the hunter, not the hunted

my car is seeing the doctor today.
it's having some ankle surgery done, and hopefully that'll mean the clunking and squeeking will cease, and there may be a slight improvement in the handling.

it's also heading in for a minor checkup.
this is the bit that worries me most.
the car is, lemme think...13 years old, has over 200k on the clock (as of about september 25 this year), and i just KNOW it's gonna need a huge pile of stuff fixed/replaced/burned/raped/pillaged.

now, i can thank "uncle tax man" for my juicy end of tax year bonus for getting the car as far as the mechanics today, but i'm not certain how far uncky's dollars are going to go. the surgery alone is going to cost (quoted) $500...so i might be able to get a few other things done, if they're cheap enough.

i hate having a car. they're such a liability. a huge, annoying, smelly liability.

what would make this a little bit easier on my bank balance: if i knew more about the mechanics of the darn thing, then i could get in there, spy the issue and fix it myself. but no! i can tell you where my air (non functional) air conditioning unit is, point to the radiator, the battery and i could probably change the oil myself should i ever need to. oh! and i'm capable enough to change a car tyre, but that's about it. and, i probably would have replaced my car stereo by now if it didn't have an incompatibility issue with the new one that needs a little bit more knowlege of electrical wiring than i currently have (which is zero. anything greater than that is considered "hero worthy" and "worshipful").

this brings me to my second though: five thirty ay em. when did that occur? see, i've been recently informed that it's been around "forever, it's when you go home", but i don't think that actually counts because i've not been asleep yet. who else agrees with me?

and my final thought for this 'fine' morning: andre rieu. he performed at lang park these past two nights. got rained out unexpectedly on wednesday, and had time to prepare for yesterday's stormy weather. well, i'm assuming he performed. there was the usual "there's an event at lang park - get the smeg away" shenanigans that usually goes on when there's something going down there. police officers on motorbikes, flashing lights, taxi's everywhere, parking fines, the lot! the only thing that was missing from an event such as a "concert" was the noise. this would have to have been the quietest concert in the history of stadium performance! i think i heard some bagpipes last night, and a crowd cheer comparable to that of a golf crowd, but where was the orchestra? where was andre's mad violin skills? i heard none of it. i was expecting to hear some awesomely amplified classical tuneage coming from a place that's well known for it's bogan-esque qualities, and i was left bitterly, bitterly disappointed.

i also don't believe that andre rieu really has the pull for a stadium show either. i honestly think there are more attendees at a kiddies football game than at the 'concert'. even the a-league in it's foundation year were pulling bigger crowds. they should have just stuck him in the lyric. he would have been perfect for the lyric. but i'll bet it was one of those "but i have a HUGE stage set up, i must have a HUGE space in which to put it" ego bee ess things that tends to happen with musos. just cuz he's HUGE in europe, doesn't mean it's going to translate that well out here. someone should tell his promoters.

anyways. i must dash off and find some clothes and jump into my car. i hope i've had enough coffee.

til next....
~kits~

brisbane city bloody council workers really need to have their eyes checked!
i've just opened a letter lovingly entitled "Notice of Intention to File a Default Certificate" that relates to an alleged parking fine i received while i was on holiday. the funny thing about this is this: the parking fine refers to parking longer than permitted in an 'official parking' area - namely: lang park. this is funny because: I LIVE IN THE LANG PARK TRAFFIC AREA! of course i'm going to park there you idiots!

even more annoying is the fact that my car has, and ALWAYS does, display a RESIDENTS PARKING PERMIT quite brazenly on my dashboard. oh, the gall! so (and even the lovely lady i spoke to on the phone doesn't understand this), how does a LEGALLY parked RESIDENT get fined for parking LEGALLY in FRONT OF THEIR HOUSE!??!!??!?!??!?!??!?!?!?!@!

i must now jump through a great big pile of hoops and negotiate steaming piles of poo in order to disptue the infringement and hopefully have the fine waived. i should NOT have to do this if the damn council employees would just DO THEIR SMEGGING JOB CORRECTLY!

maybe they should consider giving these parking attendants a night vision test before hiring them, it's obvious to me the bastards can't see in the bloody dark! the permit in my car is BRIGHT ORANGE!

[ flails madly like an insane muppet on ice(the drug, not the solid water stuff) ]

til next....
~Kits~ (mumble moan gripe cuss [ sigh ])

timon of athens was fun.
final show began with rain and we had to move the audience from the back yard (which is MASSIVE) to the main room of the house (also MASSIVE) for the first scene. then the rain stopped and we relocated to the back yard and went the full distance of the play.

am hobbling around like a lame horse thanks to a botched entrance on my behalf. rather than leaping over a wall on cue as i was meant to, i lost my footing and tumbled (rather cat like in nature) 8-12 feet to the ground, before leaping, frog like, back up the wall in order to make my entrance. i must thank paul sherman for extending his cue line to give me time to make my entrance (finally). i think i've pulled a few glute muscles and strained a hamstring and possible some tendon damage in there as well. it didn't help that in my brilliant drunken state on saturday night, i felt it would be perfectly alright to WALK home. from CLAYFIELD to PADDINGTON! i blame andrew, nadine and rob for it all :P

i probably should have taken bryan up on his offer to crash on the floor beneath a pile of costumes. oh well, i did play a fool in the production, perhaps i hadn't quite removed myself from the character.

next month sees me bit parting in pericles, with eugene gilfedder among others, on the kookaburra queen (allegedly. there's nothing mentioned on the events page, but according to the poster...). i'm looking forward to it, and i know i've at least got one more show with the troupe after that. we'll see how things look in the future post winter's tale.

til next....
~Kits~ (finally profiting from a life long hobby)

so my boss is giving me the run around at work regarding my permanency. so far it's taken 5 weeks, if it does eventuate when he says it will, that'll be about 2 months. he's full of utter shite so far, and annoyingly, i'll be getting a great deal fewer hours than i requested.
the only upside to this whole thing, and the main reason i've not throttled the lazy mumbling [insert profanity here], is because i've been told i'll be getting trained to run the fill shift every now and again. whenever the fill in charge, the 2ic or the 3ic are sick or on holidays, i'll get the job of organising the load and the staff. that's pretty sweet (though the 'extra' money for the role isn't worth the added responsibility and work load). essentially, i've been given a promotion! go me!

i've also just completed the first step into a possible service assistant job at the new mt gravatt store opening up. things seem to be travelling a little but differently to the coles central fiasco, and with luck, i'll be able to do the night fill AS WELL as whatever service assistant job i score at mt gravatt. i - WE - could use the extra money.

i'm not getting my hopes up too high for anything. i'm over relying on management to get it right. that's why i've been looking for new jobs. if he doesn't come through with it in the next 3 or 4 weeks, and i get the job at mt gravatt, then i'm telling him where to stick his part time shift and find himself another pleb. if he really thinks i'm good enough for the promotion, maybe he'll pull his finger out of his arse.

the working two jobs part time thing is almost appealing, even if somewhat ridiculously time consuming and horrendously tiring.

til next....
~Kits~ (whatever will the future hold?)

well, i've managed to score myself an uncomfortable case of tendinitis in my left wrist. this leaves me wrapped in a brace, rubbing goo all over it and eating nurofen for the inflammation. it also means i have the most boring job at work. ugh.
on an up note, i don't have to pay for any of the medical or medicinal expenses :) even the klms spent to get to and from the doctor next week are paid for :) i almost love coles.

i don't know what this is going to mean for the future of my nightfill 'career', perhpas it gives me a decent case to argue a transfer to a daytime department where the workload is less heavy lifting and more something else. think i might wait until my permanent part-time status is actually put through (that's a complicated scenario that is) before i start making those sorts of waves. until then, i have to try and not aggravate this stupid wrist tendon. ugh.

why couldn't it have been my knee, or my ankle, or a piece of my torso or face threatening to decompose and fall of? why my bloody wrist? i NEED that wrist. thats my fretboard hand, and i need the flexibility. yeah. things are looking oh so fabulous for my music now. not that they were looking particulalry brilliant to start with...

ugh. stupid negative thoughts. stupid cynic. stupid stupid. guh

til next....
~Kits~ (if you want me, i'll be in the corner ignoring the caffiene withdrawal)

ooh. birthday greetings to jagwire. have an awesome day, and don't let too many of the stupids get in your way :)

in other news:

• i'm back from three weeks in smokey victoria, where the weather started off kind (cool and requiring jumpers) and ended with much hatred (stinking hot with blackouts and lots of ick). overall the time was good. there will be pictures soon.


• my first shift back at work was busy with excellent news: i've been asked to go permanent! knowing the advantages (and the disadvantages) i said yes.


• pots music career seems to have hit the ground running. he's got two gigs this weekend which is teh cool and teh bad. but at least it's money.


• the monkey has his second birthday tomorrow. sort of hard to believe it's been two years. i've done a lot of things in that time, and a lot of nothing. unfortunately for me, it's the nothing that shows.

i was going to gripe about a few things, but have chosen to do that another time. it's far to hot right now despite it being 1am (in the morning, for redundancy) and i really can't be bothered. the heat and work have taken away most of the energies i require to really express my dissatisfaction and annoyance at a thing or two. plus, it's unlikely that it'll affect anyone, it's more of a 'gotta get it out' kind of thing. you know how rants are :)

til next....
~Kits~ (if only butterflies could wield machetes, the world would be a much more interesting place)

now THAT is ONE HELL of a SHOVEL!
Click the image to read more about it :)

i must now hope to whatever deities exist that i can survive today on approximately 90minutes sleep.
no thanks to another night shift (stupid cricket. if the ashes weren't on now, my boss would still be at work. grr) and the fact that Pots has a Seminar of Doom(TM) plus five million meetings AND a fancy dinner at the Tibetan Kitchen Monkey and I WERE NOT invited to today, all BEFORE his job interview TOMORROW. oh, and they're all related. i've never heard of someone needing to put in so much effort to get a job before. but i suppose, they are looking to work with the person for five years, so making sure they're up to the task, can perform to tight schedules and are easy to get along with prior to the actual Interview of Horrors(TM) is all beneficial? a 'try before you buy' sort of thing. makes sense to me.

i'll be glad when my escapades to the mechanic are able to die down to a bi annual event. by the time i'm finished, i'll have spent more than the cost of the car just to make sure it doesn't fall apart on me. i'm now more wary of getting things 'checked'. turns out the 'check' cost me $500 in replaced brake discs, and will cost a further (minimum)$1000 in shocks replacements as well. lets NOT talk about the engine whine that appeared oh so very suddenly last sunday afternoon on our return drive from Somerset Dam. i'll admit to having been lucky with my mechanics thus far, in that they've been nice and not annoying and treating me like a 'silly female they can take advantage of'. and it is my own fault for buying a Cheap As All Buggery car. and the repairs and the costs were not at all unexpected, in fact it's EXACTLY what we had imagined (ignoring the broken ignition. who's ever heard of a broken ignition? stupid cheap korean cars). so i shouldn't complain all that much, but i will anyway. all my hard earned overtime i was supposed to be using for my holiday in january is being eaten by the fucking car. at this rate, the car'll be going on holiday and i'll be stuck here. AGAIN! i seriously hope Pots gets this job, that way i won't have to stress too much about being the sole bread winner (and on my inconsistent wage, this is NOT A GOOD THING), and could perhaps look at a slight reductuction in my weekly working hours. i'm also hoping that come the new year i'd have transferred to the new store and be working days and being less frazzled by sleep deprivation. but, i'm not the kind of person who expects miracles, so i'm not going to.

by the way: no thanks to any of you out there for forewarning me about the dangers of car ownership. it's all well and good to inform me of their esper like qualities AFTER i get the bloody thing, but it's all a bit moot then isn't it? *sigh* and at the rate the car is eating my money, i'll be 30 before i can even afford to get my license! so i guess i've got three years to start a piggy bank for 'the day i get my license'.

all the car nonsense aside: i'm in my late 20's as of monday, but it is Sunday wot is more speshol. ELTON JOHN AT BEC!!!! much squeeing continues. i still think it would have been much more fun to see him when he was younger, in better voice and a hell of a lot less fat, oh, and less old man musicky, BUT beggars can't be choosers when it comes to seeing artists whose carrers began while your parents were in primary school (well, dad was in highschool, but who cares?). so i'm looking forward to a very good night, despite the fact i doubt i'll be able to afford any concert memorabilia thanks to said vehicular horrors. and i'm sure i'll actually FEEL more excited come sunday afternoon when i've had a chance to sleep. right now all i can feel is...well, i'm not sure exactly...something.

til next....
~Kits~ (could the cheese stick men please raise their hands)

i have a shiny new ignition with a shiny new key to match!

and it cost a lot less than the rough quote made out on saturday, which is good. still painfully expensive, but not as painful as it could have been.
i'm actually happy.

i'm also happy that i have a nice mechanic. even patrick, who tends towards the seriously pessimistic end of the cynicism scale thinks he's a nice mechanic. i like my mechanic.

now to save up for the next thing... *sigh*

til next....
~Kits~ (i'm only working for the money to fix the car now, i HAVE sold my SOUL)

well, i'm currently waiting on the loverly peoples at Lubemobile to have a look at my car problem.

after some thought and discussion with someone who knows what they're talking about: the words i was looking for were 'ignition' and 'starter' for my earlier post, but i was so stressed and angry i couldn't think, and it looks more likely the ignition is FUBAR. but i won't know that until the mechanic arrives (sooner than first quoted on the phone which is a fabulous bonus and tick for the Lubemobile guys!).

i'll know the damage within an hour or so i'm hoping, and with a $29 Saturday fee (ridiculous but what can you do?) to add on top, i'm REALLY hoping it's a simple problem that can be fixed with a screwdriver and perhaps some gaffer tape. :)

in the mean time, i managed to kill myself at 5:30 this morning simply becasue i couldn't stay awake any longer, and amd almost done with the burning of Act One of night watch. i need to go out and buy some yellow ink or else i'll never get the bloody things finished on time, and hopefully with the mechaninc coming soon, he'll make the car start again and i can then rush out to JB HI FI and pick up some spare cases because of some last minute orders i scored yesterday!

EDIT: mechanic arrived. ignition switch is stuffed. not sure what the damage is yet, but will know soon. until then, it's costing me abouit $160 just to have the guy look at my car for 45 minutes!

til next....
~Kits~ (i think next time i'll stick to my pushbike, it's a bugger load cheaper to fix cuz i can do it myself!)

oh my goodness....

i've just received an email from Coles Myer Limited telling me i've reached the final one on one interview stage for their new store opening up in Queens Plaza in the CBD. this is kind of exciting, mainly because they actually want to interview me, but also because it means a DAY JOB if i get it.

so now i've got to go back and read the job description and what answers i gave to the questions in order to bluff my way to a customer service (checkout) job at Coles.

i tell you what though, ( How's this for some AWESOME wank? )

can i dribble shit, or can i dribble shit!
well, giving them what they want to hear is the point right?

now to start prepping for my interview on the 30th....

til next....
~Kits~ (oh crap, now i've got to get hold of 'business attire')

edit: git_phuqd has struck again with a sweet letter to santa. for anyone with a twisted mind, it's not a sexual thing about wanting to get into santa's pants. it's about wanting to give santa a cuddle of appreciation.