More motorbike grumbles...

I have to gripe about motorbikes. Well, not motorbikes per say, but more about their drivers. Last week I was moaning about motorbikes and traffic circles, and now, I feel that I need to vent about motorbikes some more...

Don't you just hate it when a motorbike comes zooming past you, but the only way that you know that they are somewhere in your vicinity is by the sudden roar, followed by a fast moving speck that soon disappears from view? Well, that happened to me at the end of last week, while I was almost about to turn. Even though I did have my indicator on, the dude still wanted to overtake me! Scary to think that if I had chosen to turn a moment earlier, there would have been a major accident... So That is my gripe with motorbikes (or rather their owners) that are just too powerful, and their riders that are too windgat (for want of a better word - its a South Africanism). Why should people want to go that fast on a suburban road? Thrills? Frustration? Get to work faster? Or is it just to scare people like me, so much so that you arrive at varsity white and shaking??

Second gripe is pretty much a universal gripe about all users of the road: Use of indicators. On a motorbike, one would think that it is especially important to do so, but instead, they just go where they please without giving anyone prior warning.... *muttermuttermutter*

Despite my comments, I realise that they tend to apply only to a small sector of the motorbike-using population, and that there are lots of safe and unfrustrated motorbike riders around. Its just that small number who ruin everyone else's reputation!

And now, Windows plays in its little box...

After hating windows for ages, I finally got Ubuntu on my varsity computer. The only reason why I kept using Windows is because everyone else uses Word and Excell (Microsoft office), and I have found that changing between OpenOffice docs (the open source version of Word) and Word docs requires much formatting, and the OpenOffice version of Excell sucks (especially the graphing functions...). So I kept using Windows at varsity and Ubuntu at home. My dad and brother put the Ubuntu (ver 9.04 or something) on one of the desktops at home, and I was loving it... The only problem that remained was my Win Office problem.

Then, somehow my brother found out about virtual box, where (or at least I think this is what happens - I'm not exactly a computer nerd) there is a program that creates a virtual machine in which windows runs. So now, I have Windows playing in its little box when I want to run Word, and then the awesomeness of Ubuntu the rest of the time. Now I need to find out how to get Word to see Ubuntu - I'm not entirely sure why it cant, since the rest of Windows can... But I'm loving the rest of Ubuntu!!

Traffic grumbles......

This morning, while I was on my way in to varsity, I almost had my second (ever) accident. This time, it was most definitely not my fault, and most likely stems from the fact that a lot of people do not know how to use traffic circles...
So I was in the process of turning at a traffic circle, and I had almost completed my turn, when a motorbike came zooming up to the circle, and turned into the same bit of road where I was going... I could have wiped the guy out, but managed to completely halt my vehicle to allow him to go in front of me... What makes me grumpy is that I couldn'e even hoot at the guy - my dad's hooter is useless! But it didnt happen, although I hope he got a big fright, and realises that a) Traffic circles mean that you need to slow down, b) If there is someone in the intersection before you, you need to wait before you go, and c) cars are generally bigger than you, and thus can potentially wipe you out.

*grumblegrumblegrumble*

A fit of sulks. Grrrr.

Or a hissy fit. Well, whatever it was, today has been the most awful day I have had in a very very very long time. I can explain part of it, but the rest welllllll must have been due to the compounded-ness... Let me explain. I think it all stems from the fact that I have not had a good night's sleep for a very very long time - every night I wake up twice or three times drenched in sweat. So I will throw my duvet off to get a bit cooler, and 30 mins later, I will be freezing, and wake up again to find my duvet. Now, for a person who doesn't cope badly with broken sleep, this might be ok. I'm just not one of those people. I do very very badly when I get too little sleep. Like very badly. So I started off the day in a bad way, and things just did not go well for me, and by that I mean, that I didn't get my way.

Yes. I know. Very 5-year-old-ish. I know. I am very much older than that and should be able (by now) to snap out of it! But I haven't had a good night sleep in such a long time...........

So Things just got worse and worse (well in my head they did), and I got grumpier and grumpier, and, with hindsight, I should have left varsity much much much sooner. But I felt bad, cos I only got started with my work in the afternoon, so I felt that I should stay later to compensate. Bad bad move. In the end, I was so tired when I was driving home, that I accidentally drove into the guy in front of me (incidentally, my first accident). But I honestly thought he had moved off, so I was edging forward to see if the was was clear for me. Turns out he hadn't moved. So I bumped into him. And I then just sat in the car wondering what to do (I mean, honestly). When I actually got my act together and switched on my headlights to see the damage, it turns out there was none... Like, nothing. And the guy was so nice, I couldn't have asked for a nicer person to bump into - but still. It was the cherry on the top for my very bad day, and I *almost* burst into tears on the way home. Which would have been a very very bad idea, because I probably would have had an accident (ha ha ha ha ha ha).

Another big contributing factor to my bad day was that my varsity computer got a new hard drive installed. Don't get me wrong - I love the fast-nesss at which it is working now, but I cant do anything on it (I don't have admin privileges anymore), and as such, it pretty much feels like its not my computer to modify and make my own, which just sucks. Its almost as if I've just been shoved back into the general computer lab with generic computers and generic programs which can't be modified to suit my needs, well, because it is generic.

I'm probably not making a whole lot of sense, but I needed (a lot of needs today) to get this off my chest. Which is part of what my blog is for. And right now, I'm going to go to bed. And then, tomorrow, I'm going to get up and make a cake, because cakes make the world go round. The end.

Pennyroyal tea

The theme for this blog entry was supposed to be tea, but I got distracted with Nirvana's song "sit and drink penny royal tea....." (end of musical interlude)

OK, so the entry is actually about tea. And coffee. Well, beverages in general. And sugar. I am now fully used to drinking tea, coffee and generally most things without sugar. I now think of having my tea without the sugary goodness (bleeurg) that generally lurks at the bottom of nearly every teacup (if you don't stir, of course). I actually look forward to the taste of my tea without sugar. How amazing is that, since only a few blog-posts ago (I can't remember the date), all I could think about was my nice cup of strong tea with one-and-three-quarters-teaspoons of sugar?? I didn't manage to cut out sugar from my whole diet - I would keep forgetting about it when I ate a brownie or a biscuit. And of course, I can't resist chocolate, although I tend to have a low giving-up threshold now ( 4 blocks is my maximum now).

The whole idea of giving up sugar was based on the idea that my post-nasal drip would potentially go away if I cut out the sugar. Well, it didn't, and I have found out that I have a bad reaction to grass (not the smoking kind), and sawdust dust, and these are some of the things I will be working with (once I get my project off the ground). AARG!

If the clothes fit, wear them?

I have a bit of a dilemma. In the economic recession, do you buy the expensive clothes that fit and potentially last a long time, or do you buy cheap clothes that generally dont fit, and tend not to last very long? All this comes after yet another trip to the shops to buy a pair of jeans... Nothing fitted except a rather expensive pair of Levi's... And I'm not sure if I can justify the cost of the jeans!

Well, somehow I am going to have to find some jeans (I live in my current ones), if I dont want to start going to varsity in increasingly ragged ones!

Getting there

Yes. Its official. I am getting used to the no-sugar thing, even though I still have moments of "I want seriously strong tea with a drop of milk and one-and-three-quarters of a teaspoon of sugar". I managed to refuse the temptation of a chocolate the night before last. Im getting there!

Now, all I have to deal with is writing and finishing my introduction (and ulitmately my proposal) and get some mice before Friday. Thats all. Besides a few minor things, like getting a soundbite, and other small issues, like having to travel 80km's to get my mice. Thats all. Nothing much. Its a little wierd - it actually is a huge amount to do, but somehow, in my head, it is do-able. So, I just going to work as-hard-as-I-can, get it all done before Friday (so that I dont have to pay a fine for not meeting my aims). I know this probably sounds a little disjointed, but, who cares - its my blog! Now: work-time!