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Browsing category: Uncategorized

  • May 11, 2009

    Emergency room visit

    As promised, continued on from the last post….

    I’ve never been to A & E before. It certainly was an experience. We saw a guy who cut his hand open, a girl in a fluorescent green dressing gown with a HOOD (how awesome is that?) who’d messed up her back, some guy who swallowed his dentures (a young guy, not an old man either) and a pimp and two prostitutes.

    We were there for, oh I don’t know, two or three hours? The whole night is blurry to me. I don’t know what time we got there, but I’d say sometimes after midnight and got home around 4. I had about 4 hours sleep and then went off to cover the opening of the new local motorway link to try wrangle a story out of it.

    I also got approximately four hours sleep last night, having been to a 21st, and am operating on empty.

    Anyway. The last time that those hoodlums came back around, BF went round the back to get the LL (who was very territorial and keen to go give them the beatdown, actually). Did I mention how rainy, dark and miserable it was? It was so cold, SO damp and BF skidded across the wet grass and up onto the concrete steps, slicing his foot up. After a little cleaning up and bandaging it, we reached the conclusion that we needed to go to A & E and get stitches.

    Yes, sadly, my first thought was to worry about what it would cost. But health is numero uno, and I figured if it cost more than what we had, well we would just have to work something out. BF thought we should wait until morning when it would cost less, but a) we would have no way to get there and b) the lines would probably be heinous during the day. So our awesome friends rallied round and drove us first to St Lukes White Cross – which was closed – then on to the hospital.

    We waited. And waited. I read crap magazines – an HR magazine, believe it or not, a techy magazine and a Home and Garden. We watched Fox News on Prime. And infomercials for Barefoot Science, the ridiculous ab workout thing that uses gravity to spin you round this circular thing, and the Versa Cutter. It was truly mind numbing.

    BF was seen by a consultant right away, but it was another few hours before a doctor actually called him up. He got some painkillers and a local anesthetic (which they had to get an orthopedist in to administer), and crutches. Crutches which cost $45, but we get back $35 upon returning them.

    So it was a VERRRRRRY long night. However, whether it’s because we were at the hospital rather than a suburban A&E, or what, it didn’t cost us anything out of pocket – bar the crutches. As soon as I walked in I saw the sign informing us that visits were free for NZ citizens and residents.

    That was, indeed, the best part of the night. Well, behind the surprise visit from our friends and all their help.

  • May 10, 2009

    No joke….this is my life

    And then came more.

    Last night I heard something breaking, like glass smashing outside. And a shout. I rushed outside, with BF and some of our friends who were over.

    Three little gangster lowlifes had just put a brick through our flatmate’s back windscreen. They took off down the street. BF yelled at them/after them. They came back. Started fronting up and acting all hard and tough and trying to pick a fight. They threw our rubbish bin at our cars. They threw probably five or six bottles at the house and cars. Talking absolute shit and saying “we know where you live” and they knew BF’s name (apparently they went to our school). All kinds of crap and trying to stir up trouble. As if the yelling and bottling wasn’t enough, they started shaking and kicking the neighbour’s fence (they luckily have abig wooden gate and nobody can get in at all).

    Throwing bottles is CHEAP. I do not believe in fighting. But if you’re going to fight, fight fair.

    Anyway, we stayed fairly calm and even though one of them hit one of my mates in the chin, nothing happened. We stayed on our property, called the cops, stayed put. They eventually retreated. The cops never came.

    Same thing happened maybe an hour later; they came back, started shouting and swearing etc again. They took off after the LL and his mates pulled into the driveway – apparently they started hassling them too and stepping to them. Called the cops. The cop car came forever later, simply drove down the street, then zoomed off like a shot when they saw nobody on the roads. It was pissing down, it was FREEZING, and we had given up on standing, waiting outside. BF tried to sprint out and flag the car down, to no avail.

    How is it that the police don’t give a shit about these things? And how is it that we have no means of recourse and no way of protecting ourselves? I am not going to face down people trying to throw bottles at me. There is no reason or rhyme with people like that. I asked, SEVERAL times, “WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?” You know, like, why are you doing this and what is your beef?

    I felt so utterly helpless then, I cannot describe how frustrating that was.

    And again maybe half an hour later. Called the cops. We just stayed inside, and I swear this time those hoodrats started actually coming on to our property. I was so worried they were going to do damage to the house, and put me out of pocket. The cops came an age later and actually came to the door. I jumped out of my skin thinking it was those boneheads actually knocking on our front door.

    And then I realised how badly I handled the whole situation. I should have been scrutinising their faces and noting down their attire. The cops wanted to know if we could identify them. I couldn’t have told you one single thing about them, let alone the colour of their hoodie! I was just so freaked out by the entire situation. BF is hyper observant thank God, because I am not, and I didn’t even THINK to try and observe.

    BTW, at least one of them was the same one involved with the burglary of our house back  in the summer. And probably all of them were to some extent, because that’s how these groups roll.

    And it’s not fucking good enough.

    Seriously, I don’t care HOW bad your life is or what a crap upbringing you had or how bored you are or how drunk you are.

    IT’S NOT ON.

    This morning I went and swept up all the glass that I could. There are so many minuscule little shards that I doubt I’ll ever be able to get them all. But they are probably enough to cause some serious pain – so no more barefooting it around outside. There’s also tons of little broken bits sort of below our immobile car, and in the hollow of the tyres and the spokes of the mags that I couldn’t get to. That’s gonna be a bitch to clean up.

    Oh yeah, and BF ended up in the emergency department till 4am. But that’s a post for tomorrow.

    It’s easy to be a bleeding heart liberal and go on about rehabilitation when you’re comfortably ensconced in your middle class existence in Mt Eden.

    Not so much when you’re holed up in your house afraid to go outside, expecting a rock through your window at any moment.

    I would have loved to have pulled a Denny Crane right then and pulled off a round of shots at those little shits.

    What are you supposed to do in that situation? What CAN you do? How is it that we can’t protect ourselves from (insert choice word here) like that? BF called our cop friend, who merely confirmed how powerless and uncaring police are in such matters.

    I kind of wish I’d just booted those f***wits in the nuts, although that would’ve just enraged them and set them off at our guys. Or possibly even retaliate on me, in which case GOOD because that might have got the cops out here, but then set our guys on them to protect my dignity etcetc. URGH.

    And no, I do not believe the right to bear arms would have solved this. Guns are too easily turned back on you. And if it’s easy for people like myself to get a gun, imagine how much easier it will be for guys like those.

    Four months left on this lease.

    That’s a long time.

  • May 9, 2009

    I need to take a chill pill

    Or at least that’s the conclusion I’ve reached.

    What’s that saying: God give me the grace to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to do both?

    Last night BF and I had a major clash. Well, I don’t know what to call it. It wasn’t a fight. I can’t fight. I don’t do fights. Well, I do in the sense that I sometimes get snippy and short, like last night, and snap at him. But that was just the beginning.

    I’ve been under heaps of stress, mainly financial, plus all the house issues – no hot water, getting the windows fixed (THREE TIMES now glaziers have been meant to come and it hasn’t happened! Apparently the guy today came but left because he thought no one was home – he’s returning on Monday. Neither BF or I are home, so we have to rely on our flatmates for this), the car, and now our toilet flush is broken. I swear. When does it end???

    Then it all kind of blew up.

    I know I’ve been neglecting BF, and just trying to keep us fed, clothed, paying our bills and ticking along. I realise that the last few months haven’t been easy on BF either, but I haven’t really tried to get him to talk about it or anything.

    I’ve been unable to really see past myself and all our immediate practical problems. I knew I was being selfish, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.

    I think I’m much more “male” in that sense. I can’t voice my feelings, I get confused about what they are, I don’t like talking about them.

    He really made me realise how absorbed I’ve become with personal finance and money, and not in a good way. Although I’m not quite in agreement with his sentiment (“Even if I knew we’d be living out of a car when we’re 60, I wouldn’t care as long as we’re together”) I think he’s right. I need to back off.

    Maybe if we’re more on track by the end of year, we can still go on a short holiday. If we could manage to pay for say 80% in cash and knew we could pay the rest off quickly, maybe that wouldn’t be the end of the world.

    Every cell in my body is screaming NOOOO! But it’s true, I need more balance. BF pointed out I never spend anything on myself.  No, it would not be the end of the world if I went into a little debt this year because it’s my last year as a student. And it may yet happen whether I like it or not. And, as a student with good credit, I can get interest free overdrafts.It’s not that I am opposed to debt; I’m opposed to bad, stupid debt. But it’s about finding balance, and if debt is necessary, ensuring it is at a serviceable level. That’s what I need to get into his head, especially given the economy.

  • May 7, 2009

    Derailed

    It really hit me this week that my end of year holiday plans are falling down around me.

    Sure, I could go without BF, and no, nothing was set in stone (place, dates, ANYTHING…it was just a shadowy plan taking shape in my mind) but that really doesn’t appeal.

    I just wouldn’t enjoy it as much, and I would feel terrible leaving him behind.

    So it’s a bit of a shambles really. Our budget is down to the bare bones with no room for saving. And to take this even further, what about my big OE? The plan was we’d go after we’re both qualified. Except that will be another three years now. And teachers need two years, provisionally registered, before they can attain full registration.

    And apparently yes, primary teachers are in shortage but many teachers are new grads without full licences, which means more work on the schools’ part to support them during their two years. So maybe it won’t be such a cinch to find a job right away.

    Sigh. I feel like I have nothing good to report lately. All my life updates are just full of negativity.

  • May 7, 2009

    Job titles

    I must say I’m definitely learning a lot about the jobs that make the world go round! It’s amazing how little I actually know about fields like law, engineering and business.

    I seriously spent the majority of this weekend glued to my laptop. What was I doing, you might ask? Well, catching up on email, news, Google Reader, researching a couple of story possibilities, and of course looking through job sites for BF.

    I still see so many job titles which I still don’t really understand.

    For example:

    Learning and development consultant
    Systems analyst / business analyst
    Account director
    Research associate
    Procurement specialist
    Compliance manager

    And yet, sometimes job titles don’t really tell you anything about a position. Some are straight forward – sales assistant, receptionist, publicist, accountant. Then you get roles like communications manager, relationship manager, account manager….in fact, there seem to be so many “Manager” type jobs these days, some of which aren’t managerial in the sense that you manage staff below you, but often external relationships.

    That’s a service and knowledge economy for you, I guess.

  • May 6, 2009

    I’ve been doing a lot of mystery shopping lately. I wasn’t sure what I was going to put that towards, but then I remembered that our contents insurance is due this week….so I will pay that on my Visa ($84) and pay it off when I am reimbursed at the end of the month. I’ll definitely be able to cover that because I did six bus surveys yesterday; I travelled out to Wesley to take photos for a story I’m working on. Then I had some free time and did a few more random ones around town. Off peak buses are so much more punctual! And often the drivers are much nicer.

    The bus companies must spend a lot on mystery shopping. Sometimes they do over 200 in a month, and assuming the mystery shopping company takes a 50% cut on each survey, that would be $4000 a month on surveying customer satisfaction!

    And yet, another mystery shopping company I’m with also conducts surveys for the bus companies – they used to pay fairly well, but have cut their bus payments in half or more. Now the gimmick is getting “free rides” rather than actually getting paid to ride.

  • May 6, 2009

    Do you eat round a dining table?

    walnut_dining_table

    It’s been a long time since I lived in a place which had a dining table. Our old apartment literally had no spare room for such a thing, and although we have a huge kitchen now, we don’t have a table in it to eat off. I remember in one of my old flats we squished a dining table and chairs into the area just off by the front door, but I still hardly ever used it.

    So generally we eat on the couch, or most of the time, in our room. I don’t like this arrangement, because a) when we eat on the bed, we inevitably splatter something ont the duvet or the sheet. or b) when we eat on the floor by the TV, something always gets on the carpet! The other night, I had had enough when BF got some curry on the carpet – the turmeric seriously digs its heels in and creates an eerie fluorescent glowing stain. So I brought in a huge tea towel to act as a picnic mat for us. Clever, huh? If only I’d thought of that AGES ago…..

    It’s a far cry from my parents’ house, where we had a rectangular dining table (it extended out both ends) covered in an easy-clean cover. I hesitate to call it a tablecloth, as it was made of a sort of vinyl type material, waterproof, that just wiped clean every night.

    In fact, we do so much differently to how we did things at home. We would never have things like 12 packs of Coke cans. We’d have big, huge 2.25l bottles of fizzy which went flat super fast. We often had ice cream, but only ever ate tiny portions at a time and so a 2l carton lasted forever. We never, EVER had frozen chips, or canned vegetables. But we did often have croissants, raspberry buns or doughnuts for after school snacks, bought from the supermarket. Now the situation is pretty reversed. Tinned tomatoes and corn are cheap, and since discovering freezer chips I’ve never looked back. But bakery goods are way too expensive, and I can’t remember the last time I had a raspbery bun (drool).

    And of course, the days of being served up a big plate of rice and then serving ourselves from a couple of different dishes (usually one meat and one veg) throughout the meal are gone. Now we tend to have one dish meals, or if we have dinners with several components, I put together nice little plates with a bit of everything and we can go back for seconds. But I guess that relates back to not having a dining table and being able to spread out dishes.

  • May 4, 2009

    So much to do. So little time

    Just finished a 2500 word essay. So weird to go from writing minimal, pared down journalese with ‘that’ treated like a swearword, and clean simple sentences with no extra or complicated clauses, to flowery, academic writing.

    I’m trying not to think about everything I have to do over the next month. Originally I was thinking that the two weeks I have after semester ends, but before my internship, I should use to try and get more hours at work.

    But I think that a) I’ll need to work on my shorthand and b) rest up!

    For MC3, I have another essay and an exam.

    Shorthand, another test which I need to pass to graduate.

    PAR, a media law test and a mixed group/individual project.

    Editing and Design, a three page design project plus 1000 word essay, and laying out the newspaper at the end of semester.

    News Reporting, a stats test, and possibly a style and grammar test, I’ve got to get some more photos done, and keep up with at least one finished story a week.

    Whew. I think I’ll take some downtime tomorrow, then get cracking on the weekend. Have to hunt down something local….

  • May 4, 2009

    I do NOT like

    – People who use “rape” and “raping” as a verb to refer to something other than the actual act. IE, “raping your car”. Especially when it comes from a girl. Yeah, double standards at play, but when females throw “rape” around, well, it just seems wrong. If we can’t take rape seriously, how can anyone?

    – Chicks who get drunk and come on to your BF. Once, okay. Twice or more….. well, I’ve tried, and I really want to like you, but this ain’t a friendship and it’s not gonna work. Keep it in your pants.

    – People who lash out and blame others for their own fuckups, and get abusive. Take some responsibility for yourself.

  • May 3, 2009

    Car troubles and badly cut pizza

    Just because I use a coupon……doesn’t mean it’s cool to slack off on cutting up my pizza giving me 5 massive slices and 3 minuscule ones!

    I’m sure pizza places have a secret policy for coupon users – be as sloppy as possible, and make their pizzas smaller than they should be.

    Not that I can complain, seeing as I got a free pizza, and pizza is pizza. dafazios_pizza

    What did freak me out a little was when I gave my order over the phone, and my contact number. And somehow the girl on the other end of the phone knew my name! They must keep all customers’ details on file, like, FOREVER, because the last time I phoned to order pizza was probably over a year ago.

    BF isn’t a big pizza fan, so we hardly ever go to Pizza Hut or Dominos. He likes making his own at home.

    So we went to get in the car to pick them up (yes, I’m too cheap to get food delivered. Done it ONCE, was horrified at the surcharge and refused to ever do it again), and didn’t get out of the driveway.

    BLOODY EFFING CARS.

    Either the clutch or transmission is out. And obviously we can’t even take it to a mechanic, even if it was in the budget.

    nz01008_sm

    This comes as we have about four loads of washing to do, no food in the house, and I have several things to do out and about. Not to mention that we put in $45 of gas, which would have lasted 2, maybe 3 weeks.

    Deja vu…..the last 2-3 times our car’s conked out, it’s done so with a lot of gas in it.

    FML.

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