What a week. What an unproductive week. I was really looking forward to having the last week off and to be honest, it's been great, but I feel completely out of it. And the thought of starting this job tomorrow is starting to kick in and I find that I am shitting myself, slightly.

On Friday night I caught up with my team and other work folk for drinks etc. It was fun, but I find that I already feel incredibly detached from them. Their new Team Leader is a great girl, really personable (and not an enormous social misfit like me) and has settled in like she's been there all her life. Which is fantastic, good for her and good for everyone else, too. I'm glad the job is in capable hands. But letting go of the good people there is a little bit sad. Though I'm going to be seeing them at drinks and social thingies anyway, so all good, yes?

Sigh. I have spent a lot of time inside my head of late. Not just work, but everything. My mind is very cluttered.

I think I'm just wondering what kind of mistakes I'm making.

Also.

Woah! What's with this post? Sunshine and rainbows!

Sidenotes:

• I have the worst potty mouth ever when drunk.
• I have a lot of black spots from Friday night.
• There's only one week until Bridge to Brisbane. I predict that I will die. I'll make sure I post one last time before I go.
• Beardie bought me a Dwight Schrute bobblehead.
  

• And Chamberlain skekSil.

• I am going to put them on my new desk alongside Baird from Gears of War. And they can all have a tea party.
• I might go out today and buy some sports bras.

I hope your weekend has been fine and dandy.

You know, there's probably better things I could be doing than watching *NSYNC videos on Youtube.*

For example:

I could be out scaring children with my experimental fingernails. I have seen not one but TWO people with nails like this, so I am thinking that looking as though I have dipped my fingertips into a tin of paint is The In Thing.

I could be eating yet another serve of my Mum's Stew. My Mum's Stew, made by me. So, um, my stew. You know what I mean. Every winter since moving out of home at the age of 18 has been spent whining that I missed my mum's stew. On Saturday, I started to feel those familiar pangs and dug out the hand-written recipe book that I carefully transcribed when I was 12 (in my neatest handwriting, actually) and flicked through the battered pages until I found it. And my GOD, I cannot believe I waited seven years to make it. I had one bowl yesterday, and then today I had the only thing better than Mum's Stew - SECOND DAY MUM'S STEW. For real. You need to come over to my house and try it, STAT. I made enough for eight people.

I could be out spending even more money that I don't have. For somebody who is completely skint, I sure do buy a lot of shit. I put this down to forcing myself to not spend any money at all for ten weeks and then lifting this ban when I had Zero Dollars in my bank account after buying a car. Clever much. But Wednesday is payday, hoorah!

Or, you know, if I got bored of those things I could try:

• becoming an accomplished pianist
• fulfilling my lifelong dreams
• um, figuring out what my lifelong dreams are
• and, you know, stuff
  

Sigh. I wish I was in a boy band.

*But that song is just so catchy! And look at wee JT bobbing about on the bed, trying to get his sex on. Awwwww.

It is a good time for Stuff That I Like:

Caution: NERD ALERT. Despite being a geek, I normally have a touch of the girliness about me. Until Gears of War II comes out, that is. As of November, I will be locked in the house, marvelling at the wonderful invention of a gun with a chainsaw attached, as I cackle maniacally and slaughter THE LOCUST HORDE.

At the end of this month, Ben Folds new album will be out, which is ACE. As everyone should know, Ben Folds is my husband. It looks like it will be right up my alley, hoorah!

The new season of Heroes is starting in two weeks. I get to watch it and vicariously pretend that I have super powers! Squeal!

The second season of Secret Diary of a Call Girl (the TV series based on Belle de Jour) has started, which is also very squeal-worthy. I get to watch it and vicariously pretend that I am a glamorous prostitute, without any of the moral implications. Yay!

And The Other Stuff:

I mentioned in passing that I would soon have to put in a formal application for the job that I'm doing at the moment. Lo and behold, surprise-fricking-surprise, it was sprung on me late last week for submission by 9am tomorrow morning. Completely redoing your resume, when you haven't bothered to keep it up to date since you applied for a totally different position a year ago, is a freaking mammoth task. Which is why I have spent a fair chunk of today doing it. But at least this is the easy part. If I score an interview, then I can properly start shitting myself.

I met up with the friend on Friday night. It was a work drinks night, and I had successfully managed to knock back the offers of Super Cheap booze numerous times. We went to the quietest pub we could find and managed to have a bit of a chat, before EVERYONE from my work miraculously turned up at the pub. Way to spoil things, guys! Turns out that someone had thrown a bottle off the roof, or something crazy, and everyone had been kicked out. And then decided to make their way to the exact pub where we happened to be, and formed a gigantic circle right next to us. So methinks that maybe another meetup is in order.

Instead of the heart-to-heart it was supposed to be, I: ended up in an emo bar (an experience that I would like to never repeat, thanks), danced like a stripper for my work friends in a taxi, couldn't get over the fact that a man had Jackson for a first name instead of surname, and then proceeded to sing "Sorry Miss Jackson, I am for reee-eaaal!" at him (along with five others) until he moved away in annoyance.

I am very poor! We went to get our groceries today and decided to check out some outdoor furniture. And then bought some. A five-piece setting and a sunlounge, plus a gigantic umbrella. And then we bought the groceries, came home, and booked our break for November to the Whitsundays. Only flights and accommodation at the moment, but yes, I am as poor as poor gets. Beardie is poorer, as on top of all of this he also bought the Guitar Hero pack, with two guitars.

And that, I think, is about it.

This weekend, you will most probably find me at this.

Gen Con, the super geeky conference for super geeks!

Should I dress up as:

a) a jedi
b) an asian schoolgirl
c) Buffy
d) Princess Peach
e) Chewbacca
f) a hobo

In truth, it will most probably be option f, through no effort of my own.

Hooray for being dishevelled and nerdy!

• I do not really want to mention the Lady Business from yesterday. Suffice it to say, it was about as pleasant as getting naked and rolling around in hot coals, and I never ever want to go back there ever ever again. Ever never ever. I suggested to Beardie that maybe at some point over the next two years I should become a prostitute, because then I'll become desensitized and won't give a rats who checks out my business. I'm not sure that he would be overly happy with this, but it definitely warrants some thought.
• Going with the theme of watching movies to completely put me off my holiday plans, last night we watched a delightful movie called Return to Paradise. Not quite Thailand, but close enough, and the lesson I have learnt is that if I am thrown in prison and the media catch hold of it, then there's the chance that they'll hang me, just to make an example of me. Even if Vince Vaughn does try and save me. So hooray for that. I am going to Blockbuster to ask if there's a movie called I Went To Thailand And Had A Super Fun Time And Didn't Go To Jail Or Die.
• Just when you thought that it was impossible for me to become a bigger nerd than I already am, I have signed up to play World of Warcraft. And by "signed up", I mean I am playing a free 10-day trial, because 1. it is free, and 2. I said I would give it a try because Beardie loves it and wants to have 10000 of its babies. Observations so far:
• When people call you a "noob", they do not mean "oh, you're new? How cute!" They mean "U R LAME I H8 U."
• It is entirely possible for your whole day to disappear and for you to realise that you have achieved diddly squat.
• It is entirely possible for your RSI to become about 12 times worse in the space of a few hours.
• I think that 95% of the WoW population must be around the age of 12, going by the conversations (u r gay) and the many attempts made to Pick Up the laydeez. Except is it a laydee, or is it not? Who can tell!
• It is all good fun, but I suspect that maybe it is not for me. We shall see.
  

As a child growing up in the 90's, I was accustomed to flannelette shirts, shiny nylon tracksuits, Party of Five, and spent my days wondering whether Ross and Rachel would ever get together. Mum jeans were young jeans, the Spice Girls still wore themed outfits, and Hanson were a trio of long-haired ponces that the laydeez loved. They were good days.

And of course, there was one TV show to rule them all. One that remained supreme, while the others passed by making only a small impact on my cultural upbringing. Brenda, Brandon, Dylan, Kelly, Annndrea, Steve, Donna and David! BH 90210! Oh, you know you loved it. So imagine the excitement of my 10-year old inner child after discovering that they're making another one.

Unfortunately, this Youtube preview suggests that it might be a bit OC-ish rather than a bunch of kids hanging out in the Peach Pit, facing problems like alcoholism (after having two whole drinks), or the best way to write a character out of the series after it becomes obvious that he's unpopular and not necessary to the storyline.

It does promise to feature a guest appearance from both Kelly (the pale one) and Donna (the one who was cast because her dad made the show), so maybe it will relive some of its former glory.

On a sidenote, I would like to congratulate BAG on going from this:



To becoming a bad boy with tats who scored Megan Fox:



Playing the synthesizer and wearing gigantic colourful shirts really does get you places. I will most definitely keep it up. Good show, old chap.