Sunday, May 27, 2007

Make a wish

Last night we went to a quiz night for the Make a Wish Foundation.

My friend Mel is a volunteer for the Foundation and I'd been looking forward to it for weeks. I love quiz nights but I'm not all that good at them. Christian may be a repository of odd facts and trivia but I don't seem to retain it. But I do like to be involved, plus we had planned to go to see Minimal Exposure afterwards (our mates who DJ at the Velvet Lounge) so I was very excited.

The night was held at Gloucester Park, a dog racing place in Perth, a slightly more upmarket venue than last year where it was apparently just held in a hall. Most of the people at out table work with Mel and Christian so it definitely had a pie Networks feel about the night.

The quiz was supposed to kick off at quarter past seven so Christian, Mike and I got there at seven as I do hate to be late for things like this (much nagging was involved on my part but I won't go into that right now). I think by the time it actually did start, it was past eight and I had to put up with snide comments from Christian such as 'Gee, it's such a good thing that we got here early Annette, I really would have hated to be late'. I guess it did give us a chance to have a couple of drinks first though, to be honest I was probably slightly drunk by the time we started. Seeing as I had been designated the role of scribe for the evening, it didn't really help as my handwriting is shocking enough as it is usually. Mike kept on buying drinks though so who was I to argue?

There were eight rounds and a couple of extra questionnaire things they did to raise extra money and our table started off with a perfect score. I was very excited that I knew the answer to the first question (Which Utah city is home to the headquarters of the Mormon church?) and found that overall the questions were actually really well spread out over a variety of topics. The next round we weren't as good however and we had gotten even worse by the third. By round five our scores had been 10, 9, 8, 7 and 6 respectively but we couldn't overcome our pride to keep the pattern going by deliberately throwing questions. We're not that geeky.

I think by the time everything was finished up it was past eleven and by that stage I was reasonably drunk. I'm sure there are a few of you out there who would be quite proud of me and my new-found ability to get intoxicated, however I'm sure my Dad isn't one of them. I've since found out that he actually is reading my blog from his new home in Canada so I'll take this opportunity to say 'Hi Dad!'.

It had fallen to Christian to be designated driver so he piled Mike and I into my little red car and we set off for the Velvet Lounge. Being my car, I forced the others to listen to my choice of music and I was pummelled with insults the entire way there. For some reason the boys found Mark Owen's British twang to be highly annoying. I have reason to believe Christian doesn't like Mark Owen solely because little Markie was my first love, not Christian but I'd have a hard time proving that ;-)

We stayed at the Velvet Lounge for a couple of hours, highly entertained by the people dancing. There was one guy there who would have rivalled the gay guy at that club we went to in Edinburgh, I just wish you guys could have been here to laugh along with us.
The music was really good mostly, however towards the end another couple of guys got up and butchered it so that put an end to our running dance commentary...
I'd just like to state here for the record that I didn't get up and dance, mainly as I'm just too uncoordinated to look reasonably cool while dancing. I dance a bit like a Wiggle on acid but without the talent.

Around half two we decided to leave, dropping a very drunk Mike off at home and trying not to laugh when he assured us he'd be fine to get up at 7 the next morning to go Paintballing. I saw him at soccer today and needless to say, he didn't make it.

And speaking of soccer, Christian's ankle is finally good enough to start playing again. He played last Wednesday and after he'd survived that half hour game, he decided he'd be fine for the 90 minute scratch match today. His ankle held up reasonably well during the game, probably better than Christian on the whole. Not playing for six weeks has made him a little out of condition so he subbed off a bit, but I'm pretty sure it won't take long for him to get back into the swing if it.
And in the meantime, I get back into my 90 minute perv sessions, which I have missed horribly!
And that's about it. I won't post the photos I took last night because really, they're not that exciting. You've seen photos already of most of the people there and sitting around a table doesn't exactly make for exciting viewing.

Oh, and just in case you didn't know, it's Salt Lake City ;-)

Friday, May 25, 2007

I'm just a scaredy cat

Now, I'm willing to admit that I may have overreacted slightly here.

I'm the sort of person who constantly worries about everything, be it about the starving Jackalopes in Ethiopia to whether or not I'll like it at my new branch.

I can tell you know that I should not have worried at all (yes, yes, I'm expecting about half a dozen 'I told you so's in the comments :-P).
My new branch is fantastic.
It's very, very, very busy compared to my previous one but that can be a good thing. For one, I'm not Teller A so I spend a heap more time on the counter which means I see more customers and get more referrals. I actually got double my target this week and although it was helped a lot by one of the CSR2's giving me all her walk-ups, I actually got a heap of people down the front all by myself.

I was so proud.

I have to fax my results sheet to my old branch each week (I'm still officially attached to Basso until they decide if I'm staying here or not) and I made the comment on it for my old manager 'Do you know how freakin sweet it feels to actually make my targets for once? I love it here!'.

Also, one of the things I was worried about was if everyone would like me or not. For some reason I have this fear that everyone will hate me and they won't give me a chance. My friend Mike tried to reassure me last week about this by saying 'Just go in there, be yourself, be happy and cheerful like you always are and they'll love you'. But I worried that it wouldn't turn out like that.
I get on really well with everyone so once again, shouldn't have worried. Overall, the people who work there are a lot younger than my old co-workers and it's actually really nice to be working with people in my own age group. Also the branch is very social, I'm already booked in to go to the movies with them in two weeks and then to lunch a couple of weeks after that, and there was one dinner I can't make as I have plans. So very busy with the fraternising! It's really nice when you can get to know people out of work so it's going to be great.

So overall it was a great week. I've had a few run-ins with customers but in general it's going well. I even got a scratchie because today I served about a hundred customers more than any of the other tellers (256 in total) so it's nice to be rewarded for something else other than making your referral target.

Ok, that's about it for now. I'm going out tomorrow night so I'll try and get photos for you all.
Have a great weekend!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

As promised, the second post

I sometimes worry about posting twice in as many days. Not so much that I'll bore you buys (because I'm sure you just wouldn't bother reading more if you were bored), more that I worry my first post will be overlooked.
A Spiderman party is a momentous occasion and one that deserves it's limelight :)
So, if you've stumbled upon this post, please make sure you continue on to the next, so the Webbed one can be fully appreciated.

Having gotten that out of the way, I now give you the promised pictures of the trackday.

This is Christian's Levin GTZ. It's his dream car and although he had some issues with fixing a fuel line this morning and swore his head off at the car, he really doesn't want any other. I guess you could say that Neville (that's the car's name but with a Kiwi accent) is my only competition ;-)


This is Mike's GTR, and today was the first time he had done anything like this in it before. He imported her from Japan ages ago and only recently got it registered so he wasn't pushing overly hard. Mike's been gradually upgrading his car, he started out with a R30 then got a 31 and now has the 32. He won't keep going though as the 33 is a tosser's car and the 34 is just crap. But this is one sweet car! At the end of the day Wazza, who was running the day let the guys take me out for a spin so I got a go in Neville but Christian couldn't push it as his brakes weren't the best and then Mike took me out in the 32. I came back with this silly grin on my face that I couldn't wipe off.

Christian hates having photos taken and in most of them he is either giving me the bird or he turns quickly away so I only capture the back of his head.
This was one of the latter.

I actually managed to get a pic of Mike today but how someone so damned hot can be so unphotogenic is beyond me, it really is. He always looks as pale as a ghost and stoned in all the pics I have, but this is one of the better ones...oh, and I've told him he needs to have a haircut. It's getting a bit mullety and that's never good.

The track is outside of the Belladrome in Midland where they do a lot of cycling. At the top of the hill outside the back of the dome are a couple of sea containers. One of them had this cute picture of a crocodile on it. I'm now annoying Christian by singing 'Schnee schni schnappy, schnappy, schnappy schnappy'



This is just a picture of a rope that was hanging down from the dome. I thought it looked like the place a depressed cyclist may come after losing an important race...Christian came upon me taking the shot and could only laugh at me.

Lastly this was a photo I took of the clouds through the pine trees. Not overly exciting but I thought the clouds were quite nice today.And that's about it really. I froze my arse off all day (May could possibly be not the best time for our international guests to come, but we survived Edinburgh, I'm sure they'll survive here) but it didn't rain a lot, only a bit of drizzle here and there. It was a fun day, I always enjoy these things even when I'm not driving and I was very excited to get a ride in the GTR! Plus, these days are always good for a perv! It might be just me but towards the top of my 'What makes a guy hot' list is the ability to drive hard!

Ok, I'll leave it at that for now, probably until next weekend! Bye guys!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Spiderman 3

No, not the movie. My nephew Caleb, who is Spiderman mad celebrated his third birthday today and in honour of this momentous occasion, a Spiderman party was held.

As part of his present, Barb and Mike bought Caleb a reversible Spiderman suit, worn normally and it's the traditional red and blue suit, tun it inside out and it's the creepy black suit from the latest movie. What I think is so adorable about it is the inflated chest muscles on it. He looks so cute!


Barb is famous for the birthday cakes she makes. She's made everything from a train, a Barbie fairy garden, a dog, a dinosaur, numerous dolly varden cakes, even Hanky, the Christmas Poo. She wanted to make Caleb a Spiderman cake and started working on these elaborate spiders made from moulding icing but in the end she wasn't happy with them so didn't use them. Eventually she ran out of time and at 2 in the morning before the party she whipped up the cake below featuring Spiderman's mask. She says she's disappointed that it didn't turn out the way she wanted but I think it's bloody fantastic!


In addition to the Spiderman cake, Barb went whole hog with the licensed party paraphernalia. The kids had a Spiderman tablecloth, cups, plates, hats, lolly bags, drink bottles, even the balloons were blue and red. Caleb just loved it all.


Jo and Darcie drove up from their place for the day and also brought Shiver with them. No longer a tiny puppy, Shiver has shot up and is now the same size as Malta. The two of them spent the whole day playing in a rather exuberant fashion, knocking several children down in the process. I took a photo of them and contrary to what it looks like, they're not trying to a) kill each other or b) make lots of dingo/mastiff babies.


Darcie grabbed hold of my camera at one stage and took a few photos, mainly of me. She's the right little professional, telling me to stand up, sit down, do this or that. She also demanded that I stick my tongue out. It's by far the best photo so I thought I'd share it with you (and best as in centred and in focus - it's a rather shocking pic of me in general)


Scott and Mike also came and it's amazing just how much like my Dad my brother is becoming. The resemblance is amazing!
It was great to catch up with them and I just want to say a huge congratulations to Mike for making his first front page of The West Australian. He scored a coveted position as Cadet Journalist for the state's paper and has had quite a few articles published so far but this was his first front cover. It was an article about a 97 year old man who has just taken up helicopter flight lessons, but Mike says he'll be much more excited when he gets a breaking news front cover. I say he kicks ass anyway!

Oh, and looksie what I got! A photo of Mike (Wolfbyte) actually being affectionate towards Malta. He was complaining earlier how he never wanted the dog and how annoying she is but shut up soon after I pointed out he's actually admitted on his blog that he loves her, even though it was in the middle of a rant about how annoying she is. Then I walk in the house a short while later and low and behold, the two of them are snugged up on the couch having a cuddle.
Not that this is going to change the world or anything, I just wanted to have proof that deep down he thinks she's alright!


So, that's about all I have to report on the Spiderman party. You should get another post with photos this weekend though as there's a track day tomorrow that Christian is taking his GTZ down to and Mike (Brooksey) might turn up with his GTR. For those of you who don't like cool cars, it might bore the crap out of you, but tough. I didn't get to be Deputy Curator in charge of fast cars for nothing!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

They say a change is as good as a holiday...

We shall see...

As some of you already know, work has been a bit crap lately for me. I love my job, I really do and I also really enjoy working with these people, unfortunately the bank doesn't really endear itself to it's employees.
I'm not a very sales-driven person. I hate being a customer when someone is trying to hard-sell me and so I don't like having to do from the other side of the counter. In my opinion if someone comes in to do their banking, it's up to them if they want to open a new account and they'll let me know if they do. Otherwise I just want to do my best to be friendly, helpful and efficient.

Unfortunately, the bank doesn't see it this way. As a teller (CSR1 to be technical) I don't have to actually sell the products but I have to 'identify a need' and 'refer the customer to the CSR2's'.
Now this is something I believe I do. If someone is paying too many monthly fees or has money sitting in a low interest account, I bring it to their attention. I don't think it should be my problem if they then don't want to do anything about it.
The bank however says otherwise. I have to get a certain amount of referrals a week that actually go and open a product or 'have a quality needs based conversation'.

Now, the real killer is that because of all this new bullshit legislation which has removed our award, the bank is now allowed to keep from us our old 4% per year mandatory pay rise. Only employees who make their targets will be eligible for the raise. So, to put it another way, my ability to keep up with inflation, interest rate hikes and the ever-increasing price of fuel now rests in the hands of a third party - the customer.

I do my job, I talk to customers, I inform them of our different products, blah, blah, blah, but according to the bank, I'm not doing my job, hence I don't get a pay increase.

The branch I'm at now is a very quiet branch, we see mostly the same customers, we have our regulars, we don't get a lot of new traffic. It's very hard to meet my targets. Actually, it's nigh on impossible. I'm at 46% for crying out loud!

And so today I mentioned to my boss that I'd like to talk to her about maybe seeing about a transfer to a busier branch. She said that yes, we could discuss it later on in the day and she would talk to her boss about it.
Within an hour I was told that on Monday I'd be starting at the next branch over, a very busy branch in a new shopping centre.

I didn't think it would happen so quickly!

And now I'm shit scared. It seemed like such a good idea at the time, it would solve all my problems. Now that it's actually happened I'm wondering why I didn't keep my big mouth shut!

Apparently they're going to do a six week trial to see how it goes as they're swapping me with a girl from the other branch but I know that even if I don't like it, I won't get sent back to my old branch. However I can hope I'll settle in well and actually enjoy it.

I mean, you do adapt to change, don't you? You eventually adapt to anything I guess. And it's not even that big a change really, it's just a different work place, it's still the same job.
I'm just a scaredy cat.

Anyway, I'll keep you all posted about how it goes, I'm sure it won't be as bad as in my imagination.

Friday, May 11, 2007

When soccer becomes 'more' than a game.

Several of you already know about the 'incident' at Wednesdays soccer match so please feel free to amuse yourselves while I regale those unfortunates who have not yet heard the tale.

First of all I think you all need to know something very important about my husband, Christian.
Christian is a very non-violent person. He swears like a pirate, his sarcasm cuts to the bone, he watches action films and plays all sorts of nasty games on his wii and PS2 but when it comes to physical violence he's just not into it. It's also very rare for Christian to lose his temper.

So anyway, Christian still can't play soccer at the moment as his ankle just isn't fully recovered, we've still been going to the games however as we want to support the team. So on Wednesday we went round to Sexy Mike's place first so the boys could play Magic (I helped Tiho and we lost horribly so perhaps my aspirations to become a kick arse Magic player are a little deluded, but I digress) and then we headed off to watch the game with Kat. The boys were playing a team called Nothing Suss and I would like to point out here at the onset that there was a lot of things suss about them.

So, the opposition score two early goals but despite this they yell and swear at each other and get rather aggro all round. The boys score two goals and then we're even. Then we get called by the ref for not throwing in from the sides correctly. The ball has to be thrown in from behind the head, not released when it's over of in front of you. Fair enough but then the other team do it and don't get called.
So Christian (who has become a rather vocal spectator) calls at the ref 'So, how is that any different???'. This guy from the other team stops and yells out at Christian, the conversation going something like this.

Loser : 'Do you need your prescription checked mate?'
Christian : 'Come on, there was no way that ball was thrown from behind'
L : 'You've got no fucking idea mate'
C : Yeah, maybe if you're head was this big it might have been ok' (Christian holds his hands out a foot or two)
L : (grabs crotch) Well what do you think of this then?
C : I think I'd need a prescription to see that!
L : Oh you're so gonna fucking cop it after that
C : Whatever mate, it's just a game
L : Nah, you're fucking dead. Ref, sub!

So Loser then proceeds to march off the court and come yelling at Christian about how he's going to beat Christian's head in. Stupidly (it seemed like such a good idea at the time) I step in front of this guy and say 'Look, just calm down mate'.
Now, this guy wasn't going to calm down. Quite the opposite in fact. I honestly thought then he was going to punch me. Obviously so did Christian because when Loser yells out 'So, you gonna hide behind your fucking woman???' Christian then went 'Fine, you want to have a go at me?'

So Loser goes for Christian and we all thought (Christian, Kat and I) that this guy was going to throw a punch. Instead he takes a running kick right at my husbands family jewels.
Well, that did it.
Christian starts grappling with him and this guy just goes beserk, punches Christian in the face and pretty much body slams him onto the ground. I jump on top, trying to pull this guy off and one of his team mates comes running and tries to help. Meanwhile this guy can't really do much except squish Christian (he was much taller and much, much heavier than Christian) and Christian, after discovering this guy doesn't flinch to being punched in the head then starts gouging out his eyes with his thumbs. On the court our keeper Enzo notices something's amiss and jumps over to help, bringing half of our team and half the other team with him.
In the end it takes four guys to pull Loser off Christian and drag him away, and within a minute this guys is all like 'I'm so sorry, it's my fault, I overreacted and I shouldn't have lost it'.

The court is in an uproar, everyone is yelling at the ref (who did diddly fucking squat the whole time), the manager on duty of Loftus comes down and takes this guy away to do up a report, Loser keeps apologising and my heart is beating six hundred times a minute. Kat and I are in complete shock that this guy just lost it so completely and Christian is spewing his glasses have been twisted (and although he didn't show it at the time, his balls must have been killing him).

Eventually the game resumes and we sit in silence for quite a while. Loser comes back down to the court, again saying how sorry he is. Christian doesn't want a bar of it and retorts 'Yeah, well try telling my nuts that'.
The game ends and at some point Mike scored a goal without us realising it and so we've won the game. As Enzo put it 'We weren't going to let them win after that.'

As they're leaving, the other team each walk up and apologise to us and the manager comes down to inform us that Loser has been banned, although we don't know how long for. We discover Christian is bleeding from several carpet burns but he manages to bend his glasses back into shape. We stood about in the carpark for a bit afterwards chatting and then headed home, but it took me a long time to fall asleep that night. I don't think my heart stopped pounding until about four in the morning.

And so Christian's first punch up will echo on down through the ages, immortalised by Blogger. He probably won't ever read this (actually I know he won't, no matter how much I nag him to) but I'll say this anyway.
Christian, I salute you. Also, I hope your left testicle will finally decided to work it's way down from behind your left ear sometime before Christmas.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

PJA

'Hi, my name is Nettie and I'm a PJ-aholic.'

This was the text message I sent my beloved to inform him of the addition I had made to my pyjama collection.

I just couldn't help myself. I was out shopping last weekend with my sisters and I saw at least six pairs of jarmies that, if I had a much, much larger disposable income, would have found a new owner. Instead I settled on one pair, that were reduced right down for Mother's Day (bargain!).

So now I have : three pairs of flannelette PJ's, my new ones that are pink with froggies on lillipads, my neon orange ones with moo cows and daisies and my bright pink ones with love hearts and ladybugs (although really I should throw these out as they're falling apart, but I refuse.)
I also have a pair of winter black satin jarmies with an embroidered rose. Then I have two pairs of summer satin jarmies, both blue, one with teddy bears and one with whales.
Up until very recently I also had another two pairs of pink satin PJ's, one pair I gave to the Salvos as they were much too big for me and I rather looked like a giant musk Lifesaver in them and the other pair I gave to my older sister who needed a new pair and really liked those.

Christian says my 'spare pair' excuse is wearing a tad thin...

I don't even really know why I buy jarmies and I can't pinpoint when it started as I've not always done it. I just can't walk past a gorgeous pair and not think about adding it to my collection.

Oh, and I apologise if this is too much information for you all, but the really, really silly thing about the whole situation is I don't even wear pyjamas to bed! Yup. that's right, I get twisted and tangled and can't stand it, so I sleep in the nip. I own six pairs of PJ's and they only get worn around the house.

But then again I guess obsessions aren't supposed to be logical.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Who noticed?

I thought I'd lay to rest Cigarettes Alcohol and Rollerblading as the title of this blog as I feel the Father Ted reference my be a tad ambiguous. I've had several people comment that as I don't smoke, rarely drink and have only rollerbladed in the distant past it seems an odd choice of title.

I then have to launch into the whole lent explanation and end up sounding odder than usual.

So, in keeping with the general atmosphere of my blog, The Natterings Of Nettie is born.

CA&R will live on however as I do hope to win the 'longest url' competition one day.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

A rant not aimed at any of you

Warning - contains unlady-like language.

I've had a shitty week.

I've been sworn at by customers, had to put up with idiots of the road, been stressed because of understaffing at work and had generic crap happen pretty much every day of the week. This is on top of my Uncle Ian passing away on Tuesday.

It's all accumulated in me being in a very grumpy mood when I arrived home from work yesterday. In response to Christian's query of how my day had been I retorted 'I have come to the conclusion that the human race are a pack of c*#ts and on the whole I want nothing to do with them ever again.'

Now, I swear like a pirate at the best of times but Christian was rather shocked at my use of the C word. I'm sure there will be others of you out there who will be equally as shocked.

That's how crap my week has been.

The end.

P.S. I like stories.