What a day! The other lab technician resigned during the holidays. He faxed his resignation letter in during the holiday period, so my boss was running around like crazy today. So I'm the only lab tech they've got at the moment. Of course my first concoction was a large sample. We usually only do 100 or 25 g sample. Mine was a 2 x 5 kg sample. I didn't even get to finish the first lot, because I spent most of my day looking for the ingredients. It's a jungle out there!

And yep, couldn't fit into my pants. Oh well, got to go shopping again!

Some of my friends from M came to stay. They were on their way back from their road trip. It was so good to see them. I didn't realise how much I missed M until these past few weeks, what with friends and family coming to stay. On the other hand, it feels like I haven't left at all. It's great to be able to just pick up from where we left off even though we haven't had much contact (mainly due to my stubborn refusal to join the facebook community) since I moved away.

I start work again tomorrow. It feels like going back to school again. For the past few weeks all I've been dreaming about is school. I hope I'm still able to manage the 5.30 am starts. I should organise work clothes, but I'm dreading it. I've gained a bit of weight especially during Christmas and New Years, so I hope I'm still able to squeeze into my pants. I don't feel like wearing skirts (they're not very useful in a lab). Hmm, shouldn't have been in denial for so long...now I'll have to go shopping.

M and I usually just relax on the couch after dinner. Then he goes off to his office (to play WoW) or my office (ie the dining table) to do some work. I usually end up staring at the t.v or if I can be bothered some writing. M jokes that if we need to talk, we can email each other.

I decided we needed to do some other things after work besides sitting in separate rooms. Now we take walks after dinner or before, depending on the weather. If it's really hot, we take Dog to M beach and go swimming. If we don't have much time, we go down to the river. Sometimes we swim, other times we just explore. Tonight it rained, so I suggested we do some crazy dancing just for the fun of it. It was hilarious. I picked a cd and we had a great time being silly. We spent some time playing soccer with Dog in the lounge as well. We have so much space now ever since we rearranged the area. Still, there were a few hairy moments when we knocked a few things about.

Oh, did I mention my encounter with a funnel web spider this morning. I don't have a fear of spiders, in fact I'm a big fan of them but everyone here has been telling me to stay away from funnel webs (they can kill). The heat has brought them out early this season. 'The males are the one to watch for, they are more venomous than the females. So I've been ever vigilant, trying not to walk around the yard in bare feet. I was moving some wood around in the yard this morning and out came a funnel web. I went to have a closer look at the scrambling arachnid. Dog had the same idea, and in my panic (he was getting to close to the thing and my hands were full) I squashed it with my shoes.

Is it mean to think that I wish I got a photo of it first?

Is it me or is the world getting more violent? Everytime I turn on the news, there's been another shooting, another brawl ending in tragedy, another road accident involving young boys full of testosterone...

Believe it or not, I woke up happy this morning. That was until the police helicopters flew by. I called M at work to see if he knew what was going on. He was on his way out to the accident scene. There's been a major accident near our house. This coming off the back of the 3 year old child falling a few metres down some rocky cliffs at W the other day. Luckily the child survived. M had to deal with complaints from the mother yesterday over the incident. I'm not even going to mention the past week....

M and I took Dog to M beach yesterday. It was so much fun, barring all the scratches I received all over my body (Dog's attempt at trying to rescue me). Instead of heading to the spit as usual we headed out the other direction, which was a lot more isolated but with a lot more sea grass. We had our goggles (we have to update our snorkling gear) and went swimming with the fish. At one point M almost swam head first into a jelly fish. Dog didn't like being left alone in the shallows and kept on paddling out to us. Once in awhile he would pounce onto one of us (painfully). It was so much fun.

I feel like walking down to the river for a swim now, but I have a fear of sharks, and apparently this year bull shark spottings have increased in the river. M and I went swimming there are few weeks ago. One of the fishermen commented on the bull shark he hooked there the other day. I don't mind swimming in the river, as long as I'm surrounded by other swimmers. It's all about probability!

Serenity now!!! Finally some peace and quiet. I don't have the energy to keep up with 7 kids, not to mention pets running around barking at the wildlife and scaring non-bush-savy adults.

I need to stop eating so much junk and all the stuff I'm allergic too. My arthritis is kicking in again, which is great for work - not - it'll be so much fun not being able to pick up any of the lab equipment with my balloon fingers. I'm not that old!!! So I guess that'll be my new years resolution.