Demystifying

The Financial Analyst and I are having one of our occasional serious discussions about the future.

‘Is there anything you want to ask me?’ He enquires.

I wrack my brain but the only questions that come to mind are too silly or smutty for a ’serious’ discussion.

‘Are you planning to take a second wife at some point?’ I finally ask half-jokingly. My tone is light but I’m seriously interested in the answer.

The Analyst doesn’t miss a beat. He sits up straight, holds my gaze and, clearly enunciating each word, says: ‘I would never do that to you, Fly.’

I stare at him, a little taken aback. I was not expecting such a serious response. I thought he would chuckle and declare ‘Hell yeah, it’s my right, isn’t it?’ And then I would have come back with a cheeky comment, but he had circumvented me!

Feeling like I have been stripped of my mystique, I look down at the floor and mumble ‘Alright then…’

Our brief conversation had just demonstrated that my future hubby knows me too well to fall for my hidden traps.

Image from Funnyhub.com

This, that, the other thing

Greetings Bloggers!

It’s been a while since I last posted and I really only have one thing to say: Don’t ask and I won’t tell. Typically a lot has happened in that time and yet nothing has really changed for me either. Very much like life, ey? Anyway, here’s a little update…

• After seven months at my current job, I’m about ready to slit my wrists. The job description was not accurate at all, so I’m back to searching the job market for a new job (Firefly, the serial employee!).

• I have bought just one pair of shoes in the last six months, which indicates just how low and murky things have gotten! Still, I’m holding off calling in the professionals as long as there’s a spark of interest (I have been eyeing up a pair of gold wedges from Nine West for the last few days).

• Firefly’s Little Helper (pictured) turned seven last week. Oh how time flies! My sister and I took him to the theatre and then went out for ice cream afterwards. I think he enjoyed himself (I say ‘I think’ because he doesn’t get as excited about stuff as he used to).

• A French market owner has taken a shine to me. He insists on kissing me on both cheeks every time I pay a visit to his continental market!

• I’m devastated to hear that one of my all time favourite film stars is on death’s door after developing a particularly aggressive form of cancer. Get well Patrick Swayze!!

• I recently got engaged and I’m getting married in the summer, I’A. I feel excitement, anxiety and pure terror in equal measures.

• I still haven’t gotten around to taking my driving test. The jury is still out on whether I’ll ever get the stupid licence!

• I’ve become addicted to Dexter.

So, how is everyone doing?

Short-listed

Melbourne City Centre

I was recently contacted via my Flickr account by someone from Schmap!!, publishers of online travel guides, to let me know that one of my photographs (above) has been shortlisted for inclusion in later editions of their Melbourne Guide. The photo has only been shortlisted and I’m not even sure if it will make into the guide but how exciting!!

First photo to be shortlisted for anything! Woohoo!

100th Post

Well, look at that.

My 100th post.

And it’s only taken two and half years to get here!

Even more surprising is the number of comments I’ve had in that time: 685.

685 comments!

That’s amazing. I can’t believe so many of you read and comment on my silly posts. I mean, if I was writing important, eye-opening or inspirational stuff it would be something, but I post about boring, mundane things! I write about a 6 year-old for heaven’s sake!

Where’s the interest? The excitement? The adventure? The sex? Bah!

I should be ashamed of myself. I’m letting you all down!

No, seriously, I’m very grateful that you read my posts and I hope that I entertain you in some way, however small. Thank you for interacting with me and sharing your comments so freely too.

From my end, I do get a lot out of the blog. I love writing about the people in my life. I love to glorify in their mad, foolish or funny moments. I also write about certain stuff to keep an account of them, to enable me to go back and relive those moments at a later date.

What about you?

What, if anything, do you get out of this blog?

It’s Fuji, but not as we know him

Greetings Bloggers…

I mentioned some time ago that I have been computerless for a while. Fuji, my old trusted laptop, died suddenly and rather than taking it somewhere to be repaired, I ignored it and switched to using my sister’s laptop. And when said sister went back to university in Sept, was I spurred into action? Nope, I just made do without a computer until a friend of my cousin’s offered to have a look at it for me.

The lovely girl worked long and hard on old Fuji but to no avail. It turned out my hard disk was too damaged and none of my files could be recovered, by her at least. She installed a new disk for me and I now have a functioning, albeit empty, computer.

I’m happy that I don’t need to buy another laptop as yet, but my complacency has cost me dearly. Although I have some photographs stored online, most were saved on my computer. So not only have I lost a good deal of my precious photos but all of my valuable music files are gone! If they had been illegally downloaded, I wouldn’t have minded too much, but I had spent a fortune on iTunes!

My absence, however, hasn’t been completely down to the lack of an enabler. Other factors such as Ramadan, life events and writer’s block have played a part too. Hopefully, I will write about some of these now that I have managed to put fingers to keyboard again.

Till then, I’A!

On a wing and a prayer and a haitus

Greetings Bloggers!

It’s been a while! I’m not staying for long, this is just a flying visit but I wanted to wish you all a wonderful Ramadan!

I’m taking a bit of a break from blogging (bet none of you noticed…), but I shall be back- rested, renewed and possibly shiny-  come October, I’A.

Light a candle for me and…

Be good!

Ramadan Kariim once again! (getting tired of the exclamation marks yet? Hehe…)

Firefly’s Little Helper: Trip to the Arcade Centre

A shot of creativity

Greetings!

‘My House‘ by Zakaria, age 5

I have always loved being creative, whether it’s drawing, painting, photography or, more recently, interior design… anything to get the creative juices flowing really (my favourite subject at school was Art and Design). Sadly, I have been neglecting my artistic side over the past 11 years or so, but two recent experiences have drawn my attention back to this stagnant area of my life.

The first was a relationship-mapping exercise I did with the Financial Analyst. The exercise involved analysing each other’s expectations and vision for the future and seeing whether they clashed or complimented each other. As it happens, our views complimented, however, the process made me realise just how much I wanted to reintroduce art to my personal life. Not just to add a dollop of sorely-needed creativity to my day-to-day existence but as a therapeutic tool for relaxation as well.

The second involved a recent dream about Adam and Noah (yes, they finally showed up after months of silence). Unlike previously conflict-ridden dreams, this one was positively calm. In it, Adam and I were painting a mural of a blue sky, fluffy white clouds and Seagulls on a bedroom wall, whilst Noah watched us from what looked like a makeshift play pen. Now the unusual thing about this dream (other than the obvious), is the fact that I don’t have the skills to paint a mural, especially not one of the quality in the dream.

In fact, the last time I did any painting was when Zak was a toddler and I was looking after him. Between the ages of one and three and in the fun days before nursery and full-time employment, Zak and I managed to put together an impressive portfolio of blotchy, multi-coloured, often glittery prints of his hands and feet; uniquely finger-painted abstract watercolour pieces; sketches and family portraits that resembled the stick people; special occasion cards; and computer-generated designs. (It was no small feat, I can tell you. We were very dedicated, or at least he was- waking me up at the crack of dawn every day and setting out our materials before he even had breakfast.)

But that was four years ago and we haven’t done very much since that time (to the delight of the rest of the family). So, I’m now seriously interested in brushing up on my creative skills. However rather than simply drawing and painting, I’m more interested in learning ceramics/pottery making, knitting and jewellery making (especially beads) among other things. I’ve been looking into evening classes in my local area, but the only ones I’ve found so far either demand full-time commitment or are located at the other end of London from me. Hopefully, I will find some suitable classes soon, I’A.

Are there any interests/hobbies you guys have been neglecting?

Adjustments

Greetings All!

I seem to have taken an unplanned hiatus. Unplanned, because I’m always intending to write a post -tonight, tomorrow, this weekend… only I never get the time. I blame the upheaval I have been through over the past month, having moved home and jobs. So a brief update may be required.

A New(ish) beginning

My family finally moved from the home we’ve been living in for over a decade to a new house. Trying to sort out and get rid of 11 years worth of accumulated clutter was a nightmare! A nightmare! I swear I’m going to fully embrace minimalist living from here onwards (or as soon as I shred/file the 7 boxes of papers waiting for me).

The new place is spanky, wooden-floored, with French doors and big front and back gardens. Everyone loves it, except me. I have two issues with it: its size and location. Our old house was massive and spread over three floors, which meant you could hide out on your floor for a week without crossing paths with anyone. However since half the residents were living elsewhere, my parents felt they should downsize. So the new house is more compact, as the agent put it (if compact means you can’t swing a cat inside without seeming to hit a wall, a ceiling or a person, then it certainly is compact!) The walls are pretty thin (I’m not naming names, *cough * Sanub *cough*, but the snores coming from next door have been keeping me awake for a week now) and no more than one person can use the kitchen at any one time without a massive conflict ensuing.

Of course this all pales to insignificance when compared to the unsuitability of the location of the new house. The girl (that would be *me*) who used to get to the station in 3 minutes now has a 20min bus ride to the nearest train station (adding an extra 30mins to my 1.5hr daily commute).

Now, I don’t want to give in to paranoia, but this all makes me think my parents might be telling me something. Perhaps along the lines of “Get the **** out of our house” or “We’ve had enough of you and would like to use your room as extra storage space‘ if they are being more polite. Downsizing, my arse, they just want me out. But the joke is on them because I have been wanting to move out for the last 15 years anyway! So there!

And that’s the home front as it stands. Now, on to the work front….

The new job is going well. My second week is ending and so far so brilliant! My workload is ok at the moment, but I’m hopeful it will increase and I will be duly challenged as time goes on.

The area of work although still within regeneration is slightly different to what I was previously doing. My previous job involved funding organisations to deliver projects and then monitoring them. I have no budget or funding to speak of in my current role. Everything I want to deliver will require for me to bid for the funding myself and/or work in partnership with different departments and agencies and get them to shout. I’m sure this will test my negotiating skills (which I need to work on as my usual method of negotiation entails rolling over and letting everyone have what they want).

The second main difference is that I will be working within a commercial area and liaising with businesses rather than with local residents/communities. I’m finding it very interesting and I look forward to learning and improving, I’A. I’m hopeful I’ll become a tough nut to crack in this role (hopefully preparing me for marriage. :D)

The location is fabulous too. My commute is only an hour and I have access to amenities galore! The office is located on the junction of two main shopping streets, with loads (and I mean LOADS!) of restaurants, cafes, independent fashion, jewellery and furniture boutiques and so on and so forth. Heavenly! My lunch break is now so frigging exciting I get short of breath at the thought of it. With the sun shining and the summer finally here, I can sit outside my favourite café and sip my iced tea, nibble on my tuna-melt panini and watch the world and his mother pass by. Bliss!

Am I making any of you jealous yet? :p

Be well!

Career Woes

The present

I handed in my notice of resignation today and I feel lighter for it. More relaxed than I have felt for ages. I have been wanting to change jobs for a while but it got kind of desperate over the last month or so. In fact, I have been so unhappy I was considering quitting before I had even found another job. But, I have found another job. A transitionary one, at least. I got called for an interview at short notice on Tuesday, went along without having had enough time to research the role and the organisation, and royally fucked it up as usual. But they rang me a couple of hours later and offered me the job. I guess someone must have been praying for me (alhamdulilah).

The new position is similar to my current role but with a little bit more pay and a little less travel involved. So not so much moving up as sideways. But I suppose desperados can’t be choosers…at least for the time being. The number one priority right now is to change my current work environment. I will just have to deal with the other things later, I’A.

The future

I’m still in a ditz about whether to begin my post graduate study this year or postpone it to next year. Since I can’t seem to deal with the prospect of saving like mad the next couple of months (having blown my savings on the very nice but expensive holiday I had) and working part-time thereafter, it looks like the study plans will be shelved yet again. God help me.

To add to my woes, my dad has decided he wants me to enter the political sphere and become that most detestable of creatures: a politician. I can’t figure out what gave him the idea that I would make a decent MP (although, I must admit, the thought is kinda flattering). For one, I’m entirely anti-politics, secondly I think most politicians are slimy, lying bastards (prove me wrong!), and thirdly I have a serious phobia of public speaking. Put together, these things tell me I am totally the wrong person for a political career. Now, if only someone could convince my father and get him off my back!

Take care all.