Back to Work

Sophie and Sport Boy on her birthday. I have a similar picture taken about 3 years ago of the two of them together and was trying to recreate it here. This one below is not the one I'm referring to but it's similar. They have always been very close and often laugh and play together or have snuggles.

I returned to work today and survived the ordeal. I even managed to get a couple of important things done. A few people were surprised to see me, a rumour had gone around that I wouldn't be back till next term. I could handle that, the time off was very beneficial, but there's work that needs to be done, otherwise if I did delay my return important things would become urgent and my anxiety might increase significantly.

I went to a play put on by the year 12 drama students tonight called "Away". It was quite good, but the most impressive part was how well one particular girl did. She's been a ratbag kid for the last 3 years yet she acted brilliantly tonight, with maturity and composure in a demanding role.

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That.

While Carolyn and Sophie set off to spend the day in Margaret River to celebrate Sophie's birthday, she turns 18 tomorrow, I went back to the doctor's to talk about my progress. He was encouraged and mostly satisfied although has not dismissed the possibility that I have depression. I'm feeling better with each passing day and more optimistic and enthused than I have for a long time. I did ask him about testosterone replacement therapy which Harvey (the resident family pain specialist!) had told me about while I was in Adelaide. The Dr had heard of it and was open to the possibility of trying it based on a blood test, so I was despatched next door for said blood test, which was carried out in about 60 seconds with zero pain. I'll get the results next week.

I dropped into the office to check my emails and send off a couple of important ones. I should be back at work next week so other stuff can wait till then.

I then went to the midday screening of the new movie, Babel, which you may recall was nominated for Best Picture in the recent Oscars. It is a very powerful and harrowing film centreing around a Moroccan family who purchase a rifle which is subsequently used to accidently shoot an American tourist. The stories of a Mexican housekeeper and a Japanese schoolgirl are then caught up in the strange web of violence and pain and heartache. It is not an easy film to watch but I'd still highly recommend it, one of the best films I've seen in quite a while.

Picked up the boys from school and delivered them to squash. They are both very enthused about playing squash at the moment which is good.

I dropped round to see my mate Dave at the glass factory to get a couple of pieces cut that I need. We got talking about his business and the difficulty he's been having finding staff. He's got plenty of work but not enough staff to get it done. I offered to give him a hand if would be useful and he jumped at the suggestion so I'll do a few days with him in my "spare time" to help him with a big job he's got coming up.
I bought a big canvas at a great price from Makro. I had to resist the urge not to buy more, not because I didn't want them or that they weren't good value, but because I'd told Carolyn not to spend any money because the credit card has reached it's limit!! I transferred some money to pay it off today but that probably won't clear for a day or two.

I sorted through the various frames and wood for painting on at home and then used my new power saw and Triton work bench to cut and trim them to size. I could grow to enjoy the feeling of using power tools!! My mate Birchy will smile if he reads this! AAAAGGGGHH!!

Then it was off to drive the taxi. I was in the Maxi tonight, the 14 seat mini bus, which always brings with it a different experience! As usual there were the usual groups of part and pub goers heading out early in the night, and the same groups returning home several hours later and considerably worse for wear. I took one group home to Dunsborough and Yallingup and by the time I'd finished dropping the last one off the fare had risen to $82.90! After a slow start it was a pretty good night in the end which is good news because I'm planning to take Sophie and the family out for lunch tomorrow to celebrate her 18th birthday and the extra cash means we can spoil her a little and go somewhere really nice.

I had an SMS tonight from my good mate Phil asking me to look after a couple of things in the event of his death. Considering he was at the airport awaiting his flight to Afghanistan at the time it's not such a far-fetched request!!! I promised to take care of his requests, but obviously urged him to take the utmost care and do all he could to return home safely. What different lives we all lead. I'm enjoying the safety and serenity of life in Busselton, he's heading off to Kabul for two months, one of the more dangerous locations on the planet. I need to pray for him, and for Julie and their two lovely kids Pieta and Elijah.

Well, it's 4am and the effects of the Vanilla Diet Coke should start wearing off soon and I can get some sleep.
Tomorrow is a big day for my beautiful daughter and I want to be as fresh as possible for it. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Good news, Carolyn is feeling better and is up and out of bed. She's not 100% yet but much better than she was.
I've just come from a staff sundowner playing beach volleyball and jumped in the shower before starting my Friday night taxi shift.
More good news, Sophie started a job at the Esplanade Hotel restaurant tonight as a waitress, it's been a while since she quit the Corner store so it's great that she's doing some work again.
If you aren't in the habit of visiting my Dad's blog, he has an awesome picture on it today taken at Hillarys Marina, truly amazing.

I was going to bed but then...

I was just going to blog for a minute before bed but discovered The Heir on Skype asking questions and needing me to fax him things.
I've found what he needs and will send them tomorrow.
A mate posted a message about Skype that will definitely interest any of you who are Skype users. Here it is:

[9:41:47 AM] Phil Sparrow says: Dear all. Just to let you know: Skype can detect that you have unused bandwidth on your computer, and, being a P2P program, start using your computer as a 'Super-node'. This just happened to us. Hundred's of MB of data started being routed through our account, rapidly exceeding our quotas. The solution is to go to Skype/ Tools/ Option/ Connection, and uncheck the 'use port 80 and 443'. Skype is still a great program, but super-noding is a great hassle. Google 'Skype bandwidth use' if you want more info.

Sneaky little rats!!

Went to Bunbury with Sophie this afternoon, she drove, so I could check out FoodBank, a food distribution service which we're going to utilise for The Big Brekky this year. We hung around Bunbury, shopping etc until 9 when we went to the movies to see Blood Diamond. It was very violent and pretty heavy but also an excellent film on a serious subject.

Started the day at the physio whose diagnosis of the continued swelling and pain in my ankle (injured in September) is due to a hairline fracture, and that I need to get my foot put back in a cast for two weeks!! That's a nuisance but hopefully if he's right it will mean it will properly heal and I'll regain mobility without pain, and be able to resume playing sport.
So I'm off to see the Dr in the morning and I'll be back on crutches for two weeks!!