Woohoo!

Woohoo for 2 things....

tomorrow it's SUMMER!!!!

and congratulations to Dave who finished his last exam today. We're off to have a bit of a beverage to celebrate!

Yay!~!

J.

Where's Jacki?

Apologies for the paucity of posts...I'm doing "work experience" with a different role this week and next week (sounds like I'm in year 10 and deciding whether or not I want to be an astronaut or a hairdresser!), so am busily trying to get my head around all the new stuff.

It's very interesting and exciting in a nerdy sort of way (is there any other kind?) and I'm enjoying myself immensely at work and really trying to get the most out of it. Hence working flat out during lunch and other assorted times when I'd normally muse over blog entries.

So hang in there...I'll be back (as the governor once said).

J.

MP3 Ettiquette

Is it ever okay to sing along to the song playing on your MP3 player? What if...

• The song is really, really good?
• You've been drinking? (actually cancel that...probably not such a good idea now I think about it)
• It's late at night?
• You sing quietly?
• There's nobody else around (or you think there isn't)

And what about dancing? Do the same rules apply? Can you push the envelope a little further? Or tapping your feet? Nodding your head?

there's a whole world out there and I really don't know the rules. Can anybody help me? Or am I going to be left to my own devices...could be embarrassing......

J.

Update from the fast-fading weekend

I had a lovely weekend, and would like to thank everyone who contributed...

Thanks Jess for the Gazpacho party
Thanks Jonathan for making it to the Gazpacho party
Thanks Marti for the lift home from the Gazpacho Party
Thanks Ronene for being my co-driver to the Blue Mountains BBQ on Sunday and for assisting with every one of my needs...drink bottle management, DJing, plugging in phones and more.
Thanks Danielle for being the Hostess-with-the-mostest. She managed to cover everything from my labelling needs (take that! Junk mailers!) to improptu surgery with a pair of Ikea pliers (don't even ask).
Thanks Bec for finally telling everyone your exciting news so I don't have to worry about slipping up and letting the cat out of the bag anymore.
Thanks to everyone who was great company at both parties and especially to the Scattergories competitors.

Hope everyone else had as good a weekend as I did!

J. :-)

Jacki's Jabberings Gets Another Facelift

As I'm clearly someone who can never leave well enough alone, you'll notice that there have been a few new bells and whistles added to the left hand side-bar of the blog.

I thought they looked like kind of fun things to have on there, a bit of added entertainment. I am a little concerned, though, that I shouldn't have added every bell and whistle I could figure out how to add. What do we think? Is is too busy now or am I just turning paranoid?

So, loyal readers, it's over to you to let me know what you think. Due to the overwhelming law of inertia (read: laziness) if nobody responds, the changes stay, so if you don't like them you'd better get typing. All suggestions will be dutifully considered, and all decisions are made by me and considered final.

J.

Update to the Breakfast Dilemma

Back at the start of September I had a bit of a whinge about my breakfast situation. After moving offices I've never been able to find a suitable place to have breakfast and had pretty much resigned myself to inferior alternatives.

this morning I'm in a great mood, because the breakfast dilemma has been solved. A huge thank-you to Sophie who directed me to a whole new shopping area I didn't know existed in search of somewhere to replace my flat watch battery. In the course of going there I discovered a fantastic new breakfast place that does exactly what I like, even better than I used to get at my old place (they put parsley in the scrambled eggs and all!) for the same price!!!

Yay! That's totally made my day!

Mmm...scrambled egg and mushroom rolls are the best!!!!!!

The Weather Girl

It’s a bit of an accepted fact. I remember when I was at school teachers telling me that windy days make kids a bit crazy. Full moons are worse, but a rainy day always means the blues. Sunshine makes us happy and people are affected by SAD – Seasonally affected disorder. There are summer people and winter people, hotties and ice-queens (or kings), just like (seemingly arbitrarily) there are dog people and cat people.

So the weather has a big affect on us. Weather that suits us has a positive affect on us, and weather we hate does the opposite. I suppose there are universal exceptions; I can’t imagine anyone really enjoying getting stuck in the pouring, freezing rain whilst our walking a long way from home, and I doubt that Bourke and Wills enjoyed the fine weather they experienced.

But I guess the old cliché “mind over matter” holds true, whether it’s a conscious decision or not.

Today was one of those days which consists of the best that Spring in Sydney can throw at you. I’ve gone from stinking hot and sweating, to freezing and fighting the wind and sleet in one long day[1].

I met up with a couple of friends after work for a quick drink, so headed home an hour or so (maybe 2, if I’m going to be honest here) later than I usually would. I hopped off the train and headed down the short stroll to home. I couldn’t read my book, and the flimsy cardigan I grabbed this morning (just in case) seemed as useless as a chocolate teapot[2].

I made it down the road and through the gate into the yard…feeling a bit sorry for myself and grumbling internally about the unpredictable weather and getting stuck out in the cold at this time of year. Then all of a sudden, something clicked. I looked around me, and somehow my perspective changed. I saw the trees and the bushes flying around, and the spring jasmine revoking its right to lazily exude its heady scent in favour of a wider-ranging more adventurous dispersion.

Somehow, without warning, the wild weather made me feel alive. A grin spread across my face and I unfurled my foetal pose to embrace the storm. I looked around a few minutes in wonder at the passion and the fury and beauty of it all. And then I headed inside to the comfort of my warm home, encouraged by the contrast between cosy shelter and the formidable fury of Mother Nature outside.

[1] And I’ve just had the weird weather reports of snow and hail around the country pop up on the late news, so I guess, relatively speaking, on the weired-o-metre things really weren’t that bad here
[2] OK, so it’s one of my favourite sayings at the moment, but I have to admit that I stole it from some show on the ABC a while back

The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Plain

Rain is rain. End of story, right? And Hail is something different, snow and sleet are other categories again. Or so you might think. Apparently the Eskimo have dozens of words for “snow”. And I heard a story once of some guy who did an experiment and isolated himself in a cave for some ridiculously long amount of time and ended up being able to recognize various different types of water drops solely from the sound of them falling.

Today it rained in the city. It’s always a spectacle to watch a storm roll in from the upper floors of a tall building with lots of windows, but today’s rain was something else altogether.

The wind was coming in and gusting in a dozen different directions, and the cold change was right on the verge of freezing the raindrops. Flakes of almost-snow almost-rain almost-hail were swirling and dancing, up and down and across and over and under and around.

It was beautiful. Enough even to have the jaded office workers lined up pushing their noses up against the glass in awe.

Training dynamics

If you’ve been reading along recently you’d know I was on training for a couple of days last week. And if you’ve been reading along a bit longer you’d know that I quite enjoy coming up with my own little Jacki-philosophy version of categorising the world around me.

Over the course of my working life I’ve attended quite a few training courses and for some reason the group dynamics of that sort of environment always seem to bring out some stock-standard personality types. Last week was no exception, so I thought I’d share my observations with you…

1. The instructor: Essential part of any training. Usually starts with such gems as “This is interactive training. Please feel free to ask questions at any time and please speak up with the answers to any questions I ask of the class” Closely followed by deafening silence after every questions.

2. The Know-it-all: For some reason this class member is sitting through a class, the syllabus of which they are already completely and intimately acquainted. They sit looking bored, answering questions and rolling their eyes when everyone else in the class is completely and hopelessly lost.

3. 2-step Charlie: The one person at the back of the class that’s perpetually 2 steps behind the rest of the class. Pipes up with answers to questions that the rest of the class completed 10 minutes ago.
4. The Spanish Inquisitor: The incessant questioner. Can’t leave any detail unanswered and clearly will not be satisfied unless they leave the class with every aspect of the application of the course content is clear in relation to their particular job. Whether anyone else in the class is interested or not.

5. The literal thinker: this classic class member doesn’t seem to be aware that the examples used in class are there for the purpose of illustrating a concept. They’re not true. For the sake of showing relevance, I’m sure the course-writers try to base them on believable scenarios, but they’re never supposed to taken as seriously as the literal thinker considers them. Can hijack the course work by holding up the class picking holes in the examples rather than actually learning what they were supposed to teach in the first place.

6. The wall-flower: Sits quietly up the back. Seems startled and incoherent when addressed. Could potentially be the next Einstein on the topic, but who would ever know?
So how did I do? Recognise anyone? Recognise yourself? Recognise me?

Who do you think I was last week? And am I always that person? Hmm…I think that’s another post altogether….

Where's Wally?

Actually no idea. But if you're wondering where Jacki is, she's in training for a couple of days. Luckily, however, she has internet access there and will still drop a post or two in if she can manage it. She's also collecting material for an exciting new post.

Jacki (aka the database demon)

Horsing Around

Last week was the Melbourne Cup, those few minutes each when Australia stops whatever it's doing and watches a horse race on the telly.

This year work made a bit of a big deal of it...champagne breakfast and then lunch at one of my favourite restaurants. So in the spirit of the day I decided to take the plunge with my first ever flutter.

I picked 2 horses and put a couple of bucks on each for a place. Luck was with me and one of them came in second for me. Woohoo...I felt like a winner.

So, of course, being such a numbers person, I had the whole thing figured out. With the odds on the horses I chose, I absolutely planned on the win on one horse winning me the same amount as I...um..bet on the other horse...and...umm..lost.

Yep, that was the plan alright. Break even. Maybe I should go quitting my day job just yet, huh?

Superheroes galore

I made it to the Walk against Warming on Saturday, despite the rain, and it was fantastic. Great to see so many people standing up to be counted and showing they care. I've never seen so many people crammed into Martin Place!!

Good work fellow superheroes!

Luke…."<"inhale…exhale">"….I am Your Father…

You may have noticed that on Planet Jacki there are superheroes. Mostly this consists of people I admire and readers who listen to (and act upon) my rants about saving the world (like the Walk Against Warming this weekend).

As Einstein’s taught us, however, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. And for every superhero in the world, there is an anti-hero; a villain, or nemesis if you will. Equally, on Planet Jacki, there are people out there from the dark side.

For your reading pleasure, I have outlined the sorts of people who fall into this category below:

The morning person: People who try to talk to me on the train in the morning
The premature embarkation: People who try to get onto the train, before exiting commuters have finished getting off.

The tosser: People who litter. Especially with cigarette butts (somehow they’re exempt?).
The glass nazi: Over-efficient bus-boys. Would you believe the other night we had to rescue our empty glasses 4 times before Sandy returned from the bar with a fresh bottle?

The Chatterbox: People who talk through the movie while I’m at the cinema.

The time-bomb: People who are really late when I’m waiting for them.

The perilous pedestrian: When are we going to introduce tickets for dangerous walking? People who stop suddenly, right in the middle of the walk-way, groups who walk slowly and in random directions several people wide thereby stopping anyone from getting by.

The fickle pricing policy: When you go to the same place all the time and buy the same thing, yet the price mysteriously changes every time. I’d rather be overcharged right from the start! OK, so it’s not exactly a person, but I blame every single person who works in places like that.

The know-it-all cab driver: Yep, I know it’s their job to drive around and know where they’re going. But at the end of the day, I’m heading to my house and I go there all the time. I'd like to think I know the best way to go at any given time or circumstances. In particular, I may want to go a slightly longer way because I know what traffic is like a particular time of day. If I’ve specified a particular way to go, I’d like to go that way without the snide comments. I am the one paying, after all. If I take them a longer way, surely that just means a bigger fare?

Anyone else have any anti-heros in their life?

Communication Generation

Yay! I have my phone back, and working like new! It’s amazing how you can get so used to things.

Believe it or not, I used to be one of those hold-outs to the onset of the new technology. I had a home phone and answering machine that I could dial up and check my messages on from a public phone if it was really necessary ….

And then I gave in. ostensibly it was originally just going to be for when I was traveling interstate, and maybe for emergencies. Initially it was. Then I started using it a bit more. After all, it was there, and handy, and it was useful for a few things. Then there were text messages, and then using the gadget a bit more. Then I swapped my dad for his swanky silver cover and had my first experience of the phone as something trendy. My first upgrade was to a kind of strange sideways phone with a full keypad. Great for texts, but impossible to use one handed, and also impossible to tell one end from the other, so guaranteed you’d always put it up to your ear the wrong way up. After that one disappeared (mysteriously…), I renewed my contract and was delivered a shiny new top-of-the-line phone. One of the first ones to come out with a camera in it. I thought I was in mobile phone nirvana. Photo diary evolved out of the funky purple phone, and by this stage I was well and truly hooked. When that one was pinched I even took the grand step of changing brands to my stylish and versatile Samsung slide phone. I may whinge about difficulties charging it occasionally, but the last couple of weeks while it’s been on the fritz have certainly made me realize how much I’ve integrated it into my life. I don’t even have a home phone anymore, let alone an answering machine.

I was organizing for Ronene to pick me up to go to dance class. Our custom for occasions such as this is for Ronene to ring as she’s leaving the house, and she’s at my place by the time I get downstairs and out the front of my building. It took us 3 goes at coming up with an alternative plan (making a time, and having to be there btw).

And let’s not even discuss the impact this had on plans with the boy…who for all his good points can have a bit of an issue with punctuality at time…

So, phone’s back. I feel like I’m myself again. Yay!

J.

Dancing Queen

I started Bollywood Dancing classes last night. I love dance classes as a great way to get some regular exercise, blow off a bit of steam, and have a lot of fun doing it. Just for the record it’s certainly not because of my natural talent and coordination (as any friend upon whose carpet I’ve spilt red wine will tell you). I’ve done several Salsa classes, Hip Hop Dancing, Belly Dancing and the enigmatically-named Solo International Dance Excitement. To continue with the hobby, I was talked into Bollywood dancing this semester.

Now just to get this straight, I’m not a Bollywood fan. Not to say that I’m not a Bollywood fan, it’s just that I can’t remember ever actually having seen anything even remotely Bollywood related. Unless “Bend it Like Beckham” counts. I just went along for the reasons outlined above, along with my fellow dancing queens Ronene and Bernie.

Well, let me tell you…Bollywood Dancing is shaping up to be the most fun of the lot. I really think in these cases that the instructor can make or break the class. Salsa was instructed by a hot-blooded latin lady who was an absolute hoot (and occasionally her very attractive assistant…mmmm). Hip hop was the young funky slip of a thing who turned up early to practice all the moves and took things quite seriously.

With this new class, the instructor is an absolute hoot. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard and so long. You’ve got to love a class that starts with jumping in the deep end – no instructions! We did get to a bit more structure later in the class. There were more classical moves…like “picking apples” and “pointy fingers”.

Bring it on, I say…and namastase!