Song of the day: “Summer Holiday” by Cliff Richard. Talk about oldies. Jeez. It’s been ages since I really listened to this song, but apparently I still remember the lyrics well enough. Hah.
A busy few days, and since I cheated with Chaos’ day, I have four days to catch up on, don’t I? (Not that anyone is keeping track, but what the heck.)
First of all, the bearings (inner ones) of the washing machine gave the spirit. I suspect that we loaded the thing to heavy, meaning that we had to get a repair dude coming over. Had to wait all weekend too, considering the holidays, but Jeff, that’s his name came by as agreed upon…I had to go to the top of our drive sweep to wave him down because we are so friggin remote that he missed the turn twice. But anyway, at first the problem appeared to be a safety pin, because when he took it out the racket had stopped for some reason, but then, after he’d gone, the infernal racket started again, and he promised to come pick it up the next day. He did, and today we got the news that it’s going to take ‘till Friday to fix it. For little over a hundred bucks. Which is a lot, but doable in the end.
Luckily we have a spare machine because otherwise we’d be without clean clothes already. Hah.
There was gardening, naturally. Watering plants wasn’t necessary, but there were weeds to pull as always, the garden pit to empty of rainwater, and herbs to plant. Since I really like basil way too much I sowed another six pots of them. Yay!
What with my bum knee…yes, it is seriously bum again, I really should be more careful, darn it…I am obliged to take things a little easy again. Yep. No more rock hauling (not as much anyway) wheelbarrowing sand, gravel and clay down (only one or two, really) and no more wood lugging (just one little trip last night). And that while I had planned to start Kick boxing again the other day…blast it. This so friggin’ boring. It leaves very little activities that I am allowed to do…but I did get around to washing the Land Rover this morning. Yay! It is looking all nice an shiny again. Heck, we even did some of the inside while we were at it.
We did work on the wall again a couple of days ago, so that is looking well at least. We got it to a height now where we’re not as scared for “crashing” stuff anymore. So, we’ll have a bit of time to build it now.
Edits are going slow but steady. I am two more (paper) pages away from the end, while big brother is about one chapter behind me. Since we don’t manage more than four or five pages on the computer anyways, it doesn’t really matter. Ideas of the new story are haunting my brain, so that’s good. It means I’ll have something to dive into when I get on the post WIP blues. I am dreading that, by the way. I always hate finishing with something, even though I will undoubtedly have to reread the first three chapters (at the very least) again before we can send the actual manuscript out.
Ooh, yesterday I made spinach quiche, which worked out really, really well. *sigh* I finally got the gas oven temperature pat, and I didn’t burn any of it for a change…same as the apple pie recently…and the over dish that was absolutely delicious. Gawd I need to make that again soon, because it was…my mouth is watering again, darn it!
Okay, different subject please.
Weather-wise things are gradually improving. Weird thunder storms off and on, pouring rain, but more and more sunshine too, which has me ecstatic in a way. I love this weather. The fresh breeze, the hot burning sun. If only I didn’t have to take it easy on my bum knee, then we’d be working the wall right now…Blast!…or at least later today. But no! Stupid bloody knee.
Knight II’s stump tail is almost completely healed now, yay, and strangely enough his foot is also looking better, and the cut he had on his front paw (the one that happened during the fight the other day) is gradually closing as well. Dax’s ear looks a little ragged, but otherwise it’s closed. Thankfully.
Well, I’ve got more edits to do, and…the usual. Gotta go.
Showing posts with label injury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label injury. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Ehm...yeah...busy day.
There were strange dreams this night, though I can’t really remember what they were about. It was strange on the overall, and it made me feel…well, out of sorts when I woke up at the sound of the alarm.
After the morning rituals and bringing the dogs down to the house, I get to taking down the dry laundry immediately. It’s a big batch, and it isn’t until forty minutes later–it needs to be folded, of course–that I get to breakfast and a much-needed coffee.
Once settled behind the computer and tackling the edits once more, the day slowly progresses as we improve on the story with another read through of the past few days’ progress. Once that is done we move on to the next section, managing about one page before it is time to head on outside to see what else needs to be done.
The rooms by the pool, which have been used as storage for the past few years, are a mess, and while little sister starts dragging stuff out. I get the wheelbarrow and push the mess up to the truck. It isn’t pleasant work; I’ll say that much about it. Rolling the wheelbarrow up the steep incline while it’s stuffed with moldy substances that need to be brought to the landfill is murder on the knees, actually.
While little sister and I are tackling the rooms and emptying them from two years of neglect, our two brothers are attempting another fire at the bottom of the property. Though they manage parts of it, the grass around it is already becoming too dry to do it safely, so that effort is ceased in the middle. They too join the cleanup.
By the time I get the first batch up the mountain, I’m breathing hard and sweating somewhat fierce. By the fifth trip I can hardly put one foot before the other–either up or down–so we do a much needed shift change. The next few trips are up to little brother, leaving the last ones for big brother and grandpa when at last the first room is empty of debris and we can actually walking inside without tripping over moldy torn cartons and what not.
Once the room is done, leaving anything that is still useable neatly stored in the second one, we start on the weeds and dried mud that covers the path leading to the entrance.
At least three wheelbarrows get wheeled away, along with a nice big pile of weeds until at last the path is cleared and the rock floor is revealed.
Little sister is sweeping the stairs, big brother is stripping the three acacia trees of dead branches, and middle sister takes the shovel on up to the terrace to tackle the dried mud that has gathered in the north corner. Once we’re done with the lower section I pick up tools and mount the steps to take the lounge chairs that got blown down during the last storm.
Since middle sister needs to use the pitchfork in the corner–vines have twined their way into the dirt–we exchange tools so I can start removing the composting fruits of the dead palm tree and make the path towards the terrace more accessible. It’s slow going, the dirt hard and rocks making easy stabs with the shovel practically impossible. It takes up to thirty minutes before I suddenly notice that the younger sibs have disappeared.
We joke about it, coming up with outrageous stories as to why they departed and work well past sundown by dragging strips of the old pool liner half way up the path. A little mishap occurs while we’re dragging the liner pieces out. I have grabbed Knight II by his collar to keep him out of the way, and while I’m distracted with trying to tug the heavy materials to the side, he moves back…slamming full force into my still bad knee.
Now, the joint hadn’t been agreeing with all the walking up and down in the first place, but this is just a bit too much. A burning flash goes up and down the limb, almost making it buckle when I stumble back and wrap my hands around it. Startled with my pained gasp (and ensuing swearword, huh) middle sister gratefully grabs hold of the big Dane while I carefully lower myself on the low wall.
Holy crap that hurt! The burning sensation goes up and down and continues to do so for several minutes until the entire leg feels…well, pleasantly numb. The Dane must have hit a nerve when he backed into me. Imagine a really painful version of hitting one’s elbow on something hard.
Once the discomfort subsides a little, I resume dragging the liner pieces away.
Later we’ll have to load it all in the truck, but not tonight.
In the end, sore and exhausted, we crawl up the mountain and enter the house where the younger sibs demand what the heck took us so long.
As it turns out they thought that we were calling it a day when I started to gather tools, hah. No harm done, however. Mom made a slight miscalculation with the night’s dinner, so they spent the time adding some extras to fill everyone’s stomach.
Limping a little, I fill my plate, grab a bag of frozen peas and hobble over to a chair with the promise of sweet relief for the dratted knee.
Something is wrong with our satellite reception at the moment–we have no idea what–so during dinner we make due with a recorded episode of “Burn Notice” and “Life” before we shut the TV off entirely. On the bright side we save on expenses this way, and settle behind our computers to get some more work done on the book.
My shoulders and back are hurting like heck, what with pushing the heavy wheelbarrow around and the shoveling, so before “digging in” I decide to hang on the bar for at least thirty seconds allowing my spine to rearrange the way it’s supposed to. It helps my shoulders too, since now the pain is no longer on the bottom of the shoulder blades, but the top of the sockets instead. Neat how that works. Hah.
For the next couple of hours, big brother and I go through three more pages of “Saving Nina”, bringing the edited section of the story up to one third of the whole, yay. Now we’re getting somewhere. There were some hiccups during the process; a description of two intruders, barely visible in the darkness, but the protagonists still being able to see that they were armed, but we managed to struggle through it in the end…as usual.
There are a lot of distractions during the edit. Several dogs come near for a petting, which results in the removal of scores of ticks–the blasted little critters are starting to appear everywhere–that are hidden under thick and thin fur alike. Admittedly, it is a nasty side effect of letting the dogs roam free, but luckily our loyal four-legged companions love the attention.
Though I hadn’t thought that I’d be able to muster the energy to do another edit session this evening, we do make our quota of the day. I’d already decided, that if we were too tired, I would head to my room early, but by the time we resurface, it’s past midnight and I have to rush on up to my cabin.
I feed the dogs that appear hungrier than usual today diving on the food as if they haven’t already eaten at the house.
Afterwards I’m startled for a moment when Knight II comes to stand in front of me for attention and loud noises come from him. He ate so fast his insides appear to be singing…literally…Hah. Never heard anything like it.
After a quick read, putting my clean laundry away, and setting to rights–sort of–the bedroom, I switch the laptop on and get to work.
After the morning rituals and bringing the dogs down to the house, I get to taking down the dry laundry immediately. It’s a big batch, and it isn’t until forty minutes later–it needs to be folded, of course–that I get to breakfast and a much-needed coffee.
Once settled behind the computer and tackling the edits once more, the day slowly progresses as we improve on the story with another read through of the past few days’ progress. Once that is done we move on to the next section, managing about one page before it is time to head on outside to see what else needs to be done.
The rooms by the pool, which have been used as storage for the past few years, are a mess, and while little sister starts dragging stuff out. I get the wheelbarrow and push the mess up to the truck. It isn’t pleasant work; I’ll say that much about it. Rolling the wheelbarrow up the steep incline while it’s stuffed with moldy substances that need to be brought to the landfill is murder on the knees, actually.
While little sister and I are tackling the rooms and emptying them from two years of neglect, our two brothers are attempting another fire at the bottom of the property. Though they manage parts of it, the grass around it is already becoming too dry to do it safely, so that effort is ceased in the middle. They too join the cleanup.
By the time I get the first batch up the mountain, I’m breathing hard and sweating somewhat fierce. By the fifth trip I can hardly put one foot before the other–either up or down–so we do a much needed shift change. The next few trips are up to little brother, leaving the last ones for big brother and grandpa when at last the first room is empty of debris and we can actually walking inside without tripping over moldy torn cartons and what not.
Once the room is done, leaving anything that is still useable neatly stored in the second one, we start on the weeds and dried mud that covers the path leading to the entrance.
At least three wheelbarrows get wheeled away, along with a nice big pile of weeds until at last the path is cleared and the rock floor is revealed.
Little sister is sweeping the stairs, big brother is stripping the three acacia trees of dead branches, and middle sister takes the shovel on up to the terrace to tackle the dried mud that has gathered in the north corner. Once we’re done with the lower section I pick up tools and mount the steps to take the lounge chairs that got blown down during the last storm.
Since middle sister needs to use the pitchfork in the corner–vines have twined their way into the dirt–we exchange tools so I can start removing the composting fruits of the dead palm tree and make the path towards the terrace more accessible. It’s slow going, the dirt hard and rocks making easy stabs with the shovel practically impossible. It takes up to thirty minutes before I suddenly notice that the younger sibs have disappeared.
We joke about it, coming up with outrageous stories as to why they departed and work well past sundown by dragging strips of the old pool liner half way up the path. A little mishap occurs while we’re dragging the liner pieces out. I have grabbed Knight II by his collar to keep him out of the way, and while I’m distracted with trying to tug the heavy materials to the side, he moves back…slamming full force into my still bad knee.
Now, the joint hadn’t been agreeing with all the walking up and down in the first place, but this is just a bit too much. A burning flash goes up and down the limb, almost making it buckle when I stumble back and wrap my hands around it. Startled with my pained gasp (and ensuing swearword, huh) middle sister gratefully grabs hold of the big Dane while I carefully lower myself on the low wall.
Holy crap that hurt! The burning sensation goes up and down and continues to do so for several minutes until the entire leg feels…well, pleasantly numb. The Dane must have hit a nerve when he backed into me. Imagine a really painful version of hitting one’s elbow on something hard.
Once the discomfort subsides a little, I resume dragging the liner pieces away.
Later we’ll have to load it all in the truck, but not tonight.
In the end, sore and exhausted, we crawl up the mountain and enter the house where the younger sibs demand what the heck took us so long.
As it turns out they thought that we were calling it a day when I started to gather tools, hah. No harm done, however. Mom made a slight miscalculation with the night’s dinner, so they spent the time adding some extras to fill everyone’s stomach.
Limping a little, I fill my plate, grab a bag of frozen peas and hobble over to a chair with the promise of sweet relief for the dratted knee.
Something is wrong with our satellite reception at the moment–we have no idea what–so during dinner we make due with a recorded episode of “Burn Notice” and “Life” before we shut the TV off entirely. On the bright side we save on expenses this way, and settle behind our computers to get some more work done on the book.
My shoulders and back are hurting like heck, what with pushing the heavy wheelbarrow around and the shoveling, so before “digging in” I decide to hang on the bar for at least thirty seconds allowing my spine to rearrange the way it’s supposed to. It helps my shoulders too, since now the pain is no longer on the bottom of the shoulder blades, but the top of the sockets instead. Neat how that works. Hah.
For the next couple of hours, big brother and I go through three more pages of “Saving Nina”, bringing the edited section of the story up to one third of the whole, yay. Now we’re getting somewhere. There were some hiccups during the process; a description of two intruders, barely visible in the darkness, but the protagonists still being able to see that they were armed, but we managed to struggle through it in the end…as usual.
There are a lot of distractions during the edit. Several dogs come near for a petting, which results in the removal of scores of ticks–the blasted little critters are starting to appear everywhere–that are hidden under thick and thin fur alike. Admittedly, it is a nasty side effect of letting the dogs roam free, but luckily our loyal four-legged companions love the attention.
Though I hadn’t thought that I’d be able to muster the energy to do another edit session this evening, we do make our quota of the day. I’d already decided, that if we were too tired, I would head to my room early, but by the time we resurface, it’s past midnight and I have to rush on up to my cabin.
I feed the dogs that appear hungrier than usual today diving on the food as if they haven’t already eaten at the house.
Afterwards I’m startled for a moment when Knight II comes to stand in front of me for attention and loud noises come from him. He ate so fast his insides appear to be singing…literally…Hah. Never heard anything like it.
After a quick read, putting my clean laundry away, and setting to rights–sort of–the bedroom, I switch the laptop on and get to work.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Exams...Ewww. Might have messed up.
After a rather aborted night of four hours at most, dreaming about having to do exams, the alarm goes off and I blink into the darkness of what is usually my bedtime.
Around me the dogs look at me with mystified expressions, their eyes huge and owlish as I lay there, staring at the dark ceiling while I’m trying to think why the heck the alarm is going off now. Due to the dreams I would have sworn that I was already working on the exam, but now I slowly begin to realize that the actual chore won’t be until another two and a half hours.
Groaning, I get out of bed, the dogs scrambling to get ahead of me, I hurry towards the door and throw it open before they are able to press close. I’ve got exactly forty-five minutes to get ready, and though this is really ample time, I feel a little tense as I get dressed, gather my things and then head down the mountain in the dark to let the dogs into the courtyard.
Big mistake…at least the dressing part…since the dogs jump up against me the moment I pass through the door and end up with several paw prints on the jeans and sweater that tops it. Drat, I’ll have to change clothes before departure.
The younger sibs are there, having already prepared the coffee, which I pour liberally down my throat as I chew on a peanut butter and honey sandwich and keep myself distracted with the siblings’ talk and jokes.
Forty-four minutes after waking, I’m redressed in clean clothes, have taken my painkillers and am sitting in the truck as we head towards the city. Talk between big brother and our driver of the morning is about a variety of subjects, including the upcoming exam, and seeing as traffic is light we arrive at our destination half an hour early.
We go over our books one last time and then climb from the car to join the gathering crowd in the back of the large building that is still locked against anyone who isn’t an employee. Around us about eighty people are clustered in small groups and as almost an hour passes, the knee is definitely demonstrating some disagreement.
At last someone appears in the doorway of the building and the gate is opened to let us and the crowds enter onto a fenced in courtyard. A woman starts calling out names from a stack of papers she’s holding. Name after name is called, after the fifteenth or so bringing brother forth so he can head inside to follow the steady stream of today’s exam takers.
I’m somewhere around number fifty, and when the woman finally calls my name, I wince at the deformed pronunciation. I take my form, give her a friendly smile and then head to two flights of concrete stairs up to the aula on the second floor. A line has formed there, human traffic slowing down due to the check of identity before we are led inside where we’re to take one of approximately a hundred and twenty table and chair combos.
I see big brother way ahead of me in front, and settle in my seat in the middle while arranging my vest on the chair and placing my bag at my feet.
The rest of the exam takers file in around me, slowly filling each and every seat until we’re piled inside the large space like sardines in a can.
Finally the last one arrives and settles, bringing the two supervisors to the front to mess with the microphones for a bit. Neither appears to work, so with a suffering sigh one of the women clears her throat and starts to address us in rapid Spanish, explaining the rules, or so I manage to decipher by picking up the few words I recognize.
Next they start to disperse our tests, placing them on the table before us with the instruction of covering the three cellophane covered lists under our answer form while they move down the isles, repeating it over and over again.
There are quite a few English folks today, and time after time the women pass me without handing me my question lists. It isn’t until one of the supervisors stands in the front of the tables once more and calls out if everyone has what they need when she finally notices my raised hand and comes hurrying over to hand it to me. I’d swear I was invisible. Hah.
So, another long list of instructions follow, most of it repeats of what our teacher already explained until at last we are instructed to sign our test and check the personal information on it. Then we need to fill in the codes of our individual tests and then wait for the “start” sign that is given on ten thirty, exactly.
I take a deep breath, relax all the tense muscles in my body and start reading. First one’s easy, followed by several doubtful cases, which I skip in favor of answering those I’m certain of so I can take my time with the others.
I’m horrified at finding more than a few questions that A. have nothing to do with the lesson material. B. have never before been mentioned. C. that are put down in such a confusing fashion that I have to read them three times to unravel the meaning behind them. And D. (which is the cincher) six questions about motorcycles. Huh?
As luck will have it, I also get exactly those questions which we’d discussed at school, and which the teacher wasn’t at all sure about. Drat.
I do the best I can going over everything twice more to see if I’ve marked every box and three minutes before my half hour is up I shrug and get up to hand in my test. I can’t think of what to do differently, so lingering is useless.
Heading on out to wait for big brother, I light a cigarette and shake my head as the questions + answers keep whirling through my mind, already starting to doubt pretty much all the answers I gave. What are the chances of getting nervous after a test, huh? Aaargh.
Big brother appears, his usual poker face in place as we head to the car where our driver is patiently reading a book, and we start writing down the questions and answers that we remember so we can discuss them with our teacher later on.
It takes well up to an hour, leaving with a complete blank of five of thirty questions that I can’t think of for the life of me. While going over the questions we have already found out at least one error and three maybes, which is a rather depressing thought. By this time our driver turns the key in the ignition and…nothing. Gawd. While we were busy working out all the material, none of us considered that the CD playing was rapidly draining the battery, leaving us stranded on the outskirts of the city.
We end up calling for road services, which doesn’t arrive until after noon and has us on our way in three minutes. Very frustrating! There is some confusion on our way out of the mazes of the city, but in the end we manage to find our way back to the motorway and the town where our school is located.
We spent about half an hour with our teacher, telling her of the questions, answers and the way they were formulated, which has her roll her eyes every so often before she informs us that the results should be available around noon tomorrow. With that, and the afternoon siesta, which is a usual practice around here that closes all stores and offices between one and five in the afternoon, we start on our way home.
It is during that drive that I get the disturbing thought that I might have done something wrong on my answer sheet after all. I can’t, for the life of me, remember if I wrote down individual four digit codes for every ten questions, which was something that big brother had to do. So I start to worry, did I read every individual number or did I presume them to match the way they do at school? I can’t remember, and this thought continues to swirl through my head for the remainder of the day.
Once at home, after greeting the dogs and quickly taking care of the laundry chore, I settle down with my computer to write out all the notes I made in the car so I can check them for details once more. In the end there are two definite mistakes and two maybes, so if one of the maybes turns out to be correct I will have passed…presuming that I didn’t make that dreaded four digit code mistake, which would make at least fifteen questions faulty. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The way I figure I might as well get the mental berating over and done with, just in case, hah.
Afterwards, with everyone sleeping the day I away, I spend a few hours online, just surfing to relax, and around dusk, when the younger sibs have reappeared, I shut down the computer–before I nod off to sleep right in my chair. Some exercise is called for, I decide, and change clothes to carefully start on the familiar routines in the company of mom.
I manage more than the other day, though kicking is still out of the question–or so I realize after a couple of tryouts. As a matter of fact the three kicks I did were downright excruciating, leaving me feeling sore and tense by the time I’m done (still, I feel much better than before, now that thoughts of the exams have been pushed to the back of my mind) and wash up before hobbling to the kitchen to start on dinner.
What with the sibs only having had four hours of sleep too, no one feels up to cooking, and since I have a serious hankering for actual nourishment, rather than some sort of snack, I decide to do it myself.
Fried rice and veggies with satay will do for the day, especially since the rice and veggie mix is already done in a sack that’s stored in the freezer, needing only the satay to be made in which the dish can be prepared.
By the time I’m done, my knee is throbbing like mad, and with my regular bag of frozen peas in one hand and my meal in the other, I settle at the table to let the cold do its thing on the painful joint.
Middle sister thankfully offers to get my a couple of painkillers from my room, along with the supportive bandage which I wrap around the swollen mess after the cold treatment has done its work, leaving me at least remotely comfortable.
Yadzia is distinctly uncomfortable, however, his back obviously paining him, setting off an entirely different kind of depression since I know that I can’t be selfish in letting him suffer when the quality of his life is so obviously going down. Though he still wags his tail when I sit down beside him for a proper petting, his entire body is tense, and occasional crying makes him squirm. I don’t think I can postpone the inevitable much longer for the poor Labrador, and that thought almost makes me cry.
The rest of the evening is spent watching a couple of movies that seem to pass in slow motion for me, now that energy levels are waning. Bedtime is starting to look more tempting by the hour, and around midnight I’ve passed the eighteen-hour mark of waking time.
With much relief I take the dogs up the mountain and feed them–giving Yadzia his tuna and kibble mix, which he eats enthusiastically-before I drag my way through the evening rituals and set up the computer to write down today’s events.
Tomorrow will show if today’s hassles were worth it, I guess. But in all honesty, I’m not looking forward to it.
Around me the dogs look at me with mystified expressions, their eyes huge and owlish as I lay there, staring at the dark ceiling while I’m trying to think why the heck the alarm is going off now. Due to the dreams I would have sworn that I was already working on the exam, but now I slowly begin to realize that the actual chore won’t be until another two and a half hours.
Groaning, I get out of bed, the dogs scrambling to get ahead of me, I hurry towards the door and throw it open before they are able to press close. I’ve got exactly forty-five minutes to get ready, and though this is really ample time, I feel a little tense as I get dressed, gather my things and then head down the mountain in the dark to let the dogs into the courtyard.
Big mistake…at least the dressing part…since the dogs jump up against me the moment I pass through the door and end up with several paw prints on the jeans and sweater that tops it. Drat, I’ll have to change clothes before departure.
The younger sibs are there, having already prepared the coffee, which I pour liberally down my throat as I chew on a peanut butter and honey sandwich and keep myself distracted with the siblings’ talk and jokes.
Forty-four minutes after waking, I’m redressed in clean clothes, have taken my painkillers and am sitting in the truck as we head towards the city. Talk between big brother and our driver of the morning is about a variety of subjects, including the upcoming exam, and seeing as traffic is light we arrive at our destination half an hour early.
We go over our books one last time and then climb from the car to join the gathering crowd in the back of the large building that is still locked against anyone who isn’t an employee. Around us about eighty people are clustered in small groups and as almost an hour passes, the knee is definitely demonstrating some disagreement.
At last someone appears in the doorway of the building and the gate is opened to let us and the crowds enter onto a fenced in courtyard. A woman starts calling out names from a stack of papers she’s holding. Name after name is called, after the fifteenth or so bringing brother forth so he can head inside to follow the steady stream of today’s exam takers.
I’m somewhere around number fifty, and when the woman finally calls my name, I wince at the deformed pronunciation. I take my form, give her a friendly smile and then head to two flights of concrete stairs up to the aula on the second floor. A line has formed there, human traffic slowing down due to the check of identity before we are led inside where we’re to take one of approximately a hundred and twenty table and chair combos.
I see big brother way ahead of me in front, and settle in my seat in the middle while arranging my vest on the chair and placing my bag at my feet.
The rest of the exam takers file in around me, slowly filling each and every seat until we’re piled inside the large space like sardines in a can.
Finally the last one arrives and settles, bringing the two supervisors to the front to mess with the microphones for a bit. Neither appears to work, so with a suffering sigh one of the women clears her throat and starts to address us in rapid Spanish, explaining the rules, or so I manage to decipher by picking up the few words I recognize.
Next they start to disperse our tests, placing them on the table before us with the instruction of covering the three cellophane covered lists under our answer form while they move down the isles, repeating it over and over again.
There are quite a few English folks today, and time after time the women pass me without handing me my question lists. It isn’t until one of the supervisors stands in the front of the tables once more and calls out if everyone has what they need when she finally notices my raised hand and comes hurrying over to hand it to me. I’d swear I was invisible. Hah.
So, another long list of instructions follow, most of it repeats of what our teacher already explained until at last we are instructed to sign our test and check the personal information on it. Then we need to fill in the codes of our individual tests and then wait for the “start” sign that is given on ten thirty, exactly.
I take a deep breath, relax all the tense muscles in my body and start reading. First one’s easy, followed by several doubtful cases, which I skip in favor of answering those I’m certain of so I can take my time with the others.
I’m horrified at finding more than a few questions that A. have nothing to do with the lesson material. B. have never before been mentioned. C. that are put down in such a confusing fashion that I have to read them three times to unravel the meaning behind them. And D. (which is the cincher) six questions about motorcycles. Huh?
As luck will have it, I also get exactly those questions which we’d discussed at school, and which the teacher wasn’t at all sure about. Drat.
I do the best I can going over everything twice more to see if I’ve marked every box and three minutes before my half hour is up I shrug and get up to hand in my test. I can’t think of what to do differently, so lingering is useless.
Heading on out to wait for big brother, I light a cigarette and shake my head as the questions + answers keep whirling through my mind, already starting to doubt pretty much all the answers I gave. What are the chances of getting nervous after a test, huh? Aaargh.
Big brother appears, his usual poker face in place as we head to the car where our driver is patiently reading a book, and we start writing down the questions and answers that we remember so we can discuss them with our teacher later on.
It takes well up to an hour, leaving with a complete blank of five of thirty questions that I can’t think of for the life of me. While going over the questions we have already found out at least one error and three maybes, which is a rather depressing thought. By this time our driver turns the key in the ignition and…nothing. Gawd. While we were busy working out all the material, none of us considered that the CD playing was rapidly draining the battery, leaving us stranded on the outskirts of the city.
We end up calling for road services, which doesn’t arrive until after noon and has us on our way in three minutes. Very frustrating! There is some confusion on our way out of the mazes of the city, but in the end we manage to find our way back to the motorway and the town where our school is located.
We spent about half an hour with our teacher, telling her of the questions, answers and the way they were formulated, which has her roll her eyes every so often before she informs us that the results should be available around noon tomorrow. With that, and the afternoon siesta, which is a usual practice around here that closes all stores and offices between one and five in the afternoon, we start on our way home.
It is during that drive that I get the disturbing thought that I might have done something wrong on my answer sheet after all. I can’t, for the life of me, remember if I wrote down individual four digit codes for every ten questions, which was something that big brother had to do. So I start to worry, did I read every individual number or did I presume them to match the way they do at school? I can’t remember, and this thought continues to swirl through my head for the remainder of the day.
Once at home, after greeting the dogs and quickly taking care of the laundry chore, I settle down with my computer to write out all the notes I made in the car so I can check them for details once more. In the end there are two definite mistakes and two maybes, so if one of the maybes turns out to be correct I will have passed…presuming that I didn’t make that dreaded four digit code mistake, which would make at least fifteen questions faulty. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The way I figure I might as well get the mental berating over and done with, just in case, hah.
Afterwards, with everyone sleeping the day I away, I spend a few hours online, just surfing to relax, and around dusk, when the younger sibs have reappeared, I shut down the computer–before I nod off to sleep right in my chair. Some exercise is called for, I decide, and change clothes to carefully start on the familiar routines in the company of mom.
I manage more than the other day, though kicking is still out of the question–or so I realize after a couple of tryouts. As a matter of fact the three kicks I did were downright excruciating, leaving me feeling sore and tense by the time I’m done (still, I feel much better than before, now that thoughts of the exams have been pushed to the back of my mind) and wash up before hobbling to the kitchen to start on dinner.
What with the sibs only having had four hours of sleep too, no one feels up to cooking, and since I have a serious hankering for actual nourishment, rather than some sort of snack, I decide to do it myself.
Fried rice and veggies with satay will do for the day, especially since the rice and veggie mix is already done in a sack that’s stored in the freezer, needing only the satay to be made in which the dish can be prepared.
By the time I’m done, my knee is throbbing like mad, and with my regular bag of frozen peas in one hand and my meal in the other, I settle at the table to let the cold do its thing on the painful joint.
Middle sister thankfully offers to get my a couple of painkillers from my room, along with the supportive bandage which I wrap around the swollen mess after the cold treatment has done its work, leaving me at least remotely comfortable.
Yadzia is distinctly uncomfortable, however, his back obviously paining him, setting off an entirely different kind of depression since I know that I can’t be selfish in letting him suffer when the quality of his life is so obviously going down. Though he still wags his tail when I sit down beside him for a proper petting, his entire body is tense, and occasional crying makes him squirm. I don’t think I can postpone the inevitable much longer for the poor Labrador, and that thought almost makes me cry.
The rest of the evening is spent watching a couple of movies that seem to pass in slow motion for me, now that energy levels are waning. Bedtime is starting to look more tempting by the hour, and around midnight I’ve passed the eighteen-hour mark of waking time.
With much relief I take the dogs up the mountain and feed them–giving Yadzia his tuna and kibble mix, which he eats enthusiastically-before I drag my way through the evening rituals and set up the computer to write down today’s events.
Tomorrow will show if today’s hassles were worth it, I guess. But in all honesty, I’m not looking forward to it.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Title of the day: Your guess is as good as mine.
I had the strangest dreams this night, explosions, car chases, shooting the whole shebang...and that while I didn’t even watch a decent action film yesterday. Very peculiar. It all looked a little like “Vantage point” with Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox and Forest Whitacker, and it’s been like, months since I saw that movie, so why I would dream about it, is a mystery to me.
But anyways, by the time I wake up from the moronic pack making a racket I’m still sleep dazed and literally stumble my way to the door to let them out. What with the alarm not having gone off yet, I reset it to have thirty minutes extra and am off to lala land under ten seconds.
I can feel “it” lurking around the corner by the time I do get up and start on the day. That uncomfortable sensation in the pit of my stomach as tension begins to rise for no apparent reason.
Soon, after hurrying through the morning rituals, I’m heading down the mountain. Since the knee is giving me considerable grief for the past couple of days, I’m using the cane again, doing an excellent imitation of Hugh Laurie’s House and enter the courtyard with the dogs rushing around me.
First thing I do, as soon as I’ve deposited my bag on the kitchen counter, is head back out again to take down the laundry and hang a new batch. The knee might be a bitch at the moment but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let it stop me from doing what needs to be done.
Next I do a few exercises, careful to do them just right, without putting undue pressure or stress on the joint, and after fifteen minutes I head to the shower. This “lukewarm” workout is definitely not as satisfying as a real one, but at least I managed this much before feeling completely drained and more than a little sore.
Yadzia needs to be fed, and I get to it asap, pleased to see that he eats the chicken, bread, milk, broth and kibble mix with enthusiasm.
That done, I have a quick breakfast at the kitchen counter, the gnawing feeling heavy in the pit of my stomach and making the meal feel like bricks. I pour myself a coffee and OJ and head for the table to set up shop.
No time for messages today. There’s some writing to be done, (only manage half a page) along with editing…the latter just as soon as big brother is finished fixing the fences–again–and returns to the house, obviously feeling just as frazzled as I do.
We only manage about two pages for corrections, since we decide to rewrite narrative into dialogue to give a more “real” feel to the characters. By the time I get most of it down, our departure has drawn near enough for us to hurry getting ready.
A bit dizzy for some reason, I head up the mountain to get dressed and fifteen minutes later climb into the car so we can head out to town.
Upon arrival at the school we spend a harrowing hour in the brightly lit classroom, listening to “important” instructions of questions that might come up in the exams that don’t appear to make any sense (this from the mouth of our teacher). The light tubes overhead are bad on the eyes, starting a distant headache until we finally move on to the back room where we go through some more lesson material on paper until it’s closing time and we can call it a night.
We go by the video rental store, getting three movies for the weekend and then head for the home improvement store to get a roll of fence that should prevent new holes in ours in the near future.
By this time my knee is throbbing like mad, dizziness has resurfaced and I, for one am more than happy about going home at last.
Regretfully no one felt like cooking, so big brother and I are on our own for nourishment. We end up with French fries and a bowl of squared cherry tomatoes with cottage cheese that fills the empty spots well enough…and leaves me feeling nauseous for the rest of the night. Hah.
The bad feeling rapidly increases as we try to wind down from the day, and neither of us is able to enjoy the two movies we put on, but can’t finish for no other reason than that they both appear to be boring as heck.
A fight between Trin Trin the monster boxer and Prama (another monster, aargh!) certainly doesn’t help the mood.
We end up watching an episode of “Dead Like Me” before I head up to my cabin.
Once there, I just barely have time to deposit my bag on the bed, before I need to run to make it to the bathroom when my stomach decides to get rid of every single thing I ate during the evening. This, of course, leaves me feeling emptied and exhausted when I quickly feed the dogs and set up the computer to do a quick round of the messages and post today’s Blog.
There was one bright spot today, however. The new fan trailer is out. This one for W.I. Investigations/The White Doves, and it’s grand, as usual. Yay.
Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeIjQCCVv64
But anyways, by the time I wake up from the moronic pack making a racket I’m still sleep dazed and literally stumble my way to the door to let them out. What with the alarm not having gone off yet, I reset it to have thirty minutes extra and am off to lala land under ten seconds.
I can feel “it” lurking around the corner by the time I do get up and start on the day. That uncomfortable sensation in the pit of my stomach as tension begins to rise for no apparent reason.
Soon, after hurrying through the morning rituals, I’m heading down the mountain. Since the knee is giving me considerable grief for the past couple of days, I’m using the cane again, doing an excellent imitation of Hugh Laurie’s House and enter the courtyard with the dogs rushing around me.
First thing I do, as soon as I’ve deposited my bag on the kitchen counter, is head back out again to take down the laundry and hang a new batch. The knee might be a bitch at the moment but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let it stop me from doing what needs to be done.
Next I do a few exercises, careful to do them just right, without putting undue pressure or stress on the joint, and after fifteen minutes I head to the shower. This “lukewarm” workout is definitely not as satisfying as a real one, but at least I managed this much before feeling completely drained and more than a little sore.
Yadzia needs to be fed, and I get to it asap, pleased to see that he eats the chicken, bread, milk, broth and kibble mix with enthusiasm.
That done, I have a quick breakfast at the kitchen counter, the gnawing feeling heavy in the pit of my stomach and making the meal feel like bricks. I pour myself a coffee and OJ and head for the table to set up shop.
No time for messages today. There’s some writing to be done, (only manage half a page) along with editing…the latter just as soon as big brother is finished fixing the fences–again–and returns to the house, obviously feeling just as frazzled as I do.
We only manage about two pages for corrections, since we decide to rewrite narrative into dialogue to give a more “real” feel to the characters. By the time I get most of it down, our departure has drawn near enough for us to hurry getting ready.
A bit dizzy for some reason, I head up the mountain to get dressed and fifteen minutes later climb into the car so we can head out to town.
Upon arrival at the school we spend a harrowing hour in the brightly lit classroom, listening to “important” instructions of questions that might come up in the exams that don’t appear to make any sense (this from the mouth of our teacher). The light tubes overhead are bad on the eyes, starting a distant headache until we finally move on to the back room where we go through some more lesson material on paper until it’s closing time and we can call it a night.
We go by the video rental store, getting three movies for the weekend and then head for the home improvement store to get a roll of fence that should prevent new holes in ours in the near future.
By this time my knee is throbbing like mad, dizziness has resurfaced and I, for one am more than happy about going home at last.
Regretfully no one felt like cooking, so big brother and I are on our own for nourishment. We end up with French fries and a bowl of squared cherry tomatoes with cottage cheese that fills the empty spots well enough…and leaves me feeling nauseous for the rest of the night. Hah.
The bad feeling rapidly increases as we try to wind down from the day, and neither of us is able to enjoy the two movies we put on, but can’t finish for no other reason than that they both appear to be boring as heck.
A fight between Trin Trin the monster boxer and Prama (another monster, aargh!) certainly doesn’t help the mood.
We end up watching an episode of “Dead Like Me” before I head up to my cabin.
Once there, I just barely have time to deposit my bag on the bed, before I need to run to make it to the bathroom when my stomach decides to get rid of every single thing I ate during the evening. This, of course, leaves me feeling emptied and exhausted when I quickly feed the dogs and set up the computer to do a quick round of the messages and post today’s Blog.
There was one bright spot today, however. The new fan trailer is out. This one for W.I. Investigations/The White Doves, and it’s grand, as usual. Yay.
Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeIjQCCVv64
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