Cheer up sleepy Jen

Tonight was the weekly 'steak night' but this time we (turtle-lips, Gus and I) were joined by the three other grads I work with. I had a great time but so did the girls when they all pointed out that they like watching the daily 'Jen almost fall asleep show'. I will be the first to admit that after all the bright lights of outside at lunchtime and the conversation that doesn't involve tax, coming back to talk about the medicare levy will often leave me stifling yawns or thinking up ways to stop my eyes actually closing. I just didn't think anyone was watching.
They say its not a bad thing and that they like the comfort of going 'gee I'm tired...but hey look Jen is too'. I have been starting pretty early though, but I work better in the morning so I think that probably has an effect.

I'd better get to bed...I want to be awake tomorrow!

Also I don't know if he reads this but if you are, billyjoe noodle-bob I hope Bram is better now (and Eve of course).

- Jen

Vodka Schmodka

I have no idea why after coming home from the gym the first thing I think to do is to update my blog.

I went out on Friday night and consumed an exorbitant amount of alcohol (there were vodka shots and beer involved) and after getting home at 5am on Saturday morning, felt considerably worse for wear for the rest of the day. Obviously I wasn't going to make it to the gym. This morning I decided that in the best interests of my health I should probably go and work up a bit of a sweat. Here's the thing, depsite putting deoderant on before hand, I STINK! I'm sure its all the alcohol I drank seeping out of my skin making me all stinky. And I still chose to blog about how bad I smell before I had a shower.

I've never done vodka shots before, probably because you don't really think of vodka as something you shot...and I had the vodka shot right after I'd skulled a beer (I lost at a drinking game) and so my stomach was not happy with me at all.

Next weekend should be pretty big. The man is coming up from Melbourne, we are throwing a birthday party for turtle-lips minus the turtle-lips because he has to work. AND at the end of this week I will have finished induction at work and will start my first rotation on Monday.

...I'm going to have to cut this short because I stink so badly I'm making my own nose wrinkle.

- Jen

After all, in the end...just pretend

Firstly I have to apologise for the lack of updates. I've been really busy with work and have also started going to the gym after work which has made me really tired and I've felt less like thinking up something to post. I'm going to the gym purely to get fitter and I'm starting to see some difference. Don't freak out everyone there is no chance of me losing weight what with my boss plying us with snickers bars and lollies on a daily basis and Tuesdays. Tuesday is steak night (beer, beer, steak and beer) usually followed by a visit to the ice-creamery. I guess I can count myself lucky Albury doesn't have a Cold Rock or a Max Brenner's otherwise I would be in real trouble.

Now THERE is something to write about. Max Brenners. Tony and Rae if you are reading this stay away from the south end of Highpoint..it's dangerous! The weekend before last I had the good fortune to have my first Max Brenner's experience. I had a cup of venezuelan dark chocolate which tasted like I was drinking melted dark chocolate with a tiny bit of milk.
I'm sorry to say I couldn't finish it. But I now know how Augustus Gloop felt like when he fell into the chocolate lake. The 'hug mug' made it all the better too! Basically its a mug with no handle that you grip with two hands (it is oval shaped) and you just drink out of like you would if you were drinking out of a beer stein with two hands.
I hope that made sense.

The above just goes to show why I'm going to the gym. I still believe as long as you balance your outgoings (exercise) with your ingoings (eating) then you can't go too far wrong (and EVERYTHING is alright in moderation). It just means that in order to be able to produce 'outgoings' you need to eat properly. Its no good trying to run 5kms of an afternoon if you had a salad for lunch. It just doesn't work that way. Thats why I'm liking my toasted ham and relish sandwiches. They seem to keep me going alright. I am pretty sore though and as much as I've started to get into running I think I might have to mix it up a bit. For the first time in my life I have a sore back!

Anyway enough about exercise. I'm getting pretty good at 'Just Pretend' by The Bens on guitar, and its nice and slow so not too hard to sing along to. Unlike 'Wish you well'. The song I can play okay but the singing...forget it!

I apologise for the lack of anything interesting to write. Anything interesting that happens at work isn't really anything I can post here and because I spend between 7-9 hours a day there 5 days a week it leaves very little other time for other bloggable material!

- Jen

.....and I've been working like a dog

pipthedog
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

I don't know about a hard days night because a hard days week would probably describe quite succinctly my first week at work.

I am E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D! Tomorrow after work I am going to Melbourne for the weekend to see the man. Apparently he is cooking us one of his magnificent roasts for dinner (he is easily the cook in our relationship) so that will be nice.

Luckily I am going with Ben and Rel because I started driving to work this morning (aiming to start at 8am) and my car decides that its finally had enough of kow-towing to me and my wants and needs in a motor vehicle and that it is going to make a significant enough of a grinding noise for me to NOT DRIVE IT TO WORK...and no I didn't leave the radiator cap off!

So I took Dad's ute, which is like or it is what I would imagine riding a white metal kangaroo to be like. It's pretty fun bouncing along, and when I got home from work the doggies (seen above) were actually pleased to see me. Until I opened the door. Then their tongues stopped lolling out of their mouths and their delirious pleasure about seeing 'Dad' was replaced by looks of utter disgust ("ew its that girl again").

I have to skip off to bed now because tomorrow I'm going into work with Mum (don't worry I'm going to disguise myself as a bludger so people won't think we are related) at 7am. I know! 7am!

- Jen

I'm going to nail it!

Nailed
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

After probably nearly 22 years of nail biting I have decided to quit. I managed to grow a tiny weeny nail on my left thumb and have now coated it in nail polish (clear) in an effort to protect it. There is also a half decent nail sprouting on my right middle finger.

My nails grow very quickly (probably because I chew them so much) so I am hoping that by next week I should have something to show.
I don't think I will be keeping them too long (in length) because they will probably impede my guitar playing but I will see how it goes.

Wish me luck!

- Jen

My first day..

First Day 2
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

Although I technically started work last week today was my first day at my 'home site'. Work was pretty good, and although I felt a little tired in the morning a coffee at morning tea kept me going for the rest of the day! Despite any hopes I may have had...there are not a lot of people at work with the same surname as me...and so apparently I 'look like my mother' (for those who don't know my mother works at the same office).

I will definitely be going back tomorrow!

- Jen

Albury, Better, Computer, Guitar

Jentopia
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

I got this nifty little picture over at snapshirts.com. In case you can't tell its a nice little collection of the most used words on jentopia. Looks like Albury, Better, Computer, Guitar, Home, Jenu, Job, Like, Pretty, Thats, Think, Time and Work are the most used.

If you would like to see the most used words on your blog, click here.

A very taxing time

Wednesday morning and the beginning of my full-time working life began. So far I quite like my job even if it does look like it is going to be quite the challenge! Whether or not I can tell if I will really like my job just from the past 3 days I'm not sure but the people seem really nice and thats often what can make or break a job.

By the end of the week though (and now especially) I was exhausted. In fact it probably shows in my writing. Going out last night (while it was fun) probably didn't help me (or my bank account) so I think I will be heading to bed pretty soon. Unless I get a second wind and start playing guitar.

I can't really talk too much about work of course (a lesson dooce learned for all of us I think) but I'm sure as long as it isn't about any of my co-workers, members of the public, cases I am working on or anything else relating to my work I will be posting it here.

I will probably update tomorrow when I am in a better mood....and so much for bed the guitar calls.

- Jen

Home Something Home

So I'm back in Albury now and the 7 hours I have spent here haven't been too bad. I unpacked my suitcase..and then re-packed my suitcase (for Sydney tomorrow) caught up with turtle-lips and others from The LAN Mine and now I'm back home and it's 12:42am.

Leaving Melbourne and the man was really hard. I actually think I'm procrastinating about going to bed because its going to be weird. Not getting alarm clocks thrown at me or having to decipher any of the midnight conversations the man likes to have.

It will or should surprise no-one who knows me that I was pretty teary when I was leaving and thus had to manage my playlist on the way back accordingly. The following songs were skipped:

- Better together (Jack Johnson) : "It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving but I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together".

- Here without you (3 doors down)
- Someday, Someday (Thirsty Merc)
- Kiss me (Sixpence none the richer)
- I'm gonna love you anyhow (Elliot Smith)
- One thing (Finger eleven)
- Next year (Foo Fighters)

and you get the picture...there was a lot of playlist skippage. When I tired of singing 'Sunday Morning' I put on a Ricky Gervais podcast and that kept me occupied/entertained for the rest of the trip.

Once I actually got home I sought out the cat having fully prepared myself that she was in fact dead. I got the distinct feeling that something wasn't right at home when speaking to both of my parents during the last week and of course came to the totally obvious conclusion that Tib had disappeared/been run over/attacked by hungry labrador/committed suicide ...but once Dad had come home and the dogs had been fed and I was thinking 'surely he would have mentioned something by now'...Tib the cat turned up and so my fears were completely unfounded. She did look hungry and happy to see me however, and spent the rest of the night trying to lie on my keyboard. I guess we must have had a bad line or something because nothing else appears askew at home.

I won't be posting again until the weekend as I am off to Sydney tomorrow for work! That's right the big W starts on Wednesday. No more staying up until 1:17am blogging thats for sure.
Before I leave tomorrow I have to tell Centrelink I will be starting work on my job I have had since December and so will not be applying for 10 pointless jobs a fortnight, then I have to go and find out why Telstra are trying to weasel more money out of me because I have been overcharged again.

Wish me luck,

- Jen

Introducing.....

Alex! And definitely not wafty box who I may have mistakenly referred to her as in a previous post. She has just started her blog and her first post is pretty damn funny!


Click here to visit Alex

- Jen

What?

I got this over at Pumpkin Diary and have been wanting to do it for awhile so now that I have some more time to kill I thought I would have a go.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

10 years ago I was nearly 12 and I probably would have been starting year 6 at primary school...pretty scary eh? I actually played computer games..Commander Keen was pretty cool! I also had a sweet chicago bulls t-shirt.

What were you doing 1 year ago?

2004..Well I hadn't started this blog yet so I can't go back and check but it would nearly be the start of uni (o-week)...I was living at woodstock crt and probably alternating between Albury and Melbourne a bit. Col had just moved into woodstock crt as well.

What are 5 snacks that you enjoy?

- apples (have to be cold)
- chocolate (preferably dark)
- popcorn
- is coffee a snack?
- nachos!!

What are 5 things that you'd do if you were a millionaire?

- pay off my loan
- send turtle-lips overseas
- buy the man a motorbike (maybe)
- donate some
- buy myself something cool...don't know what though!

What are your 5 bad habits?

- Biting my fingernails
- Worrying for no reason
- Biting my fingernails
- Thinking too much
- Biting my fingernails

What are 5 things that you like doing?

- Reading
- Internet (blogging, reading other people's blogs and forums)
- 'playing' guitar
- listening to music
- hanging out with friends

What are the 5 things that you will never buy again?

- a game console (stupid xbox)
- a ralph lauren t-shirt (its too big for me NOW...how does that even work?)
- a short skirt..(it was hot alright....)
- stupid carved elephants whose trunks break off when you drop them once! (ONCE!)
- carob chocolate drops (who was I kidding...chocolate can NEVER be healthy..thats why it's so great!)

- Jen