Ok, so it's been a long time, no blog. I promise, i have missed you all out there in the blogosphere, but i've been cheating on you with the unfortunate happenings of real life. Here's the lowdown on the last month or so...

* I have immense piles of uni work to do that are just not getting any smaller. Terrifying. 

* There are photo albums next to my bed waiting to rearrange, and magazines on the other side waiting to be read

* I need more storage in my room; arguing about this led to the confirmation of my belief that although my parents love me, they do not like me

* Work has been crazy, with various differences of opinion leading to those conferences where people are on their best behaviour

* We have a new office manager; she's awesome

* We lost two staff at the deli and are short handed... unfortunate, because i actually have to work all of the shifts that i'm rostered on for

* I'm scarily close to the end of my degree (ok, so still 2yrs to go, but still) and have no idea what to do next

* I've got a new job prospect for the summer that's quite exciting (fingers crossed it comes through) - so i won't have to work overtime at the deli!

* I've developed some addictions to trashy tv... think Ghost Whisperer, Medium, Will & Grace... and a million other things

* Overall, i live a fairly boring life! Deary me...

Ok, so now you've caught up on all of the nothing that's happened since i was last here. With everything going on at home and work i couldn't bring myself to blog too (especially seeing as there's been a re-run of the episode 'people don't like confrontation or my blog'). Bloggie even went private for awhile, but that made me sad, so i came back. And created a new blog, for being sensible. And hopefully the misconception that i am evil will dissapate.

Ok, i'm so stressed that i'm fluttering and am wound so tightly that i am slightly dizzy - hence the crazy tone to the blog. Me swear me no crazy.

Truths For Mature Humans -
(Thanks to Skittles for this! It's so true)

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

20. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

21. I would rather try to carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

22. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

23. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

24. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

25. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

26. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

27. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

28. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

Jeremy Clarkson

I was watching Top Gear this evening. Jeremy Clarkson is so happy with his job. He clearly loves his family and his work and his cars and his life. I want to be like him. Done. 

In other news, I ran into someone who used to go to church on the weekend. They used to come a few years ago, and last year they came back. They have since disappeared again. I didn't want to have to suffer though the polite conversation, so i avoided eye contact. But it was too late. He saw me. 

"Hi"

"Hi... Sarah, isn't it?"

Gee, thanks. You've known me for years. I know your sister. You haven't seen the only other Sarah that ever went to church in about four years. And Sarah isn't even close to Annabel. It's good to know i'm completely immemorable.

So. I was going to tell you about a talk i had with a manager at work, about his life. Then maybe i thought about telling you about my stupid family. I could always complain about the enormous amount of work that i have to do. Or how exhausted i am? But i'm exhausted and overworked, so i can't be bothered. Sorry blog world. Not that you care. 

I'll be back when procrastination hits the big time.

Youth Retreat

Despite reservations, on saturday evening i headed to Aldinga to join the older youth on their weekend retreat. I've not been having the best time of it recently, in part due to exams, and to the fact that work is making my life hell - apparently, i shouldn't be taking time to study... so i've been hardly sleeping, and hardly interacting with the outside world. I wasn't quite sure how the camp would go. Sometimes i get along with people, sometimes i don't. Sometimes i fight like hell with Mark, sometimes annoying people drive me a little crazy, sometimes the tiniest things that people say will devastate me, sometimes the very presence of other people is too much. Surprisingly, i had a good time. 

I got to hang out with some nice people, play boardgames (i love boardgames), and hang out with people - i never hang out with people. We stayed up until a million o'clock, watching the soccer. Granted, the kids shouldn't've been wandering the streets at 2am. And i should try harder not to be mean to mark... but on the whole, it was a good 24hrs and i was happy for a little while. 

By the time we got back into the city, i was no longer smiley. Too many people that are irrationally mad at me, too many people to disappoint, too many people to talk to and smile and at pretend to be someone else around. I got to sing... but music team is always slightly stressful, because nobody really has enough musical knowledge to lead the entire team; everyone knows lots about their particular instrument, but it's so much harder to pull it all together. It makes it a little harder And then the sermon was confusing because i missed it last week and wasn't sure exactly what point we were looking for. Afterwards, i just couldn't stay. Poor boyfriend must hate me for being so miserable... but if i didn't have him, i don't know where i'd be. 

My point? youth camp was fun. 

Oh, and i survived the finale of Grey's Anatomy, just in case any of you were wondering. Thankfully, the directors and writers decided they didn't hate their viewers as much as i thought they might - they spared us some torture. Phew!

Poor Car

Remember the scary accident that i was in a month ago? Well, so far, no repairs have been made on my car, because they've been waiting on the insurance company to make an assessment. Which they haven't done yet. Currently, they're trying to decide whether or not to write the car off. Although the damage wasn't enormous, it was spread across four panels, which makes it quite a job to repair. However, they're taking FOREVER to decide what to do. In the meantime, mum and i are sharing a car, and it's starting to drive us both a little crazy. At the moment, it looks like the car will be written off... 

So far, the only upside i see is that it may take less time to buy a new car than to fix the old one. And also, if i got a new car, i wouldn't have to clean my old one. Major bonus!

Evidence assignment is handed in, all other uni work is on the backburner, my itunes music all has album artwork... (flipside - i have a nasty cold, a swollen eye, a burning desire to skip out on the gym today...). In a week or two i'll probably have some semblance of a life back. Woot!

Ok, so i talked my way out of that failed research test, and got a distinction on an essay i handed in for psychology. That was all very reassuring, but i now have two more large essays to write and heaps of regular work to do... borderline panic. 

Plus side: i get to have lunch with my lovely boyfriend today while he's on his work break. 

Another thing: dreading my party next week. 

I'd like to proudly announce that i went into a bookshop yesterday to buy a cookbook for a friend's 21st and DIDN'T BUY ANYTHING FOR MYSELF. I'm clearly growing. As both a person and a discerning book collector. Not only that, but i successfully navigated a 21st yesterday that only had a handful of people that i know at it. Granted, one of them was a girl i was very close friends with at school who now refuses to speak to or acknowledge me EVER, which was a little awkward. But the boys seemed nice and friendly. I think they genuinely like me (or are very good at faking it). Fingers and toes crossed that they turn up next weekend because those drunk boys definitely know how to make a party. Seeing as a few of my closest friends aren't coming. I'm such a priority in these people's lives. 

Blah blah blah potatoes... time to try to study for a half hour or so. Good luck me.

50 Amazing, but Useless Facts

1. The word "queue" is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.

2. Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.

3. Of all the words in the English language, the word 'set' has the most definitions!

4. What is called a "French kiss" in the English speaking world is known as an "English kiss" in France.

5 ."Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

6. "Rhythms" is the longest English word without a vowel.

7. In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child

8. A cockroach can live 9 days with its head cut off!

9. Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

10. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath

11. There is a city called Rome on every continent.

12. It's against the law to have a pet dog in Iceland!

13. Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day!

14. Horatio Nelson, one of England's most illustrious admirals was throughout his life, never able to find a cure for his sea-sickness.

15. The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all important meetings of the University of London

16. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people

17. Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, everytime you breathe!

18. The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump!

19. One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet!

20. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different!

21. The first known transfusion of blood was performed as early as 1667, when Jean-Baptiste, transfused two pints of blood from a sheep to a young man

22. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!

23. Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin!

24. The present population of 5 billion plus people of the world is predicted to become 15 billion by 2080.

25. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

26. Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, and only one of his testicles worked.

27. Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible.

28. Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."

29. Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren’t added to it.

30 .On average a hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute.

31. More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.

32. The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.

33. More people are allergic to cow's milk than any other food.

34. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.

35. The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times!

36. The six official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.

37. Earth is the only planet not named after a god.

38. It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA.

39. You're born with 300 bones, but by the time you become an adult, you only have 206.

40. Some worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food!

41. Dolphins sleep with one eye open!

42. It is possible to sneeze with your eyes open!

43. The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old!

44. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds

45. Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not

46. Slugs have 4 noses.

47. Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue.

48. A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years!

49. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!

50. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain 

Two Things...

Two Things...

1. Apparently, i do have blog readers. People have started calling me Bella. It's interesting. I don't know if i feel like a Bella!! But at the same time, when people call me Annie, that feels weird too. And Annabel always makes me feel like people are getting cross at me. Clearly, i'm uncomfortable in my own name. Perhaps i should wear a bag over my head and refer to myself as 'the mystery woman'? Just a thought.

2. I have a new blog. I review things. Books, movies, tv, blogs. I have to try to write like a smart person on it. Time to get my writing skills back up to scratch. I like blogs. I like books. I have opinions. It seems like a good place to start.

What's In A Name?

Romeo and Juliet had a fairly tumultuous last few months of life. Obviously. It's what they're famous for. I wonder if they were so full of poetic lines and dramatic gestures in their earlier years.

I've always been a fan of some of the more classic lines from this Shakespearean work of art. 'To sleep, perchance to dream' and 'goodnight, goodnight, parting is such sweet sorrow' won me a public speaking contest in year 12, when i played to the elderly judges and spoke about the poetry of the world, visible in word and surroundings. Ten points to me.

Lately, another line has been running through my head...

Juliet: What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.

Romeo & Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)   

I was born Annabel. Somewhere in high school, my friends started calling me Annie. Mostly. There are a few Anna, Ann and Bella's thrown in there. And a few less acceptable nicknames, which i will let slide here. 

I think a person's name says a lot about a person. Think about movies, for example. Bella, in Twilight is pretty, dramatic and interesting. Characters named Annie are more often seen as red-headed orphans. I'd rather be a Bella than an Annie. Especially because Bella means beautiful, and i need all the help i can in trying to associate myself with the idea of my being beautiful. 

I want to be a Bella!

HELL as explained by a Chemistry student...

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term.

The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well :


Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell,then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'


THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.

I'm useless at the moment, i have so many thoughts that make me think 'oh, i must blog about that', and yet i never get to the computer in time. This isn't helped by the fact that our computer totally sucks and i can never get onto sites that i want to. I'm sure once i get back to uni i'll be so keen to waste time that my blog will become a first port of call when i turn my computer on. But, until then, i'm just struggling to stay awake for more than eight hours a day. I've been back half a day, and am already stressed about work and life in general. Life is really stupid sometimes!

It. Is. So. Hot.

It's 37 degrees today, and i'm dying. Melting in fact. I've been used to snow and chill and cold and jackets!! Instead, i've now got sweltering heat.

Blargh. Kill me now. I was never built for hot weather!!

Home, Sweet Home

I'm finally back home - and super jetlagged!! I'm sleeping all the time. It's icky. But it's so nice to be home! My own bed (with a new doona - thanks mum!), my own things, my books, my people... yay!! My trip was fantastic, i met some great people and saw some amazing things. But, at the same time, so much went wrong that it was somewhat stressful. Overall, it's just nice to be home!

I've got so much to do, to get sorted and back into the swing of things. Organising uni, doctors appointments, cleaning out my cupboards, seeing people, printing photos, blah blah blah. And i just reorganised my farmville, which took awhile... haha, i clearly know how to prioritise.

Anyway, i have many things to say, so i'll be back soon!

It's a testament to how unexciting my life is at the moment that i have nothing to blog about except my over-load of work that i have to do this week. Boring is an understatement. However, exams have crept up rather quickly and i only have two or so weeks to get my act together, plus an assignment due on thursday that i've not done much of. Oopsie.

Anyway, for once i'm not here to complain about my workload (just think of it as implied).

I'm instead going to tell you about the very corny thing that boyfriend and i have taken to doing. Pretty much every time that we see each other we argue about what to do - neither of us like to decide, for fear of picking something the other doesn't like. Unfortunately this leads to us doing nothing, which gets old pretty fast.

However, there is one thing that we're partial to doing. Once, i took boyfriend up to Windy Point to see the infamous spot where Miha and i drink a lot of coffee. Being young and innocent, he didn't know anything about it, so it was clearly my duty to initiate him. As part of my attraction to all things shiny, i love the lights twinkling and it seems i've passed on my addiction to him.

Now, we lookout hop. Except we've run into a small hitch. Apart from Windy Point there don't seem to be many decent lookouts around. Most have a plethora of trees infront that block the view (stupid!). The best views are on the drive to and from them, which is so silly. We we've explored and finally found a semi-decent spot that you can see all the pretty twinkles from but it's not perfect... so if anyone knows a great spot to see the shiny things, let me know!

I know it's a little corny to go up on a hill and watch the shiny lights but whatever... we don't really go out often and i get bored being inside all the time! So it's better than nothing. And i get a fill of pretty shiny things, which is always a plus.

No idea why i'm telling you this really. But it makes a nice change from study, study, study. Speaking of, i'd better get back to it (or at least keep watching Pretty Woman...).

Money, Money, Money

I'm the person who, if given one wish, would wish for three more wishes. Or unlimited wishes!! Then one of those wishes would most definitely be for a tree that grows money. Nice, green one hundred dollar bills, please!

Last night i blew a stack of money on a new i-pod. Now, i don't really NEED a new ipod. The one i have at the moment works fine. But i WANT a new one. My lovely OCD says that i need the newest technology. And despite my hard work clearing out my itunes this week, i needed the large one. So there goes a whole stack of money.

I'm saving to go away at the end of the year, for christmas presents, for little pressies for El (who just got out of hospital after having her tonsils out) and Libby (who's about to turn 21) and a few other people, not to mention money for bachata and yoga classes, petrol, food, clothes, the new Matthew Reilly book and various other extraneous things.

All of that said, despite the somewhat reckless spending, i'm quite excited about my new ipod. It will arrive in the post sometime next week. Woo! And it's inscribed with a lovely message from boyfriend, to remind me how much he loves me. Yay for shiny new technology!

Geez, study is so boring. I've been so sick this week that all i've wanted to do is sit around and sleep. Of course, that means that i've done very little study. While i still fall asleep whenever i close my eyes, i've finally cracked open a book. Woot! That's not to say i've done very much, but still.

My weekend should be full of study - and starting/finishing the huge assignment that i have due on monday. But i sense that i'm just going to want to sleep the whole time... i'm just so so so tired.

Tomorrow night, i have to go out to dinner with boyfriend's family. This is scary enough on it's own. I've never been 'the girlfriend' to someone's parents before. But there are a few extraneous factors that are making me extra nervous. And i don't know what to wear, which adds extra stress of course. I have to look perfect. Fingers crossed it all goes well...

After that, Loz and i are taking boyfriend out on the town for the first time. While, at the moment, i can barely pull myself together enough to get out of bed, get dressed, get out of the house... i somehow have to look amazing, and pull out a fun, exciting, high-energy night in town. Plus, i haven't been out drinking in such a long time. I don't really know how that will go. No idea how i'm going to do it just yet, but i suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

For now, i'm just trying not to panic and get some work done. Stupid uni. I just want to go back to sleep for about 100yrs, a la Sleeping Beauty. I figure that would be somewhat theraputic.

Hope you're all having a good weekend!!

Exhausted Doesn't Begin To Cover It

Last week was Kids Club again. We had the biggest numbers that we've had in a long time - 76 over the entire week, and about 50 per day. With numbers like that it was always bound to be fairly chaotic, but we also had a lack of leaders. So, we were pretty much flat out all week. There were kids everywhere and always more jobs to be done! Every morning, more and more people turned up to register (inconsiderate and arrogant, but good nonetheless).

We spend most of the week playing games, cooking and doing crafts. The older kids went off to Archery, and we did treasure hunts all over the neighborhood. We had a rodeo carnival one afternoon, with the dunking machine, put put golf, sideshow games and a big bouncy castle - an awesome afternoon! On friday half of us took the older kids to Greenhills Adventure Park, which they loved - but it was absolutely freezing and all us leaders were practically turning blue! Thank goodness we had pancakes to cook, woo!

The week went really well overall. The kids had a blast and the parents had rave reviews. The leaders thought it went well, and we had no huge disasters. We didn't even have any big injuries! Apart from the fact that one of the leaders and i had major clashes that made me feel pretty shit. But we were over it by the end of the week.

Friday night after the cleaning up and leaders pizza party, we had a movie night with the youth group. I barely made it through Fifty First Dates, and then Benchwarmers started skipping halfway through... and i fell asleep in the middle of Handcock. Oopsie. Didn't get home til 1.30am. 17hours at work. I think that's a few too many.

I'm absolutely exhausted. I've been flat out for two weeks, after a full on term. The holidays have been a total waste!! Now, i have a 3000word essay due tomorrow afternoon that i've barely started. I had big plans to get up early today and start, but boyfriend stayed over and we didn't get up until lunch. I've found a bunch of articles online, and now have to slot them into my assignment. It's worth 50%, so i had planned to do a good job of it, but it's just not going to happen. I can tell that i'm going to end up padding it all out with crap, just to meet the word limit. I suck sometimes. In my defence, i offer the exhaustion, complete lack of downtime and the sickness that i picked up from a kid last week that has me coughing and sniffing like crazy.

I'd better get back to the grindstone, but i figured i should let you all know that i've not died and i still love my blog! Wish me luck... i'm really going to need it.

Visitor!

My Contiki friend Lib is here from NZ this week, just to visit me. Hence, the lack of posts that i'm sure you're all dearly missing. We're having a blast, it's so good to see her! I forgot how easy she is to get along with and have fun with. Yay! I'm stoked that she came to Adelaide just to visit me. Finding touristy things to do was hard though! I'll tell you about it later. She leaves tomorrow afternoon, so i promise that after that i'll be back... I tell you, it's exhausting having someone stay in your bedroom! You have to keep them entertained 24/7 and can never just properly relax!! I'm knackered and can't wait to sleep... unfortunately, it's the holidays and i have a million things on (study, parties, study, catching up with friends, study, planning kids club, RUNNING kids club...) and i never seem to have enough time to sleep!! But hopefully tomorrow afternoon i'll get some downtime. For now, i've got a million things to do at work, and then i've got to pick Lib up from town! Hope you're all enjoying the holidays!