a different angle on a snow day

yesterday morning, left home at 7 to make it to work on time. didn't take much longer than usual, considering it was snowing fairly heavily - would have said blizzarding if i had never been to wyoming.

work started pretty busy but under control, all hands on deck, and everyone seemed on top of things. but as the weather moved up the country, and auckland's power outage had it effects, our little bit of crazy went beserk.

finally took lunch, having forgotten morning break entirely, which i got a wee lecture for (which is a good sign really) but never finished it all (there's still a cup of soup in the fridge... ah well, dinner tonight.)

had 40-something messages waiting for me on the answermachine much of the day, and i was constantly clearing them, calling people back or whatever they needed.

2.30 rolled by and the snow that was meant to ease at midday hadn't. 2 of the customer service girls (my job too) live an ickle way out of town so left at 3 and just after. another had come in earlier but disappeared from her desk for most of the afternoon and only came back at four ish, feeling terrible, burning up, and going home. so it was just me, fifty messages and a week of middling experience to answer them. then the 2 in admin started helping. four thirty rolled by and i thought about leaving. then i thought about the other 40 messages.

should have gone when i was meant to cause the emergency phone started going. i answer ' you've reached the emergency phone, have you got a gas leak or explosion?' and get 'no, but you've got crap service' and i'll stop quoting the bastard there. just got better after that and thank god kay sent me packing at five.

drove home with snow slowly freezing itself to the sides of my windows, so drove carefully. realised that idiots are still idiots in icy conditions. but made it home alive. and luuk made it over, alive, after he finished work. he lifted me up significantly actually, cause, though he hasn't put it on his page yet, he got another new job! he's only been at his new one a week and now he's been poached for his brilliance to a bit of a dream team by the sounds of it. spent evening reading 'once were warriors' while he finished 'hamlet' and then, with our powers combined, made berry-apple crumble for everyone and recieved various declarations of love from the whanau. watched 'grey's anatomy', which i am rather fond of, and luuk went home to call his folks (such a good boy, sometimes... ;) )

slept like a baby, was so exhausted from go-go-go brain day. perhaps 'once were warriors' was the wrong choice for last night - from my list of young adults fiction to read by the end of the month. maurice gee might have been a bit easier going. i get ridiculously involved in stories and even luuk noticed i was looking sad when i was reading it. so he cheered me up. i think i'll keep him on...

back to the books. and going to untouched world, so... bon apetite! and just plain benissimo! for the coffee, frankly.

soul refresher

a lovely end to the week. spent saturday with friends of many different descriptions.

morning plan was to take some time out, alone, in the middle of no where, to think through life in general. went out back of the airport and read bible for a wee while, sang along with an old cassette and looked at planes, hills and stunning southern alps.

then got call from mum, needed car very soon. i'd just started to enjoy my ickle retreat, my head and heart were just getting quiet. was quite disappointed but probably needed the emotional release anyway, and had a wee cry, looked up to see southern alps again and it turns out, all is well after all.

did some more time out at home, as everyone else went out. read an old journal which was interesting, revealing and in places, made me cringe at myself.

then bussed to northlands (friendly bus driver charged me a child fare as i only had $2 and the adult fare is now $2.50) and had coffee with tash. then had lunch with andrea. long catch up and chat and quick look around shops, but mostly just talking. good friends are truly wonderful.

luuk picked me up after a while and we went out to styx mill (yea, where that woman got stabbed last month... hm...) and wandered around, and more good talking. also played with camera. now have looked through the fruits of our labours and discovered one that I could put on here...



rugby in the evening, which we won, of course, and then watched the wedding singer. still funny the millionth time but luuk'd never seen it before.

a necessary addition

not sure why i never put this picture on here before. it's been weeks since our navs cell group retreat and i might have even mentioned it on here. however, flicking through my file on here (my whanau's computer, so not mine) i discovered some incriminating evidence, or something...






enjoy!

conundrum

most women (minus the ones who resent the prices of bought flowers and would rather have something that lasted) would agree that roses are wonderful gifts. basically, having now recieved one bouquet of roses, i have joined the club, and there's nothing quite like it. i'm pretty sure guys don't understand but they go along with it because we must demonstrate the wooshy feeling they incite...

the conundrum: what is the equivalent of roses, for guys? ... that you can give them if you're not married to them, i mean... ;)

i guess its different for each man. us girls tend to generalise, whether we really believe what we say or not, that all men are basically the same, want the same things, etc. like we know what those things are... perhaps we should give them more credit.

i have been expertly swept off my feet, and though apparently i don't particularly need to, i'd like to return the favour. suggestions are most welcome ;)

chuffed, and bruised

i've been very covert, casually mentioning his name in here for a while now, and in the case that i wasn't as covert as i thought i was, you've kept your suspicions to yourself.

the sad fact of the matter is, i lell in fuv. only, it's not really sad. a rather dangerous passtime, yes, little eating or sleeping going on, some study, but probably not enough, even got exercise yesterday.

hence the bruised. now that i've explained the chuffed, i'll explain the bruised. fortunately, this time, being chuffed is not the direct precursor to getting my heart bruised. only my butt. mountain biking excursion yesterday: first track, i almost came off, managed to stop, and so did my bike, when the seat rammed me. i'm sure it's a colourful bruise - but at such an angle that i haven't actually seen it.

unfortunatey also got asthma while biking, so lovely luuk gave up careening crazily into the trees and rode back on the road with me. then took me to QEII to warm up in the spa... mmm. he eventually regained feeling in his feet, so we left for some lunch.

watched chocolat and read Maurice Gee's The Fat Man all afternoon, then had fantastic roast pork and multitude of veges, care of Mike, the inhouse chef at Luuk's flat. Everyone love's mike. And for damn good reason. there was even crackling!

anyway, the bruise won't last, but it looks like being chuffed might stick around. which is fine by me :)
he's pretty much wonderful, kind and generous and i have my suspicions that this whole ordeal is a dream, the kind you don't want to wake up from. totally impractical of course but somethings are more important...