connorhawke said:

Mon and I haven't done any Xmas shopping yet, so I know it's already too late to get our box of gifts for all my family there for the 25th.

2 years ago we sent it around this time now and it didn't arrive until 2 weeks after Xmas day. At others times of the year it's only 4 or 5 days between Thailand and the UK.

ZombieKitten said:

that is in spring 2010.

whistle said:

our spring or your spring?

so you aren't REALLY going to die if you are still going on vacation next year

ZombieKitten said:

ah, let me clarify. March/April 2010.

whether or not i am still alive at that time is anybody's guess.

whistle said:

are you also taking up archery? (as a target)

ZombieKitten said:

nah. all this death talk comes from my chest and left arm pain, which scores of doctors tell me is nothing, but somehow gets worse by the day.

whistle said:

could it be anxiety?

ZombieKitten said:

that is what the medical community seems to think.

whistle said:

I don't think me telling you "don't worry about it" will help much, but I think that is actually what you need to do. I bet it's self-perpetuating - the more you worry the more it hurts the more you worry etc.

ZombieKitten said:

it's a pity i don't have sex or do drugs...i have no outlet to relieve my anxiety.

maybe i should take up knitting or something.

whistle said:

You should take up sex and decoupage.

connorhawke said:

at the same time?

ZombieKitten said:

Obviously. The ability to multitask is well valued, you see.

Fauxie said:

BAD SANTA!!

good one

I am trying not to do xmas this year but I am getting alot of grief. There is more than one reason but honestly I don't like it at all. I tried weaning (spelling) my daughter off of Santa and she told me Jesus, Santa and the Easter Bunny were all brothers. Obviously up until now I did a terrible job of giving her any spiritual guidance. Yikes. Now she is all about presents. She has an easy $1000.00 list of thing this fat rich bastard is suppose to buy her and meanwhile I live on less than 17,000.00 a year.

17 more days for SATURNALIA!!
[Edited 12/4/09 11:17am]

Cool and rainy today, nice fire going....
i miss the snooooow!

slimhustle said:

I used bean bag filler

connorhawke said:

i had to go look up that up.

and by 'that' i mean sex. who doesn't know what decoupage is?

whistle said:

is it like frottage?

baroque said:

sort of, but with glue and pictures of cherubs and roses

baroque said:

frot⋅tage
  /frɔˈtɑʒ/ [fraw-tahzh]

noun
1. a technique in the visual arts of obtaining textural effects or images by rubbing lead, chalk, charcoal, etc., over paper laid on a granular or relieflike surface. Compare rubbing
2. a work of art containing shapes and textures produced by frottage.
3. the practice of getting sexual stimulation and satisfaction by rubbing against something, esp. another person.

connorhawke said:

see my post above yours

ZombieKitten said:

You rub yourself against cherubs????

Fucking stupid grammar edit.
[Edited 12/5/09 11:16am]

Insomnia struck again. Not a wink last night

I have to go out to lunch and speak Japanese too

I feel soooo nice right now

i find staring at my fireplace more entertaining than watching telly these days. they both put me sleep, though.

OK I'm gonna throw this all out for advice because I know some of you people have fairly decent brains and a lot of understanding in your noggins.

Here's the deal.....beware the long post. Skim over if you couldn't be arsed

So for those of you who don't know I ran away from Sydney a few months ago to move to the country on top of a beautiful mountain. The idea for this year was to take six months off then move up here, find a new job and look for a place to buy. Sydney is completely unavoidable and a house there worth $600000 is only $290000 up here. It's a two hour train trip (one-way) into the city.

Now I'd decided to take six months off after losing my job earlier this year. It was a government job with a pay packet of $70000pa where I was in charge of the services provided to international students for all government schools and technical colleges in the state of New South Wales. I lost the job only because it was a secondment position and the guy who was never supposed to come back to it was forced out of his current position with none to go to. The director really wanted me to stay and offered me other positions for which I felt I was not suitable. Forcing the issue and staying in a similar position would have meant I would have had to let go one or two of my staff members to "create" the work for me to stay and as that is not my thing I decided to leave based on my moral standpoint.

I then decided to try something new so I enrolled in an architecture course. It turned out to be not what I was expecting (ie I felt I was fantastic at the designs but terrible at the scientific side and knowledge retention). I've since decided to finish it but only for myself and on my own time....not to make it my priority for a career.

When I moved up here I was doing so with this plan to study, find a new job and buy a house. I was splitting up with my live-in partner and everything was happening at once. Since then we've gotten back together, worked all of the problems out and are very happy, even more so than my previous ex who I was with for seven years. We both are happy and confident in a shared future.

But the only problem is our respective lives are totally in the way. My plans were foiled by the job situation up here (ie none in my field and pay bracket). For him it's the fact that he's been waiting for his work sponsorship visa since January of this year and it still has not been granted. His background in his home country is aged care and he really wants to move into this here and study nursing. If his current work visa is granted he can study part time but if it is denied (which is the feeling I have) he would need to switch to a student visa and study full time. This means fees of about $13000pa and a maximum legal work capability of twenty hours per week. This would mean he can't afford to live where he is (in Sydney).

Now my rent and living costs up here are about 60% of what they are in Sydney. I would hope to find a job in Sydney or Penrith and commute, buy a house and have it paid off much quicker than I could if I was buying down there. But if his visa switches the logical thing to do would be to move down there and rent so we could live together and he would get what he wanted. Iwould also get what I wanted but much slower than if I lived up here. If I bought down there I would be looking at an extra 12 years of mortgage payments!!!!!

So what the fuck should I do!!!!! My lease is up in February. Should I stick it out up here and commute (I really to do love it up here) or should I move back, set up a new home and put off the buying of a house until we are both more stable in our respective lives? I'm sooooo confused as to the best options. If we both continue on our current paths neither of us is going to get where we want to. Advice please kind people!!!