nishatalitha

I feel like I've done hardly anything at all this weekend, but I am assured that this is not actually the case. Indeed, if I list it out, I've done quite a bit, for all I spent most of yesterday sitting in a chair in the lounge reading Inception fic. After it hit nine or ten yesterday evening, I had a glass of whiskey and a couple of port so I wouldn't end up going into the kitchen and making a completely unnecessary batch of chocolate-caramel brownies or chocolate self-saucing pudding. Or both.

So far this weekend, I have:

• done all the laundry (and most of it is folded and put away);
  
• made pancakes for breakfast yesterday;
  
• made feta-spinach-pasta thing for dinner;
  
• assisted in cleaning up the kitchen a few times;
  
• made the pea teepee stand up again and hopefully anchored it enough that it doesn't fall over again;
  
• made the gooey cinnamon rolls that purplesparkler made that time (only in a roasting dish rather than a baking tray for all that bubbling sugar); and
  
• probably, I will made thai fish cakes for dinner.

I should also vaccum my room, clean the bathroom, do my ironing and make something to take to the Dresden files playtest tomorrow afternoon. You will note there is absolutely nothing on the list about embroidery, designing, or my Kapcon game.

I forgot to print out the base pictures I want to start drawing from at work the other day, and I haven't been bothered cracking out the lead pencil, baking paper, and the book on the Bayeux tapestry. I'm fairly sure that the inner lines of the border are going to be A4, with the border wider at the top and the bottom than the sides.

Long weekend, so no work tomorrow. This is awesome.

I am currently grumpy with the New Zealand government for making Coldril (with an "i" - that's important) only available by prescription. According to the government, drug-manufacturers were buying up Coldril in large enough quantities to make substantial amounts of P, so making Coldril prescription only is going to prevent such unsavoury individuals getting hold of the ingredients that they need. I'm sure making it prescription only is going to be a huge help to breaking that particular drug trade.

I don't want to have to go to the doctor again; I just want to be able to buy a nice cold drug over the counter that will deal with the headache and shoulder aches, and most importantly, dry up my nose on a temporary basis. But no, what I can now buy over the counter is Coldral, which claims to do all the same things as Coldril does, but has the significant failing of not managing to dry up my nose.

Accordingly, I've been measuring the progress of this illness by how good lempsip or the panadol equivalent tastes. Generally I think the fake-lemon, fake-sweetner, medicinal tasting powder sachet mixed with hot water tastes incredibly foul. I would usually rather suffer than drink it. Of course, as it does actually manage to dry up my nose, since I no longer have access to coldril, I've been drinking it. Was somewhat astonished the other day to find that it actually tasted good. Since then, it has progressed from good to the cup I'm currently drinking being merely bad.

I think I have to stop being outside late at night until this has completely gone - and probably not play frisbee, either; the first time I was out that late after the work do (which was followed by an all-day frisbee tournament), I ended up sounding terrible and having three days off work. The second time, last Saturday night/Sunday morning, was following by playing frisbee in the evening, and this appears to have triggered this bloody cold again. Had yesterday off work, and today, and wouldn't be surprised if I'm going to have tomorrow off as well. At least the slight fever I was running appears to have broken!

Still, of days to have off, today's not so bad. Don't remember much about yesterday - I struggled up after one, napped for a couple of hours around four, and was asleep again by eleven - but from my vantage spot on one of the couches in the lounge, all I can see out the window beyond the deck railing are green pohutukawa leaves and white. I have slightly more energy today. All this actually means is that I got up a few hours earlier, might light the fire soon, and am actually taking in some of what I'm reading...

Hopefully this will be the last of it.

These things have been FAIL today:

• Waking up with a headache due to falling asleep after 2.00am this morning;
  
• Client telling us that funds would come in same-day-cleared for settlement by 3.00pm (most our other clients manage this by 10.00am);
  
• Client failing to tell us until 3.00pm today that they couldn't get funds through same-day-cleared for settlement today;
  
• Other side on settlement giving us understandings instead of undertakings;
  
• Other side on settlement giving two different numbers of balance due to be paid on settlement statement;
  
• Other side using the word "by" instead of "to" in a different undertaking also required for this settlement;
  
• Our bank having technological issues, so having to write a bank cheque once I got there to collect it because the printer wouldn't print when I finally got there at 3.40pm;
  
• Other side not managing to release the e-dealing by 4.00pm, which means that I couldn't submit it as Landonline close off is at 4.00pm and it will have to be done at 9.00am tomorrow;
  
• Having a headache all day and living on panadol like it's going out of fashion (together with several cups of coffee, a bottle of V and a few chocolate-coated coffee beans);
  
• My cat jumping onto the windowsill and spilling my cup of tea that I'd placed there;
  
• Me, at studying.

Things that were AWESOME today:

• Having pesto, salami and sundried tomatoes on my sandwich for lunch;
  
• Chocolate-coated coffee beans (I only had three);
  
• Volunteering to write up notes on the Infrastructure Bill relating to local government and having that volunteering being accepted;
  
• Listening to Elizabeth Marvelly on the bus on the way home;
  
• Talking to thesane for a while;
  
• tamarillow's lasange for dinner;
  
• Richard Cheese covering Nine Inch Nails' Closer.

It is 8.00pm on a grocery shopping night and I have been home for over an hour. I really dislike shopping straight after work; I much prefer our usual way of meeting at Borders or Arty Bees, having dinner and then going shopping. If it's after dinner I don't want to be there and I don't care but I'm relaxed, full of good food and it's not particularly crowded. If it's straight after work (or a lecture in my case), I don't want to be there, but I'm irritable and there are lots of people there. *grump*

On the other hand, I successfully managed to do things like buy chai tea (which I've been missing) and found frozen edamame at the Asian supermarket on Dixon St. Last time I looked for them there, I didn't know what they looked like and the assistant didn't know they had them either. Or maybe they didn't have them then.

I also have two new issues of Astro City. Considering the last time I went in there was about a month ago, to have two new issues is both surprising and awesome.

In response to both mmegaera and marsden_online the desktop meme.

1. Anyone who looks at this entry has to can post this meme and their current wallpaper at their livejournal.
   
2. Explain in five sentences or less why you are using that wallpaper.
   
3. Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on!

This is dawn over Wellington Harbour, from a view along Lennel Rd, just after the cutting (or before, if you're coming up from town). I took the photo walking into work a couple of months ago. It was a pretty dawn and a pretty photo. However, this meme has reminded me that it's time for a change. Not sure what I'll use next; I'll have to troll my picture files.