than we were this week. We got up early, or they got up early, I am always up early, so we could have gone sooner but we ended up not leaving until a little before 10. The market closed at 11:30. They seemed surprised but I had told them it closed at 12 and they did not seem to believe me. I was surprised at 11:30 but it didn't matter as we were just about finished when it did. Only had one more section to go to.

I did go by the big vegetable building on the way out and they were selling everything half price. I am not sure they actually charged me half price as the people yelling half price were not the ones actually ringing up the customers when they left. I got a big bag of mushrooms. It was ordinarily $7.99 but they told me $5.00. I got some green onions also for $2 and the total was $9 so I assume they charged me full price. But $7.99 for a big bag of mushrooms wasn't bad anyway, so I didn't say anything. Problem is, now I have a big bag of mushrooms. I am the only one who eats them. So I have to eat them all the time so they do not go bad before I can get to them. I had a bunch last night, fried with onion and chilies and mixed with rice. The morning I had a mushroom omelette, but there is still a very large bowl of them left. I don't think I will get to the all, so maybe they were not such a bargain, but I will give it a shot. They are brown mushrooms and taste pretty good, so I will be mushroom heavy for the next couple of days. I didn't set anything out to cook for tonight, so I am having mushrooms. Not sure what the others are having.

Maeghan got a water bottle for her bird. She wanted another bird, but they are $65 and she did not have any money. She gets money next week so maybe she will get it then. I told her the bird does not know how to drink from a water bottle. She agreed but she said the bird would figure it out. I have my doubts. 

Maeghan is currently looking for some roller skates. She seems to think she can roller skate somewhere. I tried to tell her there was no place to use roller skates around here and her legs were not strong enough to use them. I have to try to tell her that without making her sad because she would feel bad if I said she can't do it. My only point is, she needs to build up her leg muscles before she tried roller skating. I told her she needs to learn to walk first, which was kind of a joke but does have some truth to it. Roller skating is harder than walking and if she gets too tired walking, then she will not be able to roller skate very far or be able to handle rough terrain and such. I am not sure what her plans are as I was totally exhausted by the time we were at Kmart and looking at skates so I did not hang around to see what she was going to decide. Just one more thing I need to talk to the kids about. Instead of being a source of entertainment, I need to be a father.

Juanita gave William $20 to spend at the market so he would not touch his own money for his trip. He didn't find anything but took out another $20 so he could buy a knife. A fake knife, but one that costs $40. He says is saving all the stuff he buys for a display at his own home when he gets one. 

 I started this entry yesterday and rereading it, I am not sure where I was headed with William. I will make do with what I can make up.

So William says he is going to have one display wall with all the things he has bought over the years. Lots of fake knives, swords, some fake guns and other stuff I assume. I admire him for the plan, not sure if he will feel the same way once he has his own home. Not sure he will ever have his own home. With the way things are going, housing will be well out of anyone's price range, or at least the one's in the middle class. Rich people will still have houses and poor people will have public housing, but for the middle class, not so much. You can't afford the down payment and you cannot find houses in the areas where you would like them to be. But that is political stuff and no way am I going there in this blog.

I think we are going to plan on going to the other market this weekend. Old Petrie. I'll have to get everyone up early but it was a fairly cheap outing and I am trying to save money for retirement. Can't keep dipping into that money if I expect to retire. I have enough to retire, but if I want a new car or anything new while I am retired, I am not sure where that money will come from. I need to get all that taken care of before that happens. Maybe Maeghan or William will get a good job and take care of me. I doubt it, but it would be nice. I don't see that happening unless William gets real lucky and gets a job where he can move up or Maeghan gets a job working in an office and gets to be in charge at some point. It's possible, but probably not before I have to start taking care of myself. Plus, I wouldn't accept it. I don't like other people paying for me. I have always said, if you are out with me, I pay. Doesn't always work out but I hate it when it doesn't.

I suppose I should just go ahead and end this one now. The day is just starting and I haven't opened the doors yet. In fact, I just had to get up and open the doors. Not sure why no one has knocked yet. My boss did just come in and we had a long talk about me applying for his job. I told him I would not be doing that. Alzheimer and all. Not a good look when I can't get a sentence out in the middle of a meeting. But that's the way it is. I get by with what I can do.

Going to be heading out. Maybe come back to it later as there does not seem to be a big crowd of students around. Maybe they are having a meeting or something. I was really busy yesterday, hence I never got back to this entry, but today seems to be starting slow. Hope it lasts.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end.

MWNews 222

Not a lot going on. I have posted many times lately but since I started, I keep coming back to it. It's Friday and I am at work again. I'd say I look forward to the weekend, but it is way too short. It seems like I just get relaxed, or actually never get relaxed, and they have to go back to work. I don't remember it being this hard back when I went to a regular job. Weekends just seem so short. I never get to do any of the things I want to do. And with my health, I get tired really early so we always have to cut whatever we are doing short so I can get home and rest. And then I don't get to rest when I am at home. Not sure if it is going to get easier but it has to if I am going to do this for the next four years.

Trouble at work still. With my boss leaving, it seems total chaos has begun. It is Friday and I am the only one here so far. We are normally short two people on Fridays anyway as somehow, they got it in their contracts that they do not have to work on Fridays. Wish I had known that was an option. I would certainly have asked for it. But today, the boss is in, but I am not sure who else will be here. I know two of them have called in sick. They usually don't come in until after 8 anyway, I get here at 6:15, so I don't expect anyone until then, but since there are normally three of me, today there will be just me and my backups may not be here. Not that it has been busy and I have done it by myself before, but it could be an interesting day. But that's enough work talk as students have started coming in and I have to help them. I will try to get back to it later today and discuss our weekend plans but if I don't, be sure to miss me a lot.

By the way, formatting has gone back to normal. I have no idea why or when it changes but it happens often enough to annoy me. Then again, what's new, I am annoyed by everything.

Yes, I have returned to this. Students don't seem to have problems today, only teachers and they are the worst anyway. A student usually shows respect, not that I need that, but the teachers just demand things get done. Doesn't matter what else might be going on, they think they are first because they have to go teach so everyone else can wait. Not all, but it is always a background noise when dealing with teachers. Get my problem fixed now. They don't say it, but you can feel it.

So, for the weekend. I think we are skipping the West End. They want to go to the local market. We have not been in a while, but it is a boring market. And it is on Sunday and that is my day to sit in front of the TV and do nothing. The problem with the local market is it is just a big field. Nothing special about it. No trees, no park, no buildings, just temporary stalls with a lot of junk. It is boring. That is why we never go. Other options are the Old Petrie Market. We went there once but we took both the dogs and it was not a pleasant experience. I'd like to go back, and we can probably just take the one dog this time, or no dog at all. But he would love it, so if we do go, I plan on taking him. 

That market has some character. Not a lot there but it winds around a bit and there are some good things and bad, plus there are a lot of trees and a park and some benches and stuff where you can just sit for a while in the shade. No shade at the local market. If we have to go on Sunday, then I would recommend the Old Town Petrie. 

We might even go to the Redcliffe market, but we have been there many times. It is our go to market I guess. It is an ok market, but the big advantage is it is at the beach. And there are shops on one side of the street and stalls in the street, so it has a bit of everything. It can be kind of crowded, so that is a drawback, but overall, it is a good market. I have been kind of wanting to have a picnic lately and this might be a good chance to go to the beach and have one. It is just that is it so crowded there that all the picnic places are also crowded, and it is hard to find a good spot that is not already taken.

Been running the students again. I have often wondered what it is like when I say I will be back in a minute and then you just start reading the next line. For you, I have not been away but I might have been away for hours, days, weeks, or months. So does it read any differently or are there any issues with it. I know if I leave it for too long, all my original thoughts have gone and I am starting anew, so the tone or information might be redundant or different. I have always wondered that. No matter, I will continue to proceed.

In and out all day today. It's 10:30 already. I started this at 6:30 this morning. I have been looking at different markets we can go to, so we don't go to the same ones all the time. I think Old Petrie is where we will end up, or Caboolture, the local market. That is for Sunday. For Saturday, we will probably just go to the shops. Not sure which one. I will let them decide. Ideally, we will just stay home Saturday, but I doubt that will happen. Have to keep them entertained.

I would end this now as I am tired of writing in it. But I know I will be bored again later and want to continue to type. Not that I have anything to say and not that I have said anything yet, but I am tired of writing. I'll think about it for a few minutes, while I wait on this student and see how I go. A teacher was here also, wanted a camera. I said I didn't know anything about a camera but it would appear there was one in the back waiting to be picked up, so I gave her that one. Hopefully, it was waiting for her to pick it up. They never tell me anything about what is going on. I am front of house, why should they tell me.

I am starting to feel week now. Didn't have breakfast and all I have is a handful of nuts and a smaller handful of pretzels. Going to be a long day but I am going to go ahead and end this now. Lot of kids coming in the use the printers. We are centrally located, so they use this one a lot. There are printers all over campus, but they choose to use these. Hopefully, they know how so I don't have to get up. I'll stare at them until they leave. Of course now I hear classes ending, so there will be another rush through here. Have to go be a servant.

Now it is time to say goodbye. They want me to answer the phones as well, since no one else is here. Hopefully, there will be no calls. I see there have only been seven today and it is morning break time so no one should be calling. I hate answering the phones. I hate it because I have people who have taken the time to come in and see me directly and if I am on the phone, I have to tell them to wait. I have said I should not be answering the phones but it always seems to happen when we are short staffed as we are today. The boss just came by and said he was going to lunch and he would not be back, so one less person. No shortage of students, they don't take the day off but apparently neither can I. I am really looking forward to five days off in a few weeks. I can really use it. 

The phone just rang but someone answered it, or they hung up. Not sure, but the call went away. 

Have to go. I ate all my nuts and pretzels. The pretzels don't have enough salt on them. It's been fun. I'll live to tell another tale, just not today. Rush is over, can't hear any kids anymore, so they must be back in class.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end.