Gold class menu: try the caramel sundae.
Man, that was scary. I was about to cross the road to go to the petrol station (to get an iced coffee), when a lady driving past beeped at me, and pulled over next to me. I thought she was angry (why else would someone beep at you {unless they know you, which she certainly didn’t}?), but I didn’t know why… because I was at the side of the road waiting to cross, perhaps? Who knows. But she motioned for me to come over, and I did, all the while thinking “She’s going to yell at me!” Turns out, she just wanted to know the way to the highway. Although I’m not very good at giving directions (my explanations sound confusing, even to me), I did my best. Hopefully she gets there okay!
I so want to go home. I’m bored bored bored. One hour and 13 minutes to go…
You know those phone calls I was talking about in an earlier post, the ‘can I speak to the business owner’ ones? I’ve had about 6 or 7 of them today! How annoying. But each time, I say “He’s not available at the moment, can I get him to call you back?” and they say “No”, and then hang up. Occasionally they’ll go into a bit of a spiel, but I’m really trying to get the courage to do what my sister does. After about .05 seconds of them talking, she says “Not interested” and hangs up. At the moment, I just listen until they stop, and try to get my point across that I’m not interested, but without sounding harsh. I’m a wuss!
We got tickets to see Star Wars Episode 3 in Gold Class! Ooooh, luxurious. My husband and I, my older brother and his fiancé, and my younger brother and his girlfriend are going on the evening of Tuesday 24th May. Yay! This is the one where he turns evil. It will be interesting to see such dramatic character development. Wow, I sound all knowledgeable. Joy.
Reminder: giving is better than receiving.
Walking is becoming my favourite lunch-time activity. I love it. That’s a really good thing, because I’ve never really loved exercise before. Actually, that may be a lie. I think I used to love doing Aerobics Oz Style every morning, but that was before I realised that “hey, I could just sleep instead!” Smart woman. But yes! Walking is fun! Bad news, though. It is raining today. So I have to stay indoors. And do a study for Home Group. So no walkies for Lyss-lyss. Awww.
I have gained about 4 kilograms (i.e. 9 pounds) in the last couple of months. And there’s no fabulous reason behind it, I can assure you {you know what I’m talking about}. *sigh* *double sigh* *triple sigh* Oh well, with the onset of my immeasurable fondness for walking, I’m sure my excess weight will disappear pretty quickly. Hopefully.
Why am I suddenly typing with apparent great intellect? Be assured, it’s all a ruse. I have just rediscovered the Thesaurus and Dictionary function on Word. Joy! Now I can assemble various sentences with ease, and cause them to appear intelligent.
Sometimes I wish there were some girls at my work. At the moment there are two middle-aged men (three on Tuesdays). Our birthdays are fairly close together. For theirs, I bought them both presents and cards, and we had a cake. On my birthday, my boss was out of the office all day. So John said that we’d have a cake the next day (Leonie was also scheduled to come in with her new baby). Fair enough, I thought. So the next day, we had the cake when Leonie came, but there was no mention of my birthday at all. Just cut some cake and eat it. And no presents. I know, giving is better than receiving. For sure. But they obviously knew it was my birthday, and had time to prepare (seeing as they delayed the cake-eating for a whole day), and I make minimal amounts of money compared to them.
Very minimal. But it’s not even about the presents, it’s about the not-even-mentioning-the-birthday aspect of it. Maybe it’s a girl thing, and so not a middle-aged man thing. Oh well.
Note to self: Stop feeling sorry for myself.
{‘Allow myself to introduce… myself…’}
Detachment.
I don’t quite know how to feel at the moment. I just found out that my ex-stepdad committed suicide on Tuesday. We haven’t seen him in years, but he was part of our lives for a long time. I really don’t know what to say.
I went for a half-hour power walk today. I rock at power walking. It’s mad fun. Then I sat in my car and read my Bible. I really needed some peace, and I got it. God is awesome.
Guess what? You are going to be so proud of me when you hear… Yesterday morning, instead of getting my usual Very Vanilla Latte, I got a DECAF Very Vanilla Latte! I’m trying to cut down on my caffeine intake, to make sure I don’t get addicted. Also, it’s not good for singers to have caffeine, apparently. So they say. But yes! Decaf! The coffee tastes weaker, but it just enhances the vanilla flavour! So I’m happy. I think this is definitely a good thing. Joy!
My husband is making roast for dinner tonight. :o)
Sorry if I seem a bit ‘out of it’, I’m still kind of in shock, and feeling detached from everything. Oh, and I wrote the paragraph about the coffee situation yesterday, so that’s why it sounds like my usual, quirky self.
I did it!
Sometimes coffee makes me feel sick. This is one of those times. Blergh! Blergh! Blergh!
At my singing lesson last night, I got a couple of fact sheets about airflow (interesting stuff), and a heading said 'Unleashing your vocal power'. Well, I almost laughed out loud right then and there, because in a Lano & Woodley episode, they say (quite often) "Unleash the power of the primal warrior!" And it's funny. They say it in a primal-warrior-esque kind of voice. I don't know. I guess you had to be there.
I was also doing vocal exercises, and I had to hum five-note scales. I could not help giggling every time, because it was funny. It felt weird having my mouth closed, for some reason. I guess because it was a singing lesson, and singing usually involves an open mouth. But I giggled lots, and Lana was amused.
I went walking! I power-walked around the park for about half an hour. Then I rewarded myself with a Light Powerade (arctic lime), and a 'Be Natural' yoghurt-coated apricot and almond bar. Yummy!
Ha! So apparently someone tried to hack into my blogger account. Interesting! I got this email:
This email is a response to your request for information about your Blogger account. To regain access to your account, please click on the following link:
{link deleted by me}
Clicking on this link will take you to a web page that will let you choose a new password. Once you've submitted your new password, you'll be able to log in to your Blogger account.
Well well well. I changed my password. So there. :o) It is now undetectable to even the most Alyssa-knowing person.
And now for something completely different...
Oh so tired.
I can’t do many things with my hair. These are the styles I can manage – high ponytail, low ponytail, half up half down, and the one where you twist a bit of hair on either side and they meet at the back. But that’s all. My husband says that I should get one of my friends to teach me the art of hair-styling, but…
First of all: How embarrassing!
Secondly: Um, heck no.
Thirdly: I’m not that kind of girl. I’m not a girly-girl. My dress sense is ‘smart casual’, and the ‘casual’ side of it extends to my hair. I just don’t worry about it. Eh, I say. Eh. Ha ha, Eh is a funny word. Is Eh really a word? Oh poo. I just looked it up on
www.dictionary.com, and it says:
eh
interj.
1.Used in asking a question or in seeking repetition or confirmation of a statement.
2.Chiefly Canadian. Used to ascertain or reinforce a listener's interest or agreement.
But I didn’t mean it like that! I meant it like “Eh, who cares.” Bah! Is bah a word? Ooooh yes! How exciting!
bah
interj.
Used to express impatient rejection or contempt.
That one worked to my advantage. That’s exactly how I meant it. Praise you, oh dictionary.com!
...(Don’t worry, I’m just delirious from fatigue)...
Speaking of fatigue, I struggled to keep my eyes open this morning on the way to work. Oh yes, I drove. On the highway. It didn’t help that traffic was crawling the whole way… and that I had the bad car (i.e. 1983 Toyota Corona), which doesn’t have air-conditioning, and the window can’t wind down, and it doesn’t have a stereo. So I was just nice and warm, drifting off in silence. But it’s okay, because I made it to work, and more importantly, Gloria Jeans to get a coffee! Ha ha,
Meanwhile, there are brochures in our office about fatigue, and how it’s bad when you’re driving. One of them says ‘You need to judge whether you’re too tired to drive”. I wonder what my boss would say if I called in and said that I’d be a couple of hours late because I’m too tired to drive! Perhaps I’d also draw his attention to the brochure. But I am curious as to what his reaction would be, and if he’d actually let me off the hook. Hmmm… an experiment for another day… :o)
As a Youth leader, I am encouraged to read at least one Christian book (preferably non-fiction) per month. This month, I am going to borrow Jalane’s copy of the book
‘Big Girls Don’t Whine’.
She said that it really helped her in the quest to avoid being ruled by emotions. Here’s a secret: I need that!!! :o) I boldly proclaim, I am ruled by my emotions! Hey, I’m a girl, what can I say? But I’m trying. Therefore, I’m really looking forward to reading this book. It will be good. Very good. Yay!
I’d better go. I’ve finished my large Crème Brule latte, and I’m ready to power on through my work!
Oh, one more thing. I am SO going for a walk at lunch-time. No doubt about it. If I don’t, please hit me. Well, maybe hitting is not possible through the internet, but a slight reprimand would be helpful. Thanks!
Conversations and callings.
Phone “Conversation”Me – {Company Name}, Alyssa speaking.
Her – Can I speak to the business owner?
[When someone asks for the business owner, I immediately know they want to sell us something. And they obviously haven’t done any research at all, because we’re an association, and are financially supported by our members, so we don’t actually have an owner. I humour them anyway…]Me – He’s not available at the moment, can I get him to call you back?
Her – No. {hang up}
Fascinating, yes? What a great way to sell things. You know, she probably should have told
me (or anyone who would listen) about the “great deals”, so I could “pass them onto my boss”. I am pretty sure I know the company she was calling from, as all of the people there have the same accent (I think they outsource), they all call through on a certain line (which is different to our normal phone number), and they all ask for the business owner. Oh, and they call about once a week, even though our “business owner” is conveniently “unavailable” every single time. :o) I am also sure that they just called again about five minutes ago, even though no-one talked, and they just hung up after about 20 seconds. I recognised the background noise.
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Our friend Caleb desperately wants someone from church (anyone at all) to call their child Josiah, since that’s his middle name. Yesterday he said to us “When you have a kid, you’re going to name him Josiah, aren’t you?” He was kind of kidding, not expecting us to say yes, but we did. We were like “Yes, Josiah’s going to be our first boy!” He was a bit shocked, and said “Are you serious?!” It was funny, it was like his little ploy of trying to convince someone to use that name actually worked. Except not, because we’d already decided long ago. But Shane seemed a bit keen on that name too, so hopefully he and Alexia don’t have a boy before my husband and I do. :o)
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I had such an awesome weekend! God is working in my life so wonderfully. I feel like I’m really progressing in my calling. On Saturday night at Youth, I started ‘Awesome God’ by myself (without any music, even!), and then sang by myself for a bit in the middle, then started it when we did it again. I think I may have ended it by myself one of those times too, but I don’t remember. God’s presence rained down so much that night, it was awesome. Then on Sunday morning at Church, I started ‘With All I Am’ by myself, and Georga & Dolly came in with harmonies on the chorus. I love it. I really feel like I’m moving forward. God is giving my opportunity after opportunity to serve Him in my singing, and I’m really grateful.
Dolly also started a song on Saturday night! She is becoming so much more confident, it’s fabulous. I’m so proud of her!
My brother, Grant, started two songs on Sunday morning! He’s also one of the lead vocals (with Shane) for our rendition of Boyz II Men’s ‘A Song For Mama’, that we’re doing for the Mother’s Day service (I’m on backing vocals). He’s moving forward so much, too. I’m proud of my bro! And I’m positive that Mum will come to church that day, because two of her kids are in the Mother’s Day item! I love it when she comes to church. :o)
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I’ve mentioned countless times that my calling in God is to be a mother and a worship-leader, haven’t I? Well, it is. I got a bit discouraged the other day, because I thought “Those things are so attainable. I’m married, so the baby thing is definitely going to happen, no doubt about it. And I’m becoming closer and closer to the worship-leader goal. What happens then? Those two things could happen within a year. Then what do I do? I’d have achieved my goals, and there’ll be nothing left for me to attain…” My husband reminded me that those things are ongoing. Motherhood lasts a lifetime. I could worship-lead for years and years. But even when the kids have moved out, and I’m not singing on stage as much as I used to, God won’t leave me without anything to accomplish. He won’t say “Okay, you’ve done all you were put on this earth for. Now you can just sit back and do whatever you want. Relax. I don’t need you anymore.” I’m sure that, over the years, He’ll give me more opportunities to do things. They may be things that aren’t necessarily within my area of calling as I see it today. God may have called me for these things for a time, and will open up other things later. Know what I mean? Cool.
I’m going to have lunch with my husband now. Yay! :o)
Dizzy me.
I think my Mum wants a grandchild. Whenever we go over to her house for dinner, she brings it up {in a round-about way}.
“You don’t want to eat this? But you usually love it! Are you pregnant?”
“You felt faint yesterday? Was it morning sickness?”
And so on, and so on. But I’m going to trick her! When I really
am pregnant, I’m not going to let on one bit. I’m going to keep it all to myself, no complaining, no passing comments about anything baby or pregnancy related… and when I do tell her, it’ll be like
BAM! “Wow, I had no idea!” Ha ha ha. Mum, you’ll be in for a surprise.
Today has been… normal. I’ve been working. Stamping envelopes and putting labels on envelopes and filling envelopes with pamphlets. Yay. Yesterday I had the day off, because that morning and the night before, I was constantly feeling really dizzy, like I was about to faint. {Hence the comment by my mother last night.} No, it’s not a nice feeling. But now I’m all better, and I caught up on some much-needed sleep.
Okay, I’m feeling kinda dizzy at the moment. Is that bad? It’s probably just malnutrition or something – nothing to worry about. :o) Just kidding. But don’t go thinking it’s pregnancy, because I am pretty certain that it’s not. So there.
Man, the way I talk about this stuff, you’d think I was obsessed or something! I am so not. It’s not like “Oh, I really want a baby! A baby would complete me! Baby baby baby!!!”, it’s more like “Oh, having a baby would be awesome. I mean, motherhood is part of my calling, and I’d really like a little bub to nurture and love.” See? Loads of difference.
Over and out.
Job probs and goop scoops.
I’m having problems with my job. Well, maybe it’s with my attitude. Either way. :o)
I’m sick of passing on messages for my co-workers to call people, only to have the person call back the next day, and the next day, and the next day, saying they haven’t been contacted yet. They get quite annoyed, and rightly so. There’s a certain person who called requesting some information. It was a pretty easy question, so I answered it, but he wasn’t satisfied. So I did what any normal person would do – tell him I’d get someone else to call him back. If I couldn’t explain it the way he wanted to hear it, maybe someone else could. So I passed the message on. Then yesterday, he called back twice, saying he hadn’t heard from anyone. Then today he called back
again, saying he hadn’t heard from anyone. I’ve been passing on messages each time he calls, but to no avail. Hmmmpf.
My work publishes a bi-monthly magazine. Now, there’s a certain company (we’ll call them ‘Company A’) that sponsors our events and advertises in our magazine quite regularly, and their director is also a major part of another company that we’re close with. ‘Company A’ produces a product for our industry, and they have most of the market for the product. Enter ‘Company B’, which is new to the market. They obviously have a lot of money in their budget for advertising, and decided that they wanted five full-page ads in our magazine. When we received the draft from the publishers, my boss decided to allow them only one page (which I guess is reasonable, because otherwise the magazine would be
filled with their advertising).
But now that we’ve sent out some of the magazines, the director of ‘Company A’, along with some of their supporters, are angry. Our magazine is basically an industry magazine, and we’re not supposed to show bias. We’ve let ‘Company A’ advertise multiple times without complaint, but as soon as we let their competition advertise, we’re doing something wrong? There is nothing wrong with letting people have the advertising they pay for. What is ‘Company A’ so scared of? Come on, you can’t stop someone from advertising their product! And since when does ‘Company A’ have any say about what goes in our magazine?
But do you want to know the worst thing? We’re giving in. We’re reprinting more than half of the magazines, and sending them out again, without the “offending” advertisement. I’m amazed. I’m shocked.
OK, now that’s out of my system… we had the Substation Challenge last night! Our group came… 2nd last! Yay! :o) So that makes our achievements – Last, 2nd last, and 2nd last. Woohoo! Well, at least we had fun. For our skit, we made a “pizza”. It had Tim Tams, strawberry topping, mayonnaise, seasoning, baked beans, spaghetti, and lots of other strange things. Afterwards, Dolly took a Tim Tam, scooped up as much goop as she could, and took a bite. It mustn’t have been that bad, because then she took
another scoop and bite. But she rushed to the kitchen with her mouth bulging, so maybe it
was that bad.
My Favourite Part Of ‘ELF’Walter: "So, go on."Buddy: "Go on with what?"Walter: "Are... Are you gonna sing a song or something or can I just go back to work?"Buddy: "A song? Uh, yeah. Anything for you, dad. Um, I'm... I'm here with my dad. And we never met. And he wants me to sing him a song. And, um, I was adopted. But you didn't know I was born. So I'm here now. I found you, daddy. And guess what? I love you. I love you. I love you!"Walter: "Wow, that was weird."
