Chapter 42 - Life, the Universe, and Everything

In which our hero shares a heap of miscellany that she's been forgetting to share for like ages and ages ... 

I thought I would do a sort of appropriately titled and themed post for the magical number 42. This one was going to be Noosa Heads: Day 3, but I changed it at the last minute. So here's some interesting things from the past few months that I've been forgetting to share.

Exciting Thing #1: I received in the mail my student membership card to Engineers Australia. It's very exciting. I've actually received two now, because the first one expired on June 30.

Yay! How cool am I? I covered up the membership number because that's how people get hacked, not that there's anything desperately important associated with it or anything, but just in case.

Exciting Thing #2: I got myself a library card for the city library. They've got like two full shelves of Doctor Who, and there's no late fees. When I signed up the local branch (Helensvale) was in a temporary location in some demountables (portables) near the community centre. As of this past Wednesday they're officially in their new building, which is big and spacious and really awesome, and has like a big performance hall and everything, and meeting rooms and whatnot.

The new Helensvale Library. ('Oooh!', 'Aaaah!') I also forgot to mention that it's about five minutes closer than the temporary one was.

Library card! They always want to be nice and official so they have to do my full name. Blurg. It just confuses things.

Exciting Thing #3: When I first got here I sent postcards to a bunch of people (Let me know if you haven't received one yet. I've kind of lost track of who I sent them to.) One of the people I sent one to was Great Aunt Joan, and in like April or something I got one back from her! It's of London (as you see), and her writing is kind of squiggly like Grandad's used to be. It was great, and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I always want to send them to G-dad, but he's not exactly there to get them anymore.

Yes! From the other London!

I've been asking everyone for postcards if I hear of them going to exciting places, and I've received seven so far. They're all Blu-Tacked to my wall. There's two from Emily of the Arctic, one from Aikido Christine when she was in Nepal, one from Auntie Joan in London, one from Beth's B.C. Adventure, one from a local friend Rachel who went down to Sydney, and one that is hopefully the first of many from Christian in Norway. I believe I've already shared the arctic ones and the Nepal one, so here's the rest:

Chesterman Beach, Tofino, B.C.

Around Sydney

Lofoten, Northern Norway. (Look Christian, your postcard is featuring on my blog.)

Exciting Thing #4 (sort of): Remember how like a month ago I said I'd been to Sea World, but I couldn't show you the pictures because they were saved to the phone memory, not the memory card, and I didn't know how to remove them? Well, I went to an electronics shop and asked for a USB cable that would fit my phone. The girl said it would be $40, so I said to forget it. Then just this week I went to a different shop, and they had one for $15, so I got it. Then yesterday I started up a blog post here saying I could finally show you the pictures, and I wrote a whole paragraph or two explaining the situation, and then I plugged in my phone, and it could only read what was on the memory card! Bah! Stupid technology! Why doesn't it behave how I want it too??? So I still can't share those pictures, but I'm working on it. The good news though is now I have a USB cable that will charge my phone, so I can leave that in my bag and there should be no reason for the phone to die if I'm out and I have access to a computer. So like, at uni, mostly, I guess.

Exciting Thing #5: We have a kitten now. She's adorable. She's mostly black with a bit of white on her chest, and random white hairs in some places. She's very invisible at night, and she frequently gets almost stepped on. She hasn't been actually stepped on yet, thank goodness. She sleeps in the bed with Munchkin #1, who's away at her dad's this weekend, so I put a hot water bottle in there for her to lie on. I don't know if she did or not, because I was asleep in my own room. With the door closed.

She also doesn't hold still long enough to take a picture, so if these are blurry I apologise.

Short dark streak of lightning.

That's a shaved spot because of her recent desexing operation.

Awwwww ... !

Exciting Thing #6: I got my exam results for Semester 1. The grades were as follows: MATLAB - 7; Electromagnetics - 7; Maths - 6; Power Electronics & Electrical Machines - 5. 'That's nice,' you might say, 'but what does it all mean?' Well, I'll explain. 7, formerly known as HD, or High Distinction, means a final mark of between 85% and 100%. 6, formerly D for Distinction, is 75% to 84%. 5, formerly C for Credit, is 65% to 74%. I'm not particularly proud of the 5, but it's better than I was expecting in that class. I was almost sure I'd failed or nearly failed the exam. I'm not especially proud of the 6 either, because that was in Maths which I thought was my best class. I had about 92% going in, and I got 71% on the exam, so I guess that's like 81% or something overall. The professor said we can come to his office on Tuesday to see our exams, so I'll be able to see what went so horribly wrong.

In other animal related news, when I got back from my three day vacay I was greeted with the news that we have a cat now. Stick with me here. I'm not repeating myself. So this cat just showed up while I was away, and the kids naturally got very attached to it. (It reminded me of how we used to adopt random pets for a few days when they showed up in our back yard. There were several cats, that rabbit, that dog we found wandering in the woods, that turtle that dad found on the road ... ) So apparently #1 had asked up and down the street, and no one was missing a cat. It seemed to be scratching a lot, and we looked at it and spotted some fleas, so we quarantined it to the garage until some flea tablets could be acquired. They were, as well as some cat food and kitty litter. Sarah took it to a vet, and they said it was about 2-3 years old, not microchipped, and not de-sexed. #1 even shelled out $8 of her own money to buy a pink collar with bells on it. So we had a cat. For just over a week. Then on Saturday morning the next door neighbour knocked on our door, and said she'd been away on holiday for a week, and her mum was watching the house or something, and had we seen her cat. So we didn't have a cat, because it was actually the neighbour's. #1 neglected to mention that when she was asking up and down the street, there'd been no answer next door.

So that afternoon #1 said so Sarah, "What can I do that will convince you to go out to the pound and buy a kitten?" Sarah said, "Mow the lawn." So she did. And now there's a kitten. See? I told you it would all work out if you stuck with me.

Also, re. the chooks. I mentioned how all but two wandered away or got eaten by puppies. Then Sarah bought three, so we were back up to five. Now the neighbour has kindly replaced the eaten ones with five more, and so now we're up to ten. The new ones are much younger and skinnier, and the red comb thingies on their heads haven't fully developed. The old ones were being quite nasty at first, but I think they're getting along better now. We still only get about two eggs per day, but that might be because the young ones don't lay yet, or they're adjusting to their new environment, or just because it's "winter" when they apparently don't lay as much anyway.

I feel like there was many more exciting things to share, but I can't remember them.

I know! All of that down-ness and annoyance with the munchkins and with things in general was washed away by my little vacation. I felt heaps better afterward, and I even spent a week babysitting and didn't lose my mind. Hopefully it doesn't come back. I'll try to keep on top of it, and pay more attention to the little signs.

And one last thing. Remember that picture of Turkish Delight ice cream bars I shared ages ago? And I said I might buy them for a post exam treat? Well, I finally did. They're delicious. And bigger than I imagined.