:: trails, mud and stacks of fun

Friday afternoon was not your typically inviting weather for camping. Nor was Saturday. But brave it we did and conquer it we have.

My shift at work on Friday went relatively well. Showers done, we all made our way at our pace up to the Big Room for the Friday Barbecue Breakfast. Fridays always have a great start because no matter how long you are working for, you get to eat a hearty meal with the residents. Work finished a bit late, and i managed to shower and pack my car up for camping within an hour. I was also impressed.

Picking Pete up on the way, I was highly amused that he was bringing more stuff than me - a girl. He was even bringing more clothes than me, which when I first thought about it, I wondered if I somehow could've missed packing vitally important things like underwear or a change of socks. Satisfied I hadn't forgotten anything, and that I pack better than him, I happily left him to tie all the bikes and gear up [because he didn't need any help, he said] and then we made tracks for the hills.

We passed the Mount Lofty Information Centre with the understanding that Pete knew where he was going. I thought we needed to take road [a] but Pete thought we took road [b]. So we drove down road [b] to discover that it wasn't the way we were needing to go. I again thought we should take road [a] but Pete thought perhaps we should go down road [c] - but the choice was up to me. SO I did what any chick would do - I drove back to the Information Centre to get a map.

HILARIOUSLY... I was right. But because I'm nice, I don't rub it in. Noteably, if it was the other way around, I wouldn't hear the end of it. Ha. We had some trouble getting the lock undone at the gate, but we found the site quickly, followed by Tim & Nay.

We were all ready for bed - it was only about 9pm - when Justin & Cheryl finally arrived. It was amusing to watch him put their tent up, he wasn't happy with his tent not behaving, and it probably didn't help that we were having a good laugh about it. Pretty much, as soon as they were set up, the rest of us dispersed to bed.

The next day, after a restless night of sleep, most of us took a while to warm up to the vertical position but thanks to the roaring fire that wasn't starting too quickly... [note: kids verses boys. Kids cheat first, then boys cheat, then boys atleast start the fire using their cheating method]. The blokes took swing to the wind and hacked up several logs, slowly building our burning nest egg up throughout the day. I took a ride down one of the roads nearby, only to discover its mush and lack of riding ability on a downhill run and careered into the trees via a slip-sliding path. After a tour through some pine growth, I came out the other side, muddy, tired but enjoyed the ride. After lunch, some of the others took to a ride, and found a bike path through the pines that a group of us did several times. It had all the perks of sharp corners, sludge pits, a nice down hill run quickly followed by a sharp turn that if you miss will create an entertaining scenario for anyone else watching. Atleast after we finished the ride, I wasn't the only one with a mud trail up my back and splatters down my front.

Justin and I had a jam sesh in the arvo as he brought his guitar [wait, I brought his guitar], which I really enjoyed, and I think the others did too. Some of the gang started getting tea ready, and others took some walks. At about 6pm, 2 girls that Sharon knows from church came out and brought dessert for us all. It was GREAT! We all stank, yet it was nice that they were keen to chat - AND bring great food. Our eyes  were all stinging from the smoke which made going to bed early easy... until....

5:30am. Car alarm going off. Thankfully it stopped soon after, however we later discovered that no one turned it off and no one got out of their tents to check out why it did go off. But then something [okay, it was a roo] was sniffing at my tent not long after that - so I decided that Roo's had bumped into someone's car and set off the alarm. That was a better theory than one that some perve tried to get into a car and then came and sniffed my tent. Yeah, not cool...

The next day we all were packed pretty early and eating delicious porridge. That is, all of us except Justin & Cheryl. Somehow they missed the note [or the general awareness] that you usually pack up and leave a campsite early. There was this classic moment when they were both sitting looking at the fire eating breakfast when the rest of us are loading up cars and tidying up. I had a good chuckle!

After a GREAT lunch at Williamstown, we all made our ways back home to unpack, set up, clean up, pack down and wash.

God, I just love camping!!!

More things I like...

Anna Sui - Sui Dreams

Snap - brown/brown Etnies calf boots

Uptown Girls - white/black/green Etnies

Vitruvianspector - Threadless

Daria: the complete Animated series @ JB HiFi

The Animatrix - JB HiFi

Mmm... the Bodyshop. Pretty much anything from there. 'Specially Neroli Jasmine...

Okay, that's enough for now... :)

"Would you like some dressing on your wound, sir?"

For those of you who like looking at my face [haha] here's the latest photo of me - for you

The events that took place since last Thursday:

I was trawling through through my Inbox on a lazy day off when I happened upon an email that I had received from a RTO [that's a registered training organisation for those playing at home] for ab Enrolled Nurse course I'd enquired about, oh, quite a few months ago. This email was an invite to attend an Info Sesh about the course. On that very day. Dang...

Shooting off an email to enquire if there was still a place for me to attend this session, I wasn't sure that the reply would be good - or quick. Surprisingly, considering their lack of reply to previous emails, it was both. A spot was still available for me. Good vibes chartered through my veins as I set about my day of doing whatever it was I felt like doing.

I arrived at the Info Sesh, wearing my cool ice-breaking "How" jumper {its a huge hand printed on the front of my hoodie, and if you open the zipper a bit, it turns the huge hand into a Klingon [startrek, anyone?] greeting hand instead}. I couldn't understand why the session would take two hours until after the session our guide and teacher showed us around the facility and surmised the tour with "We'll meet back in 10 minutes for you to sit your application tests". Pardon eh moi? No - speakah - zee - crazy - guide - talk. Application tests? I am not prepared for this!!!

Numeracy test *sweat*... I gave everything a shot, but if you're a normal person, its probably been since you were at school since you've had to multiply fractions, divide long division sums and do divisions without calculators that end in decimal places because one number just doesn't quite fit equally into another any amount of times. Round this, square that, change this from a fraction into an answer. Give me {a x b + c = X} anyday. Times up...

Literacy test. *chilled* I could do this blindfolded with both arms tied behind my back. You'll agree. I am pretty sure I passed this well. Really well.

Our teacher said that if in about 10 days we get a phone call, its to set up a time for a 2nd interview, a 1-on-1 meet and greet that would be about an 80% guarantee that you are in the course. However, if in about 3 weeks you get a letter, its to say that at this time you didn't make it.

Now in no way was I discounting myself, but I was sure my maths would've hindered my application. Positively not making the cut.

I leave the meeting feeling confused if I've done the right thing, if I am kicking myself in the biblical gonads [as my friend Monty suddenly likes to say] by jumping too far ahead of where i'm comfortably grounded. Comfortably, comfortable, comfort...

Gee, Carola! God doesn't call us to live a comfortable life! He wants us to trust Him! Follow Him! God clearly held a position at the Info Sesh for me so I could attend even though I RSVP'd on the day. He clearly guided me through my two tests that I was to do. I just had to give up on concerning myself with the fiddly bits of it all and just trust God that this is the direction He was wanting me to head towards since I started heading along this parth. Clearly - it is [well, to me anyway]...

Lets continue in this story, shall we? It goes on...

Tuesday. Phone call from private number. I usually let unknown phone callers speak with my secretary on my message bank. This time I answered. Its the RTO i was at on Thursday. They want to have me come in with all my documents and certificates. They want me to come in.... they want me to come IN!??!?!? Reality sets in and I feel I've been accepted into the course. Oh crap. That first 30% of fee's... how am I going to pay it!? Calm down, pray, rally the troops to pray, and sort that out after the interview...

Wednesday. Interview. Thankfully, I was blessed with most mornings off this week, so I had plenty of time to get myself organised. Interview goes well, and I'm with the same lady who took us through the Info Sesh and subsequent tests last Thursday. She likes that I've been on a ship.

"Do you know Annie?"

Ahm... sorry? 

"She was on a ship with her husband for like, 2 years. He's a pastor. Do you know her?"

No. But cool! But no. Does this hinder my entrance into the course? 

"No no, you have done very well, and I see no reason why you shouldn't get in." 

Are you kidding? I was sure my maths flunked me *sad face*...

"Why? You did really good on both tests. No worries-lah! Just wait for the email with the attached documents, fill them in, come pay the 30% and you'll start on June 29. I'll see you then!"

{insert my freaking out face here}

I shouldn't question God when He is sending me in a direction that i'm excited to go on, but have no understanding of the practical means on how i'll get there. I can't help it! I'm an independant, usually self-sufficient young single woman. I've lived out of home since I was about 15. I can look after myself. To have the control taken away makes me get nervous with sweaty palms and furrowed brow. However, I saw it when I went to the Doulos both times when he's floored me with the generous ways He gets things done because that's the direction He wants you to go. I shouldn't be surprised everytime, but I always am.

That 30% concern of mine? Gone. Why? Because someone has generously paid for it already. Someone who doesn't even know God in the personal way he should. Someone I love and who loves me and I'm so lucky to be loved by such fabulous friends and family. That someone is my Dad.

Is God rocking your 'boat' and blowing your mind? Are you following Him or are you just filling in time doing your own thing before you realise where you should be going?

Life - is TOTALLY awesome! Like I said on my FB status "God your plan must be HUGE, man!"

I'm still running around a little bit excited, a little bit terrified and a great big bit ready for this next step.

Oh boy. I'm going to be a poor student again. Haha!

Things I like...

So - birthday's come and birthday's go. I personally struggle to buy things for people if I don't know what they want and if I think they have, well, pretty much everything.

But i {secretly} love getting presents. I just have this flaw where I don't get over-crazed-excited about what I get... "Oh, a piece of paper - I love it!"... "Oh, a new house - I love it!". Clearly I've never received either of those as actual gifts.

So - since my birthday is coming along soon, I thought I would just give some thoughts on things I would like to get my mits on...

Baby-G White. I've had a secret love for Baby-G watches since I bought my first Girlfriend magazine over a decade ago. They have style, class, and most of all they are fairly durable and can go anywhere. Not to mention look great.

Skullcandy Headphones. How awesome are they? So green, so funky, so foldable, so awesome.

I don't even know if they would fit my uber buff calves, but they look very cool. But warm for winter. But cool. The left ones I cant remember where I saw them... the right are Novo Baldwin's. Still, cool.

Sounds to drive to - I love Foo Fighters, and despite knowing almost all the lyrics on this album, I don't have their music in my collection. This is weird. I have a big range of music, and no Foo Fighters. Weird.

Just some thoughts for now...

Some things just make me sick...

... and the following is going to be open and honest - incase this is unusual. You've had the heads up now.

Deep breath in. Exhale.

The past weekend has left me feeling like there is a part of me that is broken; a component has malfunctioned; I seem to have blown a gasket or a radiator hose or timing belt; a link in the chain of my created self has weakend.

One month ago I got gastro. Well, atleast I thought at the time that it was gastro. It was the full throttle story which, I will spare you the details - not because you can't handle it but because I don't want to share that much of myself with you... I mean, really, you appreciate this moment and thought of mine... oh yes you do...

I also got that dreaded delivery service arriving with my gift that I get without having signed up to any subscription service which comes once a month to the exact date it arrives... and yes that was my lame version way of saying something else. Lame Delivery Service Gift is what it shall be known as here. Elsewhere it is known as many things like Aunt Murtle's Curse or The Crimson Tide. And if by now you STILL don't understand... perhaps you can just miss this post altogether and come again next time you see i've written something because this is clearly too advanced for you... or you are male. No offence either way.

So - tying those two paragraphs together would have an unfortunate situation, you would agree. Lets add another statement to the mix...

This happened again one month later. On the weekend just gone.

Now, that has gone from an unfortunate situation and has been upgraded to a slightly unusual circumstance. Same situation, repeated. Gastro + Lame Delivery Service Gift. Twice. I don't think I can make that same statement any other way to be any clearer.

It was only Saturday, after the events I couldn't stomach to mention that happened on Friday, that the thought really clicked into my head, and the question was posed in my mind... "is this going to happen EVERY time?". I don't know anyone who has this sort of reaction to getting their Lame Delivery Service Gift. I am already one of the small population of receivers who get Lame Delivery Service Gift's who also get migraines with aura's [a visual disturbance which causes me to be visually impaired for a period of time] on the irregular occasion. I also can have extreme pain when receiving the Lame Delivery Service Gift irregularly, too. But, the idea that a couple of days before the delivery date, I get gastro-like Symptoms as a pre-present present... this does not rock my boat {no pun intended, Logos Hopies}...

So - where has this lead me to be right now? I'm going to see a doctor soon and ask a few questions.  Basically, I want to try ways of avoiding this from happening, what could be causing this new reaction, if it will likely happen again, and if I will have to "book in advance" RDO's at work [boo!!!].

It scares me. Just a small bit. Its not fun and I can think of many better ways of spending my rostered days off [RDO's]!!

If you can, if you are able to, but mostly if you want to - please pray for me for this!! I'll very much appreciate your prayers!


**Update**
The Doctor today said that this is all a reaction to the hormone change in the body, it could've been brought on by the chemical change being different [perhaps my body thinks being 26] and that unfortunately, there is basically nothing that can be done to prevent it. She prescribed me some anti-nausea drugs and hydralyte to have with me when I get 'close' to that delivery date. And i have to count and predict when I think the next bout might happen and trial to see if this happens again. And that's it for now. We'll re-asses if it continues to happen for some months... *sigh*

Two Eyes Squared

I have a love of reading a good read. The kind you can't stop yourself from reading when you have a brief moment in your day. I love the bah-ha laugh outloud ones, the crime scene ones, and the ones that make you feel all warm inside. But there is still the favourite read - the personal fly-on-the-wall look into someones [real] life. In the blogsphere, sometimes this starts at the very end of the story and you have to work your way backwards...

Derek K Miller caught my attention by the opening line of his last post on his blog Penmachine:

"Here it is. I'm dead, and this is my last post to my blog."

Of course, nosey-parker me had to actually find out what this all meant. I don't even remember how i got to his page in the first place 6 days ago - but I have been reading backwards ever since. The way he writes is amazing and in its tell-all way its honest, true and relational. And I couldn't imagine what he went through while keeping his charm in his writing.

Infact, after just writing that bit above, I realise I have a bit of a 'thing' for certain blogs dealing with the loss of loved ones. There is a girl I know, "K", who as a newlywed lost her young husband - and to read the daily challenge for her to get through every small step of life captivated my heart and my blog reading. Prior to that, I was addicted to a young mum Lauren in America who blogged of her tale of going through life with a newborn baby, Jack, after her young husband unexpectedly died [well, there's not many tales of a bereavement being expected I guess].

So why do I enjoy [note, the use of the word 'enjoy' does not imply anything other than being captivated] these reads so much? Perhaps for me it is because I have not experienced such a loss that these experiences catch my attention. Perhaps its because I find human behaviour interesting to observe. Perhaps also its because I just care - despite not even knowing most of these people.

What blogs appeal to you - and why? Do you have a similar obsession with reading similar blogs??

I'd be interested to know what others say...

ZIVUXIOPUVOPHDHFGHGGAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!

I wish punching people in the face didn't hurt - however - truly I am glad it does, because it prevents me from punching someone in the face... if that makes sense...

Surely in December last year I mentioned that I was involved in a minor car accident... *checks*... no apparently not. Maybe it was wise it was not mentioned as it was still being dealt with through the insurance people, and I'm sure it wouldn't have helped my cause by being 'discovered' telling-all to the cyber-verse... of you... and you and you...

the short of it was:
December 2, 2010. I was driving, mid afternoon on a thursday, heading to the usual Kids Club [HYPE] meet. Approaching traffic lights, I decided to move from the right hand lane into the left hand lane - no worries. As i was getting closer to the cars ahead of me, the sun came out from behind the trees, I sneezed. my feet came off the pedals, I realised I was still approaching the cars so I went to break and... bang. Imagine my 4WD with bullbar hitting the Ford Territory ahead of me... who then hit the Mazda Bubble ahead of him. Thank GOD no one ended up in the middle of the oncoming traffic, and everyone was mostly okay. I got a sprained ankle, the dude I hit had a sore neck.

It was scary and frightening and I felt terrible for what happened, I even appologised, but it was an accident, and sadly like I've experienced, it really does 'just' happen.

Today, as you are aware, its now the end of April. And here is where my frustration has exposed itself. One of the other parties involved in the accident has now decided to claim medical expenses on my behalf. I don't know why its taken so long, because I expected to be notified about this in the Dec-Jan period. I can't say they are wrong for it only being now that its coming out, but its certainly bad timing. The dude i spoke with today said that it could be just the cost of the doctor visit - up to $300AU. Why anyone is claiming the cost of a doctor visit if there wasn't anything wrong beats me - I also had to see a doctor. Okay, now I'm just getting annoyed and a bit fiesty... Reject that last thought.

I am sorry today is your lucky day that you get an update from me and its utter crap. Lucky you! Want more interesting news that's far from interesting? My work has wonderfully rostered me on the past public holidays because they love me [its true, I actually asked why], and the past public holidays I've managed to get some freak illness. The first one - a month ago - I got this viral-flu going around at the moment. Its like the flu - but so much worse. You can't shake it, you can't take anything for it except to make the symptoms less severe. You just have to wait it out. Straight after that I had a week off - so there goes the money for that month. Then we have our 5-day Easter/ANZAC holiday weekend. Brilliant! I have the first half off minus a couple of hours, then work about 17hrs on PH rates on the Mon-Tues!! Wrong. I get gastro Sunday night. GASTRO. Working Monday or Tuesday did not happen. Followed by today - wednesday - my DAY OFF...

I am so glad God has blessed me with a sense of humour and a money-to-share Dad...  I better have my beggers story ready for when he gets here...

Hey, so you there on the other side of this screen... you have a ripper awesome day. Really! NO, really! Go out, see the sun [if it exists in your part of the world] have an ice-cream and be amused by other people. I'd really love you to do that...!!!

"The less-frustrated... Carola"